Getting ready for a server migration
By Simon Bisson & Mary Branscombe in Editorial
Posted in Business, Server, HP on
Mary and I are a small business, and we rely on our workhorse of a server. Currently running Microsoft’s Small Business Server, it sits in the corner of the office and looks after our mail and our files. Sadly, though, it’s getting close to retirement. A solitary Athlon isn’t really up to today’s workloads, and many of the features we want from Exchange are only in the latest release - which is 64-bit only.
Our new server has arrived, and it’s surprising what a few years have done to the SMB server market. We’d had to build our original server ourselves, but this time we’ve ended up with a dual-core Xeon system from HP. I’d been delaying purchasing a new server as I was expecting to pay through the nose for my hardware, but when I started looking at current prices I found I couldn’t have been more wrong.
That HP server? With 512MB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, it cost us less than £180. I was able to buy 2GB of RAM for around £50, and two 500GB hard drives for under £100 all-in. That’s around £320 for a machine that’ll meet most of our business needs for the next four or five years. Fititing it all together was easy enough, and the server was powered up and ready to go in under an hour. Once it’s all configured I’ll be adding an eSATA card for speedy backups.
Breaking it down a bit, it all means that our server will cost us around £80 a year, before software and maintenance costs. Sure, it’s not a 1U rack mounted system, or a set of blades, but it’s a sturdy well engineered box with a processor that’s hefty enough for most needs.
Hardware is the easy bit. Software is a lot harder. I’ve now got to plan just how I’ll migrate files and mailboxes to the new machine - and how I’ll handle decommissioning the old box. If anyone’s got any good tips, I’ll be glad to hear them!
–Simon
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Loading ...Comment by Simon Bisson & Mary Branscombe - February 13, 2008 on 3:49 pm
with my user hat on, and remembering why I wanted an Exchange server in the first place, it’s interesting that then I wanted the extra features in Outlook and now I want the extra features in Outlook Mobile…
-Mary
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