Man of Honour
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You could but you're just loosing the point of buying a new branded server, which is the support.
Any server experts in here?
- Thread starter doopydug
- Start date
You could but you're just loosing the point of buying a new branded server, which is the support.
Soldato
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2Gb will be suitable for your purposes, although the price of memory at the moment could warrant the addition of a further 2Gb should you wish to pay the difference.
I have caved in and purchased Windows SBS 2003 Premium edition. I was told that there were 5 CALS with this too. Do I need to load 5 seperate CDs for each one or are they all included in the first disc?
I have 8 discs been sent to me but can't see anything that says it contains 5 CALs?
Anyone help?
I have 8 discs been sent to me but can't see anything that says it contains 5 CALs?
Anyone help?
From setting up a couple of 350's the cals come on the main disc I believe, they are just there as opposed to having to install further cals.
As an aside, Ive just bought and received an ml110 for 175 plus vat, came with a Xeon Dual core 2.33ghz cpu, 250gb hdd, 1 gb ecc ram. Ive loaded xp onto it to benchmark it on monday then will be firing either one of our action pack 2008 or 2003 server licenses and run 4 disks in raid 10 to see how well the little bugger runs.
For the money its worth a punt as the company I work for is currently buying in DC7800 compaqs to act as a small msde/2005 express server with 2-8 clients and costs well over twice as much.
As an aside, Ive just bought and received an ml110 for 175 plus vat, came with a Xeon Dual core 2.33ghz cpu, 250gb hdd, 1 gb ecc ram. Ive loaded xp onto it to benchmark it on monday then will be firing either one of our action pack 2008 or 2003 server licenses and run 4 disks in raid 10 to see how well the little bugger runs.
For the money its worth a punt as the company I work for is currently buying in DC7800 compaqs to act as a small msde/2005 express server with 2-8 clients and costs well over twice as much.
All the versions of SBS I've seen include the 5 CALs as part of the installation. You add extra licenses to go in 5s (or 20s IIRC).
There's usually a single DVD with everything on or multiple CDs for you sit to feed into the server during the SBS setup phase.
There's usually a single DVD with everything on or multiple CDs for you sit to feed into the server during the SBS setup phase.
That sounds good - been looking at one of these myself - I know I can upgrade the ram - does it support raid too?
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Soldato
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I would first work out what the version of Sage needs to run, get an idea of the budget you have and then follow KC leblanc's advice carefully.
The main things to consider for a business are :-
Cost of downtime
Cost of repair
Cost of it not working properly due to not following the requirements from Sage.
In theory you could buy a cheap second hand PC and use that as a server but if the PC died what would be the impact to your business and how long would it take to get it back up and running.
It is really a balance of risk verses cost.
The main things to consider for a business are :-
Cost of downtime
Cost of repair
Cost of it not working properly due to not following the requirements from Sage.
In theory you could buy a cheap second hand PC and use that as a server but if the PC died what would be the impact to your business and how long would it take to get it back up and running.
It is really a balance of risk verses cost.
Sure does.
4 ram slots and 6 sata connections 4 for hdds and 2 ODD's. It supports raid 0,1,10 and jbod. I downloaded the 2003 sata driver and extracted it into a usb floppy and it worked fine, Ive got the video drivers installed and have chucked in a 3com nic to get all of the updates on then ill have a go at finding chipset drivers and the onboard lan drivers as the 2003 drivers dont seem to work.
Ive currently got one std 250 gb drive sat in it but also have at least 2 raptors sat in their packaging in work which should give a decent performance increase in raid 10.
As far as wiring up the network goes - would you guys run the cable modem straight into the server and out from the server to a switch so that the server does all the firewall/anti virus stuff ?
If the network storage is on the server, I would imagine it has to be done this way?
Or is it better to use the switch to distribute straight to all machines including the server and have individual anti virus software running on each one?
If the network storage is on the server, I would imagine it has to be done this way?
Or is it better to use the switch to distribute straight to all machines including the server and have individual anti virus software running on each one?
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Would not recommend running your cable directly into the server.
Invest in a hardware solution, you do not need a fully fledged firewall but a router should be more than sufficient from a security point of view.
Cable > Router/Firewall > Switch > Servers/Desktops
If you want to run anti-virus then yes, it should be on each client desktop and at least installed on the server even if it is not performing active monitoring.
