Server help (raid died)

[ERU]

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice and guidance as we contract ‘in’ a local IT company to sort IT issues.
Recently the server: had a single raid HDD failure, but when the ‘new’ HDD was put in to rebuild, it seems the Domain Controller (catalogue of all PCs and users accounts) also packed in… The server is setup with x2 HDD drives for a (raid) Windows Server OS and x2 HDD drives for (raid) data/virtual servers. The IT techs said they would let us know if the Domain Controller becomes usable again! Thereafter, the Domain Controller restore didn’t work...

They were unable to unable to fix the Domain Controller. As such, they suggested a new Domain must be created, all (200 ish) user accounts recreated, all PC and laptops visited manually and joined to the new Domain and everyone’s user data moved to their new accounts. The latest news suggest the backup was a backup (in another building) of the 'broken' array.

By now we were on the fourth day of ‘day rate’… We had no choice but to agree, as people couldn’t work.

The above was setup onto their loan server, where they managed to restore the data back from the other single working HDD. They could browse through the data etc, but the restore, and subsequent turning on of the Virtual server produced a lot of errors - so potentially the odd file might not open / behave unexpectedly.

The latest is these two quotes, for a new server we now apparently need (despite buying a bespoke one from another IT company about 3 years ago)… I guess they are claiming the raid controller isn’t working? As a Domain Controller is just software?

Quote 1 (2 servers recommended by IT company - one for redundancy):
-HPE ProLiant ML110 Gen10 Performance - tower - Xeon Silver 4110 2.1 GHz - 16 GB (1,422.00 x 2 = £2,844.00)
-HPE SmartMemory - DDR4 - 16 GB (211.14 x 2 = £422.28)
-HPE Midline - hard drive - 1 TB - SATA 6Gb/s (121.99 x 8 = £975.92)
-Microsoft®WindowsServerSTDCORE 2016 Sngl Academic OLP 16Licenses NoLevel CoreLic (196.55 x 2 = £393.10)
@ £5576.76

Quote 2 (possibly best with some sort of cloud based service?):
-HPE ProLiant ML110 Gen10 Performance - tower - Xeon Silver 4110 2.1 GHz - 16 GB (1,422.00 x 1 = £1,422.00)
-HPE SmartMemory - DDR4 - 16 GB (211.14 x 1 = £211.14)
-HPE Midline - hard drive - 1 TB - SATA 6Gb/s (121.99 x 4 = £487.96)
-Microsoft®WindowsServerSTDCORE 2016 Sngl Academic OLP 16Licenses NoLevel CoreLic (196.55 x 1 = £196.55)
@ £2795.58

What should I be worried about? If anything?

 

[ERU]

What does Quote 2 include that is "cloud based" ??
You need details before betting 200 [currently annoyed] users on that.

That was my sugestion. I will need an backup if I continue with one server.


The latest blurb I've recieved:

“In theory we can reuse the old server, but need to double check if we need to replace any parts in it. It may be that it is not useable or to replace the components it is not cost effective.

The old server could be used as an Active Directory and file replication partner. This would ensure there is a copy of the Domain if one of the servers fails – rebuilding the domain is what took 2 days.

Just a note, there is absolutely no guarantee the old server wont fail again in the near future though. You cannot make a copy of the domain and then restore the server away. Bringing it back online will cause serious issues to the domain, defeating the purpose of a replica.

Using the old server as a replication partner is a possibility but with limitations as mentioned.

Having a 2 new servers as partners is a much safer and reliable idea, plus they are covered for the next 3 years as well with a hardware warranty.

Perhaps it’s worth considering the current costs of this scenario vs. the cost of two servers and what that impacts this causes if this happens again.”

I have attached both quotations for you again and can hold this pricing for 2 weeks. I may have to requote after that due to HP prices going up and down on a weekly basis. I will do my best to hold them for as long as possible though, it is normally a standard 7 days."

 

[ERU]

Future worries include the backup software that was in use and a likely replacement called "Cobian" - as well as how we can backup the "Active Directory" as well,

 

[ERU]

Thanks for all the help. The "powers to be" dicatated we went for 'option 1' in the end...