Building a new small office server

[gr8fl4porsche]

I am building a new small office server, trying to place an order with Newegg tonight or tomorrow morning.

5 workstations running Quickbooks Enterprise Construction version with remote access.

Case
Power supply
Processor
4g Ram
Motherboard with onboard video
3- 500g drives
Burner

Will be running Server '03

Trying to put together a nice rig for $700 or so.

Anyone have any specific components or comments they would like to share?

Trying to decide on the board and processor, prefer Intel but which one?

[slodave]

Three drives, you planning RAID?

[stomachmonkey]

second power supply and a good UPS.

[id10t]

Put Linux on it, use software raid, then run your Windows server in VMWare. Software raid allows you to re-create your array on *any* machine (only raid failure I've seen has been where the hw raid controller dies... which means while the data is on all the disks, ain't no way to read it!) Bonus of this is that you can move the virtual machine to new hardware/host when more/bigger/better becomes available, copy the whole VM to an external disk every so often for off site backup, etc.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Trying to decide between RAID 5 or simply running the main software package on drive 1 and using drives 2 & 3 mirrored as backup of database and all workstation docs and files.

What would be the benefits of the above mentioned options?

Already have a nice UPS - what does the second power supply do? Does it act as a backup if the first fails?

[gr8fl4porsche]

I have been using Carbonite for off site storage at home. Any others worth considering?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

...what does the second power supply do? Does it act as a backup if the first fails?

At basic used to help distribute the load when you start stuffing a box full of drives.

Can configure for hot swap redundancy if desired, for a data server it's cheap insurance.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

Trying to decide between RAID 5 or simply running the main software package on drive 1 and using drives 2 & 3 mirrored as backup of database and all workstation docs and files.

Unless you can do hardware raid, I would go with a single drive, then mirror the data drives.

For the record, I have no raid at home. I back everything up onto a 500gb external drive about once a month, and put it in a safe deposit box. Crude, but it works for me.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by id10t

Put Linux on it, use software raid, then run your Windows server in VMWare. Software raid allows you to re-create your array on *any* machine (only raid failure I've seen has been where the hw raid controller dies... which means while the data is on all the disks, ain't no way to read it!) Bonus of this is that you can move the virtual machine to new hardware/host when more/bigger/better becomes available, copy the whole VM to an external disk every so often for off site backup, etc.

That's bad ju ju, I've had more non-recoverable software raid volumes over the years than I can care to count. It also robs performance from the server since each read/write is calculated through the cpu as the parity bit is written.

But I do agree with the VMware idea, however to do it right for production servers you need ESX and that's some serious denero, probably some american money as well.

BTW, you can recover a hardware array very easily on the right type of controller. Most times you just need to online the disks again, or if you're smart your hot spare took over for the failed disk.

[87coupe]

FYI: ESXi is free.
https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=esxi

[SlowToady]

Remember, RAID is NOT a backup solution. And from what I've been reading, software RAID is the way to go these days performance wise; something about how CPUs are so fast and what not. Me? I still run hardware RAID on our server on a Promise FastTrack. It ain't broken yet and I'll be damned if I'm going to change it.

Spend extra money on GOOD DRIVES. Seriously. Don't be cheap. I can't begin to tell you how many SATA and IDE drives I'd had fail over the years. Ok, only one SATA drive. But it was < 1 year old. Do NOT buy run of the mill consumer drives. Pony up extra dough for bigger cache and faster rotation. Personally, I'm partial to SCSI drives, probably because I've had the same drives running for like...7 years or something. Maybe more. Serial Attached SCSI is the new "in" thing. I personally wouldn't buy anything less than 10,000 RPM, 8MB cache. Also, there seems to be speculation that the larger drives have a higher failure rate; I would think carefully about how much storage you really need.

Most of the time, the CPU is not a bottleneck in a SOHO/SMB situation. I/O and network throughput, on the other hand, can be. Our server at work was memory bound; slapped in another gig, adjusted the page file and it's much faster. At peak usage it sees maybe 3 or 4% CPU utilization. I would also probably spring for a motherboard that accepts ECC RAM. ECC = Error Correcting Code. Basically the RAM checks to make sure the bits are as they should be, and mitigates the possibility of data corruption.

Also, if you're thinking about a virtual server, per the posts above, look at Virtual Box from SUN Microsystems. IIRC, it outperforms VMWare, and is generally considered superior, though that might have just been SUN fanboys ranting

[t951]

Lots of good advice, but I would disagree on the vbox recommendation.

VMWare is fast enough to large enterprise production servers on, there is a massive install base, and lots of prebuilt servers, etc. It also has a huge support base. vbox.....not so much.

Make sure, whatever you do that you do the following:

Have a backup plan. (Whether it is backup tapes, or replicating the server data, whatever).
TEST the plan!!!! REGULARLY!!! (Most of the sites I visit simply run backups, but never test a full recovery).

Make sure you have nothing proprietary. Standards are your friend.
Don't overbuy where you don't need to. Work computers don't need great video cards.
Don't skimp where its important. (Good drives, memory, servers, etc).

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by 87coupe

FYI: ESXi is free.
https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=esxi

There is a good reason for that.

[svandamme]

i'de never build any business server with off the shelf parts... ever.
it's not worth the hassle, and half decent A brand servers can be found for 700 USD

if anything breaks, you'll have better result from warranty
faster replacement part sent, and you'll know it will fit the machine you need it for...

memory and Harddrives excluded, those can be found anywhere anyway
(do get decent ones.. not the consumer desktop models they are slower and have a lower MTBF, as well as a lower warranty
do get brand memory, viking or kingston not unknown crap),
but the chassis/and board...for a server, A brands are the best way
The cases will be better designed , better fans , airflow will be optimized, etc etc...i just wouldn't bother with anything else...

2 months ago i snatched 2 Dell R200 1 U rack servers in promotion for 300 euro a pop... dual core 2.2 ghz 6mb level 2 cache and 2 SATA disks
i rest my case.

[Halm]

Dell Small Business site, T105, 2Ghz, dual core, 4 Gb ram, RAID controller, 2x250Gb drives, $708.00 + OS.

We are running one of these for our production Exchange 2007 server. Excellent box for the $$$. Don't build it for all the reasons Stijn listed and more. Buy with warranty and fight bigger battles someplace else.

[87coupe]

Originally Posted by Scott R

There is a good reason for that.

Yes, they want to sell you Virtual Center, HA, DRS, and all their other goodies, so they give away the hypervisor.

[azasadny]

I use Dell PowerEdge 400SC servers that I get on eBay. I replace the stock power supply with a PC Power and Cooling power supply and add my own hard drives, etc... Very reliable and inexpensive. I've built at least 40 of them...

[Halm]

Art, I agree wit you that the 400SC is a great little box. As a matter of fact I just retired one that we had used you years as everything from an Exchange front-end, to a spam server and as a domain controller. But these boxes are getting on in age and a falling pretty far down (IMO) the technology curve. For the price difference I would go new and a T100/105 or 440SC.