ECC worth the cost in this server build?

[dozerman]

I'm about to throw together a server for my cousin's small business because they are a bit short on cash and can't afford an IT admin ATM. It will be storing contacts and payroll information alongside a little miscellaneous data, AutoCAD files, and some encrypted business documents. Storage will be four three terabyte HDDs in raid 5. It won't be connected to too many computers: a receptionist's computer, three or four office computers, and a couple of workstations through a switch. The data that will be stored on this server will be kept for at least half a decade and really doesn't need to be lost. Would it be worth it to go opteron/xeon and thus ECC to help protect my data, or should I go with a regular desktop build and save a few bucks?

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

If you want reliability, you build a SERVER...which will give you little choice on Ram or OS...

And they aint cheap... budget ?

Just out of interest what the dickens will they be storing to need 12 Terrabytes of HARD DRIVES ??? (The library of Congress lol ? )

All the best Brett

 

[Guest]

If you want reliability you buy a Proliant, as you're using large capacity SATA drives I would recommend RAID 6 as the rebuild times on RAID 5 SATA is nowhere near that of RAID 5 SAS. The company I work for does a lot of CAD work and very high res graphic designs and we have a 36TB SAN - less the capacity used for RAID 1 and RAID 5 LUNs so somewhere around 18-20TB usable space.

RAID is no substitution for backup so you also need to factor that in, you will likely need an LTO4 auto-changer, preferably fibre channel.

Non of this is cheap but you have to pay for reliability. Putting a Server OS on a desktop PC and expecting server performance and reliability is false economy in my opinion.

 

[Guest]

Hi

which will give you little choice on Ram or OS...

12 Terrabytes of HARD DRIVES ???

All the best Brett

Can't see any reason why building or buying limits the choice of OS.

9TB not 12