Buy a server or build one?

C

curtains

New Member
So I'm looking to get a server for my company .. would i be better of buying one form like HP or builiding my own? buying one comes with like a $10,000 price tag (NZD .. so like $7500usd i think) It'll be for like a database pretty much ..

thats with software as well like MS small business server 2003 etc .. u know .. yea the price tag is jst a bit hefty but i jst heard if you buy one you have alot less issues or something..

but i'm leaning more on building on .. cause with the quote i got from that HP ... it only had 1.6ghz xeon .. where as a 2.5ghz quad xeon isn't that much more if i build one ..

and they're charging $1500 for 4gb of ram ..

what do you guys think?
 
It depends, do you have your own IT staff? If not then going with a HP would give you the peace of mind knowing you have 24/7 tech support available.

How many systems are going to be running off of your server?

If it's just 10 or so, then build your own. But if you are talking a 100, then get the HP.

What are you going to be putting on the server? Is it going to be just a file server? Or a application server?
 
Yea i know my own IT stuff i mean i've been doing all the IT work here.. but yea theres like 16 computers here i think and the servers gona be use for a data base our current one is going real slow employers are getting annoyed .. and we promised a new server in 2 weeks .. gona be running MS small business server .. maybe a SQL server ..

they offer a 3 year next day onsite service .. (which i donno what it covers when they say service) .. but i mean all that'll do is save me some hassel ..could prob do everything myself anyways..
 
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I don't think you know your servers as well as you think you do, considering the fact that you're pairing SBS up with a dual core Xeon and 16 users.... Let's not even acknowledge the fact that you're even *mentioning* SQL server on it as well with that many seats.

If I was you I'd just buy it from HP.
 
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SirKenin said:
I don't think you know your servers as well as you think you do, considering the fact that you're pairing SBS up with a dual core Xeon and 16 users.... Let's not even acknowledge the fact that you're even *mentioning* SQL server on it as well with that many seats.

If I was you I'd just buy it from HP.
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What exactly is wrong with his set up? We don't even know everything that is going on. Though, typically if budget allows I would say keep a database on a separate RAID array. You can buy HP storage works for this, which is a RAID rack that can be stacked with a server, and run something like SAS.

Really the artistic side of networking comes in when you can get everything to work. Ideally, you keep one technology per a server, so one server for email, one for authentication and home directories, one for databases, one for your LDAP, one for storage, and one for imaging, etc etc. However, budget does not always allow that, so you gotta kind of load balance things.
 
SirKenin said:
I don't think you know your servers as well as you think you do, considering the fact that you're pairing SBS up with a dual core Xeon and 16 users.... Let's not even acknowledge the fact that you're even *mentioning* SQL server on it as well with that many seats.

If I was you I'd just buy it from HP.
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... I may not be the most knowledgeable with my servers .. but I don't see the point in buying from HP .. I mean you can just build one thats better(performance wise) better CPU more storage etc .. and whats wrong with Small business server and QUAD xeon's (not duel) for 16 computer? .. and the SQL ... for our data base ?? i don't see a issue there either ..

Wat do u sagest I run then .. cause thats what HP sagested as well ..
 
curtains said:
... I may not be the most knowledgeable with my servers .. but I don't see the point in buying from HP .. I mean you can just build one thats better(performance wise) better CPU more storage etc .. and whats wrong with Small business server and QUAD xeon's (not duel) for 16 computer? .. and the SQL ... for our data base ?? i don't see a issue there either ..

Wat do u sagest I run then .. cause thats what HP sagested as well ..
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I can give you many reasons why to buy from HP. First off, you won't save that much money if any money at all building it yourself. Server parts are expensive, and the newest entry level Quad-Core Xeon processors are about $800.00 each off of newegg.com. So that is $1600 for dual processors right there. Furthermore, warranty and warranty facilitation are two giant factors when talking about enterprise machines. If you have a hardware failure how fast will the manufacturer get the part to you? On top of that, it will be your responsibility to figure out and keep track of who to call when a part fails if you build it yourself. Where as if you buy from HP or Dell you can just call them and they will over night you the part, and they offer 24/7 support. Their support may not be the greatest but it is most likely better than the individual companies that are only open during regular business hours.

Building custom PCs for anything in a work environment is never a good idea, unless its a special purpose machine. Really, the only viable market build your own PC has is gaming and home usage.
 
I'm exhausted and really don't want to get into it at the moment, but to help steer everyone in the right direction I will say this one word to get you on the right track:

Licensing.
 
