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[GlenChivas]

Just got my first IT job a couple of weeks ago for a small health care staffing office. Going great so far. Mainly just little things here and there. Fresh OS installs, updating software and drivers. Real easy stuff. The one thing that was looming over me though was their "server".

Now when I say server what I mean is a 2004 Dell desktop running Windows Server 2000.... yeah. Also it's been kept in a room without Air Conditioning, on the floor, tucked into a corner. I've never seen more dust in my life. Disgusting.

Then today about an hour ago, the "server" starts dropping from the network on everyone's machines one by one. I head back and check it out. It finally died. Now I had already been talking to the owner about purchasing a newer one in the next few weeks but now that's been pushed up.

So I need some advice. Remember... this is a small office. Only about 10-13 on staff at any given time but they're looking to grow in the near future. Apparently their last IT guy quoted them a price of around $2000 for a server. I've got it narrowed down to these two (Amazon links).

http://tinyurl.com/nqj3bnh and this http://tinyurl.com/jwxsz4l

I know I'll need to get hard drives and operating systems for both. But I'm not sure about which to get. The first should suit their needs just fine. They were only using their "server" for storing files, forms, templates, etc. But the second would give a little head room should they start to grow and add more staff members.

Personally, I'm leaning towards the second just because it's better to have the extra power and not need it, rather than need it and not have it.

What say you, GAF?

*EDIT* I added the next part from a lower post for anyone joining in.

I feel that I may have made this place sound more professional and put together than it actually is.

So to flesh this out a bit... This is a very small company that's only been in business for about a year. They operate out of an old warehouse. The offices are just sectioned off sheet rock rooms with doors.

I'm more of a help desk kind of guy. I've been building systems and doing repairs for years, but I am not, nor do I claim to be a IT or networking expert and I made that clear during my interview but he keeps introducing me to people as the "IT guy" so I guess that's what I am now. My guess is the owner didn't want to pay the $20-$30 an hour an actual IT pro with certs would ask for so he gave me the job for $12 an hour.

And I use the term "server" very loosely. This was an off the shelf PC that at some point within the last few years someone put Server 2000 on and threw some document files and templates on it and said "this is our server now". It's not a domain controller. It's basically a glorified media server if anything. Just basic central file hosting. Literally nothing else. I also brought up off-site hosting originally but he was adamant about keeping everything on-site and in house.

I spent the last hour just cleaning inches of dust, dirt, and grime out of it. I don't have any of my tools with me but solely from the looks of things, I'm guessing the fan on the power supply gave out, over-heated, then died.

I'm about to call it a day now. I'll add some pics when I get home so you guys can see exactly what I'm dealing with.

 

[GlenChivas]

This got buried a few pages. Bumping for advice.

Don't let me down GAF.

 

[ronito]

Why bother doing this yourself? Just pay rackspace or someone else to host it and be done with it.

 

[billeh]

I would allow for more headroom with the second one. Given how long its predecessor went without a replacement, spending a little more upfront might make your job a little easier in the long term.

 

[Revoh]

You can get something like an HP ML110, which is a small business server, buy Windows Server 2012 R2 and install Hyper-V on it, then start consolidating stuff by separating into different virtual machines.

Are you guys using Active Directory? If not, you really should, especially if you are going to expand in the future.

Was the server only a file server?

 

[Relix]

Is it an Active Directory server? Or File Server only?

You've got some choices, I am all in for physical servers for such a small staff, but do consider cloud options like Amazon EC2 or Azure.

 

[PseudoKirby]

did you get this job because you knew someone..?

 

[joelseph]

Is it or is it not a domain controller? That is beyond critical information and it's troubling that you left that out..

 

[WadiumArcadium]

did you get this job because you knew someone..?

That's nice.

 

[PseudoKirby]

That's nice.

Not saying he doesnt know what he is doing, but for a first IT job and to have it be one where you are covering ALL the IT needs alone?

 

[Gallbaro]

https://gopcn.com/

Give them a call and have them help you size one.

I have nothing but good experiences with them.

 

[GlenChivas]

I feel that I may have made this place sound more professional and put together than it actually is.

So to flesh this out a bit... This is a very small company that's only been in business for about a year. They operate out of an old warehouse. The offices are just sectioned off sheet rock rooms with doors.

I'm more of a help desk kind of guy. I've been building systems and doing repairs for years, but I am not, nor do I claim to be a IT or networking expert and I made that clear during my interview but he keeps introducing me to people as the "IT guy" so I guess that's what I am now. My guess is the owner didn't want to pay the $20-$30 an hour an actual IT pro with certs would ask for so he gave me the job for $12 an hour.

