Hey Guys,
First I just wanted to say hello to the community. I'm new here but I plan to stay to learn more in the areas that I'm lacking in the knowledge department. I hope I'm not out of line to ask for help and hope that you guys/gals can help me out.
Now, when it comes to servers I really am needing some help. I am an entrepreneur and one of my companies is needing a server to make things easier on everyone here. I will fill in some of the details and hopefully we can find a solution.
Business: Small Business - Construction (One state based for the most part)
Users: 4-5 Users In-House with 3-4 extra users (same users, multiple computers) when out of the office.
Main Usage: File Storage (Basic Office Docs, Photos (not a lot)), Accounting System (possibly on the system)
Other: Server will eventually be used to connect remotely when out of the office (file access). We may also eventually run our email system and the full website off of the server as well.
I have four new PC rigs that I'm ordering this week. Even though this isn't my first PC build(s), this will be my first Server Build.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: I'm ready to buy today or anytime after that.
BUDGET RANGE: There really is no limit. For now we want to cover what we need and have room to upgrade. I would say $1,000-$2,000 or less is probably a good range. Right now we have survived with 2 external HD's, so we don't need to go crazy for this company. That doesn't mean it has to hit the mark. It could be way less.
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: File-Sharing, Email System, Accounting, Photo-Sharing, Web Access on-site and off-site.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com / Tigerdirect.com
PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type: Gigabyte (preferred)/Asus Mobo, Open to CPU AMD/Intel (Been using more AMD lately), Full-Tower, WD HD, else I am mostly open to.
OVERCLOCKING: No
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No
MONITOR RESOLUTION: Open
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Minimal sound for now as this will be sitting in one of the offices until we relocate.
- All users will be running on Windows 7.
- The company is family owned and operated, so all users in the office are family. Monitoring of each PC would still be nice.
- Server is used to store files and share among members.
- Future - Server will be the central point for our email system and maybe our website (not a crazy amount of hits to the site a day since it's not a national or international company).
- Server will eventually have web-access to the server outside of work area to gain access to certain files
- Accounting system may be stored on the server as well.
- Monitoring is important. Watching what comes in and what goes out. Also who is doing what at any given time. You know, all the good stuff.
- Up-time and Speed is also important. It doesn't have to be the fastest thing out, but I also don't want a system that's going to bog down all the time and have bottleneck.
- Mirroring of storage would be nice. RAID 1? Eh, I may just use Externals at a different location.
- Hot-swapping of HD's is also important so that we can keep the system going at all times.
OTHER
Software: As stated all rigs will be ran off W7. I'm open to a server OS as I have nothing set yet. Anything that will help us out in this department would be greatly appreciated.
Firewall Hardware: I have nothing set in stone for this either. I'm looking for suggestions. I'm looking for a lock-tight system (don't we all?) each port modifiable. Grant or deny access. Obviously it's important to see what's coming in but it's also important to see what is going out as well.
Sorry for the clutter. I decided to bring this forum up before I further my search for the build. I did this because my time right now is very limited as I have another company that I'm working on planting my two feet in on as well. This will at least give me a guideline so that I can look further into my needs and I hope will allow me to pick a list to see what you guys think. Please feel free to provide a list as well.
I will have to check later to see if there's anything that I have missed. Feel free to ask any questions. I will be more than happy to answer them!
Any help is so greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!
First I just wanted to say hello to the community. I'm new here but I plan to stay to learn more in the areas that I'm lacking in the knowledge department. I hope I'm not out of line to ask for help and hope that you guys/gals can help me out.
Now, when it comes to servers I really am needing some help. I am an entrepreneur and one of my companies is needing a server to make things easier on everyone here. I will fill in some of the details and hopefully we can find a solution.
Business: Small Business - Construction (One state based for the most part)
Users: 4-5 Users In-House with 3-4 extra users (same users, multiple computers) when out of the office.
Main Usage: File Storage (Basic Office Docs, Photos (not a lot)), Accounting System (possibly on the system)
Other: Server will eventually be used to connect remotely when out of the office (file access). We may also eventually run our email system and the full website off of the server as well.
I have four new PC rigs that I'm ordering this week. Even though this isn't my first PC build(s), this will be my first Server Build.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: I'm ready to buy today or anytime after that.
BUDGET RANGE: There really is no limit. For now we want to cover what we need and have room to upgrade. I would say $1,000-$2,000 or less is probably a good range. Right now we have survived with 2 external HD's, so we don't need to go crazy for this company. That doesn't mean it has to hit the mark. It could be way less.
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: File-Sharing, Email System, Accounting, Photo-Sharing, Web Access on-site and off-site.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com / Tigerdirect.com
PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type: Gigabyte (preferred)/Asus Mobo, Open to CPU AMD/Intel (Been using more AMD lately), Full-Tower, WD HD, else I am mostly open to.
OVERCLOCKING: No
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No
MONITOR RESOLUTION: Open
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Minimal sound for now as this will be sitting in one of the offices until we relocate.
- All users will be running on Windows 7.
- The company is family owned and operated, so all users in the office are family. Monitoring of each PC would still be nice.
- Server is used to store files and share among members.
- Future - Server will be the central point for our email system and maybe our website (not a crazy amount of hits to the site a day since it's not a national or international company).
- Server will eventually have web-access to the server outside of work area to gain access to certain files
- Accounting system may be stored on the server as well.
- Monitoring is important. Watching what comes in and what goes out. Also who is doing what at any given time. You know, all the good stuff.
- Up-time and Speed is also important. It doesn't have to be the fastest thing out, but I also don't want a system that's going to bog down all the time and have bottleneck.
- Mirroring of storage would be nice. RAID 1? Eh, I may just use Externals at a different location.
- Hot-swapping of HD's is also important so that we can keep the system going at all times.
OTHER
Software: As stated all rigs will be ran off W7. I'm open to a server OS as I have nothing set yet. Anything that will help us out in this department would be greatly appreciated.
Firewall Hardware: I have nothing set in stone for this either. I'm looking for suggestions. I'm looking for a lock-tight system (don't we all?) each port modifiable. Grant or deny access. Obviously it's important to see what's coming in but it's also important to see what is going out as well.
Sorry for the clutter. I decided to bring this forum up before I further my search for the build. I did this because my time right now is very limited as I have another company that I'm working on planting my two feet in on as well. This will at least give me a guideline so that I can look further into my needs and I hope will allow me to pick a list to see what you guys think. Please feel free to provide a list as well.
I will have to check later to see if there's anything that I have missed. Feel free to ask any questions. I will be more than happy to answer them!
Any help is so greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!