Server Setup for Legal Firm

hari

@JasGOt Hi Thanks for the reply and your recommendations, sorry for the delayed response. Had to research more on 'our requirements' vs what 'we think we need' rather 'what we do need' As you were knew from the Post i am new to this.

About G Suite Sync for Microsoft Outlook 4.0.16.0 we have here.
Setting the mailbox size to 1GB and getting them to use Gmail for older emails. Than will raise it according depending on user needs. This has fix most Outlook Syncing from Gsuite issues here.

The below KB help to clearing identify what wont sync..

https://support.google.com/a/answer/6209363

This statement from the vendor was surprising 'We are strongly advice to use the web interface and not 3rd party apps to connect to our mail services.'

Just sharing on what i found and fix here. Thank again.

scottalanmiller

@hari Hey, welcome back!

scottalanmiller

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

This statement from the vendor was surprising 'We are strongly advice to use the web interface and not 3rd party apps to connect to our mail services.'

Why is that surprising? Third party apps just create extra things to break. The web interface is the official one that they control and support.

pmoncho

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@JasGOt Hi Thanks for the reply and your recommendations, sorry for the delayed response. Had to research more on 'our requirements' vs what 'we think we need' rather 'what we do need' As you were knew from the Post i am new to this.

So where did you end up? What are the requirements you are trying to fill based on actual need?

hari

@Dashrender lol sorry kind of spoke without researching on that point.

hari

@RojoLoco yes i was busy researching and just sorting out the plan..

How about this..

Requirements
70 Computers usage (Outlook, Sharepoint, Legal web app, MS Office and internet browsing)
2 Network Printers
VM1 - Active Directory Domain Controller, DNS and DHCP
VM2 - SharePoint
VM3 - Web Host
VM4 - CDMS (Customer Database Management System)
(Maybe 2-3 VM for other stuff, yet to be determine)

Hardware:
Tower Server

Dell

PowerEdge T440 Tower Server
PowerEdge T430 Tower Server

HPE

ProLiant ML30 Gen9 Server
ProLiant ML110 Gen10 Server

On these VM's which Server OS will best suite?

hari

@pmoncho Hey

Requirements
70 Computers usage (Outlook, Sharepoint, Legal web app, MS Office and internet browsing)
2 Network Printers
VM1 - Active Directory Domain Controller, DNS and DHCP
VM2 - SharePoint
VM3 - Web Host
VM4 - CDMS (Customer Database Management System)
(Maybe 2-3 VM for other stuff, yet to be determine)

Hardware: (Still deciding on which tower to get..)
Tower Server

Dell

PowerEdge T440 Tower Server
PowerEdge T430 Tower Server

HPE

ProLiant ML30 Gen9 Server
ProLiant ML110 Gen10 Server

On these VM's which Server OS will best suite?

I am new to this server building, so have i missed anything here?

pmoncho

@hari

I would look at the T430 through www.xbyte.com. I believe Sean @xByteSean still hangs around here and can point you in a specific direction as you can explain your entire needs.

As for Hard drives, RAM and CPU requirements, that is based on your knowledge of the requirements of the CDMS.

AD/DNS/DHCP requirements are minimal (1vCPU with 2GB RAM and 60GB HD)

Dashrender

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

70 Computers usage (Outlook, Sharepoint, Legal web app, MS Office and internet browsing)

Why is Outlook a requirement? Why is SharePoint a requirement?

Are you still using Google Suite? If so, why not go all in on Google Suite and use Gmail and Google Drive? Two less pieces of software to manage. What I don't know is how well MS Office will utilize Google Drive vs say OneDrive (OneDrive for Business).

Dashrender

@pmoncho said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@hari

I would look at the T430 through www.xbyte.com. I believe Sean @xByteSean still hangs around here and can point you in a specific direction as you can explain your entire needs.

As for Hard drives, RAM and CPU requirements, that is based on your knowledge of the requirements of the CDMS.

AD/DNS/DHCP requirements are minimal (1vCPU with 2GB RAM and 60GB HD)

Exactly. Likely any of those four servers will do the job for you, assuming they'll hold the storage that meets your needs.
You need to spell out the requirements for each VM, than add them together to see what you need for the host for those VMs.

Don't forget backups - I don't see that listed.

Donahue

@Dashrender said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@pmoncho said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@hari

I would look at the T430 through www.xbyte.com. I believe Sean @xByteSean still hangs around here and can point you in a specific direction as you can explain your entire needs.

As for Hard drives, RAM and CPU requirements, that is based on your knowledge of the requirements of the CDMS.

