And now i need to buy a new Server

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

We are currently running a 1700mhz single processor domain controller server for DNS, DHCP and File sharing with 24 clients. Win 2003 by the way, with Exchange on another server, both utilizing Active Directory.
We are upgrading to around 60 client machines in the near future and so a new server is in order.
Do you think these specs are overkill?

Dual Processor?s 3.0 Ghz
2 x 1 Gig RAM
2 x 128 gig HD
Internal Tape Drive
Veritas
UPS

I must confess, i am a bit of a hardware whore, but what do you men in the biz think?

[Ginger Tosser]

Looks fine, the bigger the better. Although 1gb of ram is enough. Are your disks in a raid array?

We've recently upgraded to a couple of Dell PowerEdge servers

Our specs are

2x 2.8 Xeon Processer
3x 75GB scsi Raid
External DLT
Veritas Backup Exec
1 GB ram.

We're not running any email as the local authority provide a web based one (its **** but free!).

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

No not running any RAID, i dont see the point of it at the mo.

But then again ive never seen the point of raid on networks less than 500 users or do.

Do you reccomend it?

[sam1981]

No point in RAID?!?

I had 2 separate hard drisks on the same server fail within a few weeks of each server. Ended up with only a few minutes of downtime due to the wonder of RAID5.

Sam

[Ginger Tosser]

Raid has saved me and my customers a lot of time and hassle.

Its something to weigh up against downtime and cost. In my experience downtime costs more than the raid controller.

[ascender]

I'd always go for RAID if its a business server, for anything more than a handful of users tbh. Especially with the price of disks these days and its not a big investment in the scheme of things if you can recover from a disk failure on the fly.

[Willei]

Jesus, RAID is practically a base requirement for a server! Unless your company isn't arsed about looong downtime even before the replacement part arrives. It's almost absurd spending money on UPS but not on RAID.

But: I wouldn't be arsed about upgrading the server just for more computers joining the domain. DNS and DHCP take **** all processing time and bandwidth. If you need more storage space for file sharing, you might want to consider a NAS.

Exchange may be a concern however, if many more people are joining the network all needing mailboxes. Keep in mind that the maximum space allowed in Exchange 2000 (and later, proabably earlier too) is 16Gb excluding fancy edititons of the software.

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

Well i'm very new to this, i have been thrust into this role with minimal working knowlege.
Im really a DB admin who has been put in charge of the network u see
Would you experianced chaps go with raid on a duel HD setup?
IE 1 drive efectively mirroring the other, providing backup in case 1 drive goes down?

[sam1981]

I'd go for RAID 5 myself. You'll need a minimum of 3 discs though.