Looking at building a server for SMB

[abdulmoeed874]

I'm planning to build a server for first time for small business with roughly 5 - 10 people using it.
The applications that are used: AutoCAD, Adobe photoshop, coral draw, Peachtree, microsoft office, adobe premiere, etc.

I want to setup server at home while office workers access data online. I want to keep control over data such as worker cannot change stock details in Peachtree without my permission or different access permissions for different worker.

I was thinking of dell Power Edge T330 with Intel® Xeon® E3-1240 v5, 16GB ram, 256GB ssd for software and 4x1TB hard drive in raid 5 or 6. And software Microsoft windows server 2008 or windows server 2012 R2. Will this be able to handle all applications mentioned above via cloud/online. The server will be working 12 hours a day.

I need suggestion for both hardware and software my budget is around 1500 to 2000 us dollar.

Need help and if I have not mentioned anything clearly, please ask me to clarify.

 

[vapour]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card ($402.33 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1189.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 15:31 EST-0500

Add as many HDD's as you want. The one you picked only has 4 cores/8 threads, and only 16gb ram, not enough.

 

[kanewolf]

AutoCAD, Photoshop, Premiere, etc need to be executed on the local host to take advantage of the graphics cards. You could use your server as network storage but not remote execution. LAN access for remote applications might work (but not with 16GB RAM), but WAN access performance is usually poor.

 

[kanewolf]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card ($402.33 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1189.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 15:31 EST-0500

Add as many HDD's as you want. The one you picked only has 4 cores/8 threads, and only 16gb ram, not enough.

What benefit do you believe the Quadro provides on a server? Are you trying to build a virtual desktop server with GPU sharing? Or a virtual desktop server with dedicated GPU for a single remote user? I don't understand your choice.

 

[vapour]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card ($402.33 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1189.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 15:31 EST-0500

Add as many HDD's as you want. The one you picked only has 4 cores/8 threads, and only 16gb ram, not enough.

What benefit do you believe the Quadro provides on a server? Are you trying to build a virtual desktop server with GPU sharing? Or a virtual desktop server with dedicated GPU for a single remote user? I don't understand your choice.

virtual desktop server with GPU sharing is the purpose: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/design-visualization/technologies/virtual-gpu/

 

[abdulmoeed874]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card ($402.33 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1189.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 15:31 EST-0500

Add as many HDD's as you want. The one you picked only has 4 cores/8 threads, and only 16gb ram, not enough.

What benefit do you believe the Quadro provides on a server? Are you trying to build a virtual desktop server with GPU sharing? Or a virtual desktop server with dedicated GPU for a single remote user? I don't understand your choice.

The workers have 3 individuals pc with them that does all the work. I don't have any control over those PCs or data on them so i need to create a server that stores all data directly in server and not on individual pc and workers access data through server which will be at remote location not on the premises

 

[kanewolf]

virtual desktop server with GPU sharing is the purpose: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/design-visualization/technologies/virtual-gpu/

OK. But I think only Tesla GPUs support virtualization -- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/design-visualization/graphics-cards-for-virtualization/ . And that is very OS dependent. Citrix and VMWARE support it. But the cost of the that software also adds significantly.

 

[vapour]

virtual desktop server with GPU sharing is the purpose: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/design-visualization/technologies/virtual-gpu/

OK. But I think only Tesla GPUs support virtualization -- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/design-visualization/graphics-cards-for-virtualization/ . And that is very OS dependent. Citrix and VMWARE support it. But the cost of the that software also adds significantly.

Agreed, it should be vDWS: https://www.servethehome.com/new-nvidia-quadro-vdws-up-to-4-gpu-vms-and-vgpu-live-migration/

I may invest in a tesla gpu since there could be 10 VMs running at the same time.

 

[kanewolf]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card ($402.33 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1189.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 15:31 EST-0500

Add as many HDD's as you want. The one you picked only has 4 cores/8 threads, and only 16gb ram, not enough.

What benefit do you believe the Quadro provides on a server? Are you trying to build a virtual desktop server with GPU sharing? Or a virtual desktop server with dedicated GPU for a single remote user? I don't understand your choice.

The workers have 3 individuals pc with them that does all the work. I don't have any control over those PCs or data on them so i need to create a server that stores all data directly in server and not on individual pc and workers access data through server which will be at remote location not on the premises

You should really look at virtual desktops in AWS or some other commercial cloud provider. To build the infrastructure you want, is impractical for such a small environment.

 

[abdulmoeed874]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card ($402.33 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1189.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 15:31 EST-0500

Add as many HDD's as you want. The one you picked only has 4 cores/8 threads, and only 16gb ram, not enough.

What benefit do you believe the Quadro provides on a server? Are you trying to build a virtual desktop server with GPU sharing? Or a virtual desktop server with dedicated GPU for a single remote user? I don't understand your choice.

The workers have 3 individuals pc with them that does all the work. I don't have any control over those PCs or data on them so i need to create a server that stores all data directly in server and not on individual pc and workers access data through server which will be at remote location not on the premises

You should really look at virtual desktops in AWS or some other commercial cloud provider. To build the infrastructure you want, is impractical for such a small environment.

I tried AWS but couldn't understand from where to start, its quite complicated. so i thought maybe once i setup the server i won't have to deal with on daily basis, only once in a while. Somehow practically having a server gives me much more piece of mind as my data is secure and and can be controlled the way i want.

If you suggest AWS, then guide as to how and where to start from and kindly suggest the software for server for suggested pc parts mentioned previously in case i decide to go building my own server and isn't intel xeon processors more preferable for building any server??

 

[kanewolf]

How long ago did you try AWS? They are always improving their product and tutorials. Here is a tutorial they have -- https://aws.amazon.com/getting-started/projects/provision-cloud-desktops/

The Amazon workspaces is supposed to have made it much easier -- https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/

 

[abdulmoeed874]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5 GB Video Card ($402.33 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1189.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-22 15:31 EST-0500

Add as many HDD's as you want. The one you picked only has 4 cores/8 threads, and only 16gb ram, not enough.

Thank you for Amazon Workspace link. I will be doing my homework on that.

Meanwhile, Can I replace my 3 low end PC with 1 high spec PC and run 3 - 5 virtual machine on them and control the data access to my workers and everything else from there??? What software should I use in this case???

 

[USAFRet]

Meanwhile, Can I replace my 3 low end PC with 1 high spec PC and run 3 - 5 virtual machine on them and control the data access to my workers and everything else from there??? What software should I use in this case???

You're referring to Thin Clients.
At 3-5 office level systems, you won't be saving any money.

What sits on the users desk still needs to be a "PC" of some sort. $300-$400 each.
And then a beefy server to host. And the server OS.