Hi, im wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction of a good server for a small business. i'm not wanting to rent one i want to buy and also what version of windows server is right for me?

 

Any help would be grateful.

Anyone?

No replies probably means no-one feels qualified to comment... sorry mate. For OS, I'd say Windows Server 2003 - a bit old but rock solid. But hardware... well that's horses for courses and I'm not well up on server specs...

No replies probably means no-one feels qualified to comment... sorry mate. For OS, I'd say Windows Server 2003 - a bit old but rock solid. But hardware... well that's horses for courses and I'm not well up on server specs...

 

Seems no one wants to make that kind of comment to push you one way or the other. So much out there and i know nuttin!

Ive sent you a PM... we may be able to help

We have also been looking at buying a server. It would be nice to have some opinions on which servers have good reputations.

 

Ones that I have been looking at these from Dell: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products...;l=en&s=bsd

What do you want to do with the server?

We are looking one to host our clients sites on and for data storage/backup.

peartree i have PM you and hope you can help. The biggest worry is that i'm currently with virginvedia broadband (20mb line).

 

What ISP do i look to to run a server from, what speed, and if i get a static ip address for the server, what line do i run the other 2 machines i have off?

Are you restricted to Windows Server? If so, I would advise against it, I would recommend CentOS 5.X as for your operating system.

 

If you're looking to rend a server, you can checkout ThePlanet.com, they have very reasonable prices and top end support in my experience.

 

If you're looking to build from scratch, I would suggest Newegg.com for component purchasing, if you require more direction as far as which components to purchase for a reasonable price, I can provide you with assistance in that area. Simply send me a PM

Build your own and do your damndest to find a low power consuming machine. It will save you hundreds on electricity bills. You will also need to get a UPS and more than likely hook it to some huge ass battery, there are tutes out there on linking them to car batteries if you want to be extreme.

 

I shouldn't think you would need endless amounts of ram given the nature of server side languages like PHP having cache limiters etc.

 

Your processor, I would say a dual core would be more than adequate.

 

Graphics card, integrated is all you need. You will need plenty of cooling in there, I suggest a Zalman heatsink and make sure you apply non stock thermal paste to the processor.

 

You will need lots of storage, and given the price point of solid states that is probs not an option for you. So just get a few whopping terabyte drives and make sure you ghost them all in a raid array.

 

Outside of that cooling is all important and counting the wattage consumption on every part you buy is a MUST. you can find out power ratings of parts by simply googling them.

 

In regards to the operating system, I would seriously consider a linux distro, red hat, ubuntu, or the fore mentioned cent are all candidates. Really you just have to get your hands dirty with this one.

 

If you do want to use windows server, you are limiting yourself to proprietry software which sucks alot. My degree this year was largely based around server 2003 and in my opinion its a piece of crap. Yeah its a solid os, and there are tons of benefits from it but the cost would drive me insane.

 

If you go down the windows road, expect such benefits as - plugging in a new computer or server to the network, logging into a local ip address, let windows do some work and basically your machine is then configured to run your networked suite of applications. Outlook, Office, Project, CRM and so much more.

 

The features are endless out of the box, but seriously for a home network you do not need these convenient standard applications. A server is to serve you up content not configure your machines. I would say windows is far more suited to a local intranet setup and not for web consumption. This has been proven by the massive following for linux distros in the web server market.

 

You will need a static ip for your server, but with that you don't need to get any more. Your other 2 machines willl run as subnets from your static ip. dyndns can provide you with a static ip address hack sort of thingumy if thats the road you want to go down.

 

Im pretty sure if your isp (virgin) get wind of you running a web server from home they will want to charge you for additional usage, and will try and get you into an asynchronous dsl connection or something similar. Basically your up speed is the same as your down - or very close to it. This is great and you would definitely need to consider something like this if you wanted to have a good system that could handle traffic spikes.

 

Although not entirely practical running a web server from your home there are lots of other cool things you can do with it. For instance, if you setup a freelance business and you setup Asterisk on your linux box, you can reap the rewards of a very functional VOIP service. With that all you do is install Asterisk somewhere on your server, purchase a SIP telephone number... tie it into your Asterisk config and with a bit of basic programming you can setup a phone exchange. Really simple programming and their are a ton of tutes out there showing you how.

 

The scenario would be this - a client calls your VOIP number, it then gets filtered through to your server - it plays a default recorded message - "to speak to sales press 1, to speak to tech support press 2" sort of thing. Your programming (ultimately regular expressions) step in here, and run some logic.... If number 1 was pressed, do this if number 2 was pressed do this. Also you can cater for letter presses and the latest package of Asterisk has voice recognition. Pretty neat I hear you say. Asterisk has really got me interested, i've had a play with it a couple of times and seen it live with a small company i did some work for and its a great great system I would set up a home server purely for Asterisk. It is also great for an International network of freelancers. Another scenario - you run a small operation from home, you recently decide to take on a programmer, but he is based in Holland. You also want him to handle tech support. You send him a Cisqo VOIP phone, tell him to plug it to his computer, run some configuration with it, he is now ready to take calls via call forwarding. To speak to Holland press 1, to speak to UK press 2. Or you could dial Holland from your home or office by dialling out with 1001 or something arbitiary.

