Your advice/Question: Server needed for small business

[VB Programmer]

My friend has a small insurance business with only 5 networked W2K
computers. He wants to get the central data off of his machine and onto a
centralized server.

Few questions...

1. Is there any reason why I cannot use a normal, high-end pc as the
server? Or do you recommend purchasing a "server" machine? What is the
differences? Pros/Cons?
2. Will Windows 2000 work fine as the server OS, or do I have to goto
'Windows 2000 Server' OS?
3. Any suggestions as to what I should buy? I prefer Dell.
4. He also wants a backup system. Any suggestions (HW/SW)? He will be
basically backing up several gigs worth of scanned images, documents, etc...
on a daily/weekly basis.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[Charles]

There is a lot of things to take care before setup a
server.

1. How many users
2. Rate of growth of the company
3. What will be the main function of the server
4. How space do you need for data?
5. For the backup, do you want backup every day?
6. Do you need fault tolerance? (RAID)

Ask theses questions before buying any system.

Charles

 

[Colon Terminus]

Go ahead and use a high-end PC ... this situation doesn't call for a "real"
server machine.

Win2K Pro will work just fine.

If'n you prefer Dell, then go with it ... get a Dell.

For backup, use external USB 2.0 enclosures ... cheap, efficient, reliable,
fast and simple to recover data when needed. Get 2 enclosures for a
father/son backup scheme or 3 enclosures for a grandfather/father/son
scheme. Be sure to store all backups, except the current one, off site.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

If it's worth getting a server, it's worth getting server-class hardware -
RAID, and a server OS, and a tape drive. There are some decent entry-level
Dells that won't cost an arm and a leg. My usual rule of thumb is - more
than five PCs means time to get out of the peer-to-peer business... re
backup, a tape backup unit and the native Windows Backup software will be
just fine...it's a bit more of a pain to configure it (he will probably want
to learn about RSM and script commands), but it's free and works like a
champ once you get it working.