Where to buy cheap servers

Turlock

Folks,
Looking to buy a server to act as a Domain Controller / Fileserver for a small business. Don't want to go to Dell and pay 5k for a bran spanking new one as I can't justify it.

Does anyone know where I'd be able to buy slightly older servers for a decent price along with hardware support?

Don't get me wrong I'm not buying on a shoestring but I don't want to blow money either

Cheers!

ntlbell

5k?

dell do some very reasonably priced servers.

Saruman

Go to Dell, you would have to configure a pretty decent server to get that sort of cost. It sounds like you just need something basic. You can usually get servers from €150 for the most basic system.

Oh and you will be looking for server small business edition. It is cheaper than normal versions and comes with exchange.

Turlock

Cool cheers lads, I'll have a look and see what's there.

Mail will be looked after by external pop3 accounts so don't need the small business server which I think is slightly more expensive than the standard win2k8

I'll let you know how I get on!

ttm

Saruman wrote: »

Go to Dell, you would have to configure a pretty decent server to get that sort of cost. It sounds like you just need something basic. You can usually get servers from €150 for the most basic system.

Oh and you will be looking for server small business edition. It is cheaper than normal versions and comes with exchange.

+1 on Dell and SBS but I'd be expecting to pay about 2.5k for a few bells and wistles + warranty, depending on number of users.

OP if you want support particularly for hardware you arn't going to get it if you buy second hand hardware. Second hand hardware is only really for people that don't need support because they are techies and can do it themselves.

How many users?

pixbyjohn

Give PCPeripherals a ring. Very nice to deal with and they tailor make for you.
They are in Sandyford Ind. Est.

Saruman

Turlock wrote: »

Mail will be looked after by external pop3 accounts so don't need the small business server which I think is slightly more expensive than the standard win2k8

You must not have understood my post, SBS is cheaper than standard edition even though it comes with exchange etc because there are limitations but those limitations will never be reached in the office you are describing.

Since this is the case, it would be pointless having exchange and not using it.

ttm

Turlock wrote: »

Cool cheers lads, I'll have a look and see what's there.

Mail will be looked after by external pop3 accounts so don't need the small business server which I think is slightly more expensive than the standard win2k8

I'll let you know how I get on!

I'd still take a look at SBS as Exchange has the benefit of keeping your email in one place so you can back it up. Just get your current ISP to mailbag all the email for your domain then your Exchange server can pull it off and users then open it from Outlook but a copy stays on the server so you can back it and they can't loose it.

Exchange is a steep learning curve but worth the effort.

pixbyjohn wrote: »

Give PCPeripherals a ring. Very nice to deal with and they tailor make for you.
They are in Sandyford Ind. Est.

Not a recommendation I'd ever make how much testing will be done on a tailor made server from PCPeripherals and will all the hardware be on Microsofts WHQL lists?

Turlock

Cheers again lads, all the help is great and to be honest I'll be back looking for more advice in another thread soon!

Apologies I thought SBS was more expensive so exchange would be a great bonus to have!

I'd be very technical but coz it's for a site I can look after the software but I've no interest in looking after the hardware end, if something breaks I want the quick response from a vendor to have a look.

I'll tone down my configuration and try get the price a bit more resonable.

What do people use to connect Internet to a LAN? I'm looking at a linksys firewall model:rv042. Won't be enforcing any security policies but want something a bit secure. Thoughts?

ttm

Turlock wrote: »

What do people use to connect Internet to a LAN? I'm looking at a linksys firewall model:rv042. Won't be enforcing any security policies but want something a bit secure. Thoughts?

Sonicwall, Fortinet, Draytek Routers and even ISA server. I used to use Draytek routers a lot and unlike some brands its a one off payment for all the features on the box, whatever you get make sure you can create rules.

