Looking to build a small server

K

Kris

Gawd
Joined
Jun 27, 2004
Messages
618
Hi, I've built several PCs but I haven't built any servers so I was hopping for some advice.

I want to build a fairly inexpensive server that contains 2-3 drives in a RAID setup for data redundancy (I'm thinking maybe RAID 1 or RAID 5). It has to run cool (I don't need anything powerful, just reliable) and I don't want it to be too big so I can easily put it anywhere.

What I'm looking to do is to keep documents, several Visual Source Safe databases, as well as some web apps so I'll need to use Windows Server 2003. I don't need a monitor, keyboard, etc as I'll set it up once and use Remote Desktop afterwards.

I would LOVE to use it for Active Directory and possibly Exchange at some point but that's really just to toy with it.

Any suggestions?
 
A Dell?

How many users will be using this server?
What's your budget?
 
enginurd said:
A Dell?

How many users will be using this server?
What's your budget?
Click to expand...
I haven't had a chance to take a look at Dell so I'll have to do that over the weekend.

It will be primarily just me, however, I have 3 other people that may occasionally use it just to store files.

As for budget, I don't really want to spend over $800 (actually, $500 or less would be great but may not be doable). I can spend over $800 but would rather keep it under $800.
 
I was looking at this:
Asus Server: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816110015

I would add a flavor of Xeon (probablly the Xeon 3040) and 1 Gig of ECC RAM, and of course Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 (Its Server 2003 with Exchange). Comes with 5 CALs should be a good solution for up ~50 PCs.
Ive changed my mind on this for now and decided on Windows Home Server for my NAS.

I know its a bit out of your proposed budget though. The SBS 2003 is the killer, I think the cheapest I saw it was $400.00. So maybe a Dell Poweredge would be a better way to go?
 
Yeah that's a bit pricey but quite nice. I've looked at the Dell solutions but I didn't see any options to install the OS on one drive, and have a RAID setup with two additional drives (seems to make the most sense to me) and they can be quite expensive as well.

I know I shouldn't expect much with this kind of budget but I just can't justify spending $800+ for a server that, for the next year or so, will only be me using it for source control and site development and a couple of other people storing some files.

Thanks for the great suggestions though.
 
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