Small Business Server Build

[bergrenalex]

Hey all,

I work for a small dental office that is in desperate need of a new server to run our practice software. I’ve never built a server before but have built several desktops, and was hoping for some advice on the project. Here are a few details, thanks in advance for any help!

We have a budget of $5,000 USD including licensing.

We need to use windows server to run our software, and have 8 computers that will be connecting at a time.

We only need a terabyte of storage, max, unless we want redundant drives.

Speed is the name of the game for this upgrade; currently, we have to make our patients wait because our server is so slow. However, we also need the reliability and consistency of real server hardware, as we’ll be storing patient data. We have a big budget because we want speed for years and years to come. 

We need a tower, preferably midATX just for space. 

 

My question, then is this: if I work through newegg and assemble server grade components that are ATX compatible into a standard tower, are there any caveats i need to be on the lookout for? my boss wouldn’t be happy if i spent thousands on parts for something to not work on a small technicality. I check for socket compatibility and form factor, but other than that my awareness is limited. 

 

 

[kkpatel87]

Just now, bergrenalex said:

-snip-

So break down your budget, after licensing so you can determine how much you have for hardware. Additionally, are there any HIPAA requirements you have to meet?

 

I would recommend an SSD setup with RAID6 to provide fault tolerance (NOT BACKUP!) as a basic guideline. However, it might be better to get a pre-built solution from CDW or DELL or HPE to help you.

[Master Disaster]

In essence a server is just a computer, there's no real need to build using server grade components unless you actually need the features they bring (AVX512, ECC RAM etc).

 

If all you need is a fast file server you can literally buy a mid range desktop, slap Windows Server on it, set up a share and you're good. What's more important for network storage speeds is network infrastructure, it's pointless buying a $3000 file server with 10GB LAN if your switch is only 100base and all the PCs are connected to it by Cat5, you will see no improvement in transfer speed.

 

It would really help if you could explain the work flow in a bit more detail. What software do you need to run on the Server? Will the 8 clients just be using the server for file storage? Do you have any additional requirements like domain services, print services etc? What's the router/switch capable of? Is the office using Cat5, Cat5e or Cat6?

[bergrenalex]

13 minutes ago, kkpatel87 said:

So break down your budget, after licensing so you can determine how much you have for hardware. Additionally, are there any HIPAA requirements you have to meet?

 

I would recommend an SSD setup with RAID6 to provide fault tolerance (NOT BACKUP!) as a basic guideline. However, it might be better to get a pre-built solution from CDW or DELL or HPE to help you.

Licensing all said and done, there’s about 3500 for hardware available. 

 

We looked at prebuilts but most offered comparably obscene amounts of slow storage, along with slower processors and less ram than we wanted. we’re trying to future proof as much as we can, and prebuilts didn’t seem like a good choice. I really appreciate the advice on the SSD setup, will do!

[kkpatel87]

15 minutes ago, bergrenalex said:

snip

No problem.

 

I would recommend a base system of a Ryzen 5 3600 or equivalent unless you have a higher CPU workload. Is your server software CPU intensive? 

 

I would go with a min of 32GB of RAM unless your software has a specific requirement.

 

How many client machines would connect to this server, would you benefit from a 10 gig backbone?

 

I think 6x 500GB SSDs in RAID6 plus 2x 500GB SSD in RAID1 for the the OS should be plenty. Do you already have a backup solution or do you need to use the 3500 leftover to accomplish that as well?

 

Just some thoughts. I have built a few for doctor's offices before so PM me if you need some help.

[leadeater]

53 minutes ago, bergrenalex said:

We looked at prebuilts but most offered comparably obscene amounts of slow storage, along with slower processors and less ram than we wanted. we’re trying to future proof as much as we can, and prebuilts didn’t seem like a good choice. I really appreciate the advice on the SSD setup, will do!

You can buy a base model server from Dell/HPE etc and then use your own SSDs. You're only needing ~1TB so a simple mirror of 2 SSDs of 1TB or 2TB is more than enough. SSDs also lose IOPs in parity RAIDs so it'll probably be slower running RAID 6 compared to RAID 1 as databases prefer latency and IOPs over throughput pretty well exclusively.

 

What's the name of the software you'll be using? Likely won't be any of the ones I've setup as they are a bit Aus/NZ specific but I've managed Medtech and VIP before so should be roughly similar to what you'll be using. Basically these are actually not that demanding software so you won't need anything high end at all.

 

Most common reason these applications go slow is storage I/O so simply upgrade from HDD to SSD will drastically improve performance.

 

For what business you are in I would highly recommend a proper vendor server with extended 5 year warranty and response time upgraded to what ever you are comfortable with, prices jump really high once you go for sooner than next business day.

 

One of our medical centers is running an HPE DL380 with a single E5-2640 and 16GB ram using a 3x 450GB SAS 10K RAID 5 array without any performance problems. Would be similar size to what you are if not slightly bigger, not sure it's in a different city to where I am.

 

The rest of our clinics we got rid of our local servers and went with a subscription service the software support agent had and just use secure published application and all the hosting is there responsibility. From a legal and regulatory standpoint this was a much better option for us as our medical centers are not our core business so it was likely we weren't complaint.

[Fishscene]

From what I understand, you'll need to adhere to HIPPA standards. Additionally, no server build is complete without a solid backup strategy.

 

I doubt you'll need 10Gbit ethernet at this point - but make sure in your build that there are expansion slots to allow for future functionality - just in case you need to add 20Gbit with fiber connections.

 

You will want redundant drives. Without redundant drives, if it fails office fails. Probably a minimum of $500 recovery (if possible) and multiple days of complete outage. You'd still need a working drive to restore the backup to. If you're going for ultra-long term reliability, keep a cold drive around that's the exact same type and model (aka buy the drives all at once and keep a cold spare around). If a drive fails, you can pop the cold spare in and get back up and running - no need to panic as you hunt down a similar drive that will cooperate with your RAID.

If you're checking out drive performance, be sure to also check out encryption performance - this also goes for your backup strategy as well. It's no good if you're still writing to your backup when the office opens in the morning due to encryption/drive performance. I personally recommend NAS rated drives meant to run 24/7.

 

If you can, enable file history on your shared folders - this will allow you to easily restore files from previous versions without having to dive in to the (probably more complicated) backups.

 

Be strict on folder security. (Dunno what HIPPA requirements are, but I've seen way too many places that just give cart-blanche access to any folders on the server.)

Create a test folder and play around with groups and permissions - it's absolutely essential to maintaining security and for some reason, is one of the most overlooked items when it comes to server security in small offices.

 

Be sure to place the server on solid non-vibrating footing, as dust-free as possible.

 

...and finally

The liability for all this is on the office and/or you. Unless you hire an IT company who can manage it. Keep this in mind.