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I’m looking for a server recommendation. We are a small company with about 20 users. Currently we have an IBM PC Server 325 with 130 mgs of ram and 8
gigs of disk space. running Novell 4.11 with Intranetware SBE, Grpwise 5.2,Goldmine, a contact manager, Norton Aniti virus Corporate edition, among others.
Our disk space utilization is around 65% Looking for a bigger box with alot more disk space and to accommodate future growth in the 25- 30 user range .
We plan to run Netware 5, Grpwise 5.5, NDS for NT, because we pam to run Goldmine on an nt box. What would be an optimum server config for network I
described. Thanks so much!

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Server Recommendation

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If you wanted to stay with IBM, the NetFinity 3500 is one of the replacements for the PCServer 325. Good processor performance for Netware 5, lots of room for RAM. A bit shy on disk expansion, but I have configured these with three 9GB disks and an array controller, which would give reasonable data redundancy – you could get 18 GB disks and have lots of space. Remember to budget for increased backup storage if you dramtically increase disk space.

For Netware 5.1, you should look at 192 or 256 MB RAM to run GroupWise well and still provide good file/print performance. NDS for NT would run on the NT server (must be a domain controller), not the Netware server, so it might be a moot point. IBM’s Web Site has lots of data on these models.
PaulCr

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I come from the Compaq side of the tracks, but I think their ML370 series with 256meg of RAM and a RAID-5 controller with 6-drive capacity would give you plenty of room for growth, both as regards CPU/RAM and drive space.

paul

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You could also go with a Dell Poweredge 2400.
One with a single p3 600, 256 RAM, hardware raid 5, and 3 9gb drives runs around $4500. The server gives you the ability to upgrade to dual processors, 2GB of RAM, and 6 HDs.

It all comes down to what hardware vendor you perfer. IBM, Compaq, DELL, etc. They are all competitive in terms of price, performance, and reliablity.

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I am a Compaq guy, but I think all the major vendors have great products at a great price. I like to share a little experience here: “Plan for expansion” Don’t save $1,000 on a machine that might not allow you to expand, disk capacity, memory, second processor (eventhough the second processor only increases the processing power by 50%). Also, look what to getting for your money, software wise, some of the vendors will have a better deal on the bottom line, that for you, everything else been the same, can save you thousands of dollars at the end.
Good luck!

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