purchasing my 1st small business server and need help big time

[PPM]

Presently I am looking at purchasing my first server.I am looking or some one who can walk me through the steps i should be taking to determine what i realy need. I have a small home based business we presently have one web site

http://www.forsalesearches.com

and have about 5 other sites under
development.I would think within the next year we would have a total of 25 sites up.I presently am using Microsoft Frontpage to create my sites.Our office is presently running Microosoft Professional software on our computer.I have been looking at Dell,HP,
IBM and Gateway. One main thing for me is leasing and service in office ( Dell looks good ).We dont have internet cable in our town but can get DSL..I have looked at alot of sites regarding servers / software / hookups and have educated myself some what but I am not a techy. person
and dont want to make a mistake with purchase etc..
Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Jason jasonw@kos.net

 

[bjverzal]

IBM Netfinity servers are good. I've heard alot of bad about Dell servers. Compaq is our standard. Don't bother with HP.

With IBM, before you purchase a Netfinity server, the IBM business partner will work through all of this with you. I'm on the UNIX side of things where I work, so I have no influence on the Intel side of things.

Try calling Solution Technology Inc (our IBM business partner). They offer a really good technical knowhow inhouse (most of the people there are old IBM'ers).

(630) 357-7744 (they may have a toll free number, but I'm in the same state, so I'm not too concerned about that).

Thanks, Bill.

 

[gnartist]

We have used a Dell loaded with NT SBS 4.0 PII350 128MB RAM(later upgraded to 4.5) and it has been a consistent performer. We have 12 workstations doing email/web surfing/file and print over a 10MB network and a 384k/384k DSL line and I haven't had a hiccup in performance except when I screw up.

The initial OS setup should be done at one sitting. You need to get all of your stuff together in terms of documenting what passwords you'll use, ip addresses from your DSL company, how you would like to set it up, etc. If you have all of this in hand, the install should go well. Inside of SBS you have some pretty good wizards as far as internet connectivity, email setup, etc. SBS really should be set up using the wizards if possible (Brelsford's advice).

I would recommend LOTS of Hard Drive space if you can afford it since databases and Web site iterations multiply like rabbits in springtime.

We use Exchange Server and Outlook and it is a good combination. You DO need to keep up with patches and antivirus software, as this is constantly being attacked and exploited by the guys in the black hats.

I use Trend Micro's Office Scan for SBS and it has been very good. It has a module that inspects incoming emails and a module that updates each workstation so that infected disks and stupid users aren't as much of a problem.

We've successfully used Proxy Server to grant Web access to everyone, but with firewall prices dropping, I am in the process of changing that. This has been a hassle since proxy seems to interact closely with Exchange, Outlook Web Access, blah blah

I use Backup Exectape software for my 24 gig tape unit, but quite frankly its way more than is needed for a small outfit like ours. I had such hassles learning it, I wish I had simply learned to use NT's native backup software and scheduler. Must say, I have an old, unsupported version of this and others may love it

Rots a ruck
Bob@goodnewsmag.org