| Small Business Sever recommendations Hi there,
I recently started a small IT Solutions company after working in 2nd/3rd level customer support for over 15 years. I have just received a job that involves setting up a good friend's new office for his company (he currently works out of his home with at least 5 other subordinates working out of their homes). Among the requirements of the move is a new server. Although, I have supported servers in some capacity over time, I have never purchased or administered one.
Unfortunately we have not discussed a budget, so I am going into this purchase somewhat blind. I would guess something in the range of $1500 to $3500 (CDN) would be a start.
I would like something with 2 processors (but if that is not reasonable in the budget I suggest, then one would suffice), 2 power supplies, 16-32 GB RAM, 2-4 TB HDD space in RAID 5 (or more depending on $$$) and probably Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 operating system.
I have worked on HP/Compaq's in the past, and IBM/Lenovo's (which is a preference), but I am open to all suggestions. I have supported Dell's in the past as well, but my current supplier does not carry them.
All suggestions appreciated!
Thanks!
MG |
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| What will the company be using the server for? |
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| The company is an accounting firm, so they use MS Office, Sage Simply Accounting, Intuit Quickbooks, Intuit ProFile, CaseWare, and Jazzit. None of the apps are server based, at least right now, not sure if they are capable of being hosted from a server, will need to look into it. It would mostly be used as a file server as opposed to an application server.
I would probably setup MS Exchange, as I understand it comes packaged with SBS 2011. |
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aguenPremium
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| reply to bolt17cdn
Here is a link to the US Dell SOHO getting started page. I myself prefer DELL but you can always make your own hardware decision later on. »www.dell.com/content/topics/segt···n&s=soho
Don't know if the Dell Canadian site has a similar page but I think this one is a good starting point to get some prices based on the different platforms available.
Good luck |
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| reply to bolt17cdn
I recommend either Dell or HP's Proliant servers.
With 6 users being at different locations, a server at a colocation might be more flexible. |
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| reply to aguen
That's a great link aguen! Some good info there.
Sorry for the confusion south1178, the 6 users are currently spread out in different locations, but are all moving to a new office once it has been built, and that's where the server will be housed.
Thank you both for the great recommendations! |
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 ·Suddenlink
| reply to bolt17cdn
I recently setup a doctors office with Server 2008R2, a custom SQL-based electronic health records database, and redirected all "My Documents" from the nine Windows 7 clients to folders on the server so that all important documents get backed up every night. The server is a Dell T310 with 16GB of RAM. I bumped up the Xeon processor from their "standard" selection for around $80 or so, but I can't recall the exact speed right now.  It's been working great for the last 2 months and never breaks a sweat keeping up with their needs.
It's running three 2-TB drives in RAID 5 with hot swap available. I also selected the dual power supply option since this server pretty much runs their entire business. If it's down, they're basically closed.  Dell also offers different pre-paid levels of onsite repair for business critical systems so you shouldn't be down for days while waiting for parts.
Also be aware that Windows Server will complain about being the only Active Directory and/or DNS server when using only a single server in a domain. You just have to ignore the errors in the Best Practices Analyzer.  |
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| reply to bolt17cdn
Not knowing fully what you are wanting to accomplish, but if it's just Exchange (e-mail) and some file sharing, why not recommend Office365 (or similar)?
Just something to consider.
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| reply to HarryH3
Thanks HarryH3. the Dell PowerEdge T310 looks like a good option, the three 2TB drives in RAID 5 is what I was thinking of, and I especially like the hot swap PSU's. Definitely a peace of mind if one fails. And thanks for the heads-up on the above mentioned errors!
Office 365... Online Software Hosted in the Cloud, that's an intersting option csiemers! I hadn't even thought of that. I will have to read up on it. |
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| reply to bolt17cdn
We are running one of these in our office:
»h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm···ml?dnr=1
Mind you it is a little more configured, running 5 x SAS drives with 1 as back up to the other 4, hot swap, with tape back up and a little more beefed up. It seems to handle everything so far.
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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke
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1 edit | reply to bolt17cdn
said by bolt17cdn:Thanks HarryH3......
.......the three 2TB drives in RAID 5 is what I was thinking of, and I especially like the hot swap PSU's. Definitely a peace of mind if one fails.
I think the terms were "hot swap internal hard drives"......and "dual power supplies", which I'd think both supplies would still be solid mount to the chassis - to help with earth etc.
Please ignore, I was misinformed and posted incorrect information.
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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke
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| said by norwegian:said by bolt17cdn:Thanks HarryH3......
.......the three 2TB drives in RAID 5 is what I was thinking of, and I especially like the hot swap PSU's. Definitely a peace of mind if one fails.
I think the terms were "hot swap internal hard drives"......and "dual power supplies", which I'd think both supplies would still be solid mount to the chassis - to help with earth etc. You'd be wrong.  You can hot swap the PSU's. They're mounted on slide rails. I tested it and you can indeed disconnect either power cord and the system stays running. You then push down on a small lever and pull the "dead" PSU right out the back of the server.
Enterprise servers aren't built like DIY systems. They're designed with 24/7 operation in mind. Datacenters today often have multiple virtual machines running on one server, so the impact of having a single server offline can affect a large number of customers. The Dell T310 referenced above also has dual NIC's with automatic failover in the event that one fails. At the enterprise level you'll also find cool stuff like the ability to even hot swap cards in PCI slots. Uptime is king inside a data center. |
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| My apologies for getting that wrong on the power supplies. I was not aware of that specification.
Thanks for correcting me. |
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| Ahh, no harm, no foul. We're all here to learn new stuff from each other. Many days it's my turn to be wrong. |
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