 

Anyway, not a very technical approach - it would be wayyyy to long to write a full tutorial on this, but there are already tons out there which will put you in the right direction.

 

I'm saying all of these things, yes I have seen them in practice but no I have not yet built my own server, or run anything as operative as this. But really how hard is it to follow a few tutorials and do a mashup of techniques.

 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, whats the worst that can happen? You have to wipe the hard drive and try again. Crikey - doomsday has landed

 

Good luck mate, this post has made me want to go and setup Asterisk on my old laptop now.

 

Shame I dont have a VOIP phone.

Build your own and do your damndest to find a low power consuming machine. It will save you hundreds on electricity bills. You will also need to get a UPS and more than likely hook it to some huge ass battery, there are tutes out there on linking them to car batteries if you want to be extreme.

 

I shouldn't think you would need endless amounts of ram given the nature of server side languages like PHP having cache limiters etc.

 

Your processor, I would say a dual core would be more than adequate.

 

Graphics card, integrated is all you need. You will need plenty of cooling in there, I suggest a Zalman heatsink and make sure you apply non stock thermal paste to the processor.

 

You will need lots of storage, and given the price point of solid states that is probs not an option for you. So just get a few whopping terabyte drives and make sure you ghost them all in a raid array.

 

Outside of that cooling is all important and counting the wattage consumption on every part you buy is a MUST. you can find out power ratings of parts by simply googling them.

 

In regards to the operating system, I would seriously consider a linux distro, red hat, ubuntu, or the fore mentioned cent are all candidates. Really you just have to get your hands dirty with this one.

 

If you do want to use windows server, you are limiting yourself to proprietry software which sucks alot. My degree this year was largely based around server 2003 and in my opinion its a piece of crap. Yeah its a solid os, and there are tons of benefits from it but the cost would drive me insane.

 

If you go down the windows road, expect such benefits as - plugging in a new computer or server to the network, logging into a local ip address, let windows do some work and basically your machine is then configured to run your networked suite of applications. Outlook, Office, Project, CRM and so much more.

 

The features are endless out of the box, but seriously for a home network you do not need these convenient standard applications. A server is to serve you up content not configure your machines. I would say windows is far more suited to a local intranet setup and not for web consumption. This has been proven by the massive following for linux distros in the web server market.

 

You will need a static ip for your server, but with that you don't need to get any more. Your other 2 machines willl run as subnets from your static ip. dyndns can provide you with a static ip address hack sort of thingumy if thats the road you want to go down.

 

Im pretty sure if your isp (virgin) get wind of you running a web server from home they will want to charge you for additional usage, and will try and get you into an asynchronous dsl connection or something similar. Basically your up speed is the same as your down - or very close to it. This is great and you would definitely need to consider something like this if you wanted to have a good system that could handle traffic spikes.

 

Although not entirely practical running a web server from your home there are lots of other cool things you can do with it. For instance, if you setup a freelance business and you setup Asterisk on your linux box, you can reap the rewards of a very functional VOIP service. With that all you do is install Asterisk somewhere on your server, purchase a SIP telephone number... tie it into your Asterisk config and with a bit of basic programming you can setup a phone exchange. Really simple programming and their are a ton of tutes out there showing you how.

 

The scenario would be this - a client calls your VOIP number, it then gets filtered through to your server - it plays a default recorded message - "to speak to sales press 1, to speak to tech support press 2" sort of thing. Your programming (ultimately regular expressions) step in here, and run some logic.... If number 1 was pressed, do this if number 2 was pressed do this. Also you can cater for letter presses and the latest package of Asterisk has voice recognition. Pretty neat I hear you say. Asterisk has really got me interested, i've had a play with it a couple of times and seen it live with a small company i did some work for and its a great great system I would set up a home server purely for Asterisk. It is also great for an International network of freelancers. Another scenario - you run a small operation from home, you recently decide to take on a programmer, but he is based in Holland. You also want him to handle tech support. You send him a Cisqo VOIP phone, tell him to plug it to his computer, run some configuration with it, he is now ready to take calls via call forwarding. To speak to Holland press 1, to speak to UK press 2. Or you could dial Holland from your home or office by dialling out with 1001 or something arbitiary.

 

Anyway, not a very technical approach - it would be wayyyy to long to write a full tutorial on this, but there are already tons out there which will put you in the right direction.

 

I'm saying all of these things, yes I have seen them in practice but no I have not yet built my own server, or run anything as operative as this. But really how hard is it to follow a few tutorials and do a mashup of techniques.

 

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, whats the worst that can happen? You have to wipe the hard drive and try again. Crikey - doomsday has landed

 

Good luck mate, this post has made me want to go and setup Asterisk on my old laptop now.

 

Shame I dont have a VOIP phone.

 

Nice post!

 

Some very useful information there and is definately worth considering.

 

Thanks

linux is easier to use, that is the os with most shared servers, windows 2003 server is for advanced users.

Server installations is not an easy task you should have the the complete knowledge of server installations the person who is installing the server should be Cisco certified and should have the complete experience in this field should do it if you dont have the complete knowledge then its not easy for you to install a server not very easy so its a request that do it very seriously