Should I use Server 2008 instead of Windows 7 Professional?

[H0R53]

I have an older Dell workstation/SMBS computer I've posted about a few times. It's running Windows 7 Professional right now just fine, but I am a bit worried about performance and power consumption.

 

During setup Windows 7 said 'Setup cannot configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware." and I had to Shift+F10 and get CMD up to run OOBE myself.

 

Here are some juicy specifications:

Intel 5000x Chipset

2x Intel Xeon X5355

750W Dell PSU

16GB ECC FB-DIMM

4x 250GB WD Blue 5400RPM drives in DELL VIRTUAL SCSI Disk Device (RAID configured in BIOS with Dell SAS utility)

1x 160GB Caviar SE (Windows)

nVidia GTX 650

 

Any benefit of Server 2008 over Professional? This is primarily NAS and my business site server.

 

[SCHISCHKA]

You said you are currently running win 7 pro but is your new installation windows 7 home? because Home wont run on a two socket board.

Server 08 allows you to disable IE and has a ton more networking tools and services.

Windows 7 Pro is not licensed to be run as a server for multiple users and has a limit of 10 connections.

[ArduinoBen]

Well, server will obviously have better tools for servers, so, I'd go for that one, assuming you have a key.

 

If you don't have a license, keeping in mind that Windows Server Edition costs around $1000, I personally wouldn't upgrade unless you have to, or have a lot of money.

[H0R53]

39 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

You said you are currently running win 7 pro but is your new installation windows 7 home? because Home wont run on a two socket board.

Server 08 allows you to disable IE and has a ton more networking tools and services.

Windows 7 Pro is not licensed to be run as a server for multiple users and has a limit of 10 connections.

No, the only and current installation is Windows 7 Professional. Both CPUs are enabled and functional, and all 8 cores (hehehe)* show up in Task Manager.

My website isn't actually up yet, it's still being finalized and registered.

10 connections is fairly limiting. I will go with Server, then.

It's not licensed to serve to multiple users meaning only a single entity like myself can use it as NAS? Because there are two people currently employed at my business, myself and a friend.

 

*That many physical cores still makes me giddy

9 minutes ago, ArduinoBen said:

Well, server will obviously have better tools for servers, so, I'd go for that one, assuming you have a key.

 

If you don't have a license, keeping in mind that Windows Server Edition costs around $1000, I personally wouldn't upgrade unless you have to, or have a lot of money.

I have the ISO from Microsoft and a business partner of mine has a key he's selling me for $10.

If I had $1K I would be spending it on a new server, not Server 2008 lol

Enterprise wouldn't be any better, would it?

Eventually I'm going to get a quad socket board that REQUIRES Server Edition but that's a long way off.

[SCHISCHKA]

18 minutes ago, H0R53 said:

I have the ISO from Microsoft and a business partner of mine has a key he's selling me for $10.

stay away from MS volume licensing when your business grows or they will make you buy a new server. Buying keys without proper licensing is how MS stings growing businesses.

[H0R53]

40 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

stay away from MS volume licensing when your business grows or they will make you buy a new server. Buying keys without proper licensing is how MS stings growing businesses.

What do you mean by 'sting'? Is it not legal to buy a key from someone besides Microsoft?

[SCHISCHKA]

6 minutes ago, H0R53 said:

What do you mean by 'sting'? Is it not legal to buy a key from someone besides Microsoft?

a key is not a license. its not legal to just sell a key. you will learn the hard way when you get audited

[samiscool51]

21 hours ago, ArduinoBen said:

Well, server will obviously have better tools for servers, so, I'd go for that one, assuming you have a key.

and this ladies and gentlemen is a person that has no idea how opereating systems work

any opereating will run on any hardware so long as it supports via the kernel or drivers that provide support for the hardware

server has more features but is meant for enterprise or business operations, not for the average user

in fact, your average consumer version of windows can do everything a server can though first and third party software or extra hardware (so long as there are drivers for the hardware for a consumer version of windows, most older server hardware that is EOLed (end of life) has drivers released consumer versions of windows because many people sell the hardware second hand)

and even more funny, consumer version of windows, performs better than the server version as shown here:

stick with 7, as from what you have told us, it's fitting your needs and if it ain't broke, don't fix it

