Having to setup a quick server

[EightySix Four]

Setting up a small server for a small buisness, need to be able to access quickbooks software from anywhere in the world with a net connection. The server software only requires a Win2000/2003 server-client connection, what's the cheapest setup you guys can reccomend, and how would I go about securing it so no one else gets to my files?

 

[Micronaut]

Anywhere in the world?

Windows 2000 - Terminal Server enabled. (I'd go with 2003 if you can get it for the same price).
Enforce strict password policies (length, complexity, time, remember passwords, & lockout policy)

Then be sure to password protect your Quickbooks stuff.

 

[EightySix Four]

What kind of hardware you guys reccomend for it, remember it's on the cheap, it'll also secondarily be used as a backup for 3 computers in the office.

 

[Micronaut]

Lots of RAM... about 256MB for the server and 96-128MB for each concurrent user (I know that's not the offical specs, but it works out nicely).

 

[EightySix Four]

I'm planning 1gb ram, and probably 400+gig's of HD space, now I just need to fit that bill under $700

thought about a couple of those LV xeon's, what you guys think, two LV xeons, and when I need a lil room too grow, u mod and run the suckers at 3.0ghz ?




I'm an overclocker at heart, but I guess that wouldn't be good for a server enviro would it?

 

[EightySix Four]

Anyone have any suggestions on previous idea?

 

[skyking]

the gig of ram is fine, the rest, do you need it? Quickbooks gets really punchy at about 100 Mb or bigger filesize, what do you plan to do with the other 399 gigs?
Any single modern processor will do fine. The choke point will quickly become the WAN connection
I have 4 different clients using quickbooks, and I have heard data corruption horror stories using terminal services and quickbooks together. if you implement it, be sure to make some frequent backups till you are comfortable with the performance.

 

[Woodie]

Setting up a small server for a small buisness

then

u mod and run the suckers at 3.0ghz

uh...make up your mind. If this is for a business, and a mission-critical application like QuickBooks, you shouldn't be voiding your hardware warrantee.

That said...VPN Client to 2K3 VPN Server, then TS through the tunnel to the server. HUGE cautionary note abou Quickbooks and TS.

Why get 400gig drive for such a tiny storage requirement? Better off to spend the $$ on multiple smaller drives (say 120's) and set up some sort of RAID. More important for the server to stay up and running than to have mucho space. You can always add drives later if the business needs more space.

 

[Micronaut]

I have a client that was running Quickbooks 2003 on TS (not many simultaneous however) without issue -- and they've just recently moved to Quickbooks Enterprise 5.0 ($3500!).

 

[Granorense]

Originally posted by: crazySOB297
Anyone have any suggestions on previous idea?

I just bought a Dell Poweredge SC420 with a P4 2.8 ghz, 80GB hard drive and 512 MB of ram for $462 shipped.
I think that the deal is over now, but here is a good start: Text

 

[thriemus]

People over estimate the impact of a quick processor in servers, my advice to you would be to lower the cpu spec and up the hard drive to mirrored raid using fast disks (raptors are only worthwhile of you are doing alot of database work) two 160 or 200 gb 8mb cache drives would be plenty as you could addon more storage later, if you plan on using terminal services (TS) alot then 2 gb of ram is a must. One thing I would highly reccomend is using ECC memory. This will make your server run more stable than non ecc memory and if you are using it for accounts data then its worth the extra money. Furthermore do the usual safegaurds like renaming the administrator account and setting up another account called something like "domain" with administrator access that can only be logged into between certain hours with a password that cannot change incase you forget your administrator password with all those password policies in place. Setup access rules that only allow TS access from local lan ip address's. Log in via vpn if offsite, allowing only one account vpn access that everyone must use that doesnt have share folder access, you can use your real logon name to log into TS.