File Server

loginix said:

Hey, i was setting up a file server for a job i have and i wanted some advice on best dell servers you have used i was looking at getting a tower server. they just need it to save files on and as a backup and to work off of it. i am looking to spend 2,000

If all you need to do is save and backup and it's just for you, a full blown server may be overkill.

You would be able to save a lot of money with a home server powered by WHS or even just a NAS box.

Home Server option: Newegg.com - HP MediaSmart EX490, Windows Home Server w/ Intel Celeron 2.2 Ghz 2GB DDR2 1TB HDD installed (three open bay), 4 USB & 1 eSATA expansion ports , Mac Compatible, TiVO support

NAS option: Newegg.com - Open Box: BUFFALO TS-X6.0TL/R5 6TB TeraStation III Network Storage

They're not comparable, just two options I could think of.

8GB of ram is a lot for a straight file server.

You could build out or buy a tower server. If this is a small business a tower server would work well as well. a Rack is a big undertaking.

ZT Reliant Tower Servers -- an option.

loginix said:

i was just wondering cause i was thinking of is an affordable dell tower server's and getting quad-core 8+ram 500 gigs and expandable for more if needed.

It's usually not necessary to have high powered CPU's and high amounts of RAM in a file server. What's really important is a nice RAID controller card, with lots of Cache connected to 15,000RPM SAS or SCSI drives in a RAID array for the highest amounts of file I/O that you can get.

so for this type of job what would be better to get a tower server or rack server? also they own a store in another state which needs to be able to remote and they will open another store so i would need to be able to handle multiple connections

loginix said:

so for this type of job what would be better to get a tower server or rack server? also they own a store in another state which needs to be able to remote and they will open another store so i would need to be able to handle multiple connections

Both will work, a rack will cost more. A full-tower server can hold between 6-8 hard drives (of the 3.5" vareity) and a rack-mounted unit (depending on the size) can hold 12-16 (of the 2.5" variety). You will definitely get much faster I/O with a rack-mounted SAS (not many SAS cards for towers, I don't think) but the cost will be much higher.

To give you an idea...

Take this: Newegg.com - HP ProLiant DL370 G6 E5540 2.53GHz Small Form Factor Rack Server - Server Systems @ $4400

and add Newegg.com - HP Enterprise 512545-B21 72GB 15000 RPM SAS 6Gb/s 2.5" SFF Internal Hard Drive @ $379 for 72gb @ 15k RPM X 14.

You get 1TB of storage for $10,000. You could get 10K 146GBs for $299 but you get my drift.

Having a tower in a RAID 5 configuration would suit well. You could use 10K SATA drives like the WD Velociraptor (300GB) and do a RAID 10 for speed+fault tolerance; should one or even two drives drive fail the array is still intact and functioning. To figure out what the usable capactiy is for a RAID 10 calculate (N/2) x S where N is the number of drives and S is the size of the smallest drive. having 8 300GB drives would: (8/2) x 300 = 1200GB or 1.2TB.

I hope that gets you off in the right direction!

loginix said:

so for this type of job what would be better to get a tower server or rack server?

Depends upon whether they utilize server racks or not. In the places I have been at, it's always rack mounted servers. The very last thing we would want in the server room would be a stand alone tower server.

I'm usually a fan of the HP Servers, like the DL380 Gen 6 series....and the Dell R710 chassis have done a great job for us at our office. Been extremely happy with the Dells on the price, service, noise and heat output fronts.