OK, but what stopping them from buying a 20 pack of CAL licenses? You can always purchase more, but if you go beyond 20 you should look into something else.

But if you are using exchange/MS SQL/AD you are better off getting a site license and not have to fuss with CALs.
 
tlarkin said:
I can give you many reasons why to buy from HP. First off, you won't save that much money if any money at all building it yourself. Server parts are expensive, and the newest entry level Quad-Core Xeon processors are about $800.00 each off of newegg.com. So that is $1600 for dual processors right there. Furthermore, warranty and warranty facilitation are two giant factors when talking about enterprise machines. If you have a hardware failure how fast will the manufacturer get the part to you? On top of that, it will be your responsibility to figure out and keep track of who to call when a part fails if you build it yourself. Where as if you buy from HP or Dell you can just call them and they will over night you the part, and they offer 24/7 support. Their support may not be the greatest but it is most likely better than the individual companies that are only open during regular business hours.

Building custom PCs for anything in a work environment is never a good idea, unless its a special purpose machine. Really, the only viable market build your own PC has is gaming and home usage.
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OK thanks for all the information .. But can you jst have a look at one more thing ..

I got this quote from HP (and this is the machine they recommened for me)

- HP prollant ML350 G5 Server
- singel quad core xeon E5310 1.6ghz (1066 FSB, 8mb of cache)
- 4gb of ram
- 3x HP 15k 72gb hotplug sas drive
- win sbs2003 premium 5cal
- user 5 cal

this priced up to $10,330(NZD)

then I did my own quoteation of build

- Intel Duel socket server mobo (still needa pick one out if building)
- Intel Xeon E5420 2.5GHz quad core, 12Mb,
- Crucial Crucial 4GB kit PC2 5300 DDR2-667 CL5 FB-DIMM ECC 2GBx2
- 73.4GB Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 16MB SAS 15K x3 (i don't need the hotswapablity)
- Antec titan 650 servercase for duel xeon's or opterons
- 500watt Silverstone PSU
- Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition R2 Comes with 5 CALs
- 5 cal userpack

this call came up to (i estimated $1000 for motherboard) $5,500

nearlly half the price .. do i still want to go with hp or .. is there support etc worth the extra $5000?
 
curtains said:
OK thanks for all the information .. But can you jst have a look at one more thing ..

I got this quote from HP (and this is the machine they recommened for me)

- HP prollant ML350 G5 Server
- singel quad core xeon E5310 1.6ghz (1066 FSB, 8mb of cache)
- 4gb of ram
- 3x HP 15k 72gb hotplug sas drive
- win sbs2003 premium 5cal
- user 5 cal

this priced up to $10,330(NZD)

then I did my own quoteation of build

- Intel Duel socket server mobo (still needa pick one out if building)
- Intel Xeon E5420 2.5GHz quad core, 12Mb,
- Crucial Crucial 4GB kit PC2 5300 DDR2-667 CL5 FB-DIMM ECC 2GBx2
- 73.4GB Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 16MB SAS 15K x3 (i don't need the hotswapablity)
- Antec titan 650 servercase for duel xeon's or opterons
- 500watt Silverstone PSU
- Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition R2 Comes with 5 CALs
- 5 cal userpack

this call came up to (i estimated $1000 for motherboard) $5,500

nearlly half the price .. do i still want to go with hp or .. is there support etc worth the extra $5000?
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You aren't building it right unless there is some kind of weird tax on where you live. You are also forgetting your RAID controller which the SAS will attach to. Those are expensive. 500watt PSU? Well the HP proliant series come with like dual 750w with redundancy. Also look to see if the ram is fully buffered ECC or non buffered ECC that makes a huge price difference.
 
Up to you buddy. It is $5000 difference, but is that really relevent to the business? If you've got 16 people hooked up to it I'd guess not really, and do you really want to be held completely accountable for every little thing that will go wrong at every hour of every day and night for the next 3 years? I've built too many home computers for friends and neighbours that didn't work properly for no obvious reason and it's a never ending shitfest
 
tlarkin said:
OK, but what stopping them from buying a 20 pack of CAL licenses? You can always purchase more, but if you go beyond 20 you should look into something else.

But if you are using exchange/MS SQL/AD you are better off getting a site license and not have to fuss with CALs.
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lol. The 20 pack CAL is about $200.. Which is nothing. The Transition Pack (T75-01258) sells between $2000 to $3000, depending on the vendor... And the CALs are useless without it. I actually have that 20 CAL package around here somewhere.
 
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