Please can you help me select an appropriate server for my small business?

vishy01234

I REALLY need your help so please take the time to read and respond. I am looking to purchase a server for my small business and the appropriate software (OS, backup software, etc). I have a very limited budget (I would like to get something below £500, preferably less, but also will spend a bit more if necessary). It must have a Microsoft server OS on it as I am looking to run a database intensive CRM server application on it in the future.

These are the core tasks the server needs to perform:
- Support 3 client pcs
- Printing
- Storage of common company documents and files
- Central backup location for all the client pcs
- Remote access of company documents
- Run a database intensive server application / CRM
- Not sure of what is involved in running my own exchange server system for emails, but I am paying out £20 per month for 3 X 2Gb exchange email boxes from fasthosts. Would be nice to get rid of this expense

From my research and considering my limited budget, I was thinking of going for the following setup:
- HP Proliant server
- Windows Small Business Server 2003 OS
- 1 X 500Gb HDD (space for 3 extra drives) - hot swappable
- Dual core CPU
- 1Gb RAM
- Use an external 1Tb USB hard drive (Lacie) for server backup

I have spoken to a few people that have given me differing recommendations, so I wanted to come on to here to get some expert opinion. As well as your advice, answers to some of these questions would be appreciated:

- Tape drives seem to the most common server backup solution, but the drives are so expensive? Why are tape drives the the most common solution? Is it a bad idea to do backups to a 1Tb USB Lacie external HDD? (I chose this to limit costs for now)
- Secondly, should I be thinking of getting more than one hard drive?
- I don't know what a RAID controller is, but people are telling me I should consider getting one?
- Should I be getting more RAM or bigger HDD, or is this sufficient for now?
- Windows Small Business Server 2003 sounds like it would be a bit easier to administer than Windows Server. Am I right in choosing this server OS?

I don't want to go into overkill mode as I need every penny I can get my hands on right now, but I also don't want false economies. PLEASE can you folks help me out here. What kind of server would you recommend I go for? Please can you provide me a link to any good preconfigured systems out there (e.g. from stores like www.ebuyer.com ). Lastly, please try to explain technical terms in your responses as I am not an expert at all!! Thanks

Ebenezer_Scrooge_2

Build one, if you are only supporting 3 clients i would not bother with expensive gear that you wont get maximum usage of.
Get a second hand one from ebay or get someone to build one for you, i would also get a second hand copy of server 2000 not 2003 as again you wont get the usage out of it with 3 clients.

Ebenezer_Scrooge_2

I reckon i can nearly half your cost of £500

unrich

If you have two drives set up as a RAID 1, then when one fails all the data remains available on the other drive. Depending on the RAID controller if it supports hot-swapping you put in another disk and the RAID re-builds and you carry on.

Older RAID (like Proliant ML310) use IDE drives, require you to take the server down and rebuild the array. Even if the disks are hot swappable the RAID controller may not support hot swappable disks.

Looking after about 100 sites with RAID 1 for the last 3-4 years there has not been a single loss of data due to both drives failing at the same time. There have been many disk failures.

RAID 1 is a basic configuration and should come as standard with most simple RAID controllers. You may not even need hot swapping! After all how often do we change a disk, and do we need 24hour operation?

Have a gentle think about continuity if the PSU or the motherboard blow. Where will you get a new server to put your disks in? (and how).

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If you have the money 2GB memory wouldn't hurt.

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A UPS might help smooth out lifes little electricity glitches.

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You won't go wrong with a Proliant, equally an IBM X3200 would do and probably the equivalent Dell.

Buying from eBuyer (box shifter) means you have to do all the leg work yourself. If you find a supplier you also get their expertise.

I can guarantee that you will be lucky to manage this for less than £500. If you do set up your own IT business.

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When you do get it sorted please spend a day practising rebuilding the array? Write down how do do it so that in 18 months when a drive fails you don't have to spend £100 on a disk and £300 for a technician to rebuild it, or when you do it yourself you overwrite the data with the blank disk.

RAID controllers are unforgiving things and don't give you a second chance.

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For file/print/email serving you could buy a couple of 2nd hand servers off ebay. A couple of rack mounted Dells/CompaqHPs. The kind of serving you need could easily be done by something a bit older.

wanye

do you *really* need windows on there? you could save a fair whack by using something like ubuntu server edition which could be spent on better hardware. personally, i like the current HP DL360 G5 kit, although if you shop around (ebay?) you may find some older kit that will more than do the job...

you say you want to " run a database intensive CRM server application on it in the future" - what does it run on? MSDE or sql server? have you budgeted for sql licensing? if you were to run linux, you could have an apache/mysql backend and it wouldnt cost a penny. just really consider whather you absolutely *have* to run windows. thats all!


as for email, give google hosted mail a look. just point your domain mx records at google and once its all set up, you have gmail web access to the account. then just enable IMAP on the account, and set your outlook/etc on the local machine accordingly

finally, if youre going to go for an external hard disk backup, get TWO!
use one for daily backups, and another for an offsite copy that you mirror every week/month/whenever. that way if the place burns down, youve got a copy of the data - or get a dvd writer in there as well and take regular backups of the data to go offsite.

HTH

smileyjohn

MS Small Business Server 2003 is nearly £500

sablade

http://www.dabs.com/products/microsoft-windows-small-business-server-2003-r2-standard-edition-w-sp2---1-server--5-cals---oem-4PD2.html?q=small%20business%20server £300

John_Gray

vishy01234 wrote: »

I am looking to purchase a server for my small business and the appropriate software (OS, backup software, etc). I have a very limited budget (I would like to get something below £500, preferably less, but also will spend a bit more if necessary). It must have a Microsoft server OS on it as I am looking to run a database intensive CRM server application on it in the future.

Try multiplying the budget by between two and five! Just for fun, try customising the cheapest Dell server. I'm not sure if the link will work for you, but it's a Dell PowerEdge T100 server - £299 + delivery + VAT on both.
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.66 GHz
1 GB memory
250 GB hard disk
DVD ROM
no display, no mouse, no keyboard
no UPS
no backup
no operating system or backup software

Note that Windows Server 2008, standard edition, with 5 Client Access Licences, is £505. Plus VAT!

superscaper

John_Gray wrote: »

Try multiplying the budget by between two and five! Just for fun, try customising the cheapest Dell server. I'm not sure if the link will work for you, but it's a Dell PowerEdge T100 server - £299 + delivery + VAT on both.
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.66 GHz
1 GB memory
250 GB hard disk
DVD ROM
no display, no mouse, no keyboard
no UPS
no backup
no operating system or backup software

Note that Windows Server 2008, standard edition, with 5 Client Access Licences, is £505. Plus VAT!

I'm pretty sure they'll have bought/built something by now. Not sure why sablade suggested something for a question from over a year ago.

John_Gray

superscaper wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they'll have bought/built something by now. Not sure why sablade suggested something for a question from over a year ago.

If I'd spotted that, I wouldn't have wasted 15 minutes of my life! :rotfl:

superscaper

John_Gray wrote: »

If I'd spotted that, I wouldn't have wasted 15 minutes of my life! :rotfl:

Yeah I wasted about five reading the OP and was going to make a suggestion (as similar to our requirements at work except with more clients) until I only just spotted the date.