Spec me a server

Craterloads

Craterloads

Craterloads

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Hey guys, My brother in law needs a server for his new business and is trying to keep costs down, so has asked me to build him one on the cheap.

Server will be set up at his home managing PC's at an office in coventry. I think theres 5-6 PC's at present but would like a bit of head room for the future. I dont know exactly what server is managing but he said something about Sage software and the PC's being able to get access info off server at his home.

I was thinking a decent i7 rig should do? am i right in thinking he can just use a regular powerful PC. Ive got my old I7 system which i can use for parts. Spec of my old PC is -

i7 920
6GB Ram 1600MHz
Ramage II Extreme
1000w Coolermaster PSU
1TB Spinpoint F1
Any old GPU

Case is an expensive lian li but was thinking of keeping that and moving system into something cheaper.

Will this do as a server spec or is it best going for proper server parts?
 
Socrates470BC said:
I don't see any configuration for backup and restore. What happens to your BIL's biz if the HDD crashes?
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Ok what do i need to do for backup? Can a secondary 1TB harddrive be used as a backup ? and what would i need to do to get that setup?

Thats why i dont really want to get involved in this becuase if soething goes wrong its all on my head!! But im guessing he's asking for a reason so got to help.
 
Converting a desktop to the role of a server isn't a good idea if your doing anything that is mission critical. I've learned this the hard way. (thank god for backups)

The R2E is designed for overclocking, not server stability. Aim for a 1366 supermicro board with remote management support.
Anything that is ram heavy should really be using ECC ram in a server enviroment. If it's not, then you can get away with what you have trusting its rock solid.
Boot drive should be in raid 1 with frequent onsite snapshots/backups.
Power supply should be fine but I'd rather use smaller redundant psu's than a single whacking great one.

It's possible to build something with the potential for great uptime and stability while costing less than prebuilds. Trusting you do it right of course. :D
 
lay-z-boy said:
Converting a desktop to the role of a server isn't a good idea if your doing anything that is mission critical. I've learned this the hard way. (thank god for backups)

The R2E is designed for overclocking, not server stability. Aim for a 1366 supermicro board with remote management support.
Anything that is ram heavy should really be using ECC ram in a server enviroment. If it's not, then you can get away with what you have trusting its rock solid.
Boot drive should be in raid 1 with frequent onsite snapshots/backups.
Power supply should be fine but I'd rather use smaller redundant psu's than a single whacking great one.

It's possible to build something with the potential for great uptime and stability while costing less than prebuilds. Trusting you do it right of course. :D
Click to expand...

Ok, you seem to know what your talking about! I know didly squat about servers but i can build a mean gaming machine!!

Ive had a look at some supermicra boards and eec ram which are both out of the price bracket.

Essentially this is a start up business and im assuming he needs a server on the cheap, hence asking me and not buying a prebuilt one. Budget is around £400 which is what i offered him my old system for. I assume its not life and death stuff.

So if i get 2 x 1TB samsung spinpoints and set them in raid 1, that would be the safest way? Would this negate the need of having a separate back up drive as raid 1 mirrors everything on the two drives, so if fails the info's still available on the other.
 
Craterloads said:
Ok, you seem to know what your talking about! I know didly squat about servers but i can build a mean gaming machine!!

Ive had a look at some supermicra boards and eec ram which are both out of the price bracket.

Essentially this is a start up business and im assuming he needs a server on the cheap, hence asking me and not buying a prebuilt one. Budget is around £400 which is what i offered him my old system for. I assume its not life and death stuff.

So if i get 2 x 1TB samsung spinpoints and set them in raid 1, that would be the safest way? Would this negate the need of having a separate back up drive as raid 1 mirrors everything on the two drives, so if fails the info's still available on the other.
Click to expand...

RAID isn’t a substitute for a proper backup solution. It doesn’t for instance protect against user error, fire, flood, etc.

IMO your budget is too low to do anything worthwhile, £1,000 would be a much more realistic starting figure.

Building your own server is rarely a good idea. Have a look at the HP Microserver or the HP ML110 G6 as a starting point (decent cashback offers on both at the moment).

Don’t forget to factor in the cost of an operating system (Server 2008 R2 Foundation?). If you were planning on using a desktop operating system then do yourself a favour and don’t.

I'd suggest that you take your own advice and don't get involved.
 
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Buy a server. You shouldn't ever rely on a home built (and therefore possibility of spare parts disappearing as they become EoL) server.

Just get a branded server with a server OS license. Install a cheap LTO4 tape drive and configure backups to that.
 
Thanks for the paradigm, that looks ideal and cheap too. Is that direct from HP or do you buy from etailers and then apply for cashback direct from HP?
 
Ok just spoken do my Brother in law and server will be running: -

Sage Line 50 Professional, with 4 end users.

Will the ML110 G6 with upgraded 8GB RAM, 2 x 1TB harddrives be enough to run above applications?
 
Thanks again paradigm. My BIL's mate (so called mate) has quoted him £3000+ for a system to run above applications!! He's not what you would call trust worthy.

Would we need anything else apart from the HP ML110 G6?

The HP will be set up at his home, and office is about 100miles away with 4 employees.

edit: May be best if i move this to the networking section.
 
The HP will be set up at his home, and office is about 100miles away with 4 employees.
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How do you imagine Sage Line50 is going to work with 100 miles between the client PCs and the server?

Ignore: I've just seen the other thread.
 
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