Server help needed

geekgirl

Hi I work for a very small charity. We have just received funding to buy a new server. We have £4000. We had some money before to buy one but the people we employed in hindsight didn't really know what they were doing and sold us stuff that was not appropriate for our needs.

We have 5 computers running each day in the office and a small training room which has 12 computers, although not usually on all the time, 2 networked printers and broadband wired to all areas. All computers use the server.

What I need to find out is what should we be expecting for our money? Is there anything we should be asking when looking for someone to do the work to check out if they really know their stuff. And any links to anything that is relevant to what we need.

We really need to get this right as we don't have any extra money for this so any help gratefully received.

Cheers.

hawkeye9999

Hi,

Firstly I would not tell them you have £4000.

Is this server going to replace your old server, if so what roles does it perform (Active Directory, File Server, Print Server, DNS, MS Exchange, etc). What Operating System does it run.

Reading between the lines, you should not be running any of the above apart from the File Server (and maybe Print Server) role, as the others would be overkill.

With out looking into detail of your existing Network, and the reason for the New Server. It's quite hard to point you in the right direction.

But for £4k you would be looking at one serious Server. I am a IT Manager covering 5 sites with over 100 people and the last three servers cost less than £1k each.

Michael

M4RKM

never tell the company what kind of budget you have.

I would suggest any server that runs Windows Server SBS 2003, as it incorporates Exchange and your file/print server needs.

I would also suggest that you do use Active Directory, then you have security, and also, with the exchange built in, you'd get email on the move, via iphones, or outlook web.

a back up solution would be useful, then so no files are lost if the worst happens.

you needn't spend more than £1000 on the server itself, and obviously there would need to be some budget left behind for the installation and configuration costs. You probably will have some money left over, maybe you could use this for updating computers that the end users have, especially if they are getting a bit older.

any other questions, drop me an IM, and i'd be more than willing to help

Dime_Bar

I have just had a play on the Dell website and for £1k you can get a Quad Core, 4GB Ram, 2 x 160GB HDD on Raid 1 and running Windows Server 2003 SBS 2003. An that includes Delivery and Installation but not VAT.

So I would agree about £1k on the server and then possible upgrade some other parts of your IT infrastructure.

What does the current server do now? Also what are the specs as you shulld be able to reutilise that.

geekgirl

We have a windows server at the mo which is around 4 years old. It needs to network the computers as well as the 2 printers. I will ask questions about the other stuff and get back to you.

The server we have at the mo will only allow around 8 of the computers to run properly, then as others log on we get serious slow downs and crashes.

Will return.......

geekgirl

Hi,

Here is the info about the server we have now.

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition w/ Service Pack 2
Processor: x86 Family 6 Model 10 Stepping 0 AMD 2157Mhz
Physical Memory: 1,000GB
Virtual Memory: 2.42GB

With X2 120GB hard drives.

Does any of this info help at all?

I really appreciate the replies. Thanks.

Dime_Bar

Ok so your server will definatly be useful for something.We need to really know what it does now so we can advise on what to get.

geekgirl

I will double check when I am back in work tomorrow.

Cheers.

JOel_2

You want to look at something that is going to last you for a fair amount of time.

With 4k you should be able to get a fairly substantial machine, with a decent backup drive. Something like a PowerEdge 2900 should suit your needs. I would try and steer clear of the budget "SC" range, they are less robust than you would probably want.

Also checkout http://www.dell.co.uk/charity - they offer pretty good discounts and deals for chraritable organisations.

I would also, budget allowing, get the extended silver / gold support and you should be on track for a reliable solution for a good few years.

Joel

Dime_Bar

We use PowerEdge 2900's exclusivly at work at the moment and they are very robust machines. We have used them and the 2800's for about 3 years and have never had a total server failure. We have approx 70 running at the moment.

The only problem with them is as they are a full blown server they do require decent conditions, but if you have a server room with a aircon or a decent airflow you should be fine.

Get back to us with the info.

M4RKM

one way of doing things, is a similar set up to what I have at my office now..

1 server dedicated to microsoft exchange,
1 server as print/file/domain controller..

splits the load up nicely, and it really works well...

M