Mac Networking

I am new to the Mac system and we are wanting to set up our new iMac as a server so we can access files from iPads and iPhones as well as back them up. We re not really looking to do anything terribly fancy or complicated. When I was on Apple's site, I was reading the reviews for the software to set up a the network and most seemed negative. The commentators seem to be folks that are running them for web servers and for companies. Does anyone have experience with Apples network software for home usage? Would love some objective thoughts.

Cheers,

Networking

Here is a simple solution
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/filebrowser-access-files-on/id364738545?mt=8
;P

Your iPad /iPhone should be able to back up wirelessly to your Mac and if you are using Time Machine that will be backed up to an external drive and then there is the cloud if you choose to offsite backup.
There are easy ways to share files that are free up to a certain amount of storage DropBox is one and another popular Evernote both of these allow easy platforms for iDevices and Mac's to share files.