The server at work has broke down(think its hard drive).It was running windows nt 2000 we think,but can't find the original disc.

What we want to do is replace it with another machine hopefully one off the shelf as we need it quickly.

Can we just go out and buy a normal computer with xp pro and use this as the server to run 3 computers in the office via a hub box.

The main thing it runs is Sage!

Cheers

Yes you can use a normal pc, but you wont get anywhere using XP. You will need to install either windows 2000 server or, windows 2003 server. Then reinstall your software and restore your data from backup.

As it was a server before chances are it did a lot more than just sage, eg. DNS, DHCP, Print server etc. hence why XP is no good.

Another question to ask yourself is why the server was not protected with RAID 5 or RAID 0/1 to start with, if it was you wouldnt be in this situation.

Yes you can use a normal pc, but you wont get anywhere using XP. You will need to install either windows 2000 server or, windows 2003 server. Then reinstall your software and restore your data from backup.

As it was a server before chances are it did a lot more than just sage, eg. DNS, DHCP, Print server etc. hence why XP is no good.

The guy who normally sorts the problems out at work wanted to sell us a new pc(sh!t spec) for

Server is around 6 years old.

Will mention about raid.

Is the server a mission critical one.

If so what on earth are the company relying on a 6 year old server for.

RAID 1 if cheap for the controller but expensive on discs, RAID 5/6 is expensive on the controller but cheaper on disks and much faster while rebuilding. That plus 6 can deal with 2 dead drives.

It should however be noted that because discs are in the same enclosure they are quite likely to fail together and as such RAID is not a replacement for a full backup strategy.

It might be worth looking into a NAS (or SAN if you are a larger company) to do your storage, then to do the sage stuff on a separate PC somewhere. Does sage use FlexLM to manage it's licenses, and if so, and that is all you are doing an XP machine would cover that. However as mannyo says chances are that server is doing more that just Sage.

Was it a server running or just a peer to peer network you had in place ?

To be honest i don't know what type of system we have.

We have 3 comps and server in the office and only really use it for sage.

We have been told a copy of xp pro on a basic new machine will do the job that the server does now.

Think we may just go out and buy basic machine and copy of xp pro oem and network them that way.

We have 2 setups at work.

One main server that supplies 20 PC's and a small subnetwork in our drawing office. This has 4 computers, one of which we call a server but is only used for data storage. A peer to peer network.

Our sage is on the main server, but it can be used on a peer to peer installation or a PC on its own.

If its only used for data storage, then a PC running XP PRO, should do the trick. Dont hold me to that though as you were running NT 200 before.

When you start up your PC, do you log onto a domain or not? I'm still not sure whether you "server" was running Windows 2000 Server (i.e. server operating system with other services as Manny said) or Windows 2000 Pro (client only operating system).

Come to think of it, I guess you're not on a domain as you're still running without the server and you only have a few workstations :confused:

What type of enclosure / case is this server in? Are the hard drives hot-swappable types in caddies? It may not be the hard drive that has failed. What are the symptoms? What do you get on the screen when you try to start it up?

Change your IT guy.

Edit: You surely have both backups and some form of resiliency?

could very easily be a data storeage server for a small peer to peer network, a very efficient way to run a small network. And a machine running windows xp pro would make a suitable replacement. I would generally feel when buying a server for that sort of use that quality of components was more important than speed. Some form of backup system is essential, even if its only a Cheap NAS drive that you copy files to and then the drive goes home with someone when not in use. Basic raid is dead easy on even fairly basic machines these days an additional £30 for a second drive really isnt much to pay for.

No need to for an expensive proper server setup if your current setup was a peer to peer and did all you needed it to. Would be wary of buying cheap components for your server though, if it does handle your main data storeage then you dont want it falling over again.

Now would also be a good time to check up on your back up provisions for all important data. Itmight seemlike closing the door after the horse has bolted - but you are replacing the horse and may have others in the stable.

How important is your data? certainly at our place a back up system costs less than it does to replace a weeks worth of accounting data - and thats without taking into account all the hassles of losing customer data and work.

I work in storage and can tell you that if you are thinking of replacing the server, forget about putting the storage in the server.

