small network setup

I know there is a lot of detailed discussion about using a MacMini as a simple file server. Using that logic, is it possible to use a MacBook Pro with a connected external 1T drive to be set up as a small server?

My situation is this. We have an iMac, a new MacBook Pro, Time Capsule, and an older MacBook Pro. We would like to set up the older MacBook Pro as a file server so as not to tie up so much hard drive space on the other machines. Is the same logic and procedure applicable to a MacBook Pro? For example, can we assign a static IP address to the MBP? Can we access files from the EHD?

Any help would be appreciated.

I have an old laptop PC setup as a FTP server running in my house. Get registered for a free domain name at https://www.dyndns.com/.
After you are registered you need an FTP server manager. Such as PureFTPd Manager for Mac OS X This is nice because it keeps track of the IP address your ISP gives you and if it changes it updates it automatically.
Not sure how pureftp is setup but you usually go through a setup wizard at the start tell it your domain name, setup user accounts etc...and then you have a ftp server you can access inside or outside your house. YOu may have open and port forward everything on port 80 to the static IP address you assigned to your notebook.

You can assign one logging to access the ftp server (your mac) or multiple with different rights.