have to buy a server

[rendrag]

Hey guys, looking for some purchasing assistance.

Application:

Database server to run our business. Would hold our customer base (appx 500), process order entry, accounts receivable/payable/general ledger.

Users:

10-13 internal users, plus 5-15 remote users (customers who submit electronic orders occasionally)

Gut Reaction:

dual processor machine, 2 GB ram, hot-swap HW RAID 5, 250GB disks

Notes:

I chose 250GB disks because we'll have to keep ~20 years of order history, so that storage space will get me started.

your thoughts?

[jcarle]

Unless you have very high transactional rates, the dual processors would be overkill. As for the rest, depends on what kind of money you want to invest.

[ripken204]

dual cpu is excessive for this, just get a dual core. 2 gigs will be fine. raid 5 is an excellent choice. u need help on specific parts at all?

[bonestonne]

the user count is a little low for dual CPU, but if thats what you really want to go with, aim for a Dual Xeon setup, its a little old school, but the L2 cache is higher and is meant for a heavier workload. i have a dual Xeon board that im slowly trying to get into a case [but i haven't the time or money really] its just a work in progress. it'll be for music editing, because the L2 cache on the processors it has is 512 a piece, its an old board, but very reliable. Xeons were meant for servers, so its somewhat a natural choice.

a dual core would do the same job with less voltage on the other hand, so its a tossup on really what you're aiming at. Xeon boards usually have room for insane amounts of RAM, i've seen up to 8 DIMM slots on a single board just for RAM on a quad Xeon custom server setup. can't remember where exactly, but it was definately custom.

dual core would be cheaper in a sense and easier to troubleshoot, but if you're egging for dual processors, get Xeon.