• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Server Questions

M

Meno2012

Junior Member
I have recently been asked to help develop a small business, and one of the tasks I have been given is to research and find solutions for the communication side of the business.

In short, I need to find a server solution to host e-mail, file sharing, a single company website, and to connect up to twenty people on the network. If it helps, I will be using a cable line for internet access, as well as VoIP for the call center.

What type of server would you recommend? A tower type server or rack mount server? I kind of need an explanation in the differences, and the advantages of each. I am looking to save as much money as possible, but I also want this solution to last awhile. If someone could post a spec list of what they would recommend, that would help. I build gaming PC?s for fun, so I have no problem building a server, if someone can suggest what would be a good hardware setup.

In addition, for running an e-mail server, file sharing, a website, etc. what software packages would be best? I have looked into both Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Management, and Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 Premium Edition, and they look like they would both do the trick. Would it be a better to use another software package and why? I have heard that Apache is the best way to go for websites. If I went the route of using Apache as the website solution, would I need another server to run it on, or could I use the same server? I?m clueless, sadly, when it comes to servers.

Also, I am not that knowledgeable with Linux, and its many distros, but I?m willing to learn more if a Linux solution would be better. If a Windows solution would work, that would be best, but again I just want expert advice, and am willing to try what is recommended.

Thanks for any advice you can provide! 😉

RMK
 
First off, I would run a website and email using a shared server with webhosting. Go to http://www.webhostingtalk.com for information on that.

The mounting options are your choice, whatever fits what you are doing. To save money go with a tower server. Do not build the server, go buy a Dell, etc.
 
Here is my opinion for the cheapest /most reliable / least waste of time , solution

Equipment to buy:

-22-42u Rack that can accompany Dell servers (They run deeper)

-Dell Poweredge 1650 servers , as many as needed. Building isnt worth it as these are coming off lease and can be had on ebay for cheap. They also use DRAC which will allow you to do remote access. Dell open manage is also a great tool to have. So go dell and keep it simple. They are dual p3, but you wont need much power to do what you need. It will be fine.

- Get a good switch. Something like a netgear 24 gigabit switch would be good. Once again, go ebay for this or sign up to be a netgear partner and try to get in on their survey switch promotions. They basically give equipment for free if you do weekly surveys.

-Sign the business up for the Microsoft Action Pack, and use that for in house software. www.partner.microsoft.com.

It wont be easy, and im sure you know that. Go to barnes and noble write down isbn #'s of all teh networking books you find relavent , then go home and buy them on half.com.
 
if in doubt, get a consultant. They may look expensive up front, but the knowledge they have will take you years to touch.
 
Originally posted by: nweaver
if in doubt, get a consultant. They may look expensive up front, but the knowledge they have will take you years to touch.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

That said, I agree with amdskip, go with an external company to host web/mail for you, even business contracts are dirt cheap for those services.
Then buy a proper server(as in Tier1 OEM, HP, IBM, I don't like Dell much, but they're cheap I guess) in the lower end for your intranet needs.

Rack vs Tower...well, rack servers go in 19" racks, towers stand on the floor 😉
If you plan to grow a lot, or hook up lots of other equipment(routers, switches, KVM switch, etc) a rack would be a good option since they save you a LOT of space after a while.
If it's gonna be one of them typical "the office server" servers that does a little of this and that for a small office with little need for expansion, a tower would probably be a better deal, good racks cost as much as a low end server, and besides, if you hope to pack a rack full of 1 or 2u servers(most racks are 42U high for reference) you're gonna need some dedicated cooling for it as well, and that might be going overboard for you.

Of course, you can just buy a rackable server and just place it anywhere it'll fit, it's not like they don't work unless you put them in a rack 😉

Perhaps something like a ProLiant ML150?
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ss...1-241434-241477-241477-f82-435422.html
For rackmounts, DL380's are very good low end servers, and with the G5's out, the G4's are very cheap, and for your needs, a G5 might actually be better 🙂
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ss...1-241434-241475-241475-f79-397634.html

Switches...well, whatever suits your needs, unless you're looking to do something fancy, which it doesn't sound like, pretty much any brand would work.
I wouldn't trust Netgear, DLink, etc with anything critical, but if you can afford a bit of downtime in case it decides to quit on you, they are awfully cheap per port.
 
I will reiterate that you will want to put your website on a 3rd party's server. They have the bandwidth and technical ability to make sure it is up 99.9999999% of the time.

I also backup the idea of buying a mission critical piece of hardware from a company like Dell or HP. Warranties are worth it in the end. When the hardware fails and employee's and left twiddling their thumbs, that 400 bucks you paid to Dell will look like a drop in the bucket.

That doesnt mean you cant have a little fun with non-mission critical stuff.

Exchange for a small business can get a little dicey. If you dont plan on using lots of bandwidth you can get away with a DSL line. Otherwise for a small business a 3rd party exchange host isnt a bad option. They usually run about 10-15 bucks a month per email account.

You would think doing a lot of this stuff yourself is cheaper, but when you factor in the equipment, bandwidth, and software licensing you will be surprised.
 
I agree w/ nweaver. Higher an experienced consultant with solid references. Mistakes now will lead to much larger expenses down the road.

