Server specification & configuration advice please
- From: "Al" <sadfgk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 15:54:38 -0000
I am about to specify/procure a new server + SBS 2003 Premium. I would
therefore appreciate some advice, especially from MVP's & those who through
direct experience would perhaps do things differently next time around!
Currently using SBS 2000, but we have 2 problems:- server is now 6 years
old (although discs have been replaced) which is making e nervous, and the
boot partition is rather small (Exchange seems to be a major problem there).
Present server is dual Pentium 1ghz with 1 gig ram & a Raid 5 array using
(originally) 3 x 18gb scsi discs giving a boot partition of 18gb & a second
partition also of 18gb - unfortunately the larger replacement discs did not
expand the partitions (something to do with the raid rebuilding.) Is a
Supermicro server case & m/b & seems to be very good quality - indeed the
same case was used for 3 years prior to the present configuration with a
previous m/b etc & SBS 4.0.
I therefore think time has come to upgrade, but would be interested in views
on the following:-
1. Server hardware quality & power. I know the recommended MS specs, but
what would be realistic to try & get say 5 years lifespan. Are the Xeon
quad core worthwhile & what is the most useable RAM? Any views on
particular manufacturers - I am probably at a shortlist of another
Supermicro, a Dell 2900, or a HP, all seem to e within a budget of £2-3,000
but I have no experience of the build quality of the latter two nor their
quality of on-site support. While the budget is not unlimited (!) being a
small business, I am happy to spend a few hundred £'s extra if there is a
specific advantage to be gained.
2. Server hardware redundancy. Likewise on "redundancy" I am concerned that
we do not have a lot of inhouse expertise to fix simple problems, other than
myself, so am keen to ensure that failures are minimised - in particular
with processors does dual cpu give redundancy of processor failure? also,
would redundant psu's., NIC's and redundant cooling fans be recommended?
Likewise for the discs, I know the importance of backups, but what would be
the best "online" redundancy eg RAID5 with a hot spare?, but can it then be
mirrored to another array in some way to increase the redundancy or is this
total overkill? The only other issue of redundancy then seems to be what to
do to protect the raid card & motherboard, or are these just items that you
rely on good quality components for? I also wondered if I should
reconfigure the preset server as a spare & have it sitting in a store ready
to swap out for the new one if there was a problem but I suspect that
getting data, Exchange & configurations upto date quickly may not be easy -
but any ideas on that one?
3. Having had issues with a too small boot partition at present (probably an
Exchange data size issue) - what are the recommendations for disc
partitions? What size of boot partition? - is bigger better?, and would
there be advantages in having the OS on a separate physical disc altogether
with the applications/data on the array? or should certain SBS applications
be on C partition or a different partition?
4 Finally, any advice beyond the MS techical notes on upgrading data etc
from the existing server to the new one?
I appreciate that I have probably asked too many questions at once!, but
pointers would be appreciated.
Many Thanks
.
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