Need a cheap refurb server

baz_ · 3 Nov 2016 at 00:01

Hi Guys,
I am in need of a cheap refurb server for a small office.
They have around 20 users that are on there network at any one time.
They want a server to handle there remote directorys,users account, exchange emails (in the future) Print server. Possibly Hyperv aswell
We where planning on using azure but noticed the active directory isnt the best option on azure as you really need a physical server in the office.

Max budget around £400
Not sure how a "HP DL160 G6 ProLiant Server 2x Quad Core Xeon L5630 2.13GHz 24GB RAM 1U Rackable" Would stack up.

nightmare99 · 3 Nov 2016 at 06:56

Can they not use Office 365? I wouldn't want to be running a company of 20 users on a £400 refurbished server, have you factored in licencing for windows server and exchange etc, who is going to be supporting this?

#Chri5# · 3 Nov 2016 at 13:15

Indeed - buy something with a warranty from Dell or HP if on-premise box is needed.

Server 2012/2016 Essentials would look to fit the bill for the server OS and can tie into Office 365. Would need to have very specific requirements not to use Office 365 for e-mail these days, even more so if you a non-existent budget for the server hardware.

Armageus · 3 Nov 2016 at 13:35

nightmare99 said:
I wouldn't want to be running a company of 20 users on a £400 refurbished server

#Chri5# said:
Indeed - buy something with a warranty from Dell or HP if on-premise box is needed.

I disagree, there is nothing inherently wrong with refurbed servers - I am responsible for a 300+ user company on mostly refurbed servers (HP G5/G6s) - they are so cheap, that it's easy to have multiple redundant servers, and even cold spare servers (rather than a single expensive in warranty server, that still have to wait for an on-site callout).

The only "new" things we bought for the servers was Disks - which seem to be the only things to fail.

nightmare99 said:
have you factored in licencing for windows server and exchange etc

That will be the killer and isn't doable at a £400 budget

#Chri5# said:
Server 2012/2016 Essentials would look to fit the bill for the server OS and can tie into Office 365. Would need to have very specific requirements not to use Office 365 for e-mail these days, even more so if you a non-existent budget for the server hardware.

For 20 people, then Office 365 or even Google Apps would be a much better idea.

baz_ said:
They want a server to handle there remote directorys,users account, exchange emails (in the future) Print server.

I would question the need for "user accounts" if everything can be done with cloud apps. Remote directories (if local files are still needed), are better handled with a NAS at this level.

Print Server is a luxury for 20 PCs - just install the printer locally on each PC, unless there is more to it than this?

In fact for a small office, I would just buy a Synology or similar NAS, as this will do file server, print server, and can sync with various cloud services for file storage etc. I believe they also have the capability to act as a simple mail server, and active directory authentication, although haven't looked to closely.

nightmare99 · 3 Nov 2016 at 19:29

I disagree, there is nothing inherently wrong with refurbed servers

I didn't say there was anything inherently wrong with refurbished servers in general, I said running a 20 person company on a single £400 server was probably a bad idea

baz_ · 3 Nov 2016 at 23:22

Thanks guys, at the moment they do have a very standard and drive with 4tb storage, they have office 2013 and a Windows standard server is £8+ vat from tt exchange so that's not an issue. I have tried using azure but don't seem be have an option to limit users ability as they seem to just be set as admin, then we have no control over what version of software they have etc. - the charity have people coming and going daily,

nightmare99 · 4 Nov 2016 at 06:11

So its a charity then, remember they get Office 365 and enterprise mobility suite for cheap.

baz_ · 4 Nov 2016 at 08:10

The first one that has enterprise management is £3.30 + vat per month per user this is going to cost a fortune per year.

hook in azure its over £2000k per year and that's not including support

nightmare99 · 5 Nov 2016 at 08:18

The first one that has enterprise management is £3.30 + vat per month per user this is going to cost a fortune per year. hook in azure its over £2000k per year and that's not including support

You would probably be fine with Office 365 Nonprofit Business Premium at £1.30 user/month x20 users £312/year, which Azure product are you referring to?