I think it's time for new servers

[dezt]

I've been looking at our servers for the last 2 years thinking "wow, they are old" Well, now it's time to take action and upgrade them.

 

We are currently running a Dell server for our curric DC. This also does DNS, sophos enterprise console and hosts all the home areas. Until recently it also ran our proxy software (which is absolutly terrible) and successmaker as well.

 

It is a dual Xeon 2.0Ghz with 1.5Gb ram and 120Gb hard drive split into 5 partitions for different jobs.

 

I was wondering what people would recomend as a decent spec for a new DC that will also run DNS and DHCP when i get the new proxy set up. (Yes we are still running static ip's)

 

I was thinking of something with dual processors, about 2Gb ram, and a raid 5 array with maybe 100Gb drives and also getting a Nas drive for the storage instead of using the DC for it.

 

I have 160 desktops that would connect to the server.

[ThatBoringBloke]

Something along the lines of a Dell PowerEdge 2900 with dual PSU's, Dual Processors, etc should do what you want. Cost should be somewhere along the lines of £5k.

[Midget]

heh thats funny I'm specing up exactly that (except using the current win2003 DC for storage)

[dezt]

I'll be looking at using the old DC as a terminal server for these 26 thin clients we have sitting on my shelves. I think it should be good enough to power them all for office and internet usage.

[Geoff]

If your existing servers aren't rack mounted, it's worth considering switching to rack mounted kit.

[dezt]

I'd love to rack mount them, but i've got nowhere to put a rack. Every time I find some room to maybe put a rack the teachers here have filled it with all their past exam papers from about 10 years ago.

[localzuk]

I would say go for a HP DL360 G5 with dual processors (5150's or above), go for 4GB of ram now rather than 2GB. Also slot in 2 146GB SAS HDD's, mirrored, dual power supplies and you have your DC box. Then get a Adaptec Snap Server 520 or above and use it via iSCSI. Should set you back around £5k also. (Also, if you don't do rack mount, go for the ML370 G5 with similar spec to above).

[tosca925]

Something along the lines of a Dell PowerEdge 2900 with dual PSU's, Dual Processors, etc should do what you want. Cost should be somewhere along the lines of £5k.

 

We had asimilar spec to this just before xmas to replace our file server and so far we have been very pleased with it.

[budgester]

Demand that space for the rack mount, Once you have the rack in then you can pile all your servers, ups, etc into a very small foot print.

[Dos_Box]

I've just installed 4 Dell Power Edge 1950's to replace my old 2650s. They knock them into a crooked hat. Coupled with an AX150i SAN for storage they are great.

[Butuz]

What you doing with your 2650's mate?

 

I have one here thats failed wondering if I could plunder any/all of what your now not using?

 

Andrew

[mrphil]

get the best, it will last forever i got a dell 2950, dual quad-core xeons 4 gb RAM, PV124t Tape dirve with full raid array think i paid 4500, it will only run SIMS but i am hoping it will last forever

[m25man]

I would folow localzuk's lead only with ML's if you don't have any rack space.

I just got a new ML350 G5 in to play with before putting it into the field.

2 x 1.86 Xeon Dual Cores with 2GB Ram (needs more really I know)

 

It's brilliantly put together, the setup wizard took care of everything straight out of the box.

 

What most impressive is that iLO2 standard is now built in for free.

 

So remote access to bios level is possible without any additional kit or licenses. Cold boots restarts are no longer a problem from afar!

 

Be sure to spec it with the 128 BWCC E200i controller otherwise no Raid 5 without upgrade, add an iSCSI SAN and you will be well away.

 

Duringh the bench testing I have pushed the temperature in the shack to well over 40 deg she's been screaming her head off but still stable and hasn't shutdown unexpectedly. Soon as the temp drops to something near normal (28 ish) it's as quite as a mouse.

 

If I had to compain about anything I think the PSU's are a bit small and seem to run hot so I might be tempted to buy the second hot spare DC PSU if it was to be my only server. With 1TB SATA Raid 5 and Server 2003 OEM it came together for less than 3K inc VAT

[john]

I 3rd the ML and DL HP Ranges, amazing machines, love them to bits, one thing to note is the PSUs on the ML370 G5's are 1KW units (or they were on mine) so those babys can fairly suck the juice I love mine and won't swap it for any other make.

[bigdpm]

Once you find your perfect spec and realise your puny budget wont stretch then (presuming you still like Dells) have a look at bananacomputers.com. They sell factory refurbished Dells for Dell. All their stuff comes with a 3 or 4 year Dell manufacturers warranty (4 hour response) and the prices are unbelivable (for a school techie anyway) how about a 2950, all the usual trimmings, 16gb memory, 4 73gb sas drives ... under £3k!

Check it out for yourself

Ta

Denis Murphy

Net Mgr

Christs College Finchley

[localzuk]

Once you find your perfect spec and realise your puny budget wont stretch then (presuming you still like Dells) have a look at bananacomputers.com. They sell factory refurbished Dells for Dell. All their stuff comes with a 3 or 4 year Dell manufacturers warranty (4 hour response) and the prices are unbelivable (for a school techie anyway) how about a 2950, all the usual trimmings, 16gb memory, 4 73gb sas drives ... under £3k!

Check it out for yoursel

 

Haha! They're on the Isle of Man! Small world (I'm from there). They'd better not let the Lieutenant Governor see that they use 'UK' in their name!

[greenfieldsupport]

Build it yourself

 

we (with out VERY limited budget)

 

got a 2 opteron , 4gbs ECC Buffered RAM, H/w RAID 5 controller /w 4 146gb scsi. 2 dvd rewriters, lovely case, £200 worth of hp hardware network card, aswell as the 2 1gbps onboard broadcoms. 600Wpsu etc... £1200 (about a year and a half ago)

 

were building another one this year, with just one processor, 2gb RAM, with 2tb of storage, with a RAID 5 HW controller. £200 H/W based network card etc. basically just as a fast storage area, £800 delivered

 

Just how we do things here, not enough money for any other options....

 

the rackmounted cases are too much ALONE without any hardware...

 

We have a dell poweredge which the first server we built up is actually higher spec.. but the poweredge cost £5k, 5 x more for less ram less processor less hdd... infact we had to add another drive so it cost us more then that!!!