Server For School

[Thanks2C]

My school is looking into getting a new server for their office administration. Every classroom is wired into a different server that is very low-end but functions fine. Basically the administration server will handle at the most 10 users connected via thin-client terminals. It will be using Windows 2000 Server. They may ask me to build the server for them if they find out the company they're going through is overcharging them which is most likely to happen considering the basic quotes they're getting. What should I put in it? Anybody have any suggestions?

Another issue is backups. They need to make nightly backups of the information on the server. They currently use tape drives and it works fine considering the old server is only 15GB. I was thinking an 80GB harddrive for the new server. What would be the best way to go about making backups of this?

All suggestions are welcome. Don't worry about price range at the moment, but keep it relatively affordable.

 

[ERJ]

Well, from this document Windows 2000 Terminal Services Capacity and Scaling it seems to indicate that you will not need too powerful of a machine to handle your 10 users (modern cpu / 512mb - 1gb of ram should be plenty).

I know that anandtech is all about making your own boxes, but in this case I would seriously consider getting a lower end (think dell) server. From what I have seen in hot deals you could probably get a machine to fit the requirements for $1000 - $1500. That way you will have the support when things go bad.

I would stick with tape backup. Hey, all the big companies use it for their backup needs, should work out for yours.

 

[Thanks2C]

The company that our school goes through buys dell servers and wanted to charge us $4000 for a dell server.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

They're probably giong to put too much stuff into it just to make some profit. I don't have itme to go into the details but we have a Citrix s etup where it has like 50 monitors, keyboards, etc. attached from an adapter connected with a 10mb network wire. That thing has 2 gigs of ram and since there are o nly 5 or 6 apps on it (kinda sad huh?), like notepad and Internet Explorer, most of the RAM isn't used. It usually stays at around 512mb at peak usage. Although it did reach 600mbs usage a few weeks ago but thats when every one of those 50 or so computers was in use, I had to wait to use one, hehe. They run on a single dual xeon setup. Just wanted to tell you if it helps in a comparison.

I would reccomend trying to come to a better price and/or lower spec on the dell system they are offering you because in many school (middle school, high school, I don't know about colleges) servers, they overload them with stuff.

 

[ERJ]

Well, it depends what that included....

The thing is, Win2k with 10 licences will not be cheap. Also, did that include the tape drive? Also, not cheap.

I just went to dell and configured a PowerEdge 1600SC with dual Xeon 2gh, 512mb ram, 73gb 10k scsi, 3 yr M-F support for about $1700 (before coupons that I am sure you could find). But, no os, no tape.

 

[Thanks2C]

Are dual CPUs really necessary for 10 users?

 

[ERJ]

No, I got trapped in a hot deal...they have a deal for the duals right now (it had a yellow background, I couldn't help myself)

Actually, the single xeon would have been about $250 less I think.

 

[AtomicDude512]

Originally posted by: Thanks2C
Are dual CPUs really necessary for 10 users?

Nah. Get a 2.4GHz or 2.6GHz equivalent single CPU paired with a top of the line chipset, 512MB RAM and a SCSI and you're set to go!

 

[alembic5]

I just built a dual MP2000 system with 1 GB RAM, and dual WD 8 MB cache ATA drives in a raid 1 configuration for one of my customers for about $1200. Very fast box, plenty of storage and RAM, disk redundancy, etc. Also one thing to consider... This machine is for a school. I work for the university of Washington (day job...) and you can get a copy of win2K with an educational discount for very cheap! I'd be happy to reffer you to my software vendor rep... he can get you a quote and give you any other info you might need on that. Just a thought... Cheers!

 

[Thanks2C]

I'm pretty sure we have getting the 2000 Server all taken care of. It's just the server itself.

Here's what I've come up with.

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ with Volcano 11
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
2 x 512 MB DDR2700
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM

They are content with IDE hard drive as that's what they have right now. How does this look?

Now, the question is once again backups. They have a 20GB tape drive backup system as of now. It would be very unrealistic for them to go over that 20GB as they had 15GB in the whole server. But, if we were going to want to backup this harddrive nightly (rotating tapes every other day) what would be the best way to go about it? Keep the current tape drive? Buy a new tape drive? Is there some other form?

 

[ERJ]

Do you really need to do full backups every night? Most places I have worked for did a full twice a month and then incrementals every other day. Not quite as easy, but you should be able to keep your current tape drive if you did it this way.

 

[Thanks2C]

OK, I'll recommend that. What do you guys suggest I use for a processor? Athlon XP or MP?

 

[Thanks2C]

OK, here's a new question.

They also want me to price them a server for 75 users. The whole school basically. The chances of having even 50 users on at once is slim, but they want one that can support, if necesary, 75 users.

I was thinking dual Athlon MPs, but I'm not sure. What do you all recommend hardware specs-wise I put in this server. It will also be a Windows 2000 Server that people connect via terminals throughout the school.