Dell PowerEdge 840-is it big enough?

[yanios]

I'd like to get a 2nd opinion on a server configuration. Dell recommended a PowerEdge 840 server to hand a max of 50 users.
5 are staff in the office, 25 are students in a lab and 5 more are teachers with desktops in there rooms. Server will run Windows 2000 server. Is this big enough to handle up to 50 users without a lot of sluggishness? Thank you.

 

[fs483]

Depends on what you need it for (filesrv, exchange server, SQL)...

 

[yanios]

akwong: Thanks for the reply. The Dell840 will be used as a file server with 1 main datbase and 1 small ms access database; the computer lab will have student folders on it that will be mostly ms word w/ graphics,excel spreadsheets & very small databases in access. The max users will be 50 accessing a folder on the server and going out to the internet; attached will be 5-6 printers (ip printing)
My hope is that the Dell840 will handle this for at least 3 years or more depending on growth. Your imput is welecome.

 

[NickFerrar]

You can spec a wide difference in performance on the 840. If you get the base dual-core CPU, 2GB ram, PERC 5/i and all the disk you think you need +50% it should be more than enough for your needs (for the disk also get it so you use only 3 drives and RAID-5 it, save the 4th drive slot for furture expansion.

 

[yanios]

NickFerrar: Thanks for the reply I need to keep the cost at $2700 and I was looking at the Duo Core Xeon3050 2.13ghz processor w/ 2gb ram, SAS5iR internal RAID controller for a Raid 1, (2)160gb hard drives, no tape drive (tape drive comes in at $800+ so I need to use an existing tape drive for now from another desktop), no modem, no docs, no O/S (already have Win2000 server) no UPS. Growth will be minimum in the next 3-5 years & hopfully they can buy a new server. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks again.

 

[xwire]

take a quick look back at the hard drives, dont know if you noticed but your specs say an SAS 5iR Internal Raid Controller for Raid 1, but I think the hard drives you list, the (160 GBs) are SATA and not SAS. So you will have to adjust your hard drive selection or the controller selection. Is your limit of 2700 bucks include tax and shipping? You probably can catch this server when they have deals that include a memory upgrade or free second processor. But yes your 840 should be good enough, if your not planning on adding more than 4 drives to the server.

 

[twwabw]

Spec out a 2900- by the time you add SAS and a raid controller to any of the lesser series, you're right at price of a 2900, which is a far superior server IMO (done 5 of them the last couple months). I just spec'd a 2900 with the following:

- Dual Core Intel® Xeon® 5120, 4MB Cache, 1.86GHz, 1066MHz FSB
- FREE UPGRADE to 2GB, DDR2, 533MHz,4X512, Single Ranked DIMMs
- FREE UPGRADE to PERC 5/i, Integrated Controller Card
- Integrated SAS/SATA RAID 5, PERC 5/i Integrated
- (3) 73GB, SAS, 3.5-inch, 15K RPM Hard Drives
- Redundant Power Supply with Dual Cords

Total price as configured, w/3 yr warranty: $2,735.00

- change from Raid 5 w/(3) 73Gb to Raid 1 w/(2) 146GB, SAS, 3.5-inch, 15K RPM Hard Drives total cost: $ 2,796.00

So, as you can see the 840 is no bargain. Take a closer look at the 2900.

 

[xwire]

i agree, plus you can add more drives in the future

 

[yanios]

Thank you all for your input. I will check out the 2900.