Windows 2003 SBS Hardware?

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Nickste

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Hi there,
I'm setting up a SBS for a company with about 20 people on the network. The server will mostly be used as a fileserver, and exchange server. I have decided not to go with the Xeon processors and ECC Ram, etc, as I have a feeling this is overkill. Unfortunately I haven't got much experiance with running SBS with over 5 people, and so am unsure whether the following specs will be sufficient?

Intel® Boxed Core2™Quad Q6600 Processor - 2.40GHz Dual Core, Socket 775, 8MB, 1066MHz FSB, 65nm, 64-Bit Ready, 3 Year

GIGABYTE® "S Series" P35 & ICH9R Express Chipset - Socket LGA775 @ FSB1333 - For Pentium®, Pentium®D & Core™2 Duo & Quad

Transcend® JetRam™ High-Performance 1GB DDR2-667 240-Pin Module : CL5, 4-Layer PC Board, Life-Time Warranty (X 4 - 4GB)

Seagate® Barracuda™ 7200.10 Series - 500GB Serial ATA II (SATA2) Plus - Serial ATA 300 (3Gbps) With 16MB Cache @ 7200RPM - NCQ (X 2 - 1TB)

Seagate® Free Agent Pro™ 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache External 3.5" Drive

Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 7200, Turbo Cache, 128MB, 64Bit, D-SUB + DVI + TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, 64MB+64MB UMA, nView

LITEON® DVD Multi-Writer, 20x+R/-R, 8x +R/-R DL, 8x +RW, 6x -RW, 12x -RAM, 16x DVD, 48xCDR, 24x RW, White & Black

Gigabyte™ Triton 180 Chassis - Black - Aluminum Bevel - 5 x 5.25" & 5 x 3.5" Bays - 1x Rear & 1x Front 120mm Fans , No PSU

AOpen® 700Watt 20/24-Pin ATX 2.0 12V Power Supply (Dual Rail) : Intel Prescott LGA775 Ready & Approved - Includes Split Power Cable

Microsoft® Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard & 5 Client Access Licenses DSP CD - 32-Bit OS

Gigabyte® Dual Tone 17" Flat CRT - 0.26mm Dot Pitch - From 640x480 @ 160Hz Up To 1280x1024 @ 70Hz Resolution Range - MPR II - 3yr Warranty

Gigabyte® Black & Silver PS2 Keyboard & Laser Mouse (2-in-1 Set)

ZyXEL® 10/100M PCI NIC (Network Interface Card), WoL(Wake-On-LAN), BootROM socket, AUTO SENSING

Will SBS use the quad core to its full potential?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Nick
 
Just file services and exchange? Or some heavy SQL too? If it's just file server and exchange, drop the expensive CPU for a dual core (way more than enough for this), drop the GeForce card (this is a waste), and use the money on a 3rd 500GB disc and a proper raid card like this one:

http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/products/raid_tech/sata_drives/AAR-2420SA/

And put those three discs in a Raid-5. You'll still get 1TB space and some redundancy. Do *not* buy an LSI SATA Raid card (the 150-6 for example - it's slow), and do not buy the similarly specced Intel Raid card - it's a rebranded LSI. And don't confuse proper hardware raid cards with the rubbish you find onboard most motherboards.
 
Should be fine, depending on the load of the server.
Firstly, Go for a different network card. The Zyxel gives alot of issues. Also go for a Gigabit card.
Go for 2 Seagate 7200 in a Raid array. The higher Gigabyte motherboards support raid 0,1 & 5 and have 2 Gigabit network ports. Never had any problems with the onboard Raid
Add some more cooling, A Gigabyte Rocket Cooler for the processor, and a 12cm fan for extra cooling.
Onboard graphics is perfectly acceptable for a server.
It would also be advisable to add another 1GB of ram.
Go for a Core 2 6420 processor, as it has a 4MB cache and is still speedy.
This should allow for expansion later on, as well as increased performance.
Another question... is this going to be "always on"? Or only during work hours?

ZAiN: Gigazoneretail.co.za
 
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Get some sort of backup software, symantec backup exec or similar. Agree with comments above.
 
Thanks so much for the feedback guys. I was planning on putting the HDD's in RAID anyway - using onboard controller - but will invest in the one you suggested koffiejunkie.
The extra network card is just for server -> router connection, but will try and get a mobo with dual gigabit. Can anyone suggestest a mobo with onboard graphics, and dual gigabit?
Another gigabyte of ram? E.g 5GB?
Yes, server will be "always on".

Thanks again,
Nick
 
4 GB is enough, although 2 is fine for now.
You will definitely need the extra cooling, or a fully airconditioned room.
I'll check for the Motherboard tommorrow.
 
Nickste - I'm not the best person to ask about motherboards - haven't followed the market much lately. But a dedicated graphics card is a waste on a server - you can use that money better.

