New server for office

doobee · 27 Jul 2010 at 15:38

Hello, my company is looking to get a new server for 5-6 computers. We have been quoted for a proliant ML110 G6 which seems to be right for how much we will be using it. The quote also states

"4GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600E-9 UDIMM kit unbuffered"

for £360 per module. is there a reason why server RAM is more expensive than desktop RAM?

The same question also for hard drives, as we have been quoted for what seems like a normal 250gig SATAII harddrive for £83, but i know you can get samsung spinpoint F3 1TB for under £50?

Thanks.

doobee · 27 Jul 2010 at 19:15

Thanks for your replies.

The ram is non-ecc and unbuffered so does that not basically make it the same as standard ram?

As with the harddrives, the hp one comes with a 1 year warranty, the WD RE 4 comes with a 5 year warranty, yet it costs more?

The server is only going to be acting as a place to back up the workstations to, and to run exchange server, so its not going to working nearly as hard as the workstations, which are running solidworks/autocad etc. If normal ram and normal harddrives are good enough for the workstations and have all proved reliable in the past, should it not be good enough for this server?

I understand that generally servers are much more important than work stations and need more reliable parts, but in our situation i dont think its really necessary.

doobee · 28 Jul 2010 at 09:38

ethos - thats exactly what we're trying to decide at the moment as our emails are hosted externally, when we go for advise off IT companies they always advise to go for a server running SBS 2008. The only advantage i can see is that all of our companies emails will be in one place on a RAID 1 setup and easily backed up and taken off site. I know this can be done with a NAS but every night will you not have to copy over your entire outlook file, mine is about 2gig, and do this for each employee? I know this isn't a huge issue, but it will mean 10gig of data being copied onto the server every night.

#chri5# - so the ram is ECC then. Well just like what you do with the hard drives, would it not be easier to use standard ram and have some spare in case it breaks? and save money in the process.

Another question - my computer has outlook and the others in the office use outlook express, if you buy SBS 2008 with 5 CALs, does this mean you can install outlook on 5 computers as part of the package, or do you need to go out and buy outlook for each computer you need to run it on?

doobee · 28 Jul 2010 at 10:21

Thanks for your help ethos,

do you know if you can use outlook express with exchange server or do you need outlook?

We use a company that hosts our email and website, we have 10 email accounts/addresses and we download our emails of their server. if we get exchange server can we cut them out of the loop then?

I realise that we will need additional hardware to take the companies data off site but this is essential as we dont want all copies of data in one room in case of theft/fire/flooding etc. Im starting to think a NAS box is the way to go, and i think some come with an option where you can connect an portable hard drive, press one button, and it will back up the NAS.

doobee · 28 Jul 2010 at 11:36

I think a NAS box is clearly the way to go then, and use some shutdown script to back up the necessary folders to the NAS every night. So every bit of information will be on the individual computers, on the NAs which will have a RAID 1 setup, and an off site copy of the NAS. Therefore all information will be on 4 separate hard drives.

Can anyone recommend a good NAS box?