help with servers?

TEMPLAR KNIGHT

Hi everyone I am doing a project for college where I am purchasing all the IT hardware and software needed to run the business but I am having a problem with the servers I have been on the Dell website and they all require that you customise your own server and I keep getting errors, so is there anyway websites where you can just buy a server and not have to customise it yourself? thanks for reading!

Tomtata

TEMPLAR KNIGHT wrote: »

so is there anyway websites where you can just buy a server and not have to customise it yourself?

Servers are customisable because they can scale for many different scenarios.

If you explain your business scenario I’m sure we can put together a spec for you. Buying a server without consideration for what it will be doing is like buying a car when you need a tank.

TEMPLAR KNIGHT

Tomtata wrote: »

Servers are customisable because they can scale for many different scenarios.

If you explain your business scenario I’m sure we can put together a spec for you. Buying a server without consideration for what it will be doing is like buying a car when you need a tank.

thanks for the reply, well its for an accounting an auditing firm starting off with 25 employees(10 based permanently at the office and 15 on the road) So I have 10 desktops at the office but this server needs to hold all employee info and e-mails and stuff. But we have to choose a server which will accomadate employee growth to 60 employees?

Tomtata

For software I'd go with Windows Server 2008 R2 Small Business Std Edition.

For the Server a Dell R515 would be perfect. Loads of room to expand in the future if needed.

Spec:

tech

you might be using a SQL based app with your accounts package, so it would be worth going for SBS Premium, this also includes a licence for Server 2008 standard so you can pop SQL onto a member server

BoB_BoT

Tomtata wrote: »

For software I'd go with Windows Server 2008 R2 Small Business Std Edition.

For the Server a Dell R515 would be perfect. Loads of room to expand in the future if needed.

Spec:

I only see 5 cals with that

If you weren't using exchange for the mail solution you could easily go down the linux route.

Tomtata

Yeah I didn’t want to delve too much into the software - Loads of options but we'll be here all day. OP if you want any recommendations on software let us know.

tech

its like any thing, software costs an arm and a leg, the hardware is the cheapest always!!!

BoB_BoT

as said, the hardware is the cheapest of the setup. You start bundling on licenses for small business server, exchange, anti-virus, backup (be it tape or online remote) it adds up very quickly. Well it does when you throw on the CALS for 25 users :P

longshotvalue

I would not use sbs 2008 , its better to use the downgrade option and go for 2003 sbs instead, its much quicker and uses way less resources, and imo is far more suitable for a small business..

For SQL its almost certainly better to get an additional server and setup as a member server with sql installed. This server does not need to be too big, and there are lods of good value options out there like HP ML110 G6 or something similiar..

Just one thing never buy a server from the dell website, youll find if you ring them it can work out cheaper, especially for extras..

Boskonay

Get a hosted / cloud server solution and dont worry about buying kit, powering it, maintaining it, the road warriors not having access, etc, etc.... Typically works out much cheaper over the medium term too...

Captain Commie

Boskonay wrote: »

Get a hosted / cloud server solution and dont worry about buying kit, powering it, maintaining it, the road warriors not having access, etc, etc.... Typically works out much cheaper over the medium term too...

at the cost of performance and also maybe security depending on how they plan to access it and what way their software works.

If they go down that route then they also need to think about file security and a central file store

Another option may be to virtualise the entire server environment on a more powerfull server, that way you can scale to your requirements with as little effort as a reboot.

For the road users i would look at using something along the lines of citrix xen server, means that laptops can be locked down to only allow access to the xen server, total security as nothing will be stored locally, although you have the issue that users must always be online

TEMPLAR KNIGHT

Tomtata wrote: »

Yeah I didn’t want to delve too much into the software - Loads of options but we'll be here all day. OP if you want any recommendations on software let us know.

Would this set up be just for the intial 25 employees or would it handle the predicted 60 in the future? thanks again