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DELL servers |
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From
£500 inc VAT & delivery |
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| Dell
servers |
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Goto
Small Business > Servers |
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Compaq / HP servers |
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Compaq
Proliant |
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| Fast
& reliable. |
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RAID |
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If
you want to use SBS, then you would be wise to consider using
a server that uses RAID. |
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Definition |
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Redundant
Array of Inexpensive Drives (RAID) |
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Is
a system which uses multiple hard drives to share or replicate
data among the drives. |
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Benefits |
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Increased
data integrity, fault-tolerance, throughput or capacity compared
to single drives. |
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Basically,
they are more reliable, faster & easier to expand. |
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Types
of RAID |
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For
SBS, only use, RAID 1, 5 or 10. |
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RAID
1 uses two disks & mirrors them. |
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RAID
5 uses a minimum of 3 disks & a practical upper limit of
12 to 14. It stripes the data across the drives, thus spreading
the load & enabling a recalculation of the data on a broken
disk. |
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RAID
10 uses 4 or more disks, & is a set of RAID 1 arrays, with
the data striped across them. RAID 10 is the fastest, most relaible
& expandable system. However, it uses the most disks. |
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RAID
controllers |
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For
SBS I strongly recommend you use a hardware RAID controller,
using SCSI hotswap disks. |
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They
are more expensive, but very worth it. |
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Dell
use PERC Poweredge RAID Controllers. |
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Compaq
use SmartArray controllers. |
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Don't
buy the cheap ones, & get at least 128mb of memory on the
card, preferably with a battery backup. |
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Here
is a Compaq SmartArray 4200. |
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If
budget is tight, then consider a SATA RAID array, perhaps with
an Adaptec card. |
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Power protection |
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UPS |
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To
protect your server from power fluctuations, you should install
an uninterupted power supply (UPS). |
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You
need to assess the power demanded by the server & monitor
& buy a suitable UPS. It will need to be at least 1000VA,
these cost between £250-500. |
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| Server
buyers guide |
| Processor
(CPU) speed: |
| For
servers, get two CPU's, either PIII or P4. Look for the largest
L2 cache. The ghz speed is not always a good comparison, use
it as a rough guide. |
| Operating
system: |
| Windows
server 2003 is included in SBS 2003. |
| Memory
or RAM: |
| Min
RAM on a server should be 512mb, for SBS 1gb is good, more than
2gb involves a few technical issues, ring for advice. Error
correcting RAM (ECC)is better in servers, but more expensive. |
| Hard
disk: |
| IDE
is the old format. |
| SATA
is the new style connector. |
| SCSI
is designed for high performance, multiple users & reliable
writing of data. |
| Expansion
of space: |
| IDE:
Most motherboards have 2 IDE channels, with 2 devices on each,
including a CDROM. Leaving a max of 3 disks. |
| SATA:
Modern motherboards often have 2 SATA channels with 1 disk on
each. |
| SCSI:
Number of disks varies, but usually upto 16 scsi devices. |
| Extra
disk controller cards can be fitted to add disks, prices vary
from £15 to £1500. |
| RAID: |
| Raid
5 uses between 3 & 13 disks, & protects your data in
the event of disk failure. I recommend hardware a scsi hardware
RAID solution, for speed, reliability & expansion. |
| Backups: |
| Use
our online backup service.
Also consider a local disk backup, to a 2nd computer or disk.
Tape drives are an option, but hard to setup & troubleshoot. |
| Warranty: |
| Get
a 3year onsite support. Remember a repair will take time, so
often fixing it yourself is faster, or having a standby server
is wise. |
| CD/DVD: |
| A
CD-ROM (read only) is essential. A DVD-RW is very useful for
creating backups. Speed indicated by 8x or 48x (times). |
| USB: |
| These
are rectangular ports used to add accessaries like printers,
mice, etc. |
| Network: |
| RJ45,
or ethernet port. Also many broadband routers need an RJ45 port.
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| PS2: |
| Mouse
& keyboard ports. Often USB now. |
| Noise |
| Servers
contain extra cooling fans & larger power supplies. These
are usually noisy. So arrange for a server desk to be away from
workers desks. |
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