It's been quite a while since I've been here so please forgive me if I'm not posting in the right place/using correct formatting/etc. I need some advice on building a cheap but reasonably powerful small business server. OS is no problem (dreamspark is an amazing resource!) but hardware is a much greyer area. I've done a few desktop builds for CAD and gaming but have never tried a server. Budget for hardware is around £1000. The system will mainly be a data server for company documents/spreadsheets but will also need to be able to handle (deliver to workstation and save from workstation reasonably quickly) quite large CAD files. Just in case it means anything to anyone, the package is Fusion Design (google Planit Fusion, 1st link). As, I said, I have no clue what I'm doing here (aside from probably an Xeon) so debate (or argue, take your pick) away!
How many users? How much data do you have? Last server build I did for a 7 user customer was around £8k
8k is not a bad price, for a server with all the bells and whistles, raid controllers, plenty of ram, a decent processor (xeons), quality sas drives etc etc, not to mention the version of server os your using.
Don't need anthing too fancy. There are 4 users, only two of which use the CAD package. It's not going to see huge use - I think 4/6 GB (depending on DDR2/3 and motherboard) will be enough RAM... Already got a UPS unit so don't need to worry about that. HDDs: a pair of 500GB in RAID 1 + removable backup disk (taken from current system) should be fine. This machine won't be doing much work itself (it's essentially an email/data server) - the client machines do most it.
I think you underestimate how much business e-mail/data use impacts a server So many times I've heard "it's only an e-mail/file server", and then they start it off and then wonder why they're constantly having to fix things or check things over And then they run back to me and ask for a proper consultancy Edit: Oh, and redundant PSU doesn't mean a UPS
also in terms of data transfer, what is your network like? that will be the main constraint in data transfer
OK, time to rein this back in. I've just double checked the existing system which is running Windows Server 2003 with 2GB of RAM on a Xeon 5110. There is nothing wrong with the current system - the only reason for upgrading is modernisation and a bit of future-proofing (the client machines are going to Windows 7, some RAM upgrades and a new GPU for one of them). The business has already looked at an off the shelf HP system for about £1300 that includes a dual core Xeon, 4GB of RAM and basic storage. The idea is to undercut that for similar performance if at all possible. The internal network is all ethernet over distances of not more than 8 metres or so. Sorry if I was misleading or unclear before.
The thing is if you buy an off the shelf system from a major manufacturer, most of the added cost over the component purchase charges is for warranty and service. Some manufacturer's do same business day on site service with FRU's.. As soon as you do a few of those to your own system you go way over and above the original OEM price! Server's are the only systems I'd reccomend going to an OEM.. private pc's, go hard, build your own, but the service offered by server OEM's is very useful.
But anywho here's a quick scan build without OS: (ASUS because all my ASUS server boards have been absoultely awesome.. they are better made/designed than even TYAN!)
personally I do not like the look of that psu, corsair dont want to send them to reviewers and if it goes wrong, bye bye server?
Thanks very much. Sorry for the slow acknkowledgement of you help. That's pretty much a perfect spec: slightly more powerful than the HP already looked at and £500 cheaper (business gets VAT back). I'll probably use a different PSU but as said, that's close to perfect. Thanks again.
