Small Business server recommendations

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#1 Post by **carbon_unit** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:27 pm

A customer of mine is looking for a new server for their small business. They only run a couple of apps from it but the apps require win2k server or better for an OS. They want raid5 with hot swappable drives. Other than that they are not picky.
Right now they have a Nobilis dual Xeon with a flaky hot swap bay and a few other problems. It has been through a few minor lightning hits and they want to replace it before it dies on them.
Any recommendations?

#2 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:57 am

How about this one? Iomega StorCenter Pro 150d NAS Server
http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/802169

#3 Post by **carbon_unit** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:30 pm

That looks like just a NAS box. No way to install windows apps on it. They need an application server.

#4 Post by **jdhurst** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:46 pm

I have put in several IBM Servers with Windows 2003 Small Business Server and Raid5 drives. One of them (a bit higher end) has 15,000 rpm drives in it. The others have 10,000 rpm drives. A basic IBM server like this is not expensive. Get it with a 3-year warranty. Get the Windows 2003 SBS OEM'd onto the box to reduce costs.

I have one of the 15,000 rpm drives fail in the first 20 days (you know how that goes). IBM had a replacement drive on-site within 120 minutes. I pulled out the defective drive, inserted the new drive and no one knew the difference. I told the owners after it was all done, and they were MOST pleased with their server purchase.
... JDH

#5 Post by **carbon_unit** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:27 pm

Thanks JD.
There are several models on the IBM site. Got any links to something like you suggest? 10,000 rpm would be fine for these guys. Right now they are using about 35GB out of 120GB and have had this server for 4 years.
I'd like to get them into an IBM server instead of the Dell the last guy quoted them. Are there any models with any durability issues that i need to avoid?

#6 Post by **jdhurst** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:54 pm

The ones I put in are now a couple of years old and are very reliable. I don't have any links for newer ones, so just pick a few rungs off the bottom. I do have expensive tape backups in two of them (driven by business needs). ... JDH

#7 Post by **ryengineer** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:26 pm

IBM System X servers are the ones you should recommend your small business clients.

Most of them support Raid-5 with hot swappable drives.

Intro.

Some model.

Compatibility charts.

Small Business server recommendations

Small Business server recommendations

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