Depending on how serious you are and how much it would cost for downtime you may well want to invest in 1 additional disk. The theory being you build and configure your servers OS and Apps on a mirror, pull a disk and put the spare one you have purchased in and let the array rebuild.
What does that mean? You keep your pulled disk offsite somewhere safe and in the event of everything dieing you still have a backup of your O/S. Should the data on your live disks be scrapped as long as you get identicle hardware as replacement you pop your disk in and away you go.
For the cost of 1 disk I see it as a very cost effective "Disaster Recovery" solution with the only real time in recovering the data from whatever media you happened to back it up to after getting your hardware back up and running. No restore downtime at all if you host both OS and Data on the same physical mirror.
Invest in a hardware solution, you do not need a fully fledged firewall but a router should be more than sufficient from a security point of view.
Cable > Router/Firewall > Switch > Servers/Desktops
If you want to run anti-virus then yes, it should be on each client desktop and at least installed on the server even if it is not performing active monitoring.
Depending on how serious you are and how much it would cost for downtime you may well want to invest in 1 additional disk. The theory being you build and configure your servers OS and Apps on a mirror, pull a disk and put the spare one you have purchased in and let the array rebuild.
What does that mean? You keep your pulled disk offsite somewhere safe and in the event of everything dieing you still have a backup of your O/S. Should the data on your live disks be scrapped as long as you get identicle hardware as replacement you pop your disk in and away you go.
For the cost of 1 disk I see it as a very cost effective "Disaster Recovery" solution with the only real time in recovering the data from whatever media you happened to back it up to after getting your hardware back up and running. No restore downtime at all if you host both OS and Data on the same physical mirror.
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Might consider this although I was swinging towards a tape backup drive with nightly backups as well as raid1 installed - would this be sufficient?
More than sufficient. The downside being rebuild time of the OS come restore should you need to. System state is a beast, AD, Exchange etc is a total nightmare to restore requiring as near as damnit identicle patch levels. If you do not care about your OS and are happy to rebuild it from scratch, reconfigure it and just restore data (and re-setup permissions should the data have it) then Tape/Raid 0+1 will be fine.
The extra disk provides instant fallover combined with a tape backup to restore the latest data since the spare disk was pulled. It also eliminates the rebuilding of the server and system state restoration (Your looking at 1 day+ here depending on complexity)
Be advised though, putting your spare disk into different hardware/raid controllers is not going to work. Certainly not without a lot of messing around to get it up and running.
Its simply an option should you lose everything and you get replacement hardware which is the same. So happens to be the likely outcome with a branded warranty with HP or Dell for example.
The extra disk provides instant fallover combined with a tape backup to restore the latest data since the spare disk was pulled. It also eliminates the rebuilding of the server and system state restoration (Your looking at 1 day+ here depending on complexity)
Be advised though, putting your spare disk into different hardware/raid controllers is not going to work. Certainly not without a lot of messing around to get it up and running.
Its simply an option should you lose everything and you get replacement hardware which is the same. So happens to be the likely outcome with a branded warranty with HP or Dell for example.
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Its good advice and much appreciated. No one else has suggested that so thanks. Will go with that too I think - belt and braces an all !
A few things to consider (some of which have been already mentioned);
Outage cost;
What is it going to cost you if you are without the system for a day+. The more you use the system the more reliant you are likely to become on it. Being as you mention a warehouse I would suggest a dedicated area for the server rather than just putting it in the corner of the admin office.
Is it more than buying a UPS to help protect again power outages. ?
Is it more than the cost of a second backup server ?.
Is it more than the cost of a dedicated room with aircon ?.
Is it more than the cost of all three ?.
Network;
Do you really want / need a wired network with associated wiring costs ?.
Would secured wireless work for you. Remember wireless networking is affected by environment like metal framed buildings.
Would a homeplug network using the electrical wiring work for you. ? I have just installed this at home and it works fine straight out of the box. The plugs can also be password protested.
Related costs;
Server cabinet: If it is a server, are you going to need a cabinet as most come in rack format cases (although I see the ml350's do also come in tower format). The case will also allow you to put all your central server equipment in one lockable place.
