New Servers -

[JATSO]

Hi All,

 

I look after 4 Primary Schools all out curriculum servers are up for refresh later this year, so what should I be looking for.

 

Our current servers are Servers, Win 2008 4 GB Ram 1.5TB of disc space setup using Raid 5 with each school having about 100 clients on the domain and about 20 - 30 users that access shares on the servers, we will need more storage as we are running at about 75% of the current capacity. We use Tandberg RDX and Cartridges for backup.

 

Our MIS is going to be moved online so not worried about that.

 

Not so much interested in who supplies them at present but more what base spec should I look for any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[mavhc]

isn't the point of servers that they're easy to upgrade? add 20GB more ram and some new drives, and maybe a second cpu?

[JATSO]

isn't the point of servers that they're easy to upgrade? add 20GB more ram and some new drives, and maybe a second cpu?

 

Thanks I will look at that as an option as well.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

RAM and CPU upgrade would certainly be the most cost-effective way of doing an upgrade.

 

What model are your current servers?

[JATSO]

They are Tower builds by Stone Computers.

The MotherBoard is an: Intel Corporation S3420GP E51976-406

[CHR1S]

Id argue a RAM upgrade and a tidy up is all that's needed.

 

I am a tight so and so tho

[PotNoodleTech]

Get refurbed servers from somewhere like ICT Direct or Serversource. That way you can get a server at a decent price, with whatever disk configuration you need to futureproof. e.g if you currently have 6 x 3.5" drives in your old server you could get a new server with 24 x 2.5" drives and only fill the server half full of drives - this gives massive scope for future expansion.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Socket 1156 eh? What processor is in it?

[JATSO]

Socket 1156 eh? What processor is in it?

 

Intel

 

2.93 gigahertz Intel Xeon

64 kilobyte primary memory cache

256 kilobyte secondary memory cache

8192 kilobyte tertiary memory cache

64-bit ready

[CHR1S]

If you dont virtualise anything or run TS a single processor will be fine. I run an Xeon E5-2609 as a single CPU and it takes a battering, VM's etc and even now my RAM is the bottleneck.

[Michael]

Are you running a 32Bit or 64Bit instance of 2008 Server (Windows Vista equivalent), not to be confused with 2008 R2 which is 64Bit only (Windows 7 equivalent)?

 

If running 32Bit, installing 20GB of memory will offer you no benefit

[JATSO]

Were running 32bit but looking to move to Server 2012 if possible.

[Michael]

Were running 32bit but looking to move to Server 2012 if possible.

 

That's absolutely fine, but there's no direct upgrade path. You'll need to transfer all FSMO roles, wipe the local volume and install 2012 R2 as new, then re-promote it to the domain and transfer roles back.

 

Alternatively (this is another consideration), Windows Server 2016 probably isn't too far away now. The reason I mention this, is because Microsoft haven't really spoken about whether Windows Server 2016 (like Windows 10), will it be the last server OS, or will there still be new additions?

[ICTDirect_Dave]

So the Xeon is decent: PassMark - Intel Xeon X3470 @ 2.93GHz - Price performance comparison. It can take up to 32GB RAM so that might be the way to go

[CHR1S]

So the Xeon is decent: PassMark - Intel Xeon X3470 @ 2.93GHz - Price performance comparison. It can take up to 32GB RAM so that might be the way to go

 

Two years older then the one in my server and still more powerful, proves you dont always need to upgrade.

[LukeC]

As people are suggesting upgrade you want to ask yourself will it be realible in the future? Can you afford downtime? Will the money be there in the future if not replaced now.