I was hoping to get the communities thoughts on the following. I plan to setup a server in a small business. The domain is comprised of approximately 10 pc's which will be joined the the LAN. The server would run active directory, file shares, host quickbook, a database known as "Wintac" & a filepro database know as CertPro. Would this server be overkill, underkill in our opinions? At how many PC's would you see this setup no being adequate? (thinking of expansion)
Dell PowerEdge T320 Xeon Server 2012 R2 Standard Redundant Power 32GB H310
Bricking the device by running firmware updates is not "impossible", but extremely, extremely unlikely. Hundreds, probably thousands of firmware updates, and I have never personally seen one brick a device. They simply are NOT unsafe, and keeping your system up to date should be considered normal, regular maintenance.
Understood but you also never want to buy a 5k machine if a 2500 machine would have worked just fine if your environment. Do you think my pick is more than adequate for the environment I described? Thank you. Tim
Understood but you also never want to buy a 5k machine if a 2500 machine would have worked just fine if your environment. Do you think my pick is more than adequate for the environment I described? Thank you. Tim
No, the reverse is true: you never want to buy a $2500 machine if a $5000 is needed. You will never be sorry for buying a $5000 machine when a $2500 machine would have been fine. I wouldn't use the word "never" there.
You also didn't provide many details on your proposed setup. All you said was "Dell PowerEdge T320 Xeon Server 2012 R2 Standard Redundant Power 32GB H310", which doesn't tell me much - which processor? how many cores? what RAID configuration? what kind of disks? It could be overkill or it could be underkill. How large is the database? The QB company file? How intensely are they used? How many files on the shares? What types of files? Again, how heavily will it be used? I would absolutely recommend a server in your case. I would always recommend the H7x0 controllers over anything else, and I would recommend SSD's where capacity and price allow.
If you are thinking about future expansion, consider the T4x0 servers: they take two processors. Whether you populate them now or later, you may find yourself limited in processing power and wishing later that you had the option of adding a proc if you choose a 1-proc machine.
Re: Updating servers:
Keep in mind that in that link they are talking about desktops. Desktops are NOT as critical as servers. Servers are the workhorses of a business. Yes, yes, the users are often performing the actual work, but the performance and reliability of the server is way more important than any single desktop. Updates either improve/maintain performance, add functionality or support for newer hardware, and/or add reliability and/or critical fixes for hardware. There are updates the prevent drives from suffering irreparable damage, updates that prevent controllers from losing RAID configs, error recovery, DIMM recognition, etc. I'll grant you that the following is my opinion, but not performing server updates is irresponsible neglect of a company's infrastructure, data, and working efficiency with which they have entrusted the IT personnel.
tt8898tt
4 Posts
0
March 26th, 2017 14:00
Hello,
I was hoping to get the communities thoughts on the following. I plan to setup a server in a small business. The domain is comprised of approximately 10 pc's which will be joined the the LAN. The server would run active directory, file shares, host quickbook, a database known as "Wintac" & a filepro database know as CertPro. Would this server be overkill, underkill in our opinions? At how many PC's would you see this setup no being adequate? (thinking of expansion)
Dell PowerEdge T320 Xeon Server 2012 R2 Standard Redundant Power 32GB H310
Thanks so much
theflash1932
9 Legend
•
16.3K Posts
0
March 26th, 2017 22:00
A server is never overkill and can benefit every environment.
theflash1932
9 Legend
•
16.3K Posts
0
March 26th, 2017 22:00
Bricking the device by running firmware updates is not "impossible", but extremely, extremely unlikely. Hundreds, probably thousands of firmware updates, and I have never personally seen one brick a device. They simply are NOT unsafe, and keeping your system up to date should be considered normal, regular maintenance.
tt8898tt
4 Posts
0
March 27th, 2017 03:00
Understood but you also never want to buy a 5k machine if a 2500 machine would have worked just fine if your environment. Do you think my pick is more than adequate for the environment I described? Thank you. Tim
tt8898tt
4 Posts
0
March 27th, 2017 03:00
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/148735-how-often-to-you-update-your-computer-s-bios-firmware
There seem to be many differing opinions on this. Anyone care to weigh in? Thanks so much.
theflash1932
9 Legend
•
16.3K Posts
0
March 27th, 2017 09:00
No, the reverse is true: you never want to buy a $2500 machine if a $5000 is needed. You will never be sorry for buying a $5000 machine when a $2500 machine would have been fine. I wouldn't use the word "never" there.
You also didn't provide many details on your proposed setup. All you said was "Dell PowerEdge T320 Xeon Server 2012 R2 Standard Redundant Power 32GB H310", which doesn't tell me much - which processor? how many cores? what RAID configuration? what kind of disks? It could be overkill or it could be underkill. How large is the database? The QB company file? How intensely are they used? How many files on the shares? What types of files? Again, how heavily will it be used? I would absolutely recommend a server in your case. I would always recommend the H7x0 controllers over anything else, and I would recommend SSD's where capacity and price allow.
If you are thinking about future expansion, consider the T4x0 servers: they take two processors. Whether you populate them now or later, you may find yourself limited in processing power and wishing later that you had the option of adding a proc if you choose a 1-proc machine.
Re: Updating servers:
Keep in mind that in that link they are talking about desktops. Desktops are NOT as critical as servers. Servers are the workhorses of a business. Yes, yes, the users are often performing the actual work, but the performance and reliability of the server is way more important than any single desktop. Updates either improve/maintain performance, add functionality or support for newer hardware, and/or add reliability and/or critical fixes for hardware. There are updates the prevent drives from suffering irreparable damage, updates that prevent controllers from losing RAID configs, error recovery, DIMM recognition, etc. I'll grant you that the following is my opinion, but not performing server updates is irresponsible neglect of a company's infrastructure, data, and working efficiency with which they have entrusted the IT personnel.