I am currently looking to upgrade my software company's server configuration, and I need advice on how I should pursue doing so on a limited budget.
Current Servers
1) Windows SBS 2003 Server
Location: Local Dell Server
Roles:
- Active Directory Domain Controller
- DNS (internal/local routing only)
- DHCP
- File Server
- Routing and Remote (VPN)
- SQL Server for Business Management Software
2) Web Server
Location: Hosting Provider
Roles:
- Web Site Hosting (Shared)
- Email Hosting (Shared)
- SQL Server for Web Sites (Shared)
We only pay $1800/year (combined) for our hosted services, which includes email, SQL and Web site hosting. The current host has been extremely reliable for the past 9 years, but we need more flexibility than they are willing to offer. We do not have a fast enough internet connection at our office to host our Web Server in-house.
I am considering two options for the new server configurations, and would like advice on how to pursue them:
1) Buy my own server hardware and co-locate. I would then configure Windows 2008 R2 Data Center or Enterprise Edition and virtualize one server instance for each role (AD, DC, Email, SQL, Web, etc.).
2) Invest in an elastic cloud server platform (Amazon EC2, etc.), and configure storage and computer instances as needed for each server and role.
With either option I'll need the following servers and roles:
Local Server 1) Secondary AD/DC, DHCP, File Server & SQL Server for Business Software (local server)
Remote Server 2) Primary AD/DC (co-locate/cloud)
Remote Server 3) Exchange (co-locate/cloud)
Remote Server 4) SQL Server for Web Services (co-locate/cloud)
Remote Server 5) IIS/Web Services (co-locate/cloud)
Any advice that you can offer for this type of configuration would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Current Servers
1) Windows SBS 2003 Server
Location: Local Dell Server
Roles:
- Active Directory Domain Controller
- DNS (internal/local routing only)
- DHCP
- File Server
- Routing and Remote (VPN)
- SQL Server for Business Management Software
2) Web Server
Location: Hosting Provider
Roles:
- Web Site Hosting (Shared)
- Email Hosting (Shared)
- SQL Server for Web Sites (Shared)
We only pay $1800/year (combined) for our hosted services, which includes email, SQL and Web site hosting. The current host has been extremely reliable for the past 9 years, but we need more flexibility than they are willing to offer. We do not have a fast enough internet connection at our office to host our Web Server in-house.
I am considering two options for the new server configurations, and would like advice on how to pursue them:
1) Buy my own server hardware and co-locate. I would then configure Windows 2008 R2 Data Center or Enterprise Edition and virtualize one server instance for each role (AD, DC, Email, SQL, Web, etc.).
2) Invest in an elastic cloud server platform (Amazon EC2, etc.), and configure storage and computer instances as needed for each server and role.
With either option I'll need the following servers and roles:
Local Server 1) Secondary AD/DC, DHCP, File Server & SQL Server for Business Software (local server)
Remote Server 2) Primary AD/DC (co-locate/cloud)
Remote Server 3) Exchange (co-locate/cloud)
Remote Server 4) SQL Server for Web Services (co-locate/cloud)
Remote Server 5) IIS/Web Services (co-locate/cloud)
Any advice that you can offer for this type of configuration would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
