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Budget Backup Server

D

denwei

Junior Member
Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has a tried and tested custom build budget backup server to be able to run Microsoft DPM 2012 and hold a minimum of 8x SATA drives.

I've just taken over as Network manager of a secondary school and the current backup system seems to be on its last legs. When I cracked it open to figure out what the matter was I was shocked to find out that it was just a customised desktop computer.

As our budget is microscopic maybe less than £1500 at a push so I'll be recycling my current HDD's.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

Thanks
 
I would probably tell you to build a customized desktop computer as a replacement. (See specs in my sig.)

How many HDDs and what capacity do you have already? How old are they? (There should be a manufacturing date on them.)

How many clients do you have? Why Windows Server? How are you backing up the clients? (Just data/user directories or are you copying system images?) Do you use shared/network home folders or local file storage?
 
I wouldn't recommend building a custom built server for a school. Instead, I'd buy an entry level server from the likes of HP or Dell with a warranty and an on-site support contract. That way, they're not blaming your sorry ass for hardware issues when the RAID controller eventually fails and system is down for a few days while you restore it from backup. 🙂

I'd think twice about recycling those old hard drives as well, for the same reason mentioned above. You're a sysadmin now... so you need to learn to cover your ass when things go wrong.

I'm sure that you could get something along the lines of a Dell PowerEdge T320 in that price range with the 8 drive bay upgrade.
 
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How much data now, and how much will it grow? For 1500, you might be able to spec/assemble a decent low-end server with fewer drives, assuming you can get really cheap OS access (and by, "assemble," I mean buy it without drives, then buy RAID SATA drives yourself, because drives from the big vendors are often insanely costly, relative to small organizations' needs, and WD and Seagate both have good warranty service, IME, at least here in the U.S.).
 
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