Is this Server spec ok?

[RTi]

We are wanting to upgrade our curric server .. and have been on the Dell website.. and configured the following..

 

The server will be the PDC running

 

AD, DNS, DHCP, File Server

 

It will also be running Windows Media Encoder to broadcast the audio stream for our radio station.

 

Dell Poweredge 2900

 

2x E5405 Quad Core Xeon 2GHz Processors

8GB DDR2 Ram 667MHz

3x 146GB SAS 15K Hard Drives

 

£1786

 

The old server will be used to host a sharepoint intranet.

 

We are a single form primary school with around 210 pupils..

 

Thanks

[jamesreedersmith]

Depending on your drive config id be tempted to add a 4th drive to make a raid 5 array with a spare disk so it is still accesibile even if you disk fails (you wont gain any capacity but you will gain the redundancy) - other than that looks good.

 

Thanks

 

James

 

PS - What OS are you running on it?

[teejay]

The 2900 is an old model about to be discontinued, look at the T410. Also, don't go off the pricing on the website, either phone their edu sales team or try one of the resellers for Dell on here, you'll get much better pricing. Edited November 25, 2009 by teejay

[speckytecky]

I'm interested RTi in why your initial spec choice was for 3 hard drives. Our PE T300 came with 3 500GB disks last year it's set in raid 5 with a factory installed Server 2003 R2 OS. This week the 12 GB C: drive OS was screaming because it was full. I'm now looking at finding the best way forward perhaps and anohter HD to have the OS on a mirrored pair of drives?

[Potato-Peeler]

The Processors ar nice and beefy, but the RAM is a bit old isnt it? Thought you might want newer stuff.

[steveg]

I'd say the processors are a bit over-specced, and the hard disks a bit under. - Do you really need 2 quad core processors? I've just ordered a very similar 2900 for a similar role, but put 6 hard disks in and only 1 quad core cpu.

 

Be worth speaking to Simon @ CPLTD, he managed to beat a very good price we had on our Dell premier account, which I didnt think was possible! Assuming the rest of your spec is pretty standard, and only has a 3 year NBD warranty, you should be able to trim £100-200 off the price you have.

 

Steve

[RTi]

Thanks for the replies..

 

I spoke to our LEA approved Dell contact.. and he said as this model is end of line and the dell online price is the best deal..apparently the 2900 compares against the T610 which added an extra £1000, but that was without the educational discount. I still need to cost in the OS (W2k8 x64, and CALS)

 

The reason I didnt go for a 4th hard drive was cost basically.

 

Speckytecky: I would be installing the OS myself... so would be creating a 30GB partition for the C:\

our total disk space at the moment is 134GB ..the new server will give us 270GB .. so its plenty.

 

Would we notice any difference between DDR2 and DDR3 ?

 

i'm going to have a look at the current models agains.. and get some more quotes..

[Haptic]

I'd say the processors are a bit over-specced, and the hard disks a bit under. - Do you really need 2 quad core processors? I've just ordered a very similar 2900 for a similar role, but put 6 hard disks in and only 1 quad core cpu.

 

Be worth speaking to Simon @ CPLTD, he managed to beat a very good price we had on our Dell premier account, which I didnt think was possible! Assuming the rest of your spec is pretty standard, and only has a 3 year NBD warranty, you should be able to trim £100-200 off the price you have.

 

Steve

 

many thanks fella recieved your order this morning and its all on its way

[RTi]

The reason i'm going for 2 processors... is becasue of Windows Media Encoder...

 

just priced up a T410 similar spec for 2.5k

 

Intel® Xeon® E5502, 1.86Ghz, 4M Cache, 4.86 GT/s QPI, 800MHz

Intel® Xeon® E5502, 1.86GHz, 4M Cache, 4.86 GT/s QPI, 800MHz

Memory 8GB Memory for 2 CPUs, DDR3, 1333MHz (8x1GB Single Ranked UDIMMs)

Support Services 3Yr ProSupport for IT and 4hr Mission Critical

Raid Connectivity C10 Hot-Swap - RAID 5 with PERC 6/i, 3-6 SAS/SATA/SSD Hot Plug HDDs

3x 146GB, SAS, 3.5-inch, 15K RPM Hard Drive (Hot Plug)

 

will get some quotes now..

[apoth0r]

Hi RTI,

 

I have very competitive prices on Dell & HP Servers. If you would not mind, can you send across the requirements you require to and see how I compare to your current suppliers

 

 

 

It's generally good etiquette to introduce yourself to the forum before advertising your services.

[Edu-IT]

Sorry I never knew you had to be sponsored to be able to post. Apologies everyone, I will contact the admin

You can post without being an official sponsor, you just can't advertise unless it's a personal sale.