New Server

[DSapseid]

Hi

 

One of the the local primary schools in the area that we support need a new Admin server as there one is shot to pieces i have had to save it from dieing twice and county have had to do a full restore once.

 

Anyways they have recently been asking me is there a way to share their outlook calendars so the heads pa can modify the heads calendar that she then synchronizes with her ipaq. I said yes but only with Exchange - trying to get them to buy a new server to replace said useless one.

 

There are only 5 people using the current server and that is only used as a file stor and SIMS server. The bursar actually works on the server as her machine!!!

 

I was wondering can you run an exchange server as a DC? Also where can i buy servers from with exchange already installed on it so i just need to configure it for use etc.

 

I dont need it rackmounted as they have no racks for the admin network a normall tower would be fine.

 

Hope that all makes sense.

 

Dan

 

EDIT: sorry i forgot to mention money! Obviously as little as possible would be good but i dont want a pile of rubbish!

[speckytecky]

I'd recommend Dell if only on their new absolutley user friendly and helpful support which I have recently found to be above and beyond the offer on the box. Definately 10 out of 10.

[paul]

Whynot look at MS Small Business Server which includes exchnage as part of its default install?

[FN-GM]

yes you can install excahnge on a DC

[DMcCoy]

yes you can install excahnge on a DC

indeed you can, but you shouldn't!

[FN-GM]

yes i know but this guy wants minimum amount of servers.

[Geoff]

Virtualise?

[DMcCoy]

Shutting down a DC with exchange on it can take 30 mins+

[markcuk]

it can but you can get a shut down script of the net which makes it much quicker!!!

 

mark

[markcuk]

it can but you can get a shut down script of the net which makes it much quicker!!!

 

mark

[DSapseid]

Thanks for all the replys

 

Small business server looks the ticket as its only 5 users. I just went onto the dell site to configure a server and was confused by all the hdd options Raid 0, 1, 5?? do i need a 'SAS 5/i Integrated Controller Card for SATA and SAS Hard Drives'

 

I have specced a 160gb hdd for C and 250gb for data which should be ample.

 

Comes to £2421 for the following:

 

- DELL PowerEdgeâ„¢ SC1430

- 2 x Dual Core Intel® Xeon® 5110, 4MB Cache, 1.60GHz, 1066MHZ FSB

- 2GB,667Mhz,2X1GB,2R

- 160GB, SATA, 3.5-inch, 7.200 rpm Hard Drive

- 250GB, SATA, 3.5-inch, 7.200 rpm Hard Drive

- SAS 5/i Integrated Controller Card for SATA and SAS Hard Drives edit

- PV100T 36/72GB Dat72 Int TBU with 39320A Controller and cable

- 5 x DAT72 TBU Media Cartridges, Dell-branded

- Symantec Backup Exec 11d - Small Business Server Suite

- Broadcom NetXtreme 5721 Single Port Gigabit Ethernet Teaming NIC, Cu, PCIe x1 - Addational to onboard one.

- APC Smart-UPS 750i, 480 Watt, Tower Mount

- 48X CD-ROM Drive

- FP/BL - UK/Irish- 17in (E178FP TCO99) Value Black Flat Panel

- Enhanced Quietkeyâ„¢ USB Spacesaver Black keyboard

- Entry Level 2 Button USB Mouse

 

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server R2 2003, Standard Edition

Upg to Basic 3Y NBD Premier Enterprise Support

 

Have i missed anything??

[paul]

Ring Dell you will get an educational discount, call there schools team on 0870 3664890.

[contink]

You might want to consider a second 160gb drive and mirror RAID the system disk or possibly a set of 3 or 4 160/250gb drives into a RAID 5 array.

 

That'd give you greater failover capabilities if you worry about hard drive failures.

[FN-GM]

Have you considered building your own server? Also what about opensource solutions such as Samba.

[contink]

I just went onto the dell site to configure a server and was confused by all the hdd options Raid 0, 1, 5?? do i need a 'SAS 5/i Integrated Controller Card for SATA and SAS Hard Drives'

Missed this in my initial reply.

 

An integrated controller card I'm guessing (someone will doubtless put me right) is likely to be an onboard RAID controlled for your hard drives. It's worth having if your primary starts producing lots of resources or wants to archive data...

 

As per my suggestion re: RAID you'd need one of these or a separate expansion card with RAID functionality if you wanted to go that route.

 

Plenty of discussion re: RAID around so a search should help enormously there.

