server Looking to upgrade server and network, need advice

[nickzulu]

So i'm looking to upgrade my server and network in my office from a windows xp dated one to something more modern since i'm also looking to upgrade all the compurters in the office beacuse they also run windows xp and some new sotfware we want to implement requires us to do so. My budget is about three thousand dollars for the server and networking part but I don't now what to get, if I should buy proprietary hardware or is it better to build my own from scratch. Also if I should base my server on linux or use microsoft. I asked a consultant and he recommended a Dell T440 tower server. This because I need redundancy with data, good data storage, modernization and better hardware-software compatibility. The server would run 7 computers. There is no need for gigabit speeds or even fast transfers it's mostly for data storage and managment.  Any help on the matter would be appreciated. 

[Firewrath9]

Perhaps look for a dell R720?

[Electronics Wizardy]

How much data do you have?

 

What os are you running on the server?

 

What is the server doing?  AD? File sharing? 

 

Your not getting far with 3k for a new server, just got a new r230 for work a while ago for about 3k with mid level specs, switches were anouther 500 bucks.

 

You don't want to diy a server for work normally.

 

Probably let the consulant do it, if your asking this online you probably don't know enough to do this right.

[KarathKasun]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much data do you have?

 

What os are you running on the server?

 

What is the server doing?  AD? File sharing? 

 

Your not getting far with 3k for a new server, just got a new r230 for work a while ago for about 3k with mid level specs, switches were anouther 500 bucks.

 

You don't want to diy a server for work normally.

 

Probably let the consulant do it, if your asking this online you probably don't know enough to do this right.

For 7 people you dont need to spend that kind of cash.  An unmanaged switch is fine, as is a decommissioned server from e-bay.

 

I setup a 10 person office with two servers, one SQL/AD and one VOIP with POTS bridging, plus a 48 port switch for something like $3000 including labor and a Windows Server license.

 

The system has been running for... nearly 10 years now with zero problems.

 

[nickzulu]

17 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much data do you have?

 

What os are you running on the server?

 

What is the server doing?  AD? File sharing? 

 

Your not getting far with 3k for a new server, just got a new r230 for work a while ago for about 3k with mid level specs, switches were anouther 500 bucks.

 

You don't want to diy a server for work normally.

 

Probably let the consulant do it, if your asking this online you probably don't know enough to do this right.

So i'm calculating about 5T of storage with redundancy, it's mostly word, excel and pdf files and file sharing of said files. The server runs on windows server 2000 and we are looking to upgrade to the latest OS. We also hanlde IP addresses, login info and passwords, security and our network and intercommunications between devices like printers, scanners, fax and phones. We are also thinking of setting up some virtual machines to run old software so that we dont have to buy a new printer and other devices.

 

Also yeah don't now that much to set it up on my own but wanted to get informed. I'll let the consultant/friend do everything just wanted to get another opinion.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, nickzulu said:

So i'm calculating about 5T of storage with redundancy, it's mostly word, excel and pdf files and file sharing of said files. The server runs on windows server 2000 and we are looking to upgrade to the latest OS. We also hanlde IP addresses, login info and passwords, security and our network and intercommunications between devices like printers, scanners, fax and phones. We are also thinking of setting up some virtual machines to run old software so that we dont have to buy a new printer and other devices.

 

Also yeah don't now that much to set it up on my own but wanted to get informed. I'll let the consultant/friend do everything just wanted to get another opinion.

Have you looked into cloud solutions? Running something like office 365 or gsuite might be the way to go here, that way there is no server to manage onsite. You can run a small vps in the cloud for apps outsite that gsuide/office 365 don't provide.

 

Id be temped to replace the printers if you got them around 2000. Drivers will probably be a pain to find, so id check that they work with windows 10.

 

What are you doing for networking now? You probably want a new router/firewall device. Do you want wifi?

 

Do you have a data backup plan? For this size of data, a rotating external hdd might make sense, otherwise you can use cloud storage to backup the server.

 

Im assuming your running active directory now? It should be possible to move that domain over to a new 2019 system or to azure and keep logins and some gpos.

[nickzulu]

On 7/5/2019 at 12:51 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Have you looked into cloud solutions? Running something like office 365 or gsuite might be the way to go here, that way there is no server to manage onsite. You can run a small vps in the cloud for apps outsite that gsuide/office 365 don't provide.

 

Id be temped to replace the printers if you got them around 2000. Drivers will probably be a pain to find, so id check that they work with windows 10.

 

What are you doing for networking now? You probably want a new router/firewall device. Do you want wifi?

 

Do you have a data backup plan? For this size of data, a rotating external hdd might make sense, otherwise you can use cloud storage to backup the server.

 

Im assuming your running active directory now? It should be possible to move that domain over to a new 2019 system or to azure and keep logins and some gpos.

For data backup I was thinking to have local data backups because we manage sensitive documents so cloud solutions might provide unnecessary risks we don't want. And we still need a server on site to manage the other stuff like network, devices, phones, etc. so cloud solutions are a bit limiting on that front. For storage a rotating HDD of even an HDD array with a percentage of that just for redundancy and backup but defenetly local storage. Thinking of implementing somthing like a gigabit network for data transfer but speed is not truly important. So maybe somthing of a lesser scale. 

 

So network we where thinking about upgrading everything, router, switch, firewall, and wifi. We allready  have everything just old hardware but getting proper security and encryption is a must.

 

Also we do run active dirrectory and my consultant/friend said there would be no problem transfering that to the new server. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 hours ago, nickzulu said:

For data backup I was thinking to have local data backups because we manage sensitive documents so cloud solutions might provide unnecessary risks we don't want

You want offsite backups, id go cloud for offsite, and security for cloud services is pretty good, so i wouldn't worry about that. Really, cloud storage would work very well here as its simple to manage and you don't have to worry about redunancy and backups as much, thats all done for you.

