How to buy a small Windows server for home use ?

WobblyDog

I have a small Windows server at home that I use to study things like SQL Server, IIS and AD. Previously, I've just bought small servers from the Dell website, with a budget edition of Windows Server installed.

My current server is a Dell Poweredge T110 with Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation and 16GB RAM. It's now too slow, but Dell no longer seem to sell servers with Windows Server pre-installed in the UK. I want to be legally licenced, and I'd prefer not to get the licences through my employer's MSDN subscription, which is a bit unreliable. The server is on 24x7, and electricity is expensive, so I'd prefer a brand-new small efficient server, rather than a second-hand monster. I'd like at least 32GB of RAM.

How do other people buy small Windows servers these days, and what's the best edition of Windows Server for home study?

Carrot007

No Idea I just use debian as I like reliability ;-)


No need for a server machine to be powerful anyway. They spend 90% of the time doing nothing. Drive speed is what counts.


Build your own. Cheap motherboard with onboard gfx (no power hungry card), Good cpu (AMD makes sense currently), lot's of ram, SSD and if you need to store files too a SSHD.


Then put debian on it so you can do some real computing and run windows (no reason for server unless the license of software you want to install needs it, which is just an artifical limitation obviously, i doubt you need to run server in the home it seems silly/) in a vm.


And quite frankly electricity is not used much for a server unless you have bad power saving options (debian helps here).

forgotmyname

Why does it need to be fast to teach yourself the workings?

Is it worth spending £600 to save a few seconds? I upgraded to a R7 1700 and day to day tasks are no quicker and even some CAD software runs just as slowly as it did on my old XP5200 dual core machine.

A lot of the time its the software causing the speed issues.

Neil_Jones

I don't think this even needs a Windows Server.

I was able to run MySQL, Apache and similar on my six year old laptop and it ran happily. IIS can be added to Windows 10 Pro as an optional feature as can I believe Active Directory, though of course bear in mind all home versions of Windows cannot log onto it.

tafelmoneysaver

Depending on your usage requirements you might be able to run this all for free using AWS free tier instance.
Just make sure you stop the instances when not being used.
https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/free-tier-windows-instance/

Peter999_2

Windows server 2016 editions are available for fully functional 6 month trials here if it helps :


https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016#evaluation_4252

MoneyMoney

This is an area I am quite familiar with so hope I can help.

Are you using this as a "lab" to try things out and learn, and if so which things (more sale, or networking hyper V etc...) or as a home server so you can play around with having a live business class network at home? Answer these and I could let you know the best options imho.

If it is not networking I would be looking an an Intel NUC with 32gb and an SSD make sure it supports USB C and put a caddy as large storage. These are limited in networkjng as they have little raid or NIC scope. OEM is the server you are looking for, get 2019 when it drops, you can still install it as 2016 legally just not higher versions. MSDN not being reliable does not make any sense, it is the same software and is actually just for this legally. If you are not commercially using it at home running a business it it is for lab's and test scenarios.

Lastly legally you get two full VM licences with 2012 and higher plus a hyper V server licence (3 in total) so install your hyper V, then put a DC and an all separate as individual vms.

EveryWhere

WobblyDog wrote: »

I have a small Windows server at home that I use to study things like SQL Server, IIS and AD. Previously, I've just bought small servers from the Dell website, with a budget edition of Windows Server installed.

My current server is a Dell Poweredge T110 with Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation and 16GB RAM. It's now too slow, but Dell no longer seem to sell servers with Windows Server pre-installed in the UK. I want to be legally licenced, and I'd prefer not to get the licences through my employer's MSDN subscription, which is a bit unreliable. The server is on 24x7, and electricity is expensive, so I'd prefer a brand-new small efficient server, rather than a second-hand monster. I'd like at least 32GB of RAM.

How do other people buy small Windows servers these days, and what's the best edition of Windows Server for home study?

You can of course upgrade CPU and RAM. RAM can possibly go up to 32GB with the latest BIOS. Though the bottleneck could be your CPU.
What CPU is fitted currently? If you don't already have one, fit a Xeon CPU.

I'm not any kind of expert on Windows Server, but isn't the Foundation edition limited to 8GB of RAM?

You will, with a little help, be able to upgrade the system to Windows Server Standard 2008 R2.
That can address up to 32GB as opposed to your current 8GB.

Even 2012 is possible, though you'll need to install the correct Drivers for drives to be recognised during the install. So there is still life in the old dog.

I would begin with the CPU if not a Xeon. The X3470 comes in around £30+.

WobblyDog

Thanks for all the replies. The version of Windows Server 2008 Foundation I'm using is limited to 8GB of RAM (not 16, my mistake).

In addition to learning use, I run some fairly large MS-based non-commercial side projects on the server, so it needs to be on 24x7 and be moderately powerful. I think running it in the cloud would be more expensive than having it "on-prem" in my house.

My employer sometimes forgets to pay for my MSDN subscription, so I would prefer for the Windows licence to be unconnected to them, and definitely non-revokable, but I might have to compromise on that.

John_Gray

I'm with Neil Jones!

Windows Server commercial licences cost £lots, and I would query whether using a server licence at home via your work MSDN subscription is strictly "legal".

Can you not designate one of your Windows 7 Pro or Windows 10 Pro PCs to act as a server, install the required software on it, and put all your PCs into the same workgroup? You surely won't be exceeding the number of connections to the 'server' at home?

EveryWhere

WobblyDog wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. The version of Windows Server 2008 Foundation I'm using is limited to 8GB of RAM (not 16, my mistake).

In addition to learning use, I run some fairly large MS-based non-commercial side projects on the server, so it needs to be on 24x7 and be moderately powerful. I think running it in the cloud would be more expensive than having it "on-prem" in my house.

My employer sometimes forgets to pay for my MSDN subscription, so I would prefer for the Windows licence to be unconnected to them, and definitely non-revokable, but I might have to compromise on that.

Did you miss the other question about the current CPU?

Just upgrade what you have currently if you want to go the money saving way.. CPU to the aforementioned Xeon and I'll help you to move to Server Standard using your current licence if you want 16 GB of RAM addressed.

Someone, here, claims 32 GB now works.

So there is ample space for upgrades..