Cheap server recommendations!!

[Ovi]

Whoops!!!!
Since the price of the OS etc is fixed, the only variable here is the server!! I guess I miscalculated the prices of the OS and SQL server. So now if I consider only the server (hardware) itself, their budget seems to be around US$1500 or so!! Looks like they won't be getting a server that's upto this job!!

Cheers
Ovi

[Taz]

If that's their budget for the server I would not get involved, just walk away from it

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Ovi
Okay, I've got some more details:
-- The company that's developing the DB is charging about US $4000+, and the budget for the server is around US$2000 - 2500(including the OS and SQL server 2000)
-- The database is reasonably mission critical, as all work will revolve around it.
-- The old database is based on FoxPro ver2.5 for DOS!! Now that is OLD!! But still, data should definitely be retrievable!!
I agree with Breezer on this one.......the firm developing the DB stated that it's not possible to move the old data to the new DB, which definitely hints at their incompetence. If they didn't want to migrate the old data, they could have have said plainly that they wouldn't do it as part of the deal (or charged extra for doing it), but saying that it's technically not possible....well.....

Breezer: I'm not really playing an active role in this server thingy, but my aunt knows that the owner has no knowledge of the technicalities involved in this and thus might go for the cheapest deal.........thus she asked for my suggestions, so that the new system works as intended. In any case, my suggestions to her are going to be on the safer side, rather than the cheaper one!

But as everyone agrees here, the most difficult part here is convincing the right people!!

Cheers
Ovi

err...why don't you show the aunt/owner an MS pricelist? a server for 2500$ with the server OS, IIS, and SQL will set you back for more than half the budget... and that's just for _5_clients. If you add the extra 35 clients your hardware budget is inexistent if not on the negative side already...

I'm afraid they need to revise the budget (like double it at least).

The CPU is important but not that critical (looking for the various bottlenecks... -it's not the only one...). SCSI is a definite plus over ATA and at least in RAID 1 mode (mirrored -for additional safety).

Tape backup is important too but slooooow (watch out for the time it takes to backup your data) in low-end models. Fast ones are in the 4000$ range...Also watch for _uncompressed_ capacity as they aren't always capable of compressing data -you wouldn't want to run out of space on your newly acquired drive

Also, a good backup program is not always sold with the tape drive...

RAM...depends on the DB... with the cheap prices 512MB is the minimum, 1GB can't hurt.

You might want to consider a P-III based server with a P-III 1.4GHz (way better/faster than your P4 1.7GHz...), a couple SCSI 10K (18GB are cheap) drive in RAID 1 and 1GB SDRAM. Don't forget screen and mouse etc...they might not fit in the budget...

Also, consider the Microsoft Small Business Server 2000, it's the cheapest pack you can get with Win2K server, Exchange server 2000 (common adressbook, common agendas, webmail, etc), IIS, SQL server 2000, ISA server (~firewall -might want to disable it). If you buy them separately they will cost a lot more. One major drawback is that they only support up to 50 users (the company being at 40, it might be a tight fit -unless they're not hiring) and you still have to buy additional clients licenses to complement the authorized 5 from the server. If you want to go above 50 users, you'll have to pay for new software==> a whole lot more expensive...

S00000000......with 2500$ you can't make it. Plain and simple.

[thop]

What company makes the DB?

[Ovi]

Kurt: The Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 seems just the perfect thing here! Thanks! I heard today that they are reconsidering their budget! Looks like someone made them realize the true costs involved!!
Though I'm interested in how things turn out, since I'm not really directly involved here, I can't convince the owner to get what you guys are recommending, (though my aunt is lobbying for me), but I can always suggest, which I have done now, based on your recommendations!!
However, since I was asked for advice on the server config and the DB migration thingy, if they go ahead and get something inferior, and things don't work properly in the end, I can always say - "See, I told ya!!"
Lets see!!

Cheers
Ovi