Help with server purchase?

[alkalinetaupehat]

So an office I work with is looking to get a server which will host an accounting database and some user files. Since I'm the handyman when it comes to computers, they looked to me for some advice. I'm going to be upfront and say I'm a little out of my area of expertise here, so I've got a couple questions.

1) How do CAL's work (User and Device)? We have 15 people who will push and pull their powerpoints, etc. from the server and maybe 5 who will interface with the accounting database. Individuals will have their own private shares. Do we really need to spring for at least 15-CALs?

2) Who should I look to be buying a server from? Right now I'm looking through the options at Dell's website, but I've heard that HP makes fairly good servers.

I also think I have a rough idea of what the server's specs should be, any comments on it are appreciated:

[+$250] Xeon® E5520, 2.26Ghz, 8M Cache, Turbo, HT
[+$210] 8GB Memory (2x4GB), 1066MHz Dual Ranked RDIMMs
[+$799] Windows Server 2008 R2, Standard Edition, Includes 5 CALs
[+$0] RAID 1 for PERC S100
[+$558] (2) 500GB 7.2k RPM SATA HDDs
[+$0] Power Supply, Non-Redundant, 525W
[+$0] Two onboard gigabit NICs
[+$599] 15-pack of Windows® Server 2008 Device CALs (Least expensive option which meets needs)
[+$30] DVD-RW Drive (SATA)
[+$569] Dell UPS, Tower, 1000W, 120V,with 5-15P to C13

It's a tower server and ~$3600 as configured. If we honestly need to spend that much for the server, then fine. Clarification is welcomed.

Taupe_Hat

P.S. There is another server at another location which we will be doing nightly cross-backups with as a data security strategy. We may invest in external HDDs for additional protection in the future.

 

[theevilsharpie]

1. A user CAL licenses a single user, which is transferable between multiple computers (e.g. a developer with multiple test computers). A device CAL licenses a single computer, which is transferable between multiple users (e.g. a sales clerk's kiosk).

You can mix and match, but if you're not sure which to get, I'd go with device CALs.

2. Dell PowerEdge and HP ProLiant are solid server lines. IMO HP ProLiant 3xx series servers are easier to deploy and maintain (especially for novices), but they're usually slightly more expensive than a comparable Dell model.

$3,600 is too much for a 20-user server unless you have unusually demanding computing requirements.

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

I edited the post to show how the different parts affected pricing, I suppose we could pare down the CPU and RAM.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Your prices add to to slightly over $3,000. What makes up the remaining $600?

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

The remaining $600 was base cost.

 

[promposive]

You could cut several hundred off the price by buying the hard drives from newegg or some other 3rd party site, and you could get larger drives. You should be able to get 2 1tb drives for less than $200 or 2 500gb drives for less than $150.
You may have to still pay for 1 drive just get whatever is the cheapest or comes in the base cost.

 

[mooseracing]

Do not put the OS on a RAID 1 of 500GB drives. Buy from Dell 2 120's or so for the OS and a second set of drives for whatever else.

IT WILL make your life easier down the road. If you aren't worried about next day parts warranty, then I would go bare minimum on the server.

I would also check else where on Software prices. Also try and work Dell. My last server purchase about a year ago was just under 4K for a 3Ghz quad, 8GB RAM, 2x136GB SAS, 2x300GB SAS, Perc 6, Dual PSU's, CD/DVD drive, no O/S.

 

[RebateMonger]

Do not put the OS on a RAID 1 of 500GB drives. Buy from Dell 2 120's or so for the OS and a second set of drives for whatever else.

I tend to agree with that suggestion.

I'm buying a new Dell server for a client and ended up going with a pair of RAID 1 160 GB drives for the OS. Then I bought two WDC RE3 320 GB drives from Newegg that I'll install as RAID 1 for their data volume. For the same price as the pair of Dell 500 GB disks, you get a second set of spindles (which will speed up database operation, for instance) and an OS volume that's faster to image and restore.

Personally, I wouldn't spend $570 for a UPS for a single server. Unless you need networking-capable UPSes or something else special, I'd go for a $100-$200 UPS from APC or Belkin or similar.

Unless you have other Windows Server licenses, or those fifteen or twenty users share computers, then, yes, you need 5+15 User CALs. For a full analysis of licensing needs, you'd need to describe any other Windows Servers or Server CALs that you already own and how many users and computers you have.

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

I tend to agree with that suggestion.

I'm buying a new Dell server for a client and ended up going with a pair of RAID 1 160 GB drives for the OS. Then I bought two WDC RE3 320 GB drives from Newegg that I'll install as RAID 1 for their data volume. For the same price as the pair of Dell 500 GB disks, you get a second set of spindles (which will speed up database operation, for instance) and an OS volume that's faster to image and restore.

Personally, I wouldn't spend $570 for a UPS for a single server. Unless you need networking-capable UPSes or something else special, I'd go for a $100-$200 UPS from APC or Belkin or similar.

Unless you have other Windows Server licenses, or those fifteen or twenty users share computers, then, yes, you need 5+15 User CALs. For a full analysis of licensing needs, you'd need to describe any other Windows Servers or Server CALs that you already own and how many users and computers you have.

Thanks for the advice, this is the office's first server and the users do not share computers, so I suppose we're looking at the 5+15 CALs. We also decided to work with CDW on picking an HP server since that would result in a tax-free sale and some other bits. I feel comfortable enough at this point with the server purchase that we should be good to go.

Thank you everyone for your help and experience.