(Web) Server Info

Seth Brundle

(hopefully in the right forum!)

Im considering setting up a co-location server to hold some websites I have. I presume that the company Im oing with (Blacknight) would prefer a rack server rather than me arriving with a tower unit under my arm!

As the principal site that I would use on this is ASP & MSSQL based I would need something running windows but the MSSQL express licence (free) limits me to 1Gb of RAM.

Where would I get something half decent but at the cheapest price possible? that would meet my needs?
Would a standard IDE drive work or would I need/be better off with a SCSI drive?

Is there anything else I should know when choosing a server? I guess 2nd hand is more sensible but where sell these?

Stephen

For a server I wouldn't go with anything less than a SCSI RAID1 (i.e. two disks mirroring each other) setup, if the data and system availability is worth anything to you. You could probably get something like a used HP DL360 (i.e. a 1U server, taking up minimal space in the rack) to do this nicely. I would imagine Blacknight charge you more if you take up more rackspace?

Seth Brundle

Thanks Stephen.
I know speaking to them about it is necessary but when you say it is more expensive for rackspace do you mean compared to a different server type or to standard (virtual) hosting?I spoke to BK about it and co-location would work out less expensive than any further increase in bandwidth/space over a maybe two or three years.

Stephen

What i mean is do they charge you more if your server physically takes up more space in their racks? i.e. a 1U server case is going to take up a lot less space than a standard PC case, or a big tower-type server case.
Space in datacentres is expensive

Seth Brundle

Oh right - I guess a phonecall is in order!
Thanks

Asok

You could try something like the Dell 1425 with two sata disks raided. They are a 1 u box and have xeon processors and are quite easy one the pocket. I have used them alot and would really recommend them. I've only seen one hardware quirk with them that involved a dodgy stick of ram but after that they are great.

[edit]
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/topics/products/pedge/selector?c=ie&l=en&s=pad&~section=sc1425 i think that link will work .....I hope
[/edit]

irlrobins

kbannon wrote:

(hopefully in the right forum!)

Nope fraid not. Moving to Comp/Tech. (better suited there than Webmaster forum as it's more to do with servers than webpages)