 

4 hours ago, nickzulu said:

hinking of implementing somthing like a gigabit network for data transfer but speed is not truly important.

Do gigabit local networks, it so cheap now, no reason not to. Don't do 10/100 anymore.

 

4 hours ago, nickzulu said:

So network we where thinking about upgrading everything, router, switch, firewall, and wifi. We allready  have everything just old hardware but getting proper security and encryption is a must.

Id probably go with something like a entry level sonicwall/fortinet for router/firewall, unifi for wifi, and probably a basic managed network switch like the netgear gs724tpv3.

 

[nickzulu]

On 7/8/2019 at 6:00 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

You want offsite backups, id go cloud for offsite, and security for cloud services is pretty good, so i wouldn't worry about that. Really, cloud storage would work very well here as its simple to manage and you don't have to worry about redunancy and backups as much, thats all done for you.

 

Do gigabit local networks, it so cheap now, no reason not to. Don't do 10/100 anymore.

 

Id probably go with something like a entry level sonicwall/fortinet for router/firewall, unifi for wifi, and probably a basic managed network switch like the netgear gs724tpv3.

 

Ok so i'll go offsite for data storage and backup, i'll use google for that. I like their services. Since you say it has gotten cheaper, then gigabit networking will be. I checked your recomendations on hardware and they are in my budget so my friend/consultant agrees we should buy it. I was also thinking we need AD DS and a LDAP so we obviously still need a server to manage stuff locally. Plus i'm guessing we will use it to commnicate to our cloud services for feching and stuff and I was wondering what hardware do you recomend we use or maybe a prebuilt system. Somthing like dual xeons, 64G RAM, maybe a 500G SSD for local storage for OS and other software. I'm guessing the communications line will be something like computer-server-cloud services and vice versa. I will also upgrade the PC's in the office and wanted to run specs by you. Though about a 2016-2017 i5 CPU with a atx motherboard with basic functionality, USB 3.0,  video, sound, 6G of 2400MHz RAM, network card (Intel NIC?), and either an SSD or NVMe 250G drive for OS and other basic software, plus a 400W sub powersupply. I allready have cases and fans so no need there. 

 

Also someone told me about VOIP but I don't know if that's just for answering calls. So my question is what software might be good for sending remainders over email and also answering requests sent buy clients that might not necessarily need a custom response, and a way to store and manage these request so that we can view them by arriving order or importance. Basically to create a system to manage and properly notify us about client requests and comunications and generate the appropriate responses as well as to send notifications about payments and due dates automatically. If such a thing exists. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 hours ago, nickzulu said:

. I was also thinking we need AD DS and a LDAP so we obviously still need a server to manage stuff locally

This is kinda upto you, you can go fully cloud, fully local or a mix. From what I see here, going with a mix is probably the best options. So like cloud for backup, but local for ad

 

8 hours ago, nickzulu said:

I was wondering what hardware do you recomend we use or maybe a prebuilt system

Personally id go premade dell/hp/lenovo for most buiness uses as its the norm + you cna get good support, and its easy for the next guy to support. 

 

You can go diy, but expect that your the one support it if something fails. I have worked with dell prosupport before, and there pretty good, got a server fixed over a weekend, much faster than any mail in rma. If you go diy, have a plan for any part failure.

 

8 hours ago, nickzulu said:

omthing like dual xeons, 64G RAM, maybe a 500G SSD for local storage for OS and other software

IDK what exactly your app needs, but here is how id set it up.

 

Id run a hypervisor on the hardware(makes backups, migrations, and security easier). Id run something like hyper-v, esxi, or proxmox on it(pick what you know best, all of the above have a free option, with optional pail support.

 

Id plan out the vms and how much they need, here is what i can think of for a small network

 

 probably one for ad/dns/dhcp(you can split it out, but easier to put on one for small network), Probably 1/2 vcpu, 1gb of ram, 64gb storage(probably could do less).

 

File sharing vms. 2 vcpu, 8gb ram(caching is nice if you got it, 64gb boot, how ever much storage you need.

 

What ever else you need on your network, look how much performance it needs, and add it to a vm.

 

64gb of ram + 512 ssd + dual xeon is nice, but probably overkill here, Iget away with half that cpu and ram and no ssd and my work network of around 40 users just fine, and also do a few more apps. 

 

8 hours ago, nickzulu said:

Though about a 2016-2017 i5 CPU with a atx motherboard with basic functionality, USB 3.0,  video, sound, 6G of 2400MHz RAM, network card (Intel NIC?), and either an SSD or NVMe 250G drive for OS and other basic software, plus a 400W sub powersupply. I allready have cases and fans so no need there. 

Seems about right for a office pc, Id go 8gb of ram, why 6gb? Not even number for dual channel, 8gb isn't much more. 

 

with only a 256 ssd I'M asuming there not storing many files on their systems. Check out redir users in windows if you want all the home folders to be stored on the server.

 

I personally buy dell refurb systems, pretty cheap, works well. Id price that out aswell here.

 

8 hours ago, nickzulu said:

 

Also someone told me about VOIP but I don't know if that's just for answering calls. 

voip is just for phones

 

8 hours ago, nickzulu said:

So my question is what software might be good for sending remainders over email and also answering requests sent buy clients that might not necessarily need a custom response, and a way to store and manage these request so that we can view them by arriving order or importance. Basically to create a system to manage and properly notify us about client requests and comunications and generate the appropriate responses as well as to send notifications about payments and due dates automatically. If such a thing exists. 

Depending on number or orders, Id either try to do something in a calandar and see if it works, or get a database to do this for you. There are many companies that make products to manage orders and clients, but Im no too well versed here.