I've been given a budget to spend up to $15,000 (this isn't set in stone, could potentially go a little higher) on equipment as it relates to a production work environment for a business that is out of business during any amount of downtime.
Priorities go:
I'm comfortable with VMware. I've also heard that Veeam is a great product to get some backup automation. I'm not sure what versions are needed.
Do we go with Dell/HP/Lenovo for the servers (I would imagine we need two identical ones with two power supplies)?
Do we go with NAS/iSCSI/SAN, etc for the actual production run AND/OR daily backups/snapshots?
Do we go with something proprietary such as Netgear/Dell or something like FreeNAS?
What is run is a Windows Server 2013 and three or four Ubuntu dishing out servces such as DNS, file sharing and internal wiki hosting. The file sharing VM and Windows Server 2013 services are the most critical.
What would YOU do with a $15,000 budget where uptime is the most important?
Priorities go:
- UPTIME/REDUNDANCY. Limiting the amount of downtime, even to the extent of almost non-existant is the primary goal.
- AUTOMATION. Once fully configured will be able to automate backups/snapshots, etc.
- LOW MAINTENANCE. It is understood that there will be some maintenance (generally software related) but that for the most part the equipment will hum and buzz on itself after the initial upfront time investment.
- PERFORMANCE. This is the least important but for specs-wise there will be 20 employees constantly using services offered by the equipment.
I'm comfortable with VMware. I've also heard that Veeam is a great product to get some backup automation. I'm not sure what versions are needed.
Do we go with Dell/HP/Lenovo for the servers (I would imagine we need two identical ones with two power supplies)?
Do we go with NAS/iSCSI/SAN, etc for the actual production run AND/OR daily backups/snapshots?
Do we go with something proprietary such as Netgear/Dell or something like FreeNAS?
What is run is a Windows Server 2013 and three or four Ubuntu dishing out servces such as DNS, file sharing and internal wiki hosting. The file sharing VM and Windows Server 2013 services are the most critical.
What would YOU do with a $15,000 budget where uptime is the most important?