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Help deciding on a small business server build

Tags:
  • Intel
  • Dual Processor
  • Business Computing
  • Servers
  • Xeon
  • Build
  • Components
Last response: in Business Computing
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July 7, 2014 6:02:41 PM

First choice: SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DTi-F-O mobo with 2 x Intel Xeon E5620 Westmere Quad-Core (2.4GHz) -- $2,461.87* (on Newegg)

Second choice: SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SAX-O mobo with an Intel Xeon E5645 Westmere-EP Six-Core (2.4GHz) -- $2,484.87* (on Newegg)

*Other components for both choices will be:

    2 x Mushkin Enhanced PROLINE 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) ECC Registered
    CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W
    CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD - PFC Sinewave UPS System
    Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials 64B 1-2CPU - OEM
    4 x 1 TB WD Re WD1003FBYZ 7200 RPM Enterprise Hard Drive (RAID 10 setup)
    ASUS DVD writer
    Rosewill THOR V2-White Edition Case


This server will be used as a database server for a dental office. The network will consist of 10 workstations that will be constantly accessing and making changes to the database.

More about : deciding small business server build

July 7, 2014 8:19:08 PM

If this is for a business environment, while you are looking at server-class hardware, why are you considering building your own? This leaves support 100% in your hands, and is that something you are comfortable with? Testing hardware compatibility with all other components, plus all other software choices (OS, drivers, firmware, etc.) is completely up to your responsibility instead of letting the big name professionals out there (Dell, IBM, HP, etc.) handle that end of it for you.

I'd recommend looking into something pre-built for the support. When it comes to cost, it might be slightly more expensive going with the pre-built options, but you'd be surprised. Find yourself a nice HP reseller and you can probably get a new HP ProLiant server configure the same as your own custom-build for almost the same cost. But that comes with HP's warranty and support behind it.

What is the software you are going to be running for this dental office? Are all ten workstations going to have the client-server software installed or will it be accessed via remote desktop session host, etc? Going with dual processors might not be necessary right off the bat here, depending upon the software requirements for your database, and if you are looking at a new server why look at older generation processors? I'd suggest the Ivy-bridge based E5-2620 V2 processor for a new server like this. Another thing missing from your configuration is RAID controller. The onboard software controller will technically work, but in a business critical environment, especially if you are going to be running something needed decent throughput and stability, then you should be looking into a dedicated hardware RAID controller, with onboard cache and preferably battery backed or flash backed write cache.

Does this network already have a domain server in place, or a file server? You may consider upgrading to Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard so you have access to two virtual machines. Your first can be a VM for your local domain controller/DNS/DHCP plus function as a centralized file server. The second can be your database and application server.
July 8, 2014 1:06:51 PM

I definitely agree that one of the standard business suppliers will make life much easier. What is the cost to the business of an outage? The cost of an outage is the easiest justification for a name brand business server. Having an 800 number to call for parts or help is invaluable.

16GB of RAM isn't much for a server. With the performance of current CPUs, something like 4GB / core is a minimum. A database server might want more RAM to allow caching. The dental database software probably has recommendations on hardware configurations. An enterprise SSD with appropriate backup might be a good upgrade for a database server.
July 8, 2014 1:14:44 PM

So many think they can build a server cheaper than the regular server vendors, but they never answer the service/support/warranty questions. The cheapest price is never the only factor when it comes to spec'ing out a server for a business.

When a business is dependent upon a server to run, you don't want to be the person who says, "Hey, I bought that board from <insert vendor> a year or two ago. Let me see if I can track down my invoice, then track down the manufacturer, and then track down how they handle their warranty returns. Oh look, they only accept emails through a web form. I'm sure they'll reply to my desperate-cry-for-help email quickly!"

I think people would like to save money, but I would rather tell my employer, "Here is the server that HP/Dell recommended to fit our needs. You can buy a 4-hr response time service agreement, a 8-hr response time, or Next Business Day. I don't recommend buying anything less than that because if the server goes down, every hour that goes by means a greater loss of revenue for us."
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