Domain controller specs

Eiolon

Gawd
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
928
Does anyone have hardware recommendations for a domain controller that also runs DNS and DHCP for 200 users? We have the licensing for Server 2012 but we don't have a huge budget for hardware so buying a server from Dell or other OEM is out of the question. Trying to keep it at $800 or less.

EDIT: I guess HP might have something:

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/proliant-servers/product-detail.html?oid=5392612#!tab=specs

I'll just have to provide my own hard drives it looks like.
 
Last edited:
Moved to Networking & Security. You should get better help here.
 
You really don't need much horsepower to run a domain controller with DHCP and DNS... A 5 year old consumer PC with 4GB RAM has more then enough horsepower to run those services (assuming a modest number of GPOs, etc).

However, remember that a DC does become a critical component of an environment. Therefore, your best option would be to have two DCs so if one fails, you have one which can continue to provide login and authentication services (and DNS and DHCP) in the event one DC goes offline. Of course, licensing for a second Win server can be a concern, but then remember that a standard Server 2102 license will allow you to run two VMs on the same box, so you can come up with some creative solutions... (Run a second DC on your file & print server, for example.) A second DC can pay for itself in time and headache if something simple like a power supply fails and kills logins for day!

If you really can't swing a second DC for some reason, then it becomes more important to make sure to buy decent hardware with as much redundancy as you can get (RAID, dual power supply, etc). And make sure you save some budget for some sort of backup hardware / software! (Remember, RAID is not backup!)

The low end HP servers are decent.. They're not much more than well engineered consumer / desktop systems, but with longer support cycles and better warranty. But they use qualiry parts, and I can't say anything bad about them
 
Thanks. We do currently have two domain controllers. Both were made in 2004 and have Xeon 1.4GHz, 2GB RAM and Server 2003. I am just so surprised I have not had any hardware failures yet (knocks on wood). But with Server 2003 support ending we need to do something. I am just afraid to put Server 2012 on something so old.
 
Windows 2012 is 32bit only and from the datasheet I found those cpus are 32bit so that's out.
But even if they would run keeping them is a bad option.
A i3 microserver or equivalent with 4gb ram is fine for the load and you can pick thinkservers up cheap on amazon.
Add a couple drives in raid 1 and your out the door under 500.
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkS...639601&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=thinserver+ts140
 
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Does anyone have hardware recommendations for a domain controller that also runs DNS and DHCP for 200 users? We have the licensing for Server 2012 but we don't have a huge budget for hardware so buying a server from Dell or other OEM is out of the question. Trying to keep it at $800 or less.

EDIT: I guess HP might have something:

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/proliant-servers/product-detail.html?oid=5392612#!tab=specs

I'll just have to provide my own hard drives it looks like.

Newegg just had an old model HP ML10 (Xeon 1220v2,2gb RAM) for $220 last week. I'd keep my eyes peeled for that to pop up again. A little loud but includes iLO 3 for remote monitoring and KVM (startup only without advanced license).
 
I'd say almost any current gen base level server (dell T20 for example) would be powerful enough. The trick is probably how to get disk redundancy. If you have another DC (virtualized for example) and you are just going for redundancy, I'd probably take a chance with a quality SSD (intel, samsung pro), a T20 with 4gb ram and call it a day for <500.
 
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