[meader83]

My company currently has 20 PCs & 5 Printers on our network connected via network switch.

I am hoping to persuade my MD in the near future to upgrade to a server as we continue to expand but im not sure what sort or server setup to buy and cost to expect .

All users only use internet, outlook and a VPN Terminal sytem for order/look-up of stock from wholesaler.

Configuring the network software shouldn't trouble me too much although its a few years since i had a go with Windows Server 2003, however its working what sort of hardware i should be looking at buying.

If anyone could point me in the right direction it would be very much appreciated.

[rgbartlett]

Depends what you're going to run on the server. I'd start with the HP Proliant ML series, for example the ML310 G5 is very reasonable price tower server. The other issue to think about is what OS to run. I've always found Small Business Server 2003 to be a great value option, it includes authentication, file/print server, intranet (WSS), email including webmail and remote access including VPN. It's also very easy to setup.

I'm running SBS2003R2 Premium on an HP Proliant ML310 G4 with 250GB RAID5 and 160GB RAID1, a Pentium D945 3400-2x2MB/800 Dual Core processor and 2GB memory. I think that'd would be fine for up to 20 users depending on mailbox size and whether they're using Windows Sharepoint Services or not.

I'd work out what the mailbox size per user us likely to be, the disk space used per user, add some fat, then project over three years, and that will tell you what you're memory and disk space usage is likely to be. The HP Proliant series servers that come with 3 years next business day cover are the best option, it's peace of mind over 3 years.

[Andy Trish]

with 20 PCs you should be running a server now... file sharing only works for up to 10 so you must be struggling.

Small Business Server 2008 is due out on Nov 12th and is a vast improvement on SBS 2003 R2 giving you exchange 2007, Sharepoint 3, Server 2008 and really easy access to setup wizards. I am currently writing a book on it and doing webcasts for the Microsoft community.

Hardware wise either the proliant series from HP or the Dell Poweredge. In your case given expansion possibilities I would say the Dell poweredge 2900. with Raid 5 and an LTO2 backup to tape. go for a 5 year warranty as that gives you peace of mind for the lifetime of the software.

I can supply, install anywhere in the UK, and give you support on an ongoing basis if your interested.

If you go for SBS 2003 now and add software assurance onto an Open Business license you get free license packs for SBS 2008 premium (they are changing the license ways again)

with 20 PCs don't go cheap on the server, it will be storing all your company data and basically running your business.

[Kent Tiger]

Originally Posted by rgbartlett

Depends what you're going to run on the server.

Agreed, which in turn comes from a careful analysis of the business requirements:

File sharing?
Email: IMAP or POP?
Intranet: Website, forum, CRM or other database?
Remote access? And how secure?
To name but a few.

A server could also be used to act as a firewall for the LAN, and to restrict internet access if those things are required.

Beyond that, and if this server is business critical, then backup and monitoring/maintenance should be considered, together with disaster recovery.

There's a link in my signature if you want to see what an Open Source server could do. One big aadvantage if you see further expansion is that you can add users at no extra charge.

[rgbartlett]

Good point from Andy on SBS2008, I'm also very keen on it, thought I'm only just about to evaluate one of the public betas, but it looks great on paper. However, unless you want to delay buying your server until at least November I'd go with his suggestion of buying SBS2003 with software assurance (which allows you to get 2008 when it comes out), mainly because it's generally best not to get something when the first version comes out, but wait 3-6 months for it to bed in, the patches to be released or a service pack to come out!

There may also be a 'special deal' for people who buy SBS2003 very close to the SBS2008 release to upgrade for nothing or almost nothing without the cost of software assurance, I'll dig around and see if I can find anything on that.

[meader83]

Thanks everyone for your input.

As i said before, this is a initial inquiry to see what sort of cost i need to expect.
I'm going to have a look at the server towers suggested and from what i've beeen researching i think SBS2003 (or 2008) will be the software.

What the server will be used for:

File Sharing
Printers
Email (POP) - We currently have mDaemon email server
Intranet - Possibly. I like the idea of an internal message board
Firewall - It would be good to retrict internet access too as we have had some issues with staff abusing our internet policy.

Remote access is not too important

[rgbartlett]

For £278 you can get an HP Proliant ML310 G5 with an Intel Dual Core Xeon 2.33GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 1 x 250GB hot plug SATA drive and a 3 yrs next business day on site warranty. I'd add another 1GB memory (£34), another 250GB drive (£74) and Small Business Server 2003 R2 (£445 for the premium edition with 5 licenses, the additional 15 users licenses would be £600).

All in £1,431 plus VAT. £1,000 of that is the software, but you do get a lot for that. You could also beef this server hardware specification up, either adding more storage if you think you'll need it, adding more memory, buying a server with a faster processor or getting faster drives. If you take a look at people's Outlook profiles now and check how much email they have stored (or if you mDaemon mail server has an admin interface that lets you look at their mailbox size), then look at the average size of their My Documents folders, that'll give you an idea of how much you need. Assume your data will double every 3 years, so if you have 100GB of data now it'll easily be 200GB in 3 years.

If you need any more help PM me. I would strongly suggest getting three quotes from IT suppliers before buying anything. All the prices above you can get direct from ebuyer.com, also worth checking are it247.com and lambdatek.com. See my blog entry for more details http://rgbartlett.typepad.com/rbit_b...-software.html

[CPLTD]

Originally Posted by rgbartlett

For £278 you can get an HP Proliant ML310 G5 with an Intel Dual Core Xeon 2.33GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 1 x 250GB hot plug SATA drive and a 3 yrs next business day on site warranty. I'd add another 1GB memory (£34), another 250GB drive (£74) and Small Business Server 2003 R2 (£445 for the premium edition with 5 licenses, the additional 15 users licenses would be £600).

All in £1,431 plus VAT. £1,000 of that is the software, but you do get a lot for that. You could also beef this server hardware specification up, either adding more storage if you think you'll need it, adding more memory, buying a server with a faster processor or getting faster drives. If you take a look at people's Outlook profiles now and check how much email they have stored (or if you mDaemon mail server has an admin interface that lets you look at their mailbox size), then look at the average size of their My Documents folders, that'll give you an idea of how much you need. Assume your data will double every 3 years, so if you have 100GB of data now it'll easily be 200GB in 3 years.

If you need any more help PM me. I would strongly suggest getting three quotes from IT suppliers before buying anything. All the prices above you can get direct from ebuyer.com, also worth checking are it247.com and lambdatek.com. See my blog entry for more details http://rgbartlett.typepad.com/rbit_b...-software.html

And being a established member who has supplied many other A1 Business forum members with IT hardware Software and Consumables ,We can also supply you with competitve pricing on all of the above , be sure to let me know if you require a quotation,

[Andy Trish]

lol, this thread is funny.

Richard for info if anyone is looking to eventually run SBS 2008 on any hardware Ram is really important and on SBS 2008 then go for 8gb. I was demonstrating it to Microsoft on a server with 4gb and one with 8gb and the 8gb one ran much better. the public release is available, I am getting the source code for the final release in a few days.

It is a 64 bit only operating system because it runs exchange 2007 so therefore there is no in place upgrade from SBS 2003, only a migration option.

[rgbartlett]

Thank Andy, I've really not looked at SBS2008 yet, my specs were for 2003, I need to check the recommended specs for 2008 before I start advising people on hardware purchases! Think SBS2008 would run on a ML310 G5? It'll take 8GB, but might be worth upgrading to a ML350 which will take 2 processors (dual or quad core) and up to 32GB memory.