Server for a Small Business

swinnie

swinnie

swinnie

Soldato
Joined
30 Apr 2007
Posts
3,095
Location
Kent
Hi All,

What sort of specification/model from a major vendor - HP, Dell, Lenovo etc would you guys look at for the following use:

  • 4 Users across two offices, 2 in each
  • Sage would need to be accessible from both offices, concurrently
  • Exchange email is already hosted elsewhere (not O365)

How would you guys manage the remote users? Would you essentially have them VPN in to use the internal resources, or would you even go down the route of VDI or Terminal Services?

Many Thanks
 
All of the clients are running Windows 7, I suspect that two of the machines are Home Premium as they pre-existed me taking over their IT Equipment. So they will require an upgrade to Professional.

I'm not familiar with DirectAccess - what are the common pitfalls of it?
 
What kind of files are they going to be storing and are they going to use any applications that require files to be stored on a central location? (Sorry I didn't read the original post so you can ignore this!)

I say this because it may be a cheaper if they only use standard office documents to go to Office 365 and use it as a document store and then SharePoint can be added to this to make it even better.

Dell I find normally do some very good deals if you have an account manager but HP servers are also good you just need to double check on the quick specs list of that server to ensure memory, hard disks etc are compatible. You then on top of hardware have software costs so OS and CAL's plus OS upgrades on client machines like you say.

I'm all for having things local and under full control but for such a small company if may/will be a cheaper and more flexible alternative if they go with Office 365 or something cloud based. But it entirely depends on the company and if the files and programs they use.

If you do decide a server then ensure you quote/add on a license for Dell's iDrac remote system or HP's ILO which enable you to remotely connect to the server even if it's turned off.

Sage you can use Sage Drive although this isn't cheap!

Terminals services is possible but again you would need RDS CAL's but not an OS license if you decide to get Server 2012R2 STD retail as you are able to run two virtual machines on a blank Hyper-V host.

You may want to look into IT suppliers than can provide hosted TS solutions. Sorry if this seems a little messy currently on my phone!
 
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Why have you decided you need a server for 4 users? What resources do they need access to?

If it's just Sage then move all of that to a web-based accounting package and enjoy your new easy life.
 
Xez said:
Sage you can use Sage Drive although this isn't cheap!

Terminals services is possible but again you would need RDS CAL's but not an OS license if you decide to get Server 2012R2 STD retail as you are able to run two virtual machines on a blank Hyper-V host.

You may want to look into IT suppliers than can provide hosted TS solutions. Sorry if this seems a little messy currently on my phone!
Click to expand...

We had some customers try Sage Drive on Accounts v21. They ended up turning it all off as it just didn't work properly. Accounts v21 got 7 service packs in one year!

Would +1 for Caged's option of a looking at hosted account packages, though lots of companies stick with Sage despite the dismal quality of code they churn out. If you must stick with Sage, it's either RDS or having a couple of cheap PCs for remote users to connect to (yuk).
 
Or use one of several providers offering hosted desktops. Amazon WorkSpaces for example. This combined with a small Windows Server VM and a bit of storage would be perfect and also cover off any remote access requirements.
 
Caged said:
If it's just Sage then move all of that to a web-based accounting package and enjoy your new easy life.
Click to expand...

Second this, you can move to Xero for free, and they'll migrate you for free from sage (have to check if offer is still going). :)

If you didn't also know, you can use Xero payroll too, but would wait until April for that to migrate over clean.
 
I echo the above advice. Switch them to Xero, Ive got about 60 clients using it and its fantastic. I dont like Xero payroll though, there are better solutions out there or outsource it to their accountant/bookkeeper.
 
Caged said:
Why have you decided you need a server for 4 users? What resources do they need access to?

If it's just Sage then move all of that to a web-based accounting package and enjoy your new easy life.
Click to expand...

Talking to the Owner, he wants to grow the business quite rapidly over the next two years. At the moment the requirements are quite low, in terms of simple file sharing, Sage and remote access from anywhere.

#Chri5# said:
We had some customers try Sage Drive on Accounts v21. They ended up turning it all off as it just didn't work properly. Accounts v21 got 7 service packs in one year!

Would +1 for Caged's option of a looking at hosted account packages, though lots of companies stick with Sage despite the dismal quality of code they churn out. If you must stick with Sage, it's either RDS or having a couple of cheap PCs for remote users to connect to (yuk).
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's where I had got to really. I don't know how they would feel about moving to another accounts package, it was bad enough getting them to upgrade from Office 2007 to 2013, so that I could deploy a hosted exchange solution!

Caged said:
Or use one of several providers offering hosted desktops. Amazon WorkSpaces for example. This combined with a small Windows Server VM and a bit of storage would be perfect and also cover off any remote access requirements.
Click to expand...

I've signed up for a AWS trial, so I'll have to check that out.

rexehuk said:
Second this, you can move to Xero for free, and they'll migrate you for free from sage (have to check if offer is still going). :)

If you didn't also know, you can use Xero payroll too, but would wait until April for that to migrate over clean.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure they use a Sage PayRoll solution, so any change as you say is best completed at the start of the new tax year.

Mark M said:
I echo the above advice. Switch them to Xero, Ive got about 60 clients using it and its fantastic. I dont like Xero payroll though, there are better solutions out there or outsource it to their accountant/bookkeeper.
Click to expand...

Xero has been pretty well received, and I know of a few people using it and not heard anything bad about it either, which is obviously backed up by the posts above!
 
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