Server overhaul

Hello all,  

I’m looking for some pointers on a project and Toms Hardware has never failed me when I needed an idea, so I was wondering if you could give me a few suggestions on where to start.

I’ve been appointed (with help, of course) a somewhat sizeable undertaking. It’s something I’ve never done, but there’s a first time for everything. And I want to do this right, so I’ve come to the best.

I work for a company that supports several hundred POS machines located across the country. I have 4 servers. 1 is an on site file/print/defunct pdc server running NT 4, another is a central administration/database server and two other servers (dns, etc), the last three being hosted by a generic hosting company and lastly a simple Win 98 terminal running a security program for doors within the office.

I’m looking to consolidate these machines into as few devices as possible all located onsite. I’d like to be able to securely access each POS machine for tasks like troubleshooting and assistance (not all at once, of course). And I’d also like to have each POS machine be able to securely access the server for updates/backups and things of that nature. Right now the machines use Sprint cards for internet access, which has obvious limitations.

From the looks of it, this entails migrating off the original servers, onto w2k3 or possibly unix or linux. Which is a better platform for this application? Linux and unix are more reliable and generally more accepted, so I’ve heard. What about w2k3? What’s better, dual or quad core?

Right now I’m in the planning stages and have a few weeks time to complete the project, but I want to start hammering out the details as soon as possible.   ANY help would be greatly appreciated, pointers, hints, or even full-blown answers.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post.  


Cameron