Small Office Setup Help

A[L]C · 5 Aug 2008 at 09:44

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a cheap server and gigabit swtich. It will be running server 2003 (as I have a copy already) with 2 client machines. Nothing special required, maybe 300gb hdd space required (raid).

Thanks

bigredshark · 5 Aug 2008 at 09:50

The usual advice, whichever you prefer from HP and Dell for the server. Depends how much you want to spend on a switch, I would look at HP for that if I was being cheap, or maybe 3com.

A[L]C · 5 Aug 2008 at 09:54

Thanks for your help brs. Could you perhaps suggest a model number please? Many thanks

Stelly · 5 Aug 2008 at 09:54

can get cheap dell server with 3 years bronze service on a well known auction site

Stelly

Stelly · 5 Aug 2008 at 09:55

Dell PE 2950 look quite impressive, or the T300 if your looking for a tower unit

Stelly

sidethink · 5 Aug 2008 at 10:26

Just for fun I created a basket at Dell with a T105 with RAID Sata disks and 2GB RAM. It also seemed to allow me to add a basic 8 port switch and get the whole lot for less than £900 plus VAT.

If you don't anticipate much grwoth in number of users, the T105 would be a decent choice.

Don't forget a backup device and maybe a UPS though as well if its going to get any kind of serious, dedicated business usage.

bigredshark · 5 Aug 2008 at 11:28

A[L]C;12222280 said:
Thanks for your help brs. Could you perhaps suggest a model number please? Many thanks

I'm a HP fan myself so I'd recommend something like a ML150 (other people might be able to help more here, I've only bought higher end boxes for a quite a while now so I'm not up to speed with the lower end kit).

Dell will be cheaper I suspect, and they do make switches which are functional enough. I'd just grab the cheapest gigabit switch from either manufacturer, as long as you aren't buying netgear or something you're fairly safe with most kit...