New Server

[Psycho Nitro]

We will be using it mainly for MS Small Business Server 2003 apps. Mail server and SQL is the main thing. Other than that it will be running small apps that are written by our programmer.

[Soul]

Originally Posted by Psycho Nitro

We will be using it mainly for MS Small Business Server 2003 apps. Mail server and SQL is the main thing. Other than that it will be running small apps that are written by our programmer.

{Shudders @ MS SBS}

How many users?

Originally Posted by Lopo

You're quite welcome!

ooooh if you guys release a 1U Dual Proc Opteron(Dual Core) box, I will buy one for my house and Virutalize everything except my gaming rig.

Gonna run ESX?

[LoPo]

Originally Posted by Soul

{Shudders @ MS SBS}

How many users?

I second that shudder. However, he said SBS apps, not necessarily SBS server :CROSSES FINGERS:

Originally Posted by Soul

Gonna run ESX?

HECK YES! 3.0 + iSCSI baby!

[Psycho Nitro]

The bosses are into the Small Business Server. We have been using it for some time. They are happy with the apps that come with it and I do think that they will continue to stick with it.

Around 25 users or less.
We currently are running it and have a 25 user limit and works just fine for us. Mainly want to upgrade the PC and the OS. We are still running SBS 4.5 which is still running under NT 4.0
Time to upgrade. =)

I don't know much about linux or anything like that and I do know tha they bosses know nothing about it.

[{OF}Erad]

Originally Posted by Psycho Nitro

The bosses are into the Small Business Server. We have been using it for some time. They are happy with the apps that come with it and I do think that they will continue to stick with it.

Around 25 users or less.
We currently are running it and have a 25 user limit and works just fine for us. Mainly want to upgrade the PC and the OS. We are still running SBS 4.5 which is still running under NT 4.0
Time to upgrade. =)

I don't know much about linux or anything like that and I do know tha they bosses know nothing about it.

Ok, 25 users, more or less.
A) Do you consider the server to be
1) Mission Critical, as in, you can't live without it
2) It can be down for 4 to 8 hours
3) It can be down for weeks

B) Ask your boss how much money the business would lose per hour if the server were down. This includes salaries of those who are not able to do their jobs because the server is down.

C) You will need to upgrade to SBS2003 because 4.5 will not have drivers for today's hardware (CPU, Chipset and more)

D) How much storage per user will be kept on the server, to include Mail boxes, PSTs and more.

E) What are the Apps your developer is planning to run on the server? Are they Databases or...?

[Psycho Nitro]

A) The server is basically can't live with but I have machines I can put the backups on to run if server dies. Plus planning on doing raid 1.

B) I will have to ask him that in a bit. He is busy right now.

C) We are already planning on upgrading to SBS2003.

D) I guess the avg storage for mail would be around 200-300 MB in size. Just data storage for programs that are stored on the server for workstations to run is around 40-60GB in size. Also SQL databases. Not sure on sizes there.

E) A couple of them are programs that are responding to requests from the internet. We will have 2-4 programs that store data in SQL or Jet Database running also.

Currently we only have 9 people working here. That raises sometimes but in the last couple years is has been no more than 12 people. It may go up to 16-18 in the next year but not sure. The machines that we have built for servers have not had problems with them except minor ones like power supply. So he has always been the kind to put the PC's together in house. He used to know computer parts but has been away from it for a while. OK about 8 years ago he knew computers very well.

We have a couple machines here that are running as testing machines/servers. We always have the possibility to put data there if all else fails.

Thanks for the help all.

[{OF}Erad]

Psycho, the Power Supply is the part that dies the most so a server with Redundant Power Supplies is important. Having Redundant Hot Plug Power supplies is a good idea to help eliminate down time. Fans go too, so redundant Fans is a great idea. A single Raid 1 is good, but for performance, it is best to have a RAID 1 set for the OS and Apps, and then another RAID 1, 1+0 or Raid 5 or 6 (ADG) set for the Data, and if you can afford it, a 3rd Raid 1 set just for the Log Files for SQL and Exchange. And a 4th Raid 0 set just for Disk-2-Disk Back Ups is the ultimate setup. But that gets expensive. Stay away form SATA for a Mission Critical Server. Best to use SAS or SCSI. Looking at your requirements, I would suggest a ProLiant ML370 G4 or a ML350 G4p if you can't wait a few weeks for the G5's to be announced. We can talk more if needed. Just PM me.