[dangeredwolf]

If you're a student (high school OR college), you can sign up for Microsoft Imagine for free, prove that you're a student by sending them a photo of your student ID or verify your student email, and you can get free, full, legal copies of Windows Server 2012 R2 or 2016. I wouldn't recommend Server 2008 or 2008 R2 simply because it's aging and on the way out. Plus, it's no longer available from Microsoft through Imagine anyhow.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, dangeredwolf said:

If you're a student (high school OR college), you can sign up for Microsoft Imagine for free, prove that you're a student by sending them a photo of your student ID or verify your student email, and you can get free, full, legal copies of Windows Server 2012 R2 or 2016. I wouldn't recommend Server 2008 or 2008 R2 simply because it's aging and on the way out. Plus, it's no longer available from Microsoft through Imagine anyhow.

But you can't use that in a buiness(you can, just not allowed)

 

Whatis that server used for?

 

Id highly suggest switching to server 2016 as support for 7 and 2008 is running out.(i think 2008 is out of support, you have to run r2)

 

What is the website doing?

 

Id only use windows server if you using IIS, if you using apahce or nginx, Use linux.

 

Also for that hardware, id strongly suggest you install a hypervisor on the hardware and run all the different services in a vm. Id use something like kvm(can be managered with virt-manager or proxmox/ovirt if you want a web interface) on linux, hyper-v, esxi, or xen server.

[dangeredwolf]

On 2017-4-29 at 0:46 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

But you can't use that in a buiness(you can, just not allowed)

 

Whatis that server used for?

 

Id highly suggest switching to server 2016 as support for 7 and 2008 is running out.(i think 2008 is out of support, you have to run r2)

 

What is the website doing?

 

Id only use windows server if you using IIS, if you using apahce or nginx, Use linux.

 

Also for that hardware, id strongly suggest you install a hypervisor on the hardware and run all the different services in a vm. Id use something like kvm(can be managered with virt-manager or proxmox/ovirt if you want a web interface) on linux, hyper-v, esxi, or xen server.

Both 2008 and 2008 R2 are supported until January 2020. 

[H0R53]

On 4/29/2017 at 0:46 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

But you can't use that in a buiness(you can, just not allowed)

 

Whatis that server used for?

 

Id highly suggest switching to server 2016 as support for 7 and 2008 is running out.(i think 2008 is out of support, you have to run r2)

 

What is the website doing?

 

Id only use windows server if you using IIS, if you using apahce or nginx, Use linux.

 

Also for that hardware, id strongly suggest you install a hypervisor on the hardware and run all the different services in a vm. Id use something like kvm(can be managered with virt-manager or proxmox/ovirt if you want a web interface) on linux, hyper-v, esxi, or xen server.

Website isn't up yet, still making tweaks here and there, but it's a site for my small business.

This machine also serves as NAS, so I'd prefer Windows because of the networking integration with my other Windows PCs.

[H0R53]

-double post-

[H0R53]

On 4/30/2017 at 1:59 PM, dangeredwolf said:

Both 2008 and 2008 R2 are supported until January 2020. 

I'm still probably going to use it after EoL, plenty of people are using XP.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, H0R53 said:

I'm still probably going to use it after EoL, plenty of people are using XP.

and this is how you get screwed over in a bit as you don't care about security.

[H0R53]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

and this is how you get screwed over in a bit as you don't care about security.

I don't use Antivirus or Windows Defender and I have no viruses. I use a HUGE hosts file with millions of entries, adblock, direct router firewall. Slow hosts resolve was responsible for my double post earlier.