You won't have anything very secure unless you lock down on the router from the inside and if you have Exchange just allow your users HTTP and HTTPS and you'll save yourself a lot of hassel (apart from moaning uses).
ISA Server is great (I use it at home on an ISDN dial up :rolleyes:) but not for most small business as cost is mad but runs on very moderate hardware (old desktop P4, 512MB RAM and 80GB HDD is more than enough for 25 users).

_Kaiser_

ttm wrote: »

ISA Server is great (I use it at home on an ISDN dial up :rolleyes:) but not for most small business as cost is mad but runs on very moderate hardware (old desktop P4, 512MB RAM and 80GB HDD is more than enough for 25 users).

Any easy-to-follow getting started guides you can recommend? I wouldn't mind getting familiar with it, but don't have the time during the day to be studying cryptic white pages or bible-sized manuals

Turlock

Right here's the info off the Dell site, it's looking like SBS is alot more expensive than the standard server. With the options below standard server comes with 5 Cals but is 161 euro cheaper. Going forward standard Cals are 170 euro cheaper per pack of 5...

Does this sound right?

Microsoft® Small Business Server 2008, Standard Edition with Media, English [add € 789.00 or €98/month1]

5-Pack of Windows® Small Business Server 2008 DEVICE CALs (Standard) [add € 299.00 or €10/month1]

Windows Server® 2008, Standard Edition, Includes 5 CALs English [add € 628.00 or €93/month1]

5-pack of Windows® Server 2008 Device CALs (Standard or Enterprise) [add € 129.00 or €4/month1]

ntlbell

Turlock wrote: »

What do people use to connect Internet to a LAN? I'm looking at a linksys firewall model:rv042. Won't be enforcing any security policies but want something a bit secure. Thoughts?

If you have a spare box around, any spec really, have look at using OpenBSD with PF cost effective too

BaconZombie

How about building a custom VMware ESXi WhiteBox?


Hak5 had a good section on it a few weeks ago, I know it $ but you can get all the stuff easily.

Episode 519 – Building the Ultimate White Box for under $2000

ttm

Turlock wrote: »

Right here's the info off the Dell site, it's looking like SBS is alot more expensive than the standard server. With the options below standard server comes with 5 Cals but is 161 euro cheaper. Going forward standard Cals are 170 euro cheaper per pack of 5...

Does this sound right?

Microsoft® Small Business Server 2008, Standard Edition with Media, English [add € 789.00 or €98/month1]

5-Pack of Windows® Small Business Server 2008 DEVICE CALs (Standard) [add € 299.00 or €10/month1]

Windows Server® 2008, Standard Edition, Includes 5 CALs English [add € 628.00 or €93/month1]

OK so you aren't bothered about backing up your users email and won't be enforcing policies so you really do have to ask yourself why do you need a Microsoft Windows solution at all.

You can probabaly download some CBT stuff for ISA that takes you through the setup and basic running but last time I checked it would cost about 2k just for the software (Windows 2003 server + ISA 2006) so if your arguing over 160euro for SBS I can't see you going down that road. Don't forget you should have the relevent number of CAL's for SBS 2008 and Windows Server 2008.

Saruman

Turlock wrote: »

Right here's the info off the Dell site, it's looking like SBS is alot more expensive than the standard server. With the options below standard server comes with 5 Cals but is 161 euro cheaper.

Wow, I just did a check and it seems that the new 2008 is a lot more expensive than it used to be. Previously SBS was always cheaper than Standard edition and it was always seen as a bargain because it came with exchange and sql but it was limited by the number of users and also you could not do any advanced stuff like linking up to create trusts with another domain etc.

It looks like SBS 2008 though is now more expensive than standard? I think they have messed up there to be honest unless those limitations are no longer there.

Turlock

Apologies I don't mean to be looking like a scab over the 161 euros but it's 161 euro + 299 euro coz there's no CAL's included. Plus they reckon the office of 4 is going to grow so straight away that's another 299 vs 129.

Main goal is to connect unlimited internet access to the network which can be done with that router and second goal is to get central storage for files.

