I need help building a top of the line server

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Limp Gawd
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Aug 14, 2003
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My friend is starting his own company and he needs to build a server first. He has the money so he asked me if i knew all the best things to get. I decided that i could not be the best judge for everything. If you could help me and give me links to the product i would be extremely happy.

I was thinking a dual athlon 64 computer with 2 gigs of mem but i can not be sure till i ask the experts


What would you recommend athlon ? intel ? and i need quality products.



thanks
 
Ok how about what exactly will this thing be used for?

Second, how reliable does it need to be(partly related to first question)?


Both of those kind of make a big difference depending on what is needed. Why include RAID50 when you're just doing processing and nothing else.

Regardless here's a rough idea of what i'd suggest. Missing parts I have no opinion on. Kind of open ended atm due to lack of info.

Dual Opteron
1-2 gb ram
SCSI or SATA RAID setup
 
It is going to be used as a sever for an internet business and for my friends personal use.

I assume the once his company kicks in there will possibly be a forum, email, and more. So the speed, proformance, and quality will be needed in the near future.
 
Server+business=OEM, I do not recommend building a business server...

Can you say liability?
 
Generally businesses buy from oems in order to have good service contract to cover any problems they may have. But you haven't really specified any specifics about this business. There is no single catch all server config for "business".
 
im not building it.. he is.. he wants to know what he should get. and it is his company and his server and he decided that is what he wants to do.. he just asked me what are the best parts to use and etc.


it is for a webpage that will have a small shopping area and a forum. It will need to be secure because the customers information will be saved on there. The main webpage will be mainly for his personal use, consisting of videos, music, pics, etc. Technically that doesnt require top of the line but as the business grows he needs it to run efficiently.


just put it this way.. if you had $12,000 and you wanted to build the most powerful server you could.. what parts would you put in it
 
If he is doing this for a business, he may want to consider leasing the server rather than buying one. He should take a look at HP, IBM and Dell for leasing. He could get a server and lease it for a couple of years then upgrade. And with a lease typically goes service and support. Most leasing plans are very flexible, and most companies will let you upgrade and add on to the lease even if the term isn't up because they are glad to have to spend more money a month.

The other thing about leasing is that it is probably a better tax advantage than purchasing. He should check with a tax consultant on this to be sure.

It also means putting out less cash up front so he has liquid funds for things like advertising and such to help grow the business.
 
Phoenix86 said:
Server+business=OEM, I do not recommend building a business server...

Can you say liability?
Click to expand...

Definitely the way to go if it's business critical. Someone above recommended Dell and IBM for servers. That makes me laugh! You skipped the top ranked company...HP. Our Proliants are awesome as hell.
 
Sorry I forgot HP. Wasn't intentional. I have used a few HP servers over the years, and they have been very reliable. I was just throwing some names out. Sorry to have left you out. :(

I even edited my post to include HP now. :D

If it makes you feel any better, I own an HP laptop and an HP apollo 715t/50. I could use a newer HP 9000 series though. ;)
 
I love how all the top server manufactuers make crappy home systems.
 
puck said:
I love how all the top server manufactuers make crappy home systems.
Click to expand...

Have you actual worked on or used one of our newer HP systems? I work on them all the time when co-workers buy them and have me set up their software, user accounts, etc and move their old data over to the new computer. Work on a few, and you'll be surprised. I build all of my own personal machines, but if I was going to buy a pre-built, I wouldn't hesitate with a new HP. You know Abit, MSI, and Asus make our motherboards, right?
 
I at first wasnt a fan of OEM companies, but they do decent jobs, many like emachines are cleaning up thier acts. They are switching from cheap parts to brand name mobos, decent cpus, etc... I still prefer building but for a server I agree with other people lease or buy one from a company
 
Another concurral. Dad was looking for a new machine, and he wanted stable. So he went out one day and bought a compaq. decent machine, 3000+, integrated video, 512 ram, 160G disk, dvd+rw, $700. not bad. came with xp home (didn't even boot that, upgraded to xp pro and redhat fc2 right away). stablest machine in the house :( (except for linux file server :D )
 
I would have to concur also. If someone doesn't need maximum performance or other special needs, an OEM system from HP, IBM, or Dell is definitely a good choice.

You will note that I left Gateway out of the list. In my experience Gateway's tend to be a little on the dodgy side when it comes to reliability and stability. Dealt with many a Gateway that made me want to pull my hair out. Even supported a couple back in college (did tech support for the university hospital) that within the first year the only orginal part was the case. :eek: I think part of it is the fact that a lot of the sometimes Gateways use some pretty cheap parts and Gateway just doesn't have the QA the big boys have, IMHO.
 
How about having a hosting company host the website. Then you don't need to buy a server, nor maintain the server, nor pay for a T1 line.

djnes said:
Have you actual worked on or used one of our newer HP systems? I work on them all the time when co-workers buy them and have me set up their software, user accounts, etc and move their old data over to the new computer. Work on a few, and you'll be surprised. I build all of my own personal machines, but if I was going to buy a pre-built, I wouldn't hesitate with a new HP. You know Abit, MSI, and Asus make our motherboards, right?
Click to expand...
I'll back up you on this one. Our company can't be all wrong. We went with 146 Proliant ML350 Xeon Servers and over 1000 DT 330 desktops this year and we don't buy junk. These machines are intended to be in use for 5+ years.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantml350/index.html
 
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