Re: Server sizing question

From: moncho (moncho_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 12/06/04 

Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 04:35:03 -0800

"Mike Brannigan [MSFT]" wrote:

> If all your are planning is an AD server for 50 people and nothing else on
> that server then the one you are planning on buying is hugely over spec'ed.
> So if that is what you are planning on getting then do so. It will happily
> serve as a Domain Controller for hundreds more staff should your company
> grow.
> Also one point to make is that in a business critical/production environment
> you should never run you domain with only one server, you should ideally
> have at least 2

Thanks for your opinion.

I have been doing (what feels like) enormous amounts of research to
find proper hardware specs for a small domain.

Many of the newsgroup posts and MS articles talk about putting the different
parts of the OS in different partitions along with the amounts of memory
for a DC. The problem with the articles is that they are for large projects
of 1000's of users.

Thanks again.

moncho

> Regards,
>
> Mike
> --
> Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights
>
> Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
> newsgroups
>
> "moncho" <moncho@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B1D4756C-4134-4A3E-AEFF-9A7FF393BFE7@microsoft.com...
> >I was reading through the MS docs and doing google searchs about server
> > sizing a DC with AD/DNS/DHCP. I have mainly found messages for
> > 100's or 1000's of users.
> >
> > Current situation is as follows
> >
> > Workgroup with 30 WinXP clients
> > 1 W2K Terminal Server with a Visual FoxPro application.
> > I have a Linux box for File/Print services
> > I will not have over 50 users within the next two years.
> >
> > Currently planning for the future of our network and also
> > for security reasons, I was looking into installing a DC with AD as I
> > stated
> > above. I will eventually install a couple member servers to handle email
> > (probably will not use exchange) and File/Print services.
> >
> > I was planning on purchasing the following servers and I am wondering
> > if this is over or under kill.
> >
> > 2 of the following servers (1 will server as a backup DC with GC)
> > Dell PowerEdge 1850
> > Single Xeon 3.0 GHz w/ 3 Gig of RAM
> > two 36 GB 15K HD's in a Raid 1
> > Create two partitions to separate the OS
> > External DDS-4 backup drive
> > W2K3 Standard
> >
> > For 50 or less users, would it be necessary to go up to the 2850
> > and install two more HD's in another RAID 1 config.
> >
> > I thought about bumping the second server up to a 2850
> > Dual Xeon 3.2GHz w/ 4GB of RAM and two RAID 1's (one OS/Application, one
> > for Data/File storage).
> >
> > I am just wondering what real world examples are out there for the
> > small business.
> >
> > Thanks,
>
>
>