They are going to be able to look at your needs with much greater detail than we ever could and work to create something that best matches your needs.
 
A good consultant will set it up for you and get you up to speed so you can manage it afterwords.
It will cost you a few hundred for the training, but it will be well worth it.
 
Definately do not build your own server. As already said, go with a Dell or HP; it will have hardware failures and the support will be worth it. If an experienced IT person will not be sticking around to admin the setup, you might also consider purchasing Dell's Enterprise Gold Support. They will troubleshoot and fix just about any software running on the Dell hardware.

I would also say, definately go with a rack. The company will expand it's server hardware eventually and towers will just become a cluttered mess. Plus you can rack your router, switches, UPSes, etc in the rack, too.

Thirdly, put one application per server. This is invaluable when it comes to troubleshooting. IE: one server for email, one server for website, one server for Active Directory, one server for file share, etc. To get around buying a bunch of hardware, you can use the free VMWare Server to put multiple virtual servers on one physical server.

As for the software side: Microsoft Small Business Server looks like it would be a good choice for you, since you are way under the 250 user limit. Of course, going with a SAMBA domain controller and eGroupware email server, will be free and give the company unlimited growth, at the expense of being more difficult to set up and administer.

As for the webserver, I would suggest using Joomla to manage the site. Joomla is free (open source) and runs on either IIS with php or Apache with PHP and uses MySQL (which can run on Windows or Linux). Our setup is we have a separate virtual machine running MySQL on linux and another virtual machine running Apache on linux. One advantage of using Apache on linux is you can get automatic updates through the linux distro's package management software (I use yum on CentOS). If using Windows, I would suggest using IIS so you can get automatic updates, but php will be harder to set up on IIS than on Apache.
 
Thanks for all of your help guys! 🙂

I will look for a local consultant, as that sounds like a perfectly feasible idea.

If you all have any other advice, please do not hesitate to let me know!

Have a great weekend,

RMK
 
Just be carefull with finding a consultant. I could give you some horror stories, but I'm sure the consultant-advocates here are getting sick of my consultant stories.
 
Understood! 🙂 I work for a Government Computer Company that designs rugged computers for the military, to Linux based servers, thin clients, etc. I was figuring I would ask someone here before I went outside of the company to find a consultant. I?m trying our IT group first, but then I'll check outside the company if all else fails. Does anyone know any good consultants in the Spokane Washington area haha?

Thanks again for everything guys, it has really helped!!!! 😉

RMK
 
Originally posted by: Meno2012
In addition, for running an e-mail server, file sharing, a website, etc. what software packages would be best? I have looked into both Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Management, and Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 Premium Edition, and they look like they would both do the trick. Would it be a better to use another software package and why? I have heard that Apache is the best way to go for websites. If I went the route of using Apache as the website solution, would I need another server to run it on, or could I use the same server? I?m clueless, sadly, when it comes to servers.
Click to expand...
The MS Office 2003 / Windows Small Business Server 2003 combination works REALLY well. It's also easy to update and maintain, since you can use Microsoft Update to keep everything patched.

There's really nothing wrong with using the built-in IIS for web hosting, if you really need to host in-house. Using IIS over Apache gives you one less application to keep patched. But I recommend using the Premium Version of SBS and configuring ISA 2004 to "publish" (and isolate) your web site from the Internet.
 
I'm suprised we haven't seen an SBS pitch too...Look into MIcrosoft SBS server, as it may have 80-90% of what you need, and will come preinstalled from OEM.


ON the subject of buying a server, I remember when I wasn't an admin thinking "Man, whey do they keep buying boxes, you could build them in house soooo much cheaper and better"

then I became a (sort of) server guy, and have a rack full of OEM servers (with service contracts) sitting in our racks, and won't even listen to the "we should just build them" suggestion. TCO is an important factor in business.
 
Originally posted by: nweaver
I'm suprised we haven't seen an SBS pitch too...Look into MIcrosoft SBS server, as it may have 80-90% of what you need, and will come preinstalled from OEM.


ON the subject of buying a server, I remember when I wasn't an admin thinking "Man, whey do they keep buying boxes, you could build them in house soooo much cheaper and better"

then I became a (sort of) server guy, and have a rack full of OEM servers (with service contracts) sitting in our racks, and won't even listen to the "we should just build them" suggestion. TCO is an important factor in business.
Click to expand...

Heh, I know that feeling.
Had a summer job at Ericsson Radio Systems once, I kept telling them that it was stupid to buy those expensive Compaq desktops when I could build them cheaper boxes.
Didn't quite appreciate the support needs of however many desktops ERA had at the time 🙂
 
Originally posted by: nweaver
I'm suprised we haven't seen an SBS pitch too...Look into MIcrosoft SBS server, as it may have 80-90% of what you need, and will come preinstalled from OEM.


ON the subject of buying a server, I remember when I wasn't an admin thinking "Man, whey do they keep buying boxes, you could build them in house soooo much cheaper and better"

then I became a (sort of) server guy, and have a rack full of OEM servers (with service contracts) sitting in our racks, and won't even listen to the "we should just build them" suggestion. TCO is an important factor in business.
Click to expand...


I think many of us have gone down that path 😀

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top