Office Server for Accounting database software

[Choy]

Hi guys!!, this is my first time posting on the LTT forum and i have a very important concern regarding the server we are using for our office.

I built a server pc using these parts:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2400g

Mobo: MSI A320M PRO-VH PLUS

RAM: 16GB 2400Mhz Kingston Ram

PSU: 400 watt Rave 80 PLUS Certified power supply

HDD: SEAGATE Barracuda x2: one is used for the database server for our accounting software and the other is a file server for the office.

 

Please tell me what i am doing wrong in this setup and my main question is, will my parts be able to handle not being turned off? and only to be turned off every 3 months for cleanup.

 

Thank you!!

[lucienn3]

Hello,

 

I think it kind of depends on the size of the office. Therefore would be nice to know the amount of clients using the server and what tasks are running on it.

 

Additionally, I would suggest you to buy a second hard drive for any hard drive, where important data is stored on. Then put them into RAID1 and please dont forget about remote backups, due to the risk of fire still killing any data or other such events.

 

Best Regards,
Lucien

[NelizMastr]

22 hours ago, Choy said:

Please tell me what i am doing wrong in this setup

As you wish:

 

Quote

PSU: 400 watt Rave 80 PLUS Certified power supply

HDD: SEAGATE Barracuda x2: one is used for the database server for our accounting software and the other is a file server for the office.

Use a high quality PSU for a machine that's this important, don't skimp on it. Get a name brand gold rated PSU if possible, like the Corsair RMx, Seasonic Focus Gold and Cooler master V series.

 

The drive config is somewhat dangerous as there's no redundancy at all. I hope you have a good means to backup all data regularly and safely.

[Choy]

On 2/11/2019 at 5:15 PM, lucienn3 said:

Hello,

 

I think it kind of depends on the size of the office. Therefore would be nice to know the amount of clients using the server and what tasks are running on it.

 

Additionally, I would suggest you to buy a second hard drive for any hard drive, where important data is stored on. Then put them into RAID1 and please dont forget about remote backups, due to the risk of fire still killing any data or other such events.

 

Best Regards,
Lucien

we have around 17 people connecting to the server pc. i already installed windows server 2016. and it really solved a lot of connection problems we had before. thank you so much for the response! I'm actually planning to put the database hard drive on a raid 1 config.

[Choy]

On 2/11/2019 at 5:28 PM, NelizMastr said:

As you wish:

 

Use a high quality PSU for a machine that's this important, don't skimp on it. Get a name brand gold rated PSU if possible, like the Corsair RMx, Seasonic Focus Gold and Cooler master V series.

 

The drive config is somewhat dangerous as there's no redundancy at all. I hope you have a good means to backup all data regularly and safely.

Thank you so much for the response! I'm actually planning to put the database hard drive on a raid 1 config in the future. And as for the PSU, i will really take that into consideration.There is an automatic back up setting happening during off hours like during midnight and i keep having regular offsite backups everyday via an external hard drive and save it on my home PC whenever i get home. Thank you again for the reponse! but do you think my parts will be able to survive being always turned on 24/7? that's what scares me. It has a dedicated UPS by the way. thank you!

[Choy]

On 2/11/2019 at 5:15 PM, lucienn3 said:

Hello,

 

I think it kind of depends on the size of the office. Therefore would be nice to know the amount of clients using the server and what tasks are running on it.

 

Additionally, I would suggest you to buy a second hard drive for any hard drive, where important data is stored on. Then put them into RAID1 and please dont forget about remote backups, due to the risk of fire still killing any data or other such events.

 

Best Regards,
Lucien

Thank you again for the reponse! but do you think my parts will be able to survive being always turned on 24/7? that's what scares me. It has a dedicated UPS by the way. thank you!

[Jarsky]

1 hour ago, Choy said:

but do you think my parts will be able to survive being always turned on 24/7? that's what scares me. It has a dedicated UPS by the way. thank you!

 

What makes you think the PC cant be on 24/7?

Its perfectly fine....

 

As others pointed out though your points of failure are the PSU and the HDD's.

Restoring data from backups should generally be your last contingency...you should always try to protect important data at the operating level...so best for a RAID1 especially for the database. 

[Choy]

3 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

 

What makes you think the PC cant be on 24/7?

Its perfectly fine....

 

As others pointed out though your points of failure are the PSU and the HDD's.

Restoring data from backups should generally be your last contingency...you should always try to protect important data at the operating level...so best for a RAID1 especially for the database. 

Thank you so much! will definitely put doing a raid 1 config on the top of my list. then upgrading the PSU. Thanks for the advice my man.

[NelizMastr]

10 hours ago, Jarsky said:

.so best for a RAID1 especially for the database. 

RAID1 would be the minimum level and only in case of a 2 drive config, yes. If safety is key, RAID6 is hard to beat. For a good mix of performance and reliability, RAID10. But they all require 4 drives minimum, obviously

[lucienn3]

On 2/20/2019 at 7:37 AM, NelizMastr said:

RAID1 would be the minimum level and only in case of a 2 drive config, yes. If safety is key, RAID6 is hard to beat. For a good mix of performance and reliability, RAID10. But they all require 4 drives minimum, obviously

Hey,

 

But in case of cheaper drives he might run into issues, due to the vibrations, which could result in even worse timespan, of the already not "as great" one.

 

Best regards

Lucien

[Acedia]

On 2/10/2019 at 12:17 PM, Choy said:

Please tell me what i am doing wrong in this setup and my main question is, will my parts be able to handle not being turned off? and only to be turned off every 3 months for cleanup.

Do youself and colleagues a favor and just go buy a HP Microserver.

You will thank me 3 years down the line even if you don't know it yet.

[lucienn3]

7 hours ago, Acedia said:

Do youself and colleagues a favor and just go buy a HP Microserver.

You will thank me 3 years down the line even if you don't know it yet.

Dell sales rep :D?

 

I think it heavily depends on if you are interested into actually getting it done yourself and start to understand or just buy some freakin expensive stuff and just stay with that brand for very likely a long time

 

I would rather choose the 1. If I one day want to actually get shit done and not just listen to whatever I get sold.

 

 

Best regards

Lucien

[NelizMastr]

11 hours ago, Acedia said:

Do youself and colleagues a favor and just go buy a HP Microserver.

You will thank me 3 years down the line even if you don't know it yet.

As a person who owned both the G8 and G10 I can vouch for them. Max out the RAM (and in case of the G10, get the Opteron X3421) and put in a bunch of LFF drives and Bob's your uncle.

[Acedia]

4 hours ago, lucienn3 said:

Dell sales rep :D?

 

I think it heavily depends on if you are interested into actually getting it done yourself and start to understand or just buy some freakin expensive stuff and just stay with that brand for very likely a long time

 

I would rather choose the 1. If I one day want to actually get shit done and not just listen to whatever I get sold.

HP ≠ Dell

Just somebody working in the industry and I can tell you from experience that self build servers are never a good idea.

When shit hit's the fan there is nobody to rely on. You'd have to source replacement parts from ebay. There is no support contract. The hardware is not build for permanent use.

If you go with HP you can get replacement parts for the next 10 years (guesstimate) and if you take a carepack you can get them even shipped overnight or get a certified HP tech to diagnose and repair hardware issues.

You also get enterprise grade features, hard- and firmware. Sadly HP took away the iLo port for microservers in G10 (f* u HP for that one).

Dell pretty much offers the same deals but I am not well versed in Dell equipment. Maybe they have a small SMB server with iDARC.

 

Yes, you are paying premium but I think the benefits greatly outweight the cost.