Recommended Hardware for a Network Server?

[Rhombuss]

I'm going to need a network server comp for a small business of roughly 10 active computers. It's mostly going to act as a storage database, network printing, transferring large CAD files, typical internet stuff - and possibly acting as a DNS server through DSL.

There's no real "budget", but I don't want to get something that's of no real use to me. RAID mirror is a must for backing up data.

Any recommendations on hardware? Pretty much just need CPU, motherboard, and RAM - everything else isn't of much consequence for a server environment. Oh, and the OS too - would Windows 2000 suffice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[oldman420]

http://www.amdboard.com/tyan_s2880_opteron_board.html
this is the board i would get if i were building a server it will run with one or 2 64 bit cpus, start with one and scale up if you need to, if you get the optional scsi then theres your storage solution also. raid will work great also with hot swappable sata drives also.
as for ram i would consider no other than muskin regestered dimms http://www.mushkin.com/epages/Mushkin.storefront/40cb0704003439d42740c0a801020576/Product/View/991127
and for a truly set it up and forget it server environment use linux this is a server so in reality you dont even need a gui interface a command line one is best.
i hope this is helpfull

 

[Ryoga]

For motherboard and CPU, I would suggest dual Xeons. Your server will be acting as a domain controller, a file server, a print server, a gateway, and (possibly) an Internet DNS server. You may eventually want to even have RRAS services or IIS. Your motherboard should definately have an Intel chipset, and should preferably be an Intel brand. Those are the highest stability setups IMX. Your RAM should, of course, be both registered and ECC (check the motherboards to ensure they support both).

Any of these should be good motherboard choices, although they only support DDR266/PC2100 RAM (because, well, that's all a FSB of 533 can handle). More RAM is more better for servers, however SBS Server 2k3, Server 2k3, and server 2k only support up to 4GB.

If you're planning a file server for use of large CAD files, I'd suggest a PCI-X SCSI-based RAID 5 solution.

Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Small Business Server should both be good choices.

I'd also recommend buying the smallest, ugliest monitor possible, since that will discourage people from using it as a workstation.

 

[Rhombuss]

Thanks for the suggestions guys...

I was thinking of going dual Xeon, but I don't think the needs of this server require such a setup. Would an Athlon 64 3000+ be enough just to run what I need? Pretty sure I'll be going IDE RAID, SCSI RAID isn't necessary here either. File transfers don't have to be ultra fast, and they're running through a 100TX network anyway, so I doubt it would make much difference.

This is the setup I was thinking of getting initially:

Athlon 64 3000+
Gigabyte GA-K8N
1GB DDR ECC RAM
2 x 200GB HDD in Mirror RAID

I haven't been keeping up with server hardware for over a year - am I really far off from what I should get?

 

[Rhombuss]

Any more suggestions?

 

[mechBgon]

If they're moving large files around a lot, you might be justified in moving to a serious high-I/O setup like a dual-port PCI-X NIC on a proper server board, with a decent all-gigabit switch and gigabit cards in the PCs. Don't forget a good UPS with auto-shutdown software and a tape-backup drive, and I'd go SCSI RAID1 too if the data is valuable to their operation. Just my 2¢ worth, and I can post more-specific items if you're interested in that level of hardware.

Otherwise, SCSI RAID1 with a couple of 10k drives on an LSI Logic 21320R and regular 32-bit PCI gigabit with a budget all-gigabit switch could still be a good compromise for them. A Tyan Tiger K8S in an Antec SLK3700AMB with an Opteron 140 and a couple of R-ECC PC3200 modules, an extra 120mm fan on the hard-drive rack, some Netgear or Intel PCI gigaNICs, there you go.

 

[Ryoga]

I'd still be leery of any AMD-based platform. Has nothing to do with a dislike of AMD. I'm just wholly unimpressed with VIA and nVidia chipsets (for things other than games).

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Ryoga
I'd still be leery of any AMD-based platform. Has nothing to do with a dislike of AMD. I'm just wholly unimpressed with VIA and nVidia chipsets (for things other than games).

A Xeon platform is a possibility, haven't heard back from him to see what he prefers. FYI, the Tyan Thunder and Tiger server boards have zero VIA or nVidia parts on them. They're AMD-on-AMD and you are viewing this Forum thanks to a quad-Opteron with 8GB of RAM 🙂

 

[Ryoga]

Ah, see that I didn't know. That makes me less inclined to dismiss an AMD server, then.

 

[Rhombuss]

I'm usually an Intel guy - I've built a ton of Thoroughbred and Barton systems these past 2 years for other people, but I usually stick to Intel myself. I was looking primarily at the Athlon 64 because it's comparably priced to the Xeons (albeit slightly cheaper) and the possibility of using it as a desktop/workstation system if setting up their network doesn't pan out. This isn't anything mission-critical, so I don't think dual Xeons, Opterons, PCI-X RAID or Gigabit ethernet is really necessary.

 

[Ryoga]

Oh, I see. Hm. Again, I'm not too keen on AMD64's for applications other than gaming. I don't trust VIA and nVidia chipsets like I do Intel chipsets -- to the best of my knowledge AMD only makes Opteron chipsets, but I just learned that myself -- and the P4 has shown better performance in office applications than the AMD64.

 

[mechBgon]

Ok, gotcha. I use my A64 3000+ in a sort of combo workstation/server role at work and it's fairly good except I want better network performance (gonna get an Asus K8N-E Deluxe when they come out, I think... native Hypertransport-based gigabit = fast).

I did a little benchmark of a Dell 1600SC (Hyperthreading Xeon 2.4B, 1GB dual-channel DDR333, SCSI RAID1 on 64-bit PCI-X cacheing SCSI RAID card w/32MB cache) against my Athlon64 3000+ with 1GB of DDR400 and plain SCSI on a basic 32-bit SCSI card. The benchmark was an antivirus scan of an Office2000 Administrative Installation Point, which has some fairly "chewy" files in it.

The Athlon64 completed it in a little more than half the time it took the Xeon (6m 32sec versus 11m 53sec). The A64 3000+ has only half the cache of an Opteron and one memory controller (duh), so that was a pretty impressive result, not that I expected it to lose the race. I found the result particularly interesting because it's a task that each of the two computers is going to be doing every day, in addition to real-time antivirus scanning of course.

If you do pursue the AMD64 route, I think Ryoga is right, you should go with Registered ECC memory and that means an Opteron in an Opteron board. For stability, but also for expandability. Maybe an Opteron 142 on a Tiger K8WS or an Opteron 242 on a dual-ready Tiger K8W, both of which feature AGP slots and are AMD-on-AMD. Add a couple of 512MB R-ECC PC3200 Corsair modules and you have a sort of budget workstation/server jobbie with onboard 32-bit Intel gigaNIC, and you can expand it with another pair of 512MB, 1GB or 2GB modules if the need arises in either the workstation or server role.