Advice for building server

[danandrews80]

Hi

My current server for my business requires upgrading. We have our case management system on it and it runs an sql server. We are getting lots of errors, due to the server not being able to handle 20 people connecting at the same time.

I have made enquiries for a local company and they have recommended the following:

Intel Xeon Quad-Core 3.4Ghz, 64GB RAM, Windows 2019 Server, 2 x 480GB SSD, 1 x 3TB

I have been quoted £3600 for this and wondered if anyone had any advice.

I would really appreciate any advice people can give. I have tried reading up on what I need, but it is all a little confusing. Money is tight at the moment and want to try and minimise cost as much as possible.

Thank you.

 

[Rand__]

It might be beneficial to state what hardware your current server has and where its limited [cpu, mem, disk io]

Also secondary requirements as form factor (rack/tower), remote management, brand (or diy), warranty, license question (reuse old Windows?), name (os compatibility, hw recommendations) of the case mgmt system

 

[danandrews80]

Apologies, I am not very "techy".

Our current server has 32gb ram and this seems to be the main issue. The server is about 6 years old.

Processor is Intel (R) core (TM) i7-4790 CPU @3.6ghz, currently windows server 2016 essentials. and a 1tb HDD.

In terms of requirements, this is what our case management provider states:

o IIS server which will host our web service and be open to the internet
o Custom subdomain (lfws.yourdomainname.co.uk) which the app will talk to.
o Firewalls which will allow the IIS server to be seen over port 443.

- compatible with the following Standard, Enterprise and Data Centre versions of Windows Server: 2019, 2016, 2012 R2
- compatible with the following versions of Exchange Server: 2019, 2016
- compatible with SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008R2, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2016 and SQL Server 2017
- requires a constant connection to the SQL Server Database. A high speed wired network, with low latency, is recommended for optimal
performance.
- If you have a Remote Desktop Server you can use RDP to connect to it

At this stage, I am not sure what I require. I spoke to the IT company about possibly buying a refurb Dell R730, however, they advised

"The other thing you have to be wary of, is that once you go down this route with high-end kit, is that you won’t be able to get things fixed quickly if it goes wrong. This is the main reason why we stick to off-the-shelf components, as we always have stock and can get anything in next-day as parts vendor neutral/generic – this machine on the other hand would be a return to base warranty (RTB), so you could potentially lose it for a few weeks or so, and everything would have to be Dell specific"

I, think, therefore, we would be looking at DIY, but I am open to something different if people can advise.

I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Thank you

 

[Rand__]

I think the main issue here is contingency planning.

Its probably no issue to get " Intel Xeon Quad-Core 3.4Ghz, 64GB RAM, 2 x 480GB SSD, 1 x 3TB " significantly cheaper than what you were quoted (new, and way less if you consider used [probably including a full set of spare parts to boot and significantly more performance as well]).
However if your not tech savy and can't replace parts yourself or require a certain availability then having a support contract will be very useful.

You can get servers (entry level) with similar HW from Dell/HPE/Lenovo too with support or next business day replacement as needed (for server hw), for probably same or less cash.

Another question is the windows license - do you need 2019/want to migrate or what makes you get a new one? Theoretically you could just migrate the old installation to the new HW for very little downtime (having a proper backup o/c)), but you might face a migratioon in the future if 2016 is not supported any more / by your case mgmt tool.

 

[bmorepanic]

Server 2016 Essentials is "special." It limits you to 25 users and has a ram limit of 64 GB. If you have any open Memory slots on the motherboard, you can probably still buy memory for it. You could certainly buy more disk.

If you forecast getting larger, then it may be time to think about moving to Server 2016 standard or Server 2019 standard. But you can also remain on Server 2016 Essentials as it's pretty similar to 2019. There is a significant discount to using Essentials and it's pretty safe if you've been on it that long and don't thing you'll be adding more than 5 staff.

In the dude's hardware picks, they are buying some very expensive SSD (if server grade) and you don't need them for anything. In ways that affect your employees, SSD's would be better used at their workstations than on the server.

On the other hand, you should have more standard disk and some sort of ongoing protection for it - either by backup,a hardware based drive mirror or preferably both.

In our currency, the price is about $4700.

Changing to windows standard has 2 costs, the users and the server. Server 2019 cots about $600 and 25 users = $1079 (not each - in total). So that's like $1,700 of the cost (1303 gbp), that you can save by sticking with 2016 Essentials IF you can.

But it's worth looking at getting newer hardware. I try to have people mosie along at about 6 years - the risk of catastrophic loss gets too high from hardware or software failures, as does maintenance costs for hardware . I might suggest you ask around and get a competitive quote from someone else.

A Windows server installation that old usually has had a couple of [dozen] events that have damaged the registry and/or other sections of the operating system. Things that may have been problems for years will clear up. I ask small business people buy hardware with maintenance - It's maker's technicians fix it, not me.

 

[i386]

Another question is the windows license - do you need 2019/want to migrate or what makes you get a new one? Theoretically you could just migrate the old installation to the new HW for very little downtime (having a proper backup o/c)), but you might face a migratioon in the future if 2016 is not supported any more / by your case mgmt tool.

Don't forget the SQL Server license costs

Our current server has 32gb ram and this seems to be the main issue. The server is about 6 years old.

Processor is Intel (R) core (TM) i7-4790 CPU @3.6ghz, currently windows server 2016 essentials. and a 1tb HDD.

I have a thinkpad t540p with a similar cpu and 16 GByte ram running a development environment with webapplications & sql server 2019 and it can easyily serve 100+ concurent users because all database queries use small transactions...
Before you get new hardware identify the actual problem and try to fix it

 

[williedee]

I'd echo Rand, you may want to get a quote from someone who can sell Dell/HP/etc servers with valid service contracts and warranty.