AD/DNS/DHCP requirements are minimal (1vCPU with 2GB RAM and 60GB HD)

Exactly. Likely any of those four servers will do the job for you, assuming they'll hold the storage that meets your needs.
You need to spell out the requirements for each VM, than add them together to see what you need for the host for those VMs.

Don't forget backups - I don't see that listed.

I agree with Dashrender, backups should be like priority number 1 beyond actually deploying the hardware. I wouldn't bother trying to figure out all the other steps like how many VM's and what services you need, without also thinking about how you will back them up. You might find that you have a choice between two different services that provide the same functionality, but one fits your backup model better. Do not neglect backups, the moment you need them, they are the most important thing to the business.

scottalanmiller

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

On these VM's which Server OS will best suite?

Windows. Given that it's the only option for some of those workloads and the only one you said you'd allow, what is the purpose of the question? There's only one possible answer. You've already selected the answer and worked back to the workloads, like Sharepoint. So I'm unclear what you are asking.

Dashrender

@scottalanmiller said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

On these VM's which Server OS will best suite?

Windows. Given that it's the only option for some of those workloads and the only one you said you'd allow, what is the purpose of the question? There's only one possible answer. You've already selected the answer and worked back to the workloads, like Sharepoint. So I'm unclear what you are asking.

And since you're locked into Windows why wouldn't you go with Windows Server 2019? It's the most current - you shouldn't use old version unless you have a very specific need that can't be worked around.

scottalanmiller

@Dashrender said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@scottalanmiller said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

On these VM's which Server OS will best suite?

Windows. Given that it's the only option for some of those workloads and the only one you said you'd allow, what is the purpose of the question? There's only one possible answer. You've already selected the answer and worked back to the workloads, like Sharepoint. So I'm unclear what you are asking.

And since you're locked into Windows why wouldn't you go with Windows Server 2019? It's the most current - you shouldn't use old version unless you have a very specific need that can't be worked around.

Right, that's the current release of Windows. There is no reason to even contemplate older versions, makes no sense. You never go into a car dealership and ask if they can sell you a ten year old model at the current price, that would just never happen.

pmoncho

@scottalanmiller said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@Dashrender said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@scottalanmiller said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

On these VM's which Server OS will best suite?

Windows. Given that it's the only option for some of those workloads and the only one you said you'd allow, what is the purpose of the question? There's only one possible answer. You've already selected the answer and worked back to the workloads, like Sharepoint. So I'm unclear what you are asking.

And since you're locked into Windows why wouldn't you go with Windows Server 2019? It's the most current - you shouldn't use old version unless you have a very specific need that can't be worked around.

Right, that's the current release of Windows. There is no reason to even contemplate older versions, makes no sense. You never go into a car dealership and ask if they can sell you a ten year old model at the current price, that would just never happen.

Have they re-released Windows 2019 yet? AFAIK, they still have it temporarily disabled. I could be wrong if someone has the newest download link.

Dashrender

@pmoncho said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@scottalanmiller said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@Dashrender said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@scottalanmiller said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

@hari said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

On these VM's which Server OS will best suite?

Windows. Given that it's the only option for some of those workloads and the only one you said you'd allow, what is the purpose of the question? There's only one possible answer. You've already selected the answer and worked back to the workloads, like Sharepoint. So I'm unclear what you are asking.

And since you're locked into Windows why wouldn't you go with Windows Server 2019? It's the most current - you shouldn't use old version unless you have a very specific need that can't be worked around.

Right, that's the current release of Windows. There is no reason to even contemplate older versions, makes no sense. You never go into a car dealership and ask if they can sell you a ten year old model at the current price, that would just never happen.

Have they re-released Windows 2019 yet? AFAIK, they still have it temporarily disabled. I could be wrong if someone has the newest download link.

No - it's still on hold.

If you must deploy servers today, you're stuck with Server 2016. Just build your setup in such a way that it's super easy to move to a completely different server when the time comes. IE using DFS or cnames for servernames instead of the actual servername for shares, then you just point to the new server - done.

DHCP with reservations all things you can.

Etc.

JaredBusch

As this is a design still, I would plan to deploy with Windows 2019 being released.

Unless something goes super critical and unexpected requires an immediate deployment.

scottalanmiller

@JaredBusch said in Server Setup for Legal Firm:

As this is a design still, I would plan to deploy with Windows 2019 being released.

Unless something goes super critical and unexpected requires an immediate deployment.

I agree, plan for 2019, wait till it releases. There is no reasonable chance that this project will move so fast that 2019 won't be available again before it's a problem.