Spec for small server

[bluestreak101]

hi guys,

I asked this in the Server forum but was told it might be worth doing it in here.

I have an aging server that I now need to replace as it runs a lot of services my family, friends and I all use and its starting to show performance issues.

It has to run the following:

Active Directory
File Storage
Web Server (Abyss and IIS for OWA)
DHCP
DNS
Exchange
Remote Access
Remote Desktop
Games Server

currently the server runs all but games on it in a single enviroment and im thinking of moving to virtual servers on the one box, only need to run 4 virtual servers at most!

Heres the spec I have put together, but Its the first Intel I have ever built:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB) - Retail
  
• Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
  
• OcUK GeForce 8400 GS 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
  
• 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3250410AS)
  
• OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)

Total: £435.80

I plan to RAID the HDD's for some redundency

Is this spec likely to run VMware well with what I want?

 

[Trunks9486]

It sounds fine to be honest...

I would personally get more hard disk space, 1 or maybe two 1TB F1s but thats just me.

Avoid the quaranteed processors, i sincerely doubt that any Q6600 will struggle to operate at ranges above 3GHz (3.4GHz is considered pretty easy to achieve).

If you DONT plan on overclocking the AMD Phenom 9850 is about the same performance as the Q6600, loses some, and wins some. Both overclock well, but usually the Q6600 overclocks better.

 

[bluestreak101]

It sounds fine to be honest...

I would personally get more hard disk space, 1 or maybe two 1TB F1s but thats just me.

Avoid the quaranteed processors.

I have 3x 500GB disks in an ICY Dock 4 disk caddy already so space isnt much of a problem, those two drives are just purely to hold the operating systems, exchange database/mailboxes and webroot folders. Hence the want of some redundancy. I may also be swapping out 2 of the 500's for a 1TB and using the 500's as system disks, though im a little undecided on that point at the moment.

when you say Quaranteed processors ill assume you mean guaranteed, it is only £1 more expensive and i hadnt planned on overclocking myself. Even though I have been AMD since I got into computers, AMD's recent issues with the Phenom makes me relucant to buy one.

 

[asm495]

In my opinion that CPU is very overpowered for what you need to do (you don't need quad core to run standard Windows server services). I would say far more important is to think about your storage and backup strategy. Also, bear in mind that energy costs are ramping up rapidly so a low power solution may be better.

I have a server doing very similar to what you are wanting (no games servers though) using an old S939 X2 3800+, 2GB DDR and 2x 300GB in RAID1 (plus a total of 2.4TB of storage on eSATA) which is more than adequate. If I were to do it again now though I would really consider one of the new Intel Atom motherboards. They cost less than £50 including the CPU. You could still load it up with 4GB and RAID-1 some disks but your power consumption would be significantly reduced.

What I would do in any case...

 

[bluestreak101]

Well the point behind it being a little more meaty is to run those games servers, and to have it on VMware. At least with the Quad core I can assign a core to a VM.

Also the motherboard I spec'd there is one of the E-boards asus do, or at least so i've read, meaning I can tone it down and run it at a slower speed when its not being used reducing the energy consumption.

Although you have made a very valid point.

The current spec is this:

A8V Asus mobo
AMD 939 3500+
2GB RAM (2x 512 Corsair XMS C2PRO + 2x 512 Generic)
40GB System disk
120GB website Storage and database's etc
DDS3 Tape drive for exchange back
3x 500GB SATAII drives
2x 160GB IDE (RAID 0)