Oh, and Exchange, from what I've seen, cannot really make use of more than 4GB memory (and you're not likely to need that much with 20 clients), so don't be too concerned about that. Rather spend the extra money to make sure your discs are up to the task. For what you want to do a dual P-III server will be strong enough - I've served 60 clients on a 2x 1.1GHz P-III server with 1GB ram and it had no performance issues. Disc access/speed always end up being your first bottleneck.
 
i would go for 2x 500GB drives and 2x 160GB drives

RAID 1 both pairs

load the OS on the 160GB array, and use the 500GB array for file storage and the exchange mailboxes. This should up the performance of the exchange quite a bit, since the Exchange log files and mailbox files are on separate drives.

If you need more hard drive space, get a 3rd 500GB and RAID 5 them.

I also don't trust the Aopen power supply, rather go for a premium brand 500W like Antec or Enermax.

I think the cooling (2x 12cm) should be fine. most of my Quad core servers only run with 1x 12cm and they stay under 50C under load (Antec NSK6500 chassis).

My advice is to drop the quad core to an entry level dual core and invest in 2 hard drive arrays
 
I agree with Abe about the mail software

Kerio gets my vote tool. MUCH MUCH MUCH more admin friendly. I have regular issues with Exchange, almost none with kerio.

Go for standard windows Server 2003 with the cheaper CAL's
 
sbs 2003 has a nice intranet site built in, with sharepoint services loaded as free, great to experiment, and move the company in a more technology-ready future.

alot of companies tend to move over to these kind of applications to store information, like letterheads, quotes, year ends, photo's, calender, contacts, logo's, etc...

whats nice about sbs 2003 with exchange, you have outlook web access, and exchange views in outlook, public folder, no more problems with pst file getting 2gb big, roaming profiles work nice with exchange too, etc...

machine is nicely spec'ed except for hdd space and wrong gfx card, look for a dual gigabit nic, so the server becomes the router/gateway, and internet traffic gets regulated between it.

i use pop3 connecter with exchange, so the emails still get hosted by ISP(Hetzner 100mbps line), and i download every 30min new mails from them on the 4mbps adsl line.

look for a intel 775/771 entry level board with dual/quad core. why u getting quad core is to be ready for the future, and yes, sql uses more than one cpu if correctly setup. look at the logical / physical processor specs for sbs 2003, u might have to go to 64-bit to take advantage of more speed and power.

phone www.mecer.co.za to help you build a entry level server, they supply to alot of small companies

and with sbs2003, you get outlook 2003 with for every cal bought. nice, innit
 
Isn't SBS much cheaper than Server 2003? I haven't got a lot of time until this has to be implemented, so am hesitant to go with something unknown - however, I will definately look into it for later implementation.

Oh, the other thing I wanted to ask - why does SBS come with CAL's, if it doesn't have Application Terminal Server?

Thanks again guys!
 
Hey aqox
Yep, that's what I plan to do with the mailboxes. Just get exchange to download each user's pop every so often. That's what I like about exchange - it's really simple to setup with outlook.

Nick
 
Nickste said:
Yep, that's what I plan to do with the mailboxes. Just get exchange to download each user's pop every so often. That's what I like about exchange - it's really simple to setup with outlook.
Click to expand...

Kerio is the same.

Nickste said:
Oh, the other thing I wanted to ask - why does SBS come with CAL's, if it doesn't have Application Terminal Server?
Click to expand...

Each user needs a CAL. CALs are much more expensive for SBS then Windows 2003 proper. 20 users on SBS is likely to set you back R18K. Win 2003 server with 20 CALs will cost about R11K. Kerio for 25 users is about R3500 so the Win2003 + Kerio option will be R4.5K cheaper. Where the big difference comes in is additional users. Each additional 5 users on SBS is going to cost another R4K. For Win2003 and Kerio, each additional 5 users is going to cost R2K and it will be a lot cheaper if you buy larger packs (about R300 per user for 100 users). Kerio can even run on Linux if you want.

My biggest problem is that everything in Exchange is integrated with the OS. While it may sound like a good thing, exchange starts to be clever like replicating stuff etc and what you end up with is public folders having email addresses etc.
 
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Remember if you need SQL server down the line (like many companies do for account software or whatever), those licenses are seriously expensive, which makes SBS a good option again.
 
Sorry, I've only ever worked with less than 5 users on SBS. Does each user need a CAL licence? All users are doing is storing data on server, and using exchange.

Cheers, Nick
 
Yes, each user does.

Pity you don't have a good alternative for Exchange - file sharing/windows domain controller works quite well in Linux with no per-user licences.
 
Yeah, it's really stupid of me to have not picked this up earlier :-(. But yeah, unfortunately it comes down to needing exchange. Are the local suppliers the best place to buy CAL's from, or can you get them online for cheaper?

Thanks, Nick
 
In my opinion there is a couple of more differences between SBS 2003 and Server 2003 than just the price of CAL's, but that is a different discussion.

I have been supporting Exchange 2000 and 2003 for the last 5 years and never had any serious issues like others in this thread had mentioned. Most of the problems that popped up was usually down to human error or hardware failure, not software related. Not sure if I am just lucky, or if its my super skills :)

I would also not go for all that hardware, its a bit of overkill.

Just make sure that you have a reliable server motherboard, and quality storage, and a descent backup and restore solution.

Also, why do you need the LCD? if space is not an issue, rather save money and get a cheap little monitor, even second hand. It will most likely just be stuck in a dark room somewhere.
 
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