Small Business Server Setup

[macmanlex]

I am the IT Manager (Among other things) for a small printing company in Lexington, KY.  I am in the process of doing some much needed upgrades to our infrastructure.  I have upgraded our internet from a 10/10 dedicated to a 300/60 fiber and dedicated fiber VoIP phone system. I have upgraded all of our Gateway/Hubs/AP to Ubiquity 1Gb network (Loving so far).  Now the last major update I need is to take our 14 year old file server and kick it to the curb.  I am not the best on Windows hardware selection so I am putting it out for the Linus group to see what you can help me with.  I am looking specifically for a server that can share files equally well with PCs and Macs. Has a RAID system with excellent redundancy. I have 2 NAS systems that I will be using as backups onsite and off. And of course is user friendly.

 

Speed of file sharing is a must since I am a graphic designer also and depend of server speed to do my work efficiently. I would like to get the system for under $1000 (Not including hard drives), but the more modern longer life span I can get I would be willing to spend more of my bosses money to get.

 

Specific system company and models would be preferred.  I am not opposed to a NAS system (but would prefer a true server), but it has to be able to share files from multiple sources quickly.

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Do you have active directory? Id probalby put that in place if you don't already, makes it a lot nicer to manage everything.

 

Id probably just go for something like a dell r240 here. Pretty cheap basic rack server, put windows server 2019 on it and call it a day. Your not getting that for under $1000 though.

 

If you just want a basic nas you can get something like a synology, but running windows server is better for managing windows clients. 

[macmanlex]

25 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Do you have active directory? Id probalby put that in place if you don't already, makes it a lot nicer to manage everything.

 

Id probably just go for something like a dell r240 here. Pretty cheap basic rack server, put windows server 2019 on it and call it a day. Your not getting that for under $1000 though.

 

If you just want a basic nas you can get something like a synology, but running windows server is better for managing windows clients. 

I do not run any services.  I have decentralized everything.  Email in the cloud, DNS services not on the server.  I just need a file sharing server with great backup.  Thanks

[Acedia]

3 minutes ago, macmanlex said:

Email in the cloud,

If it's with O365 you already got sharepoint/OneDrive for Business

[macmanlex]

9 minutes ago, Acedia said:

If it's with O365 you already got sharepoint/OneDrive for Business

Wont work for me.  It has to be local share drive.

[Acedia]

1 hour ago, macmanlex said:

Wont work for me.  It has to be local share drive.

In that case get a HP Microserver G10 with a Server 2019 license, which enables you to run the hyper visor itself and two VMs. Set one up as a file share (I'd go with DFS since you seem to have multiple sites and it's expandable) and a second one with Veeam.

Add the onsite NAS as your backup repository and do an RSync between the onsite and offsite NAS if you want offsite backup aswell. Depending on the NAS it might be better to go with a Veeam Copy Job if the NAS don't play ball and won't run blockwise RSync.