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Good small business server?

6

66FMC

Senior member
My friends works for a small civil engineering company with roughly 10 people and possibly up to 15 in the future and they are having serious networking problems. They have CAD Drafters trying to print to the plotter, and I hear it is taking them up to 4 hours. My friend (neighbor actually) says he has dealt with these plotters before at a different company, and it never took nearly this long. He said it would be printing by the time he hit print and walked to the plotter. Network transfer speeds are really slow and they crash pretty open.

Their server is really old. I've heard several things, 233, dual processor, but at any rate, it's old. I'm guessing that's the problem right there, and if it isn't, it's not worth bothering with the old server anyway. Apparently the owner has no problem buying a new one, and has already looked into a Dell.

So what would be a good server for a small business? Should they go with a dual processor? They want RAID (mirrored) to back up their data. I would just build a system much like mine (see sig), and even though I've had no stability issues with an AMD cpu and ASUS motherboard, I think Id probably go with Intel cause it has to be rock solid. My only problem with AMD is their CPUs run so hot compared to Intel.

SCSI, SATA, or ATA/133? It is my personal opinion that hard drivers are the biggest bottle neck on any system with new/latest hardware. SCSI can get expensive very fast, especially with a RAID card. Is it worth it for a small company? Will a RAID (mirror) slow down the performance? Should they just use a single hard drive and tape back up?

What type or router/switch/hub should they go with? What OS? Is Windows XP Professional good for a server? They're not going to want to spend the dough on Windows Server 2003, and Id rather not deal with Win2k at all.

I'm seriously thinking about going in and building them a new server. I'm very confident in doing that, but all the systems I've built have been for myself or someone I know on a personal level. I've never had to worry about down time for a business and I wouldn't want them to have any problems.

I'm sure an Intel 2.4 CPU, 512MB memory, IDE RAID, and so on would be fine, but I tend to base the systems performance to mine, so Id rather go all out with a Intel 2.8 or 3.0C CPU, 512MB+ memory, SCSI RAID and so on. I don't think the owner would have a problem with a 2-3k budget on a system.

What would you guys do for a small business server?
 
Dell. A slower dual xeon (even p3 xeons) would work well since the plotter might be tying up one CPU at least sometimes, but with HT I suppose a P4 C would work as well. Servers love RAM so 512 or 1 GB. For just files and printing a 2.6C with 1 GB probably makes more sense than a 3.0 with 512 MB.

tape drive backup.

SCSI is good for reliability (notice the 5-year warranty on SCSI drives) but 2 x IDE in RAID-1 mirror should be about as relaible and much cheaper for decent capacity.

> It is my personal opinion that hard drivers are the biggest bottle neck on any system with new/latest hardware
True for a database server under heavy load or a desktop. Not usually true for a file & print server. The network card(s) and printer(s) are the bottleneck. Each 10/100 nic is serving maybe 10 MB/s of traffic compared to the 30+ MB/s of sustained throughput from a single IDE drive.

You might also check the network to see if adding switches in place of any hubs might help separate traffic.

 
I installed a server for the buisness I work at just about a year ago, that's about the same size as the one you're describing.

What you didn't mention was what the server will be used for. Are you going to run Exchange, SQL, anything of that nature? Or is it just a file/print server?

I don't understand not wanting to use 2000. I trust it and use it on all the computers at work (except 1 or 2 XP boxes) and I definitely wouldn't go less than 2000 on the server. It's stable, it's not that hard to use, and it's powerful enough for a small buisness server for sure. In fact, I have Windows 2000 small buisness edition on the server here.

I would definitely say no less than 1 GB of RAM. The last thing you want is your server to be short there, and 512 doesn't even cut it on desktops always now. Just remember, there is no overkill in computers. Eventually whatever you make will be obsolete. Try to make it last as long as you can.

2 processors never hurt, especially if you plan on using it for more than a file server. If that's all it will be, it's not as big of a deal.

Lastly - don't worry about a router, except as a connection from the internet to your LAN. And make darn sure you have a switch if the network is moving slowly. You don't need colliding packets or 100Mbits shared between all the computers. Get a switch. We have a D-link one that works wonderfully.

Good luck.
 
what is it going to be used for other than printing?

you should look at the status of the network cabling, NIC's, and the hub/switch that they use also.
if you do this for them you'll be responsible for everything, so make sure it meets your standards.
 
I very much doubt that the server's performance is causing the problem - it sounds like something is majorly wrong with the network or software configuration. I mean, think about this logically - how much CPU horsepower could it possibly take to run a plotter? At any rate, if I were designing a small business server I'd see what their performance requirements are exactly and build it a bit above them... since you obviously have no clue, that'll be a little difficult. I guess in this case just build them a 3000 dollar Xeon server with RAID 5 if they'll pay for it, it least it'll be fun to work with that caliber of hardware...

