Topic: What [new] hardware for a small company?

[judgej]

I would like to supply a new SME server to a small company (around three permanent staff and up to five temporary at any time).

If I were to buy new hardware to put the server on, what are the current recommendations?

There are cheap PCs (super specs from the likes of Dell, for a couple of hundred quid) and there are servers (which seem to start towards a grand), but not much in between.

So, is there anything [new] available for around £300, suitable for SME Server, a couple of hard drives, can be left on 24x7 and is quiet enough to sit in a small room with a bunch of people?

I'm in the UK.

-- JJ

Updated: also two network cards, for use in server/gateway mode. I realise some of these tiny boxes only have one network card and there is no room to upgrade.

[jumba]

I wouldn't go for anything but a "server" (Cheap PC's aren't built to be running 24/7)

Problem here is of course that most "servers" aren't very quiet

One of the budget servers from Dell would do the job fine, - don't forget to use at least 2 identical hard drives to you can use raid1.

Also, consider how to manage the backups....

I've tried a very useful "lan HDD cabinet" from D-link named DNS-323.

The box features a full web interface as well as a goof FTP-server.

Using Dmay's smeserver-dar contrib to place full backup jobs over to the D-Link box at regular intervals and it works just great!

Plz tell the rest of us what you decided to buy, good luck!

[imcintyre]

Not and expert and so can't recommend specific model, but given # of users I think almost anything will work. You could probably scavenge an "old" pc and get it to work. Re small form factor pc's, I had a small form factor compaq running as my home server with 4 users in server/gateway.

Things to watch for:
It did have pci slots for extra nic but there were not 2 separate hd bays or channels. I ended up disconnecting the cd drive and putting 2nd disc in its place. Worked ok for amateur but probably not what you want to do if you are offering raid 1.

It did have 3 slots for ram but that was unusual for that size machine. I have noticed that some Dell's we get at work have only two, even though they are not sff. Given performance requirements probably not an issue.

[judgej]

I wouldn't go for anything but a "server" (Cheap PC's aren't built to be running 24/7)

Problem here is of course that most "servers" aren't very quiet

Yeah - I quite agree there.

The bottom of the range I'm looking at (and let's face it, the bottom is still far more than I need) is the ML110 G4 for around £380 (shopping around).

I'm sure I can get some older models from a surplus distributer, but scavenging bits (as suggested below) is probably not what a client is looking for. I have plenty of SME servers built from scavenged PCs in various charities and my own offices and home, but I'm always on hand to replace the odd fan, clean out the dust and generally make sure they are not going to fail soon. I also realise that if any of them completely died, getting identical hardware to replace it quickly would be a nightmare.

Backups: a USB hard drive would suffice, along with dar2. Backing up to other PCs on the network would also be prudent, easy enough to set up, and can be automated.

I don't think there is going to be a whole lot of data, but their email requirements run at around 2G annually, apparently increasing by 0.5G each year (so it will build up over some years).

-- JJ

[imcintyre]

Re comment about cheap pc's...

I have a Dell here that's been left on 24-7 for 5 yrs or longer. It's a P2 that saw service as a CAD machine in its heyday and now used for software repository and scans from central scanner/printer/etc.  Maybe its statistically aberrant but refuses to die.

don't forget UPS

[judgej]

Re comment about cheap pc's...

I have a Dell here that's been left on 24-7 for 5 yrs or longer. It's a P2 that saw service as a CAD machine in its heyday and now used for software repository and scans from central scanner/printer/etc.  Maybe its statistically aberrant but refuses to die.

don't forget UPS

I had a car like that once. It was still going with no problems, many years after that model was meant to have lost its big end, piston rings, braking system, ... It only ended when some scally wrote it off parked outside the house

One thing I've noticed about some of the Dell desktops, is they can run very quiet and very cool. They should last well. However, some models are almost built to die within the year. I guess it is about finding the right one.

-- JJ

[Boris]

Something like entry level server  DELL Power Edge 400SC (or PE440 SC) would work well, quiet and inexpensive. They often have sale on those and with basic configuration you can find one for $300-$500.