Switch: You can get cheap switches (dlink / linksys etc) or you can get something midrange (HP Procurve 408 - was about 100GBP when I bought one a while ago) .
Backup;
You mentioned backing up to tape. Why apart from it is the 'done thing'. Why not just backup to a portable external HDD and take it home with you. Cheaper than dedicated tape hardware, recoverable on most standard PC's without the need for a dedicated tape drive.
Where are you going to store the backup. Do you have a fireproof safe at home. ?
Records;
Without knowing the details of your warehouse operations it is hard to know if you are providing point of sales for the public / internet sales / distribution to companies or all of the above. Are all transaction details going to be printed out along with a morning stock report so should you loose the system you will be able to tally stock levels based on the morning report and interday sales receipts allowing you to continue your business all-be-it on pen and paper until the problem is fixed.
What printer will you get for this reporting. Should it be a network printer or MFD (print/scan/copy) or a network MFD or should the POS machines have dedicated printers each or a shared network MFD between them and a printer connected to an admin PC in an office for reporting and general office admin work.
Without more information about the criticality and budget it is hard to tailor more detailed solution.
Regards
RB
Outage cost;
What is it going to cost you if you are without the system for a day+. The more you use the system the more reliant you are likely to become on it. Being as you mention a warehouse I would suggest a dedicated area for the server rather than just putting it in the corner of the admin office.
Is it more than buying a UPS to help protect again power outages. ?
Is it more than the cost of a second backup server ?.
Is it more than the cost of a dedicated room with aircon ?.
Is it more than the cost of all three ?.
Network;
Do you really want / need a wired network with associated wiring costs ?.
Would secured wireless work for you. Remember wireless networking is affected by environment like metal framed buildings.
Would a homeplug network using the electrical wiring work for you. ? I have just installed this at home and it works fine straight out of the box. The plugs can also be password protested.
Related costs;
Server cabinet: If it is a server, are you going to need a cabinet as most come in rack format cases (although I see the ml350's do also come in tower format). The case will also allow you to put all your central server equipment in one lockable place.
Switch: You can get cheap switches (dlink / linksys etc) or you can get something midrange (HP Procurve 408 - was about 100GBP when I bought one a while ago) .
Backup;
You mentioned backing up to tape. Why apart from it is the 'done thing'. Why not just backup to a portable external HDD and take it home with you. Cheaper than dedicated tape hardware, recoverable on most standard PC's without the need for a dedicated tape drive.
Where are you going to store the backup. Do you have a fireproof safe at home. ?
Records;
Without knowing the details of your warehouse operations it is hard to know if you are providing point of sales for the public / internet sales / distribution to companies or all of the above. Are all transaction details going to be printed out along with a morning stock report so should you loose the system you will be able to tally stock levels based on the morning report and interday sales receipts allowing you to continue your business all-be-it on pen and paper until the problem is fixed.
What printer will you get for this reporting. Should it be a network printer or MFD (print/scan/copy) or a network MFD or should the POS machines have dedicated printers each or a shared network MFD between them and a printer connected to an admin PC in an office for reporting and general office admin work.
Without more information about the criticality and budget it is hard to tailor more detailed solution.
Regards
RB
I think that depends on how big / busy the warehouse is
.Without specifics, as mentioned, it is hard to narrow it down but at least he now has some more options and can weigh up the potential losses against costs.
If there is a risk of loosing 100,000 GBP / day for an outage due to lost sales etc then spending a fair bit to hedge against an outage would be reasonible but then if he is only looking at maybe 1,000 GBP then 5 cheap PC's (3 POS, 1 'Server' and 1 admin) connected by home plugs with an external hard drive for off site backup and a ventilated 'server / storeroom' would be reasonible. Have the ADSL connection come in to a router with firewall, onto a switch and another homeplug.
Ok pics are easier. Simple, cheap suggestion;
Requirements;
4 Desktop PC's - 2,000 (500 each)
2 servers - 4,000
2 switches - 30
1 Network MFD (Scan / print / photocopy / fax) - 200
1 standard MFD - 140
ADSL Modem with Firewall - 25
4 Homeplugs - 210
4 Network cables (cat 5e) - 8
1 Backup external HDD - 100
Total (very rough figures): 6713 (excl setup costs / any server location modifications).
RB