Desktop computer as a 2012 server?

[talksr]

Hi there,

 

Quite a long story, but I need to set up a desktop computer to become a DC and run the Sophos Antivirus Console we have at our school.

 

I have around 450-500 to spend on something, can anyone recommend? The school has an account with Misco, however for that price, most of the i5 processor systems don't appear to have any CD drives or are SFF. I was hoping for a bog standard HP desktop PC, no monitor, no kb or mouse, no SFF, just a CD drive, i5 processor and a large hdd. Seems harder than I thought, most seem to be small form these days.

 

Any suggestions would be really good

[fairm010]

I did this for a while. Talk to @ICTDirect_Dave for one of his HP machines.

[hallb15]

Hi there,

 

Quite a long story, but I need to set up a desktop computer to become a DC and run the Sophos Antivirus Console we have at our school.

 

I have around 450-500 to spend on something, can anyone recommend? The school has an account with Misco, however for that price, most of the i5 processor systems don't appear to have any CD drives or are SFF. I was hoping for a bog standard HP desktop PC, no monitor, no kb or mouse, no SFF, just a CD drive, i5 processor and a large hdd. Seems harder than I thought, most seem to be small form these days.

 

Any suggestions would be really good

 

For new, try @VeryPC_Colin_M

For refurbished, try @ICTDirect_Dave - if he has any HP Workstations left, they'd be ideal...

[pantscat]

Don't use a desktop - for that sort of money you could get a low-end HP Proliant - have a look at the Microsever Gen8, the ML310 or the DL320... easily achievable for £500.

[talksr]

Don't use a desktop - for that sort of money you could get a low-end HP Proliant - have a look at the Microsever Gen8, the ML310 or the DL320... easily achievable for £500.

 

But is an old system going to reliably run server 12?

[pantscat]

Who said anything about an old system? These are brand new Gen8 servers. It'll run absolutely fine as a DC and anti-virus box.

[talksr]

Who said anything about an old system? These are brand new Gen8 servers. It'll run absolutely fine as a DC and anti-virus box.

 

Ah sorry, I was focussing on the HP ProLiant DL320. I will have a look at the Gen8 models now.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

We can certainly help you out.

 

Got loads of cheap servers if you want to go down that route, but a lot of primary schools round here are using the HP Z800 workstation as their server. It's perfect. Dual socket (up to hex core Xeon 56xx series CPUs), 12 ram slots (up to 96GB) and four 3,5" SAS/SATA drive bays.

 

Drop me a PM if you want to talk pricing.

[Fazza]

Don't use a desktop - for that sort of money you could get a low-end HP Proliant - have a look at the Microsever Gen8, the ML310 or the DL320... easily achievable for £500.

 

I second that, we did the same thing in a very small remote location and put Server 2012R2 on it and it worked like a charm.

 

Being a server computer it is designed to stay powered on 24/7 a Desktop computer isnt and will fail sooner that a proper server.

[talksr]

We can certainly help you out.

 

Got loads of cheap servers if you want to go down that route, but a lot of primary schools round here are using the HP Z800 workstation as their server. It's perfect. Dual socket (up to hex core Xeon 56xx series CPUs), 12 ram slots (up to 96GB) and four 3,5" SAS/SATA drive bays.

 

Drop me a PM if you want to talk pricing.

 

Thanks, will do.

 

I second that, we did the same thing in a very small remote location and put Server 2012R2 on it and it worked like a charm.

 

Being a server computer it is designed to stay powered on 24/7 a Desktop computer isnt and will fail sooner that a proper server.

 

Ok, one other issue I had not considered. The FRDC is a Server 2008 but it runs Ranger. Does anyone think it would be a problem to add a DC to a ranger server?

 

Thanks as always

[sted]

as a point sophos does prefer to be on a server thats NOT a dc

[HTCPCP]

We have Server 2012 running on a bog standard Zoostorm tower with a 1tb hard drive as our Transparent Proxy DHCP server, and have had it in place for about a year now. No problems for us to report. It is well in budget, but you do need to factor in the license for Server 2012 on top of any costs, which means you may well be out of luck with your price range.

 

ZooStorm Microtower PC /Intel Core I5-4440/ 1TB/ 6GB DDR3 / DVDRW/ No OS/ 1Yr RTB (7877-1042) - www.misco.co.uk

[pantscat]

as a point sophos does prefer to be on a server thats NOT a dc

 

Yep - that's a very good point. Perhaps a good opportunity to stick ESXi on the box and separate the roles out. 8GB RAM should do the trick.

[sted]

Yep - that's a very good point. Perhaps a good opportunity to stick ESXi on the box and separate the roles out. 8GB RAM should do the trick.

 

or just use hyper v if your coughing up for a 2012 lic anyway you can run 1 physical and 2 virtual with the standard license anyway but would require more ram than that but rams cheap enough these days

[3s-gtech]

From experience - don't put Sophos EC on a DC. I did - when it came time to demote the DC again, Sophos threw all of its toys, the cushions and even its own legs out of the pram.

 

Fixed it with a good deal of hacking around, but would have been better separate in the first place.

Edited November 11, 2014 by 3s-gtech

[talksr]

From experience - don't put Sophos EC on a DC. I did - when it came time to demote the DC again, Sophos threw all of its toys, the cushions and even its own legs out of the pram.

 

Fixed it with a good deal of hacking around, but would have been better separate in the first place.

 

Ok, this is a useful comment to make, as I had forgotten that in an ideal world, Sophos would not be on a DC.

 

What would you do if you are running a school with two networks? An admin and a curriculum?

Say I get a fresh server to run Sophos. Can I make it a DC for two different domains on separate networks?

I can't see how Sophos would authenticate with systems for both domains, if it were only a dc for one. Hope this makes sense?

 

In one school I work at, the admin and curriculum are totally separate networks. The only way the servers communicate with both networks for printing or file sharing is dual NICs.

They both have different domains, IP subnets and ranges, user logons etc.

[3s-gtech]

Why does it need to be a DC?

 

If you have trusts in place between the two domains, the server will host Sophos for both - mine works across three domains with trusts in place. You can do it with two NICs too, but your NTFS permissions may be a bit tricksy.

 

Again - don't put SEC on a DC. There's certainly no need, and it's a bad idea. This is what VMs are for - if you're short on hardware, use virtual hardware.

[win]

or just use hyper v

 

I second that. One hyperv server for the DC and one for Sophos. The desktop will burn out after continuous use as you probably know from the number that have broken down on your network compared with your servers.