The way I plan on sorting the email is to use personal folders stored on the server share which will be backed up each night. The only reason the Windows domain is coming into is for the Windows share and the security control.

Cheers for the help so far and Saruman as you say it looks to be very expensive for what seems like a very limited server...

ttm

Turlock wrote: »

Apologies I don't mean to be looking like a scab over the 161 euros but it's 161 euro + 299 euro coz there's no CAL's included. Plus they reckon the office of 4 is going to grow so straight away that's another 299 vs 129.

Main goal is to connect unlimited internet access to the network which can be done with that router and second goal is to get central storage for files.

The way I plan on sorting the email is to use personal folders stored on the server share which will be backed up each night. The only reason the Windows domain is coming into is for the Windows share and the security control.

Cheers for the help so far and Saruman as you say it looks to be very expensive for what seems like a very limited server...

afaik SBS 2008 comes as a minimum with 5 CALS out of the box, I priced it for someone a couple of months back and the Dell price was about the same but included 5 CALS. All previous versions of SBS have come with 5 CALS minimum so I can't see that they would change that

Yummy personal folders on a server that don't get backed up if the user leaves Outlook open :mad:, you could write a script to remove the share during backup and then recreate when the backups finished.

Turlock

ttm wrote: »

Yummy personal folders on a server that don't get backed up if the user leaves Outlook open :mad:, you could write a script to remove the share during backup and then recreate when the backups finished.

Ah no sure I'll just ask the users to log out of Outlook every night before they go home

ttm

Turlock wrote: »

Ah no sure I'll just ask the users to log out of Outlook every night before they go home

That rather makes my point If you're responcible for backing up then asking users is not a good option because users just forget or don't care, at least check there machines are shut down before you backup.

Saruman

ttm wrote: »

afaik SBS 2008 comes as a minimum with 5 CALS out of the box,

I have yet to see an server OS that does not come with 5 cals as part of the OS.

Also I believe with 2008 you can actually get an individual license, useful if you only need one or two but a 5 pack would be cheaper if you need 5 of course.

ronkmonster

If you are not using any of the Windows Server specific features like domain security and exchange, why not just look at an enterprise version of linux.

You'd save money on the OS but you'd need to speed some time learning some Linux (unless you have previous experience).

No dealing with cals in Linux either (unless Enterprise versions have some limitations)

BaconZombie

IIRC Redhat and Oracle {Unbreakable Linux - Rebrand & Mod's version of Redhat} price their maintenance/support contract per Box/CPU.

ronkmonster wrote: »

If you are not using any of the Windows Server specific features like domain security and exchange, why not just look at an enterprise version of linux.

You'd save money on the OS but you'd need to speed some time learning some Linux (unless you have previous experience).

No dealing with cals in Linux either (unless Enterprise versions have some limitations)

ronkmonster

BOFH_139 wrote: »

IIRC Redhat and Oracle {Unbreakable Linux - Rebrand & Mod's version of Redhat} price their maintenance/support contract per Box/CPU.

I suspected it might be. I've never used it in a business environment.
I use Ubuntu Server in my own server at home. It's a command line system and it does what the OP was suggesting.

zod

unless they specifically ask for exchange .. I'd use google apps for email .. 7GB mailboxes and no backup involved.

NullZer0

Excellent Quality, Cheap, Fast

Pick any two from the above and then call dell or build you own.

johnmd

If you are already familiar with Ubuntu,why not try the server version or you can try centos,its the free version of Redhat,production ready and stable,its based on and maintained by the redhat guys,so uses the same source.
For centos
Install the server options and kde desktop.

set the server up with
postfix email server
dovecot -IMAP/pop server or Zimbra for a more fully features mail server
samba -windows file sharing
cups -linux printing

The trade off here is knowledge and time versus price,remember there no point in putting in an open source solution and have no one able to maintain it.
Thats said all of the above are free and stable.