Picking a server for DC

whats newxt

I'm lost as to what server spec i need for a DC that manages about 200 users? can anyone help me out? I know for file servers they say you need one GB of ram for every TB.

Mr. G

Roughly, how many PCs are pulling off this?

Will you be using roaming profiles?

whats newxt

About 180 PC and yes i will be using roaming user profiles -it's a small college.

rolion

Hi,
How long is a piece of spring !

Are you student, teacher, internal IT, external IT !?
Budget, authority, current setup ?

irishmotorist

whats newxt wrote: »

I'm lost as to what server spec i need for a DC that manages about 200 users? can anyone help me out? I know for file servers they say you need one GB of ram for every TB.

That's not going to be a particularly big AD, so unless you are going to be putting other applications/services on the server or deploying huge packages using GPO, a fairly modest server will do you just fine. If you're going with Server 2012, I'd consider something with 4Gb RAM and a couple of hundred GB of disk space. I say this mostly to accomodate Windows Updates over the next few years. You would probably get away with a single, multi-core (4+) processor, but you will find the server runs better with two of them. A couple of NICs would be a very good idea too.

If you are going to be running additional stuff - file/print, SQL, Exchange etc. on it, then you will need to upgrade some of the hardware.

whats newxt

irishmotorist wrote: »

That's not going to be a particularly big AD, so unless you are going to be putting other applications/services on the server or deploying huge packages using GPO, a fairly modest server will do you just fine. If you're going with Server 2012, I'd consider something with 4Gb RAM and a couple of hundred GB of disk space. I say this mostly to accomodate Windows Updates over the next few years. You would probably get away with a single, multi-core (4+) processor, but you will find the server runs better with two of them. A couple of NICs would be a very good idea too.

If you are going to be running additional stuff - file/print, SQL, Exchange etc. on it, then you will need to upgrade some of the hardware.

Would this server do the job? https://system76.com/servers/jackal-1u
No, it's a zentyal server

Stuxnet

Why are YOU making this decision...you obviously haven't a clue no offence ??

whats newxt

Stuxnet wrote: »

Why are YOU making this decision...you obviously haven't a clue no offence ??

It's not a real job, just a what if scenario i just wanted to know what spec server you would need! Since you seem confident why don't you enlighten me?

ressem

Homework?
In regards to the System76 device, if you were configuring for a real business you really would like to be able to get hardware service pretty quickly, not wait for a part to be sent from the states.

Or have multiple machines that can failover, the configuration of which gets pretty complicated.


Hypothetically then, what's the plan for software to have on the server?

Possibilities that a server might be put to in a school (and often all lumped together on the one machine ) include:
DNS
DHCP (or use the NCTE DHCP)
Print Server (and printer accounting software)
Computer / Computer Group <-> User/ usergroup login permission control
File Sharing
Attendance Recording Software
Separate Student/ Teacher and School Administration servers using Virtual servers
IP Phone software
Door access control


Running Zentyl on a local server for the purposes of a mail server would seem a poor idea, when the cloud (Google / Microsoft) mail providers provide heavily discounted education solutions to recognized schools.
Using Linux in a school environment where you're not paying Redhat / partner for support can become a heavy burden.

Cheaping out to only get 4 GB of RAM would be pretty ridiculous at today's prices. No reason to start on less than 16GB. The newer generation filesystems are heavier on RAM use.

The Storage and Storage controller is where things get pricier.
The new terabyte sized enterprise level PCIe SSDs might be a bit overkill for your purposes, but you might want a server that will allow for them in future.

An old fashioned battery backed SAS RAID controller and 4 x SAS 15000 RPM hard drives in a RAID 10 array would be decent for the main store.
I still prefer keeping the system drives as a RAID 1 mirror of 2 x SAS 15000 RPM for simplicity.

Backup device or cloud if you've got a fat internet connection.
UPS power battery.

Dual redundant Power supplies are useful.

Assuming this is homework, Dell's configuration pages make it simple to get a better idea of pricing.