If will be a much better thing to do, to buy a small NAS device that already has RAID functions built in, as unlike many motherboards this will perform in a predictable way on RAID fail, and will have replacement parts available for many years.

Get a small relatively cheap server eg the lowest spec server you can to do license serving.

Don't just buy a cheap desktop, as the cheap components won't necessarily have like for like replacement parts available in the future.

I work in storage and can tell you that if you are thinking of replacing the server, forget about putting the storage in the server.

If will be a much better thing to do, to buy a small NAS device that already has RAID functions built in, as unlike many motherboards this will perform in a predictable way on RAID fail, and will have replacement parts available for many years.

Get a small relatively cheap server eg the lowest spec server you can to do license serving.

Don't just buy a cheap desktop, as the cheap components won't necessarily have like for like replacement parts available in the future.

Me, too. Hear Hear!

Phil

I bought an old IBM Netfinity server off Fleabay - 5 hot-swappable 36Gb SCSI hard drives, twin 600MHz PIII processors, 1.8Gb of RAM and a DDS3 tape drive. Plus an unregistered genuine copy of SBS2003. All for

I have Fujitsu Primergy PIII 1.2ghz/1.5gb RAM, x3 36gb Hot Plug Scis disks sat in my garage if you want to purchase it. PM if your interested. Looking for £25. You will need to supply your own software.

Set up as RAID 0 on 2 discs (OS) and RAID 5 on the other 3 (data).

I would think sourcing replacement SCSI disks isn't cheap these days.

I have Fujitsu Primergy PIII 1.2ghz/1.5gb RAM, x3 36gb Hot Plug Scis disks sat in my garage if you want to purchase it. PM if your interested. Looking for

See comment above about SCSI discs being relatively expensive to purchase, and not so easy to do either these days.

Also If a server has been sat in a garage the bearings on HDDs can often have problems after long times at rest. That plus heads can actually stick to the platters after a long period of time parked due to the gunk that builds up inside a drive over the years.

Seriously don't put your storage in your 'server' get a NAS box, much cheaper replacement disk, predictable, often easy to backup with the software they come with, and they come with a warrenty.

Yes, the fujitsu server is sat in my garage but the only time it gets turned off is when I have moved house. It's always on, it's a server

Yes, the fujitsu server is sat in my garage but the only time it gets turned off is when I have moved house. It's always on, it's a server

You see I assumed you meant it was unused.

I still don't fancy the price of SCSI drives though compared with sata drives, that plus the server is unsupported, whereas a dedicated NAS device + a license server PC will have a level of support on them.

This assumes it is for a business that relies on it's IT.

You see I assumed you meant it was unused.

I still don't fancy the price of SCSI drives though compared with sata drives, that plus the server is unsupported, whereas a dedicated NAS device + a license server PC will have a level of support on them.

This assumes it is for a business that relies on it's IT.

I agree, I need to purchase a 72gb disk for my hp server, at least the disk's in the Fuji server are 36gb so much cheaper. Fleabay is always a good source of disks.

The last "server" lasted 6 years, so it wasn't such a bad solution. From the information in the first post, I'd assume the company is a small one, so thousands of pounds on RAID servers and server operating systems may not be an option. As long as the data is backed up, and given that it's probably a workgroup environment rather than a domain, I don't really see a problem with the solution proposed by the IT guy.

Jaymd - £370 + £90 for 6 years worth of "server" provision doesn't sound too bad to me - there are limits to how cheap you can get these things :P

Yes, but a 4/5 disc 5 dedicated RAID Box can be had for about £500 inc discs as a NAS box.

For example:

PC Pro: Product Reviews: Buffalo TeraStation

And a higher spec version, with more capacity and easily swappable drives, for a bit more money

PC Pro: Product Reviews: Buffalo TeraStation Pro TS-1.6TGL/R5

That's a lot better than relying on a server, especially using RAID, as the chips on the motherboard are all different, so if you use on board RAID and the board fails, you will need another one of the same type, or risk loosing your data.

For a server using server grade parts then this might be suitable:

PC Pro: Product Reviews: Mesh X-Serve 146 WS03

Nick does make the point that backup is essential, whatever you use.