matrix0978 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 My father has just started his own small business that consist of i believe 7-9 employees so far. But the business is increasing in size rapidly. Its becoming bigger and better aat a quick rate. Now he has a office that is carring T1 at the moment. In which i believe we will stay with T1. He has asked me to build him a server he can use for his small business. What would the best Specs be. My thought was,- Intel P4 2.8ghz.- 1GB(2x512) Memory- 2 x 100 SATA HDs.- Power Supply?Suggestions?- 2 x 120mm Fans. Plus CPU FanAny suggestions?Should i add more memory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jago_lfn Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 My father has just started his own small business that consist of i believe 7-9 employees so far. But the business is increasing in size rapidly. Its becoming bigger and better aat a quick rate. Now he has a office that is carring T1 at the moment. In which i believe we will stay with T1. He has asked me to build him a server he can use for his small business. What would the best Specs be. My thought was,- Intel P4 2.8ghz.- 1GB(2x512) Memory- 2 x 100 SATA HDs.- Power Supply?Suggestions?- 2 x 120mm Fans. Plus CPU FanAny suggestions?Should i add more memory?If the machine is going to be used as a router make sure you have 2 NICs installed and seriously consider a hardware firewall. Otherwise sounds like a good setup. I have 3 people not including myself running off of a 2.8ghz celeron 512MB and a measley pata 80gb drive housing windows 2003 SBS. Runs great and never bogs down so you should be doing good on whats listed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix0978 Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 could it be used for both router and server purposes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmX.Memnoch Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 (edited) RAM is cheap so adding more is definitely an option. How fast is he expecting this to grow? Personally, I'd get a dual Xeon capable motherboard and start with a single Xeon on it. This will give you an upgrade path without having to replace the motherboard.The Supermicro X6DHE-G-O will give you a REALLY good start with a REALLY good upgrade path. It has integrated video (it's a server so you don't need anything high-end...or even mid-range), supports Registered ECC DDR memory, has two PCIe x8 slots, one PCI-X 133 slot, two PCI-X 100 slots and one standard PCI slot. It also includes two SATA ports with support for RAID 0/1 as well as dual onboard Intel GigE NICs.Start with a single Intel Xeon 3.0GHz Irwindale EM64T CPU. This will provide plenty of power for some time to come...it'll even give you an upgrade path to a 64-bit OS should you decide to do that later. You can add another CPU later without any problems...or even take the opportunity to replace the original CPU with two faster CPUs. As for power supplies, unfortunately Xeon systems are power hungry. I recently built a Dual Xeon 3.06GHz system for home with eight Seagate ATA100 hard drives in it...I ended up using the Thermaltake W0049RUC 680W PSU. I had an Aspire 680W but it didn't have enough amperage to run the entire system.Your 2x100GB SATA drives should be good to start with. The PCI Express and PCI-X slots will allow you to upgrade to a decent SCSI RAID controller later (note the three different links to three different products). If you want to save some money on drives you could even look for a good quality PCI Express or PCI-X SATA RAID controller (that does RAID5).As for memory, as long as it's DDR333 (or DDR400) Registered ECC and of good quality you should be good. 1GB should be plenty to start off with depending on what you plan on doing with it (if you're going to run Server 2003 SBS you may want to think about starting with 2GB). Good quality RAM would be anything from Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, etc.What you have would definitely be fine for 7-9 employees, but if it's growing and will continue to grow for some time you don't want to have to turn around and upgrade the entire server within 3-6 months (entire meaning a motherboard replacement to get faster CPUs...a motherboard replacement would warrant an OS reinstall and longer downtime). Planning properly from the beginning will get you something that will last a few years. Edited February 26, 2006 by nmX.Memnoch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix0978 Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 For the Dual socket mobo, is it possible to have 2 different CPU's running at different speeds? Here an examples, could you run an Xeon 3.0ghz and a Xeon 2.0ghz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jondercik Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 no they have to be the exact same chip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmX.Memnoch Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 (edited) Right, they have to be the same model and speed. It's generally recommended that they also be the same stepping (which is why most people recommend that you go ahead and purchase them both at the same time), but this isn't an absolute necessity. As long as they are the same model and speed you should be fine.Example: You can't mix a Nocona based 3.2GHz Xeon with an Irwindale based 3.2GHz Xeon.Also, if you decide to go with that board (or any newer Dual CPU setup) be sure to check if you need an Extended ATX case. That particular board will...and for that I'd recommend the Coolermaster Stacker 810. I personally have a Thermaltake XASER Armor and while it's a nice case there are a few things that drive me nuts about it.could it be used for both router and server purposes?To answer that question...sure, it could. However, I'd also recommend at looking towards a hardware based solution. Since you're using a T1 you'll have to look for something that will work with that (since the office is already up he may already have something for that). Edited February 26, 2006 by nmX.Memnoch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix0978 Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 Would it be better to use it as a router or have a seperate real NetGEAR hardware router? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmX.Memnoch Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 (edited) Get a real hardware router. Since he already has the T1 up and running he may already have one. Edited February 26, 2006 by nmX.Memnoch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix0978 Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 (edited) well he is currently sharing a T1 connection with the businees next door, but hes gunna get his own T1 connection in the next week or two.So thats why i was asking. Now would you prefer a NetGear? or a Cisco product? Edited February 26, 2006 by matrix0978 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubar Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 sounds like nmx has explained it all pretty much spot on with alot of good references to different products that would suit ur needs. as for the router side of things if i had the cash and a choice between netgear and cisco i would always pick cisco without a doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmX.Memnoch Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 i would always pick cisco without a doubt.Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripken204 Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 get sataII hard drives and run them in some type of raid: 5, 1+0, 0+1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssmokee Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 You forgot to mention what the server is going to be used for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thauzar Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 I was investing the possible rentability of setting up a server for web hosting for my business and also for my actuel partners and friends, I haven't check about what type of line speed is available in my area and the costs but on the hardware part: can I use the same receipe as well linked and explained above? I also heard that renting space on bigger servers and then rent small parts of that space back could be an option, any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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