[judgej]

Something like entry level server  DELL Power Edge 400SC (or PE440 SC) would work well, quiet and inexpensive. They often have sale on those and with basic configuration you can find one for $300-$500.

Yes, it looks good, and at a good spec. Unfortunately it does not appear to be on general release in the UK.

-- JJ

[geoff]

I have a couple of PCs with Intel Mainboards and either Seagate or WD mirrored drives which have been running for several years now, in fact one is nearly five years old and is still running SME5.5 as the owner will not let me touch it as he is a disciple of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" school. My constant nagging about security falls on deaf ears as nothing untoward has happened.

A UPS is mandatory IMO and an extra fan in the case is always good insurance, and a strong backup regime

While proper Server equipment is strongly recommended for critical applications good quality PC gear works fine for less critical applications.

[mark_s_tt]

What's up with this?

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_sc440?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

Got 2 of the slightly older models than these a 400sc and a sc420, they're almost silent.

They come with ECC memory also which IMO is important for a server.

[judgej]

I wouldn't go for anything but a "server" (Cheap PC's aren't built to be running 24/7)

As if to prove a point, my little Asus Terminator, running smoothly and quietly as my main server for many years just lost its onboard network. It would receive packets, but would not send anything. I've disabled the onboard and put a second PCI network card in, but it just goes to show!

On the whole though, the terminators work well. They are small, quiet (so long as you get the latest BIOS, so the fan is controlled correctly) and run cool. My 1.8GHz model cost about £200 four or five years ago.

-- JJ

[judgej]

What's up with this?

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_sc440?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

Got 2 of the slightly older models than these a 400sc and a sc420, they're almost silent.

They come with ECC memory also which IMO is important for a server.

Wow - perfect. Thanks I tried all the Dell tools to try and find those, but it always seemed to lead me to more expensive models. I guess it's similar to the leaflets we always seem to get through the door, offering fantasitic spec Dell laptops for £260, which you can never find on their site unless you type in the secret URL.

-- JJ

[Maniac]

I installed sme on a pentium 2 with 233 Mhz and 128 Mb ram and it worked fine. -> you can take every old Pc (even from the junkyard ), install a silent cpu cooler and don't spend much money.
But if you want to have a save system or much harddisc space buy a newer one..

[nmtrier]

I had a silmilar need last summer for a small (2 person) firm when the 3 year on site warranty on their previous Dell server expired.  The criteria I was looking for were:
 - on site (next business day) hardware support for 3 years, so I don't have to sort out hardware failures
- tape backup so that they can create full backups simply (they have under 10GB of user data and it does not seem to grow much)
- identical twin disks for mirroring

I got them a Dell Poweredge SC430, but the SC440 appears to be the current product. I selected the Travan tape cartridge for backwards compatibility with the previous system but the price for tape backuip is a killer. Probably for the budget solution, I would add a contrib to backup to a workstation hard drive - since they have such enormous disks nowadays.

I configured the workstations to logon to the SME-Server domain, and run with My Documents mapped onto their user folder on the server, sharing an Ibay for their common files.  Similarly mail uses IMAP on the server, and the local Outlook file was also moved to the server.  This way, there are no important user files on the workstations.  This means that there is little need to backup the workstations, as they can be rebuilt from recovery disks and the application software re-installed in the rare eventuality of disk failure.

Their domain user ids are registered on their workstations as Windows XP Power Users, not admin.  I also registered the network admin ID on the workstations as amdin user, so that admin work on the workstation also has good access to the server and internet compared with a local workstation admin logon.

[judgej]

I installed sme on a pentium 2 with 233 Mhz and 128 Mb ram and it worked fine. -> you can take every old Pc (even from the junkyard ), install a silent cpu cooler and don't spend much money.
But if you want to have a save system or much harddisc space buy a newer one..

I also had a client running one of these for a long time. The killer was the speed - soooooo sloooooow. It would take about ten minutes to reboot, and five minutes for a simple admin panel change. They now have a 1GHz machine (also built from bits) with 512M of RAM, and are literally flying along now.

-- JJ