Help with server specs - Intel

[KittyCat]

Hi,
Going to replace a server for 12 to 15 workstations. The load is mostly
spreadsheet, word processing w/graphics, and two programs as follows:
First, an accounting package written in Cobol that will not be compatible
with Win2K for maybe 7 months and so am stuck with Win_NT, and the second
is a program that is a Time Clock program that is Windows over Dos based and
is currently functioning on our Win_NT server.

I have to stay within Microsoft and Intel options ( note sadly ).
My Questions:

A PIII 1ghz system was proposed. Why not a P4?
Or why not a Xenon?

What about DDR memory? And is 512KB RAM enough?

Suggested 3 hard drives w/Raid 5 - I may concur here.

Dual processors - Is it overkill for this little network even if the
software for Win2K is written?

What chipset for this Intel single proc system?

Thanks Kurt,

Server recomendations for this network w/ADSL access for all
would be helpfull.

 

[guzik]

You didn't specify your budget.
Consider dual Tuallatin PIII ($440 for a pair of 1.13GHz/512kB cache or $520 for a pair of 1.26GHz)
mobo with ServerWorks HE-SL chipset (e.g. SuperMicro P3TDER or Tyan Thunder HE-sl, $450+) extremely stable, uses interleaved ECC SDRAM up to 4GB/s from four-way interleaved PC133 SDRAM. Equipped with two 64bit/66MHz buses giving you over 1GB/s available bandwith for 1Gb LAN and sh*tload of SCSI drives.
If money is no problem go for Xeons and i860.
P4 is not CPU for server.
Dual is necessary if you want to attach 12-15 workstations drawing db and graphic files.
If you put hardware RAID controller 512MB can be barely enough, i'd suggest to install at least 1GB. RAM is cheap when you compare to what you're going to spend for storage (You don't plan to run IDE array, do you?).

 

[neuralfx]

that is entirely overkill to be honest, the p3 1gig, 512 .. you could get a p4, but why, the p3 will be fine.. you could get by with an 810 chipset really, SDR is fine .. even ide raid5 would be fine .. at one of my jobs, i work at a school that has a dell poweredge 1300 .. that serves about 15 win2k clients, runs course software/active directory/dns/dhcp/nat .. im sure its getting taxed more than the server your going to have is .. and its specs are
p3 600
640mb pc100
9gb atlas 10k ( ide would have worked just as well in this situation)
2 20gb wd's
ati rage video ..

yes this is a pretty slow machine, but just as an example, it serves its purpose .. well hope this helps .. good luck ..
-neural

[edit] guzik, that would be a nice server, but .. really its beyond overkill for this, dual is not needed for this, its not exactly a sql db with 10,000 entries, and 5,000 users ..but ya i would take that system heh [/edit]

 

[guzik]

You have good points neuralfx. I guess we would have to know more about kittycat's network. I just spoke from my own experience. I have just 4 workstations attached to a single PIII/1GHz (i820) with 512MB RDRAM and RAID 5 of SCSI160 drives and it often chokes (doesn't crush, just gets really slow). I run 2k server and keep it up for months. My problem could be that it handles Internet, RAID is software based, and almost all files are stored on server drives, being read and written all the time thru 100mbit LAN. CPU usage runs @100% quite often. Unfortunately don't have a budget for upgrade for next 12 months.

 

[KittyCat]

Thanks all,
My budget is 8G with the server probably 3.5G plus install. The
extra money is for some workstations and periferials.
I agree that dual CPU is not needed, but more RAM is always
welcome. Since I am stuck with Win_NT as per the accounting software,
and Intel with the service company, I guess a P3 @ 1 gb will suffice,
although it seems that its yesterdays system.

 

[arcenite]

im sure you could build a really good low end server for under a grand that will serve it's purposes and could save that money for something else