No, no, better yet, have them get a Dell. Because you know you'll be in for a major headache when you install their new uber-box and their plotter still takes four hours to print...
 
When we had network problems at my work even after we upgraded the computers it was still very slow. The Problem i found put was that the office was running an 8 port 10baseT Hub. The network was crashing evey few min. whenever we tried to copy something. And we just had 5 computer on the Hub. I quicky got us a switch. Make sure that they are running a switch instead of a hub. A hub with ten people can cause major slow downs. BTW our server is a 1.3 AMD Duran and a WD 120GB harddrive running Win2k.
 
Dual 233's (most likely P2's) for a CAD print server is taken 4 hours? Unless its really really lacking in memory, I highly doubt the problem is in the server itself. They should look into other problems, ranging from software configuration to network. For high traffic networks, I would suggest a *name* brand *corporate* level switch (not linksys, netgear, d-link blah blah).

Otherwise if it really is the server's fault, you should be able to see dell hot deals popping up now and then in the server depertment. 600SC (single proc P4) or 1600SC (dual Xeon) are all good, although you might want to consider buying the RAID stuff seperately, might even want to go SCSI.
 
What are they going to use this server for? File/Print, email, databases? Hard to make any recommendations without the specifics of what they are doing.

When it comes to a server for a company I don't work at I always go with HP/Dell. One word. Warranty! Something breaks give them the number and they can call and get a replacement the next day. Beats having to wait for me to call or bring a part out to them.

As far as specs go I always go with a RAID 5 vs RAID 1. Or if you get HP go with ADG (basically RAID 5 but can handle more then 1 drive failing at once). I feel safer with that. Especially for a file server. Can't really recommend anything else without knowing what they are gonna do on it?

As far as taking 4 hours to do a plot? There is no way the server is causing those problems. A Dual PII 233 can handle print jobs and files for over a 100 people easily. I would look into a hub/switch problem before looking at the server. We had a hub at work that would cause print jobs to hang up unless it was powered off and back on. Could be something similiar.

What OS? Is Windows XP Professional good for a server? They're not going to want to spend the dough on Windows Server 2003, and Id rather not deal with Win2k at all.
Click to expand...
Windows XP has a built-in 5 connection limit. If there is 10 people in the office they will run into that all day long. Tell them to break down and get Win2k or Win2k3 Server. Why not mess with Win2k? It's rock solid stable and easy to use.
 
Buy a Dell w/ raid 5 .

Benefits : Support, Warranty.

Dell sells some single P4 processors systems.

Rec. Configuration: P4 2.8 w/ 1gig, raid 5 : 6 - 36g 10k drives.

Don't forget a tape drive.

Regards,
Jose
 
I would also have a look into the general network topography. A Plotter does not need that much horsepower to run, my school runs a plotter off a really old HP - Alpha Workstation that manages access from 20 Workstationd and it goes really well. I just bet there is a hub lurking somewhere in that office! Look into a going to a Businees level switch (like dexvx said): Intel, 3Com, HP and Extreme Networks are my favorites. A 24 port model should be enough in that environment. You really want a pure commercial level switch to do the job and the companies I listed are IMO the best for this kind of work.

I am pretty partial to HP switches, this one should do the job for you nicely:
HP ProCurve 2124 unmanaged 24port 10/100 switch

If after you've done the network it is still slow, upgrade the server to a Dell as suggested, but I really think that a Hub is causing the problems. BTW: To run a small business Windows server at the moment, W2KServer is the way to go, FORGET XP (connection limits, basically the same as W2K anyway with a ton of optical bells and whistles that have no business on a server IMO)! Server2003 is a possibility but you could probably get a better deal on W2K and it would still be enough for running a small business.
 
First off, I would recommending getting them the Dell. I support business servers for a living, so I know that you'll want to avoid it if possible 🙂

If you decide to build them a server, make sure that you have a up front support agreement with your customer for hardware and software problems. You don't want to be stuck with supporting this thing for free when someone does something stupid and breaks it! Trust me, even if you have friends and relatives get mad when their computer breaks, you'll still have no idea how irate business customers get when they are losing $$$ for every hour their server is down!

That said, I would recommend getting or building them a system with:

Dual Intel Zeon or Athlon MP processors
1 GB of ECC RAM
Gigabit Ethernet <-- This depends on their network configuration, of course. If they are still using 10 Mbit Ethernet in their office, recommend a network upgrade.
Hot-swappable SCSI RAID-5 storage
Tape backup drive
Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4 and all the other HotFixes <--- If you have more than 5 users connecting to this server, you cannot legally use Windows XP Pro on it! If you're looking for a cheaper solution, give Linux or FreeBSD a try.

Redundant Power Supplies and a UPS wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
 
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