And I use the term "server" very loosely. This was an off the shelf PC that at some point within the last few years someone put Server 2000 on and threw some document files and templates on it and said "this is our server now". It's not a domain controller. It's basically a glorified media server if anything. Just basic central file hosting. Literally nothing else. I also brought up off-site hosting originally but he was adamant about keeping everything on-site and in house.

I spent the last hour just cleaning inches of dust, dirt, and grime out of it. I don't have any of my tools with me but solely from the looks of things, I'm guessing the fan on the power supply gave out, over-heated, then died.

I'm about to call it a day now. I'll add some pics when I get home so you guys can see exactly what I'm dealing with.

 

[NH Apache]

So basically, you're looking for a networked pc with a mapped drive. What kind of computers are they running in the office? If it is mostly mac, I would suggest not going for a pc, but a mac mini or something. One of my clients, the have a simple network server with windows and almost all the users are on macs now. It's been a PITA over the years as the mac to PC smb support seems to have degraded over the years.

Otherwise, pick up a cheap i3, throw some drives on it, network it, add carbonite. Done.

 

[Eiolon]

Shoot, just grab another old desktop and use it as a file server. Unless you need 10 simultaneous connections to the server Windows 7 will do just fine. No need for a server OS.

Now, if they are willing to sit down with you and give you a bigger picture of future networking services, then I might look at it a little more seriously. But something tells me they are cheap and they don't want to do things right the first time.

 

[Relix]

Alright time to step up.

I know its small time, but wrote a small proposal to buy a server... a decent server. Not on the thousands but something you can install Windows Server and setup a decent domain controller and file repository. You need this trust me.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

Why bother doing this yourself? Just pay rackspace or someone else to host it and be done with it.

An ongoing expense? Limited by your Internet bandwidth? There are a million and one reasons that they wouldn't want to do this.

 

[Nafai1123]

Shoot, just grab another old desktop and use it as a file server. Unless you need 10 simultaneous connections to the server Windows 7 will do just fine. No need for a server OS.

Now, if they are willing to sit down with you and give you a bigger picture of future networking services, then I might look at it a little more seriously. But something tells me they are cheap and they don't want to do things right the first time.

I agree with this. It will also show that your are price conscious which could help you in the future.

 

[RustyNails]

The answer is Hadoop.

 

[TheFNEffecT]

OP I used to work in a home health office as an IT as well and it was basically like how you described it. I just built something relatively low-mid tiered from NewEgg DIY kits, threw Windows 7 on it and just shared out the files/directories. Used a WD external with scheduled backups. Worked like a charm with the 9 machines and 1 networked printer/scanner in the office. They also extensively used the program VisiTrak that was installed on the file server and it never had problems being accessed from the 9 workstations.

 

[soul]

An office that small would probably only need a DC with ADDS/DNS/DHCP roles installed, so use the second one with Windows Server 2012 Core installed. I'm guessing that server will also act as a FS so get about 3-4 TB of storage, increase RAM to 8GB and use 365 for mail.

Remember, when creating a server do not think about the present, but on the future. That company is likely to grow? Maybe you should invest more and get 16GB of RAM and/or more storage. Maybe even a better processor. Consult your boss and have a chat about the future.

I would also consider investing on a backup solution.

 

[AxeMan]

I'm echoing the advice of others here to see if you can get some more cash to spend.

Buy a Dell R series (http://www.dell.com/au/business/p/poweredge-r620/pd), get it with Windows installed and you're away.

If you're feeling competent then I'd be looking at Hyper V or VM to install on it and go the virtual route and perhaps attached storage.

Nothing of the above is hard, just plan it properly and think through how all of it connects together

Edit - and don't go the hosted cloud solution. You should be pushing building your own cloud

 

[GlenChivas]

Just got home. Going to get some dinner and then I'll post all the gore.

 

[Syriel]

And I use the term "server" very loosely. This was an off the shelf PC that at some point within the last few years someone put Server 2000 on and threw some document files and templates on it and said "this is our server now". It's not a domain controller. It's basically a glorified media server if anything. Just basic central file hosting. Literally nothing else. I also brought up off-site hosting originally but he was adamant about keeping everything on-site and in house.

Just a file server?

Get a decent router and hang a USB drive off that.

 

[GlenChivas]

Been a long day. I'm tired so I'm just going to throw a link to an album. Cable job isn't the worst I've seen. It's more all the shit going on around it I have problems with. And for some reason it didn't occur to me to take pics until I was about half way done cleaning it out. It was gross. Found a few dead bugs and what appeared to be spider eggs inside.