Storage Question
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So, to take a step back...
We are a smallish shop. We used to have 60-70 employees in our heyday, now we have 15.
We currently have 4 DELL Windows 2003 servers. A PDC that is also our data server. A BDC that is basically just a BDC and VPN server. A 3rd party mail server (MDaemon). And a server I've already retired that was basically just being used as a backup machine, back when we had tapes. (We now use a DATTO device.) When we were back at 60-70 employees, these servers sometimes had other uses. Now, not so much.
I'd like to maintian both the data server and mail server on site. I have no requirements other than moving off of Server 2003. In fact, if it wasn't for having to do that, we'd probably never even been having this conversation.
It sounds like the recommendation as of now is (hardware independent)
- Move the data and mail servers into VMs on the new DELL server.
- Use the data server as the DC and VPN server.
- Roll without a backup DC.
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@MattSpeller said:
I think you'll fit in well man, hope you stick around
I prefer texting/writing to talking. I'll be fine here!
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@BRRABill said:
@MattSpeller said:
I think you'll fit in well man, hope you stick around
I prefer texting/writing to talking. I'll be fine here!
Same here
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Part of the issue is, anyone can buy anything. Or be recommended to buy anything. But it is optimal?
As the keeper of the IT purse here, I've been proud we'll lasted so long on 10 years old servers.
I'm just looking to 100% maximize this next investment.
Thanks to everyone for the discussion today. It's been awesome!
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@BRRABill said:
As the keeper of the IT purse here, I've been proud we'll lasted so long on 10 years old servers.
Oh no, you did it now. You are forever to be known as the "Purse Keeper."
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@BRRABill said:
Part of the issue is, anyone can buy anything. Or be recommended to buy anything. But it is optimal?
Absolutely, it is all about finding the right solution for your individual situation. This is why I hate budgets, they encourage you to potentially not spend as much as you need to OR to spend as much as you can rather than saving as much as makes sense.
I can buy a Ferrari to commute to work but just because I can doesn't make it a good decision. I can take the bus and save a lot of money, too.
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Have you looked into hosted email options? For just fifteen users that would be pretty cheap and would eliminate an entire workload from your servers that you have in house. Most hosted email offerings are about four dollars a month, so that would be sixty dollars a month and cover the software, hosting, support, storage and whatnot. Might be worth looking into that option now while doing a big refresh. That would potentially really change what you are looking at as your needs internally.
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Did we mention yet the option of looking at refurbed gear like xByte has? Will save some money and make things easier. If you are willing to forego the SSDs, you might be able to get into a server for far less and get fully supported NL-SAS drives for cheap and get all of the alerting and stuff.
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@BRRABill said:
It sounds like the recommendation as of now is (hardware independent)
- Move the data and mail servers into VMs on the new DELL server.
- Use the data server as the DC and VPN server.
- Roll without a backup DC.
- Windows Server 2012 R2 or wait for 2016 to release before making a big upgrade right before a major release
- Two VMs on a single piece of hardware. Very low cost use of the licenses.
- Move data and AD DC to a single VM
- Move email to another VM or go hosted as @StrongBad mentioned
- Roll without a DC
- Make sure you have a good backup strategy
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@StrongBad said:
Oh no, you did it now. You are forever to be known as the "Purse Keeper."
Always loved your videos. I'll take that from you. Haha.
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Don't forget my video game too!
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@BRRABill said:
@StrongBad said:
Don't forget my video game too!
That I never saw.
What!!
http://www.gog.com/game/strong_bads_cool_game_for_attractive_people
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You can move to Rackspace for $1-2/user/month (depending on the spiceworks deal going on now)
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Xbyte has the T320 as well.
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@StrongBad said:
Have you looked into hosted email options? For just fifteen users that would be pretty cheap and would eliminate an entire workload from your servers that you have in house. Most hosted email offerings are about four dollars a month, so that would be sixty dollars a month and cover the software, hosting, support, storage and whatnot. Might be worth looking into that option now while doing a big refresh. That would potentially really change what you are looking at as your needs internally.
I've thought about it, but for various reasons I do not want to go that route now. MDaemon has been great for us.
It's definitely in the future cards, though. We've been burned a few times with week-long power losses.
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@BRRABill said:
Who is this Xbyte, exactly?
Cheap recertified Dell servers - used pretty extensively around here & well regarded
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@MattSpeller said:
@BRRABill said:
week-long power losses.
Good grief
Notice the -es in that.
Happened twice in the span of 3 years.
I guess that is a good barometer of how we operate here. We knew the storms were coming, so I made sure everyone had a alternative e-mail address. We were also able to access our backups in the cloud, so I could grab any files anyone needed.
Kludgy, but it works.
