Server advice needed please.

Wiggins

Wiggins

Wiggins

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Hi

I have been asked to quote a server for a small business I currently work for. I'm looking at possibly a Poweredge but not entirely sure as they want 3 difference supplier quotes.

It will have 6 pc's & a laptop connected at the most and needs Raid 1 for the server. There is an External Bufallo Linkstation on Raid 1 for backup of important files. I have an engineer coming over to do the installation but he is holiday for 2 weeks and they need the quote in by the end of the week.

I have a few questions:

1 - Will a Dual Port Gigabit Adaptor be adequate enough to add the internet and a 24 Port Switch to the server?

2 - I am toying between either Windows Server 2003 or Small Business Server. I do not need Exchange as there are only a few PC's and they just get their mail from the server that their domain is hosted on. As I am quite new to Server OS, it needs to be simple to use but ample enough to keep the network secure with group plicy editing etc... Which one would suit best?

Thank You :)
 
I looked but with the Server Software, it was not that much cheaper than a poweredge and it gets warranty with it.
 
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Building one yourself doesn't come with the advantages of a support / warranty agreement that comes with enterprise / smb kit.
 
K.C. Leblanc said:
Any particular reason why you want to connect the internet via the server?
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Well i'm not entirely sure if it needs to.

What I need is the content of what is seen on the net managed. The setup at the moment is 6 pc's, a 24 port switch and a Netgear home router.

Very basic and needs to be secured more. We have a contract with an online ticket supplier who needs access to data at work in order to keep the staff updated on who has booked online with the new website that has been created. The data is currently held on the reception machine acting as a gateway which I need to move onto the server for better and more secure access.

What other means can I use to filter the content of whats seen on the net? As it is still partly Charity run, the budget needs to be as small as possible.
 
Deathwish said:
Building one yourself doesn't come with the advantages of a support / warranty agreement that comes with enterprise / smb kit.
Click to expand...

True, but seriously with an office of that size it seems unecessary to go spending loads on a server. What do you want the server to do exactly and what objectives do you have from it? I mean, with 6 people in an office why do you need to control things via group policy and limiting what they do and/or see on the Internet? Just if it were me sharing an office with 6 people, I'd just network all the machines together via a switch and give them all internet access, plus use a NAS or storage area somewhere. If it has the potentia to expand and get bigger maybe it's worth looking at a domain name server and file and print etc, but it all just sounds overkill and kind of "for the sake of having a tinker" right now without fully hearing the scenario.
 
Ok, my 2 penneth, and real world take on this.

I have installed into one of our branch offices, that caters for about 12 pc's and 3 network printers:
a windows 2003 R2, server built around a SFF IBM case with a P4 3GHz cpu, 1Gb ram (bought for £140 from a refurbed internet sales).
It performs the following:
Primary Domain Controller
File Server
Print Server
DNS Server
DHCP Server
Active Directory
SOPHOS anti-virus central management server

It connects to the switch which also has the adsl router connected to it, as well as a Watchguard Firebox Edge. So all internet traffic passes through the firebox and is managed.
Currently all the data is stored on the server which only has a 300gb hdd in it. It isn't raided (obviously). But we have a Buffalo Terastation ProII (500gb raid 5) also attached to the network which instead of housing data, now serves as a backup. I also have an external hdd which i use for off-site backup.
The data management was done this way to allow me to configure access enumaration on the server. ITs not ideal as it has no raid, and therefore no redundancy, but that will change sometime soon.
All email is pop3, no exchange.

Prior to this, everyone worked as admins on their pc's on a workgroup and connected to the NAS. There was nothing really managed.
So i put this cheap solution server in place.
There has been very few teething problems with it since i installed it about 3 months ago. The added benefit of me remotely logging in to ther server to monitor it and perform maintenance is good, as is the AD lockdown of domain users accounts thats stops muppets installing all kinds of garbage on their pc then expecting me to fix it all when they nalls it up.

You certainly don't have to spend a fortune. However i'd recommend the Dell Poweredge servers, i use 1 x 1750 and 2 x 1850's in our main office setup. When a hdd failed Dell's support was spot on.

Hope this helps you in NOT spending tons of cash.
 
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Thank you. :)

Thats basically the setup I need tbh.

File Server, Print Server, DNS, DHCP, Active Directory and central anti-virus management.

All email here is pop3 so no need for Exchange. I have a Buffalo Linkstation that will act as backup (especially for accounts).

I will be running 2 databases off it also as we run a booking system off a hosted website and need it centralised so tickets.com can access the data needed. 3 out of the 6 pc's currently have XP Home Edition. :rolleyes:

I have decided on Windows 2003 RC2. As I have 6 pc's, i'm hoping that they can all logon with a 5cal licence.

I can really cut the cost down as no Dual Port Switch is needed for the server as I will run the ADSL Router through the switch. Are these Firebox's easy to manage?

I'm tempted to look into the Firebox or a different hardware firewall a little more as the place provides free wirless access in the building to customers and security measures for web content and P2P need to be put in place.
 
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Watchguard firebox firewalls aint cheap mate, but they are good. They can be easy to manage if you know your way around general firewall protocols anyway.
As far as your pcs go, you'll obviously need to upgrade 3 of them from Home to Pro if you want them to join your domain.
 
k.Jacko said:
Watchguard firebox firewalls aint cheap mate, but they are good. They can be easy to manage if you know your way around general firewall protocols anyway.
As far as your pcs go, you'll obviously need to upgrade 3 of them from Home to Pro if you want them to join your domain.
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I will be having a meeting with the GM tomorrow and If they are not needing any software to run off a server for the time being, I will put it to them for a VPN hardware Firewall and the upgrade to XP Pro for the other machines. I can use one machine as a Gateway for the time being I suppose and just have it's data backed up on the daily basis.

Group Policy set individually on 6 machines will not really take that long, especially if I can get a decent script together.

Thank you for your help. :)
 
Stelly said:
I agree, building one yourself is on of the last things that I would think of doing!

Stelly
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Don't see why. Its only for a very small office environment. Half the size of mine in fact. As long as you have regular backups you should be fine. Why such an emphasis on support? If you know how to build and maintain a server then what could support offer you?
If you don't know how to build/maintain, then yes, support is good, but you'll pay through the nose for it.
 
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