File Server

[brockpriest]

Hello, I'm wondering if this system would be a good fit for a small business server? We would use this to run inventory and connect to it while away from the office. We currently run everything through MS Access and would like to keep it that way for the time being. We would have this up and running at all times of the day for our team to access the database from anywhere. The items I have chosen are meant for location deployment file servers therefore they are reasonably cheap. There isn't really any options out there that are 

customizable. Any information anyone has would be a great help to us.

 

 

Mother Board - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071SGQP1Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?smid=AVCN3MVCVULPH&psc=1

Hard Drive - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071SGQP1Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?smid=AVCN3MVCVULPH&psc=1

RAM (x2) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017NW5NZY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Case - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XGB99JR/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Boot Drive - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J2WBKXF/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A2JRWHJVV1XRIB&psc=1

Processor - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B428V2L/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Power Supply - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZ3WDQG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

Total Cost - $951.60

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id really suggest a dell server. You buying support and a box that is easy to mantain and warranty. The problem with going diy is you don't want the next guy to end up with something he doesn't know all the little quirks about. Getting a server from one of the big companies is really the way to go. You also get better support for things like window server, which some consumer boards don't like.

 

Id get something like this.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/servers-storage-and-networking/poweredge-t140-tower-server/spd/poweredge-t140/pe_t140_13161

You really won't need that much cpu power and ram from what you listed.

 

What os are you running? Are you on a domain? 

 

Also that build doesn't have a gpu

 

 

 

[brockpriest]

32 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id really suggest a dell server. You buying support and a box that is easy to mantain and warranty. The problem with going diy is you don't want the next guy to end up with something he doesn't know all the little quirks about. Getting a server from one of the big companies is really the way to go. You also get better support for things like window server, which some consumer boards don't like.

 

Id get something like this.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/servers-storage-and-networking/poweredge-t140-tower-server/spd/poweredge-t140/pe_t140_13161

You really won't need that much cpu power and ram from what you listed.

 

What os are you running? Are you on a domain? 

 

Also that build doesn't have a gpu

 

 

 

I was planning on running Windows 10 Pro because Windows Server is pretty expensive. I would run a VM to host an Active Directory and a web interface file server. The Active Directory is just authentication on certain machines as the machines would hold user data as to the network drive through the web interface. There are only a few selected machines that would run from this unit. For GPU I didn’t think it was necessary because most of the time there would be no monitor connected it would be through a remote desktop like TeamViewer. You say there is plenty of RAM so we could drop one of the orders and that should be sufficient. 

[Acedia]

1 hour ago, brockpriest said:

I was planning on running Windows 10 Pro because Windows Server is pretty expensive. I would run a VM to host an Active Directory and a web interface file server. The Active Directory is just authentication on certain machines as the machines would hold user data as to the network drive through the web interface. There are only a few selected machines that would run from this unit. For GPU I didn’t think it was necessary because most of the time there would be no monitor connected it would be through a remote desktop like TeamViewer. You say there is plenty of RAM so we could drop one of the orders and that should be sufficient. 

And how are you gonna license that VM?

 

Get a small Dell PowerEdge or HP ProLiant with a Server 2016(2019) license. That way you can run Hyper-V on the hardware and create two additional Windows Server VMs on it which are also licensed.

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 hours ago, brockpriest said:

I was planning on running Windows 10 Pro because Windows Server is pretty expensive. I would run a VM to host an Active Directory and a web interface file server. The Active Directory is just authentication on certain machines as the machines would hold user data as to the network drive through the web interface. There are only a few selected machines that would run from this unit. For GPU I didn’t think it was necessary because most of the time there would be no monitor connected it would be through a remote desktop like TeamViewer. You say there is plenty of RAM so we could drop one of the orders and that should be sufficient. 

Really, get server 2019 its the only way to host a domain, and just nicer to use on a server.

 

Are you going to be using the pain version of teamviewer? Id just use rds on windows server, its made for uses like this.

 

You should really spend a bit more and do this right, cheaping out on this will just cost you more in the long run when problems come up.

[brockpriest]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Really, get server 2019 its the only way to host a domain, and just nicer to use on a server.

 

Are you going to be using the pain version of teamviewer? Id just use rds on windows server, its made for uses like this.

 

You should really spend a bit more and do this right, cheaping out on this will just cost you more in the long run when problems come up.

I have been looking around and I have found a few. The only real question is what windows server license I should get SERVER LICENSES. I would use rds because it is now a server and is not an expense of workstation. The server I have found and decided on is linked here . This one seems like the most cost-effective item for my purpose. It also has the expansion capabilities I am looking for in terms of storage and RAM as our ORG grows. The only thing is it is not a rack mount type server.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, brockpriest said:

I have been looking around and I have found a few. The only real question is what windows server license I should get SERVER LICENSES. I would use rds because it is now a server and is not an expense of workstation. The server I have found and decided on is linked here . This one seems like the most cost-effective item for my purpose. It also has the expansion capabilities I am looking for in terms of storage and RAM as our ORG grows. The only thing is it is not a rack mount type server.

Just get server 2019 standard when you buy your server form dell/hp/etc. Datacenter gives you unlimited windows server vms and some network and storage cluster features you won't need.

 

Why a t330? Id get a t140, its newer, and you don't need the extra features of the t330 here. 

 

Id get the t140 wih 16gb of ram, a i3, server 2019 standard, the boss 256gb boot card. It comes up to about 1800 usd for me. You can go a bit cheaper by getting the older t130, dropping the boot ssd.

[brockpriest]

16 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Just get server 2019 standard when you buy your server form dell/hp/etc. Datacenter gives you unlimited windows server vms and some network and storage cluster features you won't need.

 

Why a t330? Id get a t140, its newer, and you don't need the extra features of the t330 here. 

 

Id get the t140 wih 16gb of ram, a i3, server 2019 standard, the boss 256gb boot card. It comes up to about 1800 usd for me. You can go a bit cheaper by getting the older t130, dropping the boot ssd.

So something like this? (As attached) Did all as you described and this sounds like a fairly good deal for what you are getting. Because windows server costs quite a bit by its self. All that would be needed is a few more hard drive and that should do it.

pe_t140_13161.pdf

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, brockpriest said:

So something like this? (As attached) Did all as you described and this sounds like a fairly good deal for what you are getting. Because windows server costs quite a bit by its self. All that would be needed is a few more hard drive and that should do it.

pe_t140_13161.pdf

Yep thats what Id get.

 

Make sure you know your way around windows server to make sure your following best practices when setting it up. You can always ask here or follow one of the many guides on line. Don't just use it like a normal windows desktop.