[DSapseid]

Ring Dell you will get an educational discount, call there schools team on 0870 3664890.

 

That phone number takes me to an avaya messaging collect service!!

[FN-GM]

lol

[contink]

Ring Dell you will get an educational discount, call there schools team on 0870 3664890.

 

That phone number takes me to an avaya messaging collect service!!

 

ROFLMAO... well be grateful you didn't get "Sexy Sue's escort service"... that would have been an interesting meeting with the head and bursar...

 

This might be a bit more help

[FN-GM]

that would be funny!

[john]

I would second the Small Business Server option, its very good I support a few local charities running it and its great

[torledo]

I just went onto the dell site to configure a server and was confused by all the hdd options Raid 0, 1, 5?? do i need a 'SAS 5/i Integrated Controller Card for SATA and SAS Hard Drives'

Missed this in my initial reply.

 

An integrated controller card I'm guessing (someone will doubtless put me right) is likely to be an onboard RAID controlled for your hard drives. It's worth having if your primary starts producing lots of resources or wants to archive data...

 

As per my suggestion re: RAID you'd need one of these or a separate expansion card with RAID functionality if you wanted to go that route.

 

Plenty of discussion re: RAID around so a search should help enormously there.

 

if you're looking at the PE2950 go with the PERC controller - this will allow you to have a 2 disk hardware mirror plus a 4 disk (or up to 6 disk with the 2.5" drives) RAID 5 set - no software mirrors YAY!!. PERC controllers are availabe for either PCIx or PCIe backplanes. Obviously PCIe is the newer standard and the PCI-x backplane does come with 1 PCIe x8 lane slot. The choice is up to you....

 

From memory you can't do RAID 5 with the SAS integrated controller. Both the PERC 5i and SAS have internal channel(s) hence the i designation....Dell do a more expensicve PERC 5e for connecting to an external SAS array.

 

The newer SAS arrays do onboard hardware RAID so you don't need to suffer with host based RAID for your external disk shelf - but they still lack the flexibility of iscsi and fc arrays which also have onboard, often dual redundant controllers...plus if you have a fc or ethernet fabric you can scale beyond the 2-4 servers of a typical external SAS direct attached storage solution. (so that's SAS host and disk connectivity whereas iSCSI is iSCSI/ethernet host connections and SATA or SAS disk connections)

 

To be honest best design practice is to centralise your storage - go with PE1950's or DL360G5's or even SUN X4100 pizza boxes with a couple of disks for your OS on each host and have RAID-5 / RAID 1+0 / RAID 6 (or whatever your application requirements are stored on iscsi arrays) then setup vlans or lun masking or any other iscsi/fc fabric tricks to prevent corruption and improve security. Really elegant solution - all your exchange, SQL, CIFS data is on your arrays...single point of backup, outstanding performance, great fault tolerance/redundancy. Who wants the hassle of data islands when iscsi is tried and tested and relatively cheap. You also have the option of setting up an easy to manage exchange cluster with iscsi.

 

But i think i'm getting a bit ahead of my self - your priory is to get a simple setup for a small exchange solution...becoming a SAN guru is something to aspire to when you've removed this particular albatross from around your neck

 

*just had to edit this post to amend an error i made regarding the PCI configuration options of the PE2950

[laserblazer]

Have you considered building your own server? Also what about opensource solutions such as Samba.

 

Has anyone built a server recently? I'm looking to replace our admin server. Doesn't need to be Deep Thought. A 2.8GH Pentium 4 should do it. Any recommendations for a mobo? The plan is to backup to tape, is there an efficient, cost effective alternative to Veritas? I've never got NTBackup to work with AIT drives.

[nicholab]

Buy a complete system as it will have been tested with the major OS's. I would also get a 3 year warranty as it a server. What the budget for the box?

 

BTW: Core 2 duo's now or AMD

[laserblazer]

Just received a quote for a Dell Poweredge 840 that was much better than I anticipated. So I will probably go that route.

[torledo]

Just received a quote for a Dell Poweredge 840 that was much better than I anticipated. So I will probably go that route.

 

Good idea. I don't know about anyone else but I just don't have the time or inclinication to build my own server. I don't mind swapping out components of an existing server or add components to a relatively bare box but to spec one out from scratch is not my cup of tea.

 

BTW you were asking about a cheaper alternative to backup exec....well backup exec IS the cheap option for those who can't afford the enteprise grade stuff i.e Veritas NBU, Tivoli, Networker or Commvault.