Server Hardware Vs. Workstation Hardware

It depends on what you want to accomplish and whether "reliability" is a factor that your supervisors want to pay extra for. Here is an excerpt from http://www.masi.com/7elements_hardware.htm

"Finally, about whether a "regular" PC can be used as a server. Emphatically "NO" it cannot. Not when the network has more than two or three users, anyway. The central server should have, at an absolute minimum, SCSI disk technology ("regular" PCs use IDE, which is terribly slow compared to SCSI), and for larger networks, "fast and wide SCSI" or PCI SCSI. In a business environment, the server disk drive is the primary bottleneck. It must be very fast and capable of moving large amounts of data (wide) for network performance to be acceptable.The central server must also have an excellent quality tape drive for network backup. We strongly recommend an HP digital audio tape (DAT) drive. It is fast and accurate, and since it is HP, it is of the highest quality.

So you need to budget quite a bit more for your server than for a desktop PC to get enough memory (RAM), high quality disk storage, and the tape drive. Plus, of course, the fastest processor you can afford. "

I'll look for more links to support this position.

NASAR could build cars cheaper than they race on Sundays too. That doesn't mean they would get the job done...

The primary reason most clone workstations do not make good servers is simply the components they use. They are designed for light to moderate use by a single user. They rarely include the kind of robust performing parts that come in servers - redundant power supplies, RAID (or at least SCSI) drives, industrial tape drives, and of course very carefully chosen video, nic, etc parts to make ABSOLUTE certain they work reliably, quickly and above all 100% compatibly with the server OS.

You *CAN* build this kind of machine...but you'll find that it suddenly doesn't cost what a clone workstation costs...it costs close to what a server costs. Worse still, as a clone box, you'll run into nightmares when it comes to support.

This is the most critical issue of all...because when there is a problem with a workstation, it affects one user's productivity. A problem on a server can affect the whole company. God help you the day the mail server fails if you don't have your disaster recovery and support ducks in a row.

I know this isn't what you asked for: references. This is just the voice of a long time admin stating what most of us consider common sense. You get what you pay for 99% of the time. Your production servers are critical to your company. Some times what saves you a few $$$ to start with can wreck the corporate bank account, your job (and reputation)...and perhaps the company in the long run. Lose a few years of records or critical accounting files during an audit...and you'll be asking "would you like fries with that" about the same time your boss will be facing an inquiry. How many dollars is avoiding that sort of disaster worth to your company?

Sheesh....they *deleted* me above! hahahah....

anyhow, now, a couple of links:

http://www.trit.kz/asbis/datasheets/Adaptec/scsi_sme.pdf

(this one has some good information and recommendations)

http://www.rojasgroup.com/pdfversions/A%20Network%20Primer.pdf

http://www.m-c-c-inc.com/corp-net-equip.html

Nothing special here...just a few things to look over. Good luck...especially if you end up running your LAN on a $500 whitebox...

Hope this helps!

I understand how you feel I have had to do what they are asking of you. I had several machines each performing a specific task, this way I would not over burden one machine and crash the domain. If push comes to shove then I would get the fastest machines I could, look for any with dual processors. Load them up with Ram as close to 1024 as you can and the biggest drives you can afford (SCIS Ultra 160 is perfered). They are very fast. Then double up with two dual port 100MB NICs each. Also A RAID controller card for the file server. With the RAID machine you can connect furture ARRAYS loaded with harddrives that are hot swapable. Then you have to load balance them i.e. one machine as a PDC only, one for BDC and print server, one for Backup and Misc software. Then one for file server and one more for Mail. Now you are talking about five separate machines because from first hand experience if you go any less your network will over load one machine and crash you network on a reacurrent basis. Plus if one server does go down it only affects a small portion of the services you are provding not the whole network.I think if you have to do it this way you will gain allot of experience and self satisfaction after you get it up and running,I know I did. Good Luck

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