New Server Arrived

[JATSO]

Hi All,

 

Well its eventually arrived 1 day before breaking up so it will sit here till after the break, but what do i put on it? currently running:

 

Curriculum on Server 2008 Std 4GB Ram for the last 6 years.

Sims on Server 2008 R2 8GB Ram

 

Were not a big school just a Primary and not many PC's (about 80), so should opt for Server 2016 or 2019 not looking at virtual as i don't have the capacity in the new server 16GB Ram plus i have never done it before so out of my depth on that one, but I believe I should put Sims and Curriculum on the same server and use the other 2 as backups along with our other backup solutions.

 

What do you think?

 

Thanks

[Michael]

I would highly consider Hyper-V, it really isn't all that complicated, but you're right, at the very least probably 16GB+ of memory for the Host, Sims and Curric to share.

 

I have Server 2016 deployed on all newly commissioned servers.

[3s-gtech]

Hyper-V’s learning curve is pretty gradual. It’s very friendly. I would strongly recommend separating at least some roles - just don’t share RAM. Even one VM under the host will help matters.

[PotNoodleTech]

Also if you use microsofts physical to virtual converter software it will suck your physical servers straight onto your hyper V server easy as pie. Don't get me wrong setting up from scratch is always better but if you have severe time constraints and/or am only starting to learn then doing it the quick and easy way is a good way to get your network up and running. you can always set up more virtual machines from scratch and transfer data/roles in the future.

 

I used it in the last week of a summer hols to get 3 older 2008 servers transformed into my new virtual hosts - I just needed it to be done fast and easy so allow as running for September the first, no shame in that! Migrated all thee servers on to new ones at a time of my convenience then!

[Michael]

I suppose the other consideration are SAS drives vs. SATA. You can run basic Hyper-V instances on SATA RAID arrays, but 10K or 15K SAS drives are the way to go.

[matt40k]

but SSD drives are the way to go.

I've fixed that for you.

[steveg]

Definitely virtualise it, if for no other reason than to make backups and restores much quicker.

 

On the new server I'd install hyper-v, and put the SIMS and curriculum server (assuming this is a domain controller/ file / print server?) as 2 separate virtual machines. Allocate 8gb ram to the sims server, and 4 to the curriculum. Ideally you would want a bit more, and it's not expensive.

 

I'd retire the oldest of the 2 current servers (save electricity), and set the other up as a hyper-v host. Run 1 virtual on there as a domain controller, and run DHCP across this and the curriculum server.

 

If either host fails then you will still have basic network and internet access. If the main server fails, it should be a quick job to restore the 2 virtuals to the other hyper-v host. (assuming it has enough storage)

 

Steve