 

Edit: I'll even run a scan with Hitman Pro, the only thing it'll find are game trainers or no-cd cracks for older games.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, H0R53 said:

I don't use Antivirus or Windows Defender and I have no viruses. I use a HUGE hosts file with millions of entries, adblock, direct router firewall. Slow hosts resolve was responsible for my double post earlier.

 

Edit: I'll even run a scan with Hitman Pro, the only thing it'll find are game trainers or no-cd cracks for older games.

but that can't help at all if you going to use a unsupported os in the future.

 

Antimalware software will only protect you from files. If you have a security hole in your programs(like windows) you can sometimes take it down remotly, or even get root access.

[H0R53]

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

but that can't help at all if you going to use a unsupported os in the future.

 

Antimalware software will only protect you from files. If you have a security hole in your programs(like windows) you can sometimes take it down remotly, or even get root access.

I use BitLocker and I have a 32 character password, I doubt anyone would even want to get on my workstation or NAS, the only things worth anything on either are just mountains of porn. The rest are just blurry photos and some old, outdated memes.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, H0R53 said:

I use BitLocker and I have a 32 character password, I doubt anyone would even want to get on my workstation or NAS, the only things worth anything on either are just mountains of porn. The rest are just blurry photos and some old, outdated memes.

People don't care, but bots scrub the Web for knownvunrelabiliyrs.  

[H0R53]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

People don't care, but bots scrub the Web for knownvunrelabiliyrs.  

My hosts file takes care of most of that, if not all. It's in all of my PCs, I install it immediately after I install Windows.

[Electronics Wizardy]

9 minutes ago, H0R53 said:

My hosts file takes care of most of that, if not all. It's in all of my PCs, I install it immediately after I install Windows.

Is it public accessable?

 

I'd it is that host file won't help at all. This setup is bad for security. 

[H0R53]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Is it public accessable?

 

I'd it is that host file won't help at all. This setup is bad for security. 

Public accessible, meaning what?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, H0R53 said:

Public accessible, meaning what?

Why are you running  a server if you don't know what this means?

 

 

Can I access it on wan?

[H0R53]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Why are you running  a server if you don't know what this means?

 

 

Can I access it on wan?

I thought you meant is it out in the store for people to use...sorry. I have Asperger's so semantics can be difficult sometimes.

 

Is it accessible over WAN? No, and it probably never will be. I don't really need a company website, I can use a Facebook page for that.

 

The only way to RDP is with a 192.168 address, which I've manually set and nobody but me knows the address. Unless you've got a snoop you can't even find the local IP, unless you try every single one from 192.168.xxx.xxx, which...is a lot.

 

Idk if it was this thread or another...my apartment is right above my store, with the store on the first floor. I can draw a network map if you need an infographic.

[AntonChigurh]

On 4/27/2017 at 8:49 PM, samiscool51 said:

and this ladies and gentlemen is a person that has no idea how opereating systems work

any opereating will run on any hardware so long as it supports via the kernel or drivers that provide support for the hardware

server has more features but is meant for enterprise or business operations, not for the average user

in fact, your average consumer version of windows can do everything a server can though first and third party software or extra hardware (so long as there are drivers for the hardware for a consumer version of windows, most older server hardware that is EOLed (end of life) has drivers released consumer versions of windows because many people sell the hardware second hand)

and even more funny, consumer version of windows, performs better than the server version as shown here:

stick with 7, as from what you have told us, it's fitting your needs and if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Yeah, server is meant for enterprises, and not for average consumers. But what they mean by "average consumers" is Joe Shmoe who wants Windows so he can play League or Minecraft or some shit. This guy's running a NAS/Business website. Now by no means does that make him an enterprise, but if he really needs the features that come with Server, then I see no reason why he shouldn't get it.

 

And yeah, normal windows performs better, but that's only on normal desktop benchmarks. I'm sure Server is better for extended use and is more stable, which is a huge factor with servers. You don't want it going down and having your shit wiped out.

 

Also, @H0R53, on an unrelated side note, do you have a UPS for your server in case it goes down? You might want to invest in one of those before you get a server edition of windows