Very Small Business Server

[Repo Man]

[This followup was posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded and a copy was sent to the cited author.]

I posted this earlier in one of the Microsoft Small Business Server
newsgroups, but no one understood what I was saying. I thought I might
have better luck in this group.

I am interested in conducting a research project with Microsoft SBS 2000
or 2003. This software package includes Windows 2000/2003 Server,
Exchange 2000/2003 Server, SQL Server 2000, and ISA Server 2000.
I want to install a useful and usable SBS environment into a physically
(and financially) small space. Before I undertake this project I would
first like to know if anyone has attempted a similar experiment and if
there are known problems associated with such an endeavour.

I want to build a small form factor server that will adequately run SBS
2000/2003 using a mini-ITX motherboard. It should be capable of
supporting up to 12 concurrent users in a small business environment. It
should be also capable of concurrently running all of the major SBS
applications: Exchange, SQL Server, ISA Server. It should also be
capable of also running Symantec Anti-Virus 9.0 with Groupware
Protection and Veritas Backup Exec for Windows Small Business Server.

The machine specifications I am considering are:

VIA motherboard with USB 2.0 ports and dual 10/100 Ethernet ports
Integrated audio and video on motherboard
VIA processor >= 1.0 GHz
1 to 2 Gbytes RAM
4 to 8 Gbytes Compact Flash memory
Dual 2.5" HDs in possible mirrored RAID configuration

I intend to use the Compact Flash memory to hold the Microsoft SBS,
Symantec, and Veritas software installations. At current prices I
realize this is a very expensive way to go. The notebook hard drives
will contain swap file space, system operating data, and user data.
Backup will be performed to an external USB 2.0 hard drive of over 200
GByte capacity.

I understand that the VIA processor is not competitive with the
performance of contemporary Intel and AMD CPUs, but speed is not the
objective here.

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi,

Can you explain us one thing before we can give you some answer:
What is the connection between problem/dilemma that you have and Windows XP Embedded?

Best regards,
Slobodan

 

[Guest]

I agree with Slobodan's comment, but just to provide some feedback -

Windows OSs perform a LOT of HDD writes - reg dumps, log files (event logs,
etc.), memory caching (page and hibernate files), temp files, and the list
goes on. A server OS would most definitely increase the number of writes due
to things like IIS logs, SQL logs, and other server-type applications. That
being said, flash is not a viable option for running a server because of it
limited write lifetime. XP embedded works around this dillemma by using the
Embedded Write Filter to prevent writes to flash. However, this "embedded
enabling feature" is not available in conventional desktop and server OS's.

As for your other comments, the system you want to build sounds a WHOLE LOT
like a blade server - except you want one stand-alone blade rather than a
rack of them. This project also sounds very similar to the small business
server that was demo'ed this year by Microsoft at WinHEC.

- Tony

Hi,

Can you explain us one thing before we can give you some answer:
What is the connection between problem/dilemma that you have and Windows XP Embedded?

Best regards,
Slobodan

[This followup was posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded and a copy was sent to the cited author.]

I posted this earlier in one of the Microsoft Small Business Server
newsgroups, but no one understood what I was saying. I thought I might
have better luck in this group.

I am interested in conducting a research project with Microsoft SBS 2000
or 2003. This software package includes Windows 2000/2003 Server,
Exchange 2000/2003 Server, SQL Server 2000, and ISA Server 2000.
I want to install a useful and usable SBS environment into a physically
(and financially) small space. Before I undertake this project I would
first like to know if anyone has attempted a similar experiment and if
there are known problems associated with such an endeavour.

I want to build a small form factor server that will adequately run SBS
2000/2003 using a mini-ITX motherboard. It should be capable of
supporting up to 12 concurrent users in a small business environment. It
should be also capable of concurrently running all of the major SBS
applications: Exchange, SQL Server, ISA Server. It should also be
capable of also running Symantec Anti-Virus 9.0 with Groupware
Protection and Veritas Backup Exec for Windows Small Business Server.

The machine specifications I am considering are:

VIA motherboard with USB 2.0 ports and dual 10/100 Ethernet ports
Integrated audio and video on motherboard
VIA processor >= 1.0 GHz
1 to 2 Gbytes RAM
4 to 8 Gbytes Compact Flash memory
Dual 2.5" HDs in possible mirrored RAID configuration

I intend to use the Compact Flash memory to hold the Microsoft SBS,
Symantec, and Veritas software installations. At current prices I
realize this is a very expensive way to go. The notebook hard drives
will contain swap file space, system operating data, and user data.
Backup will be performed to an external USB 2.0 hard drive of over 200
GByte capacity.

I understand that the VIA processor is not competitive with the
performance of contemporary Intel and AMD CPUs, but speed is not the
objective here.