What server to buy?

[slybitz]

Hello all,

I'm looking for a server but I'm starting from the ground up - meaning I do not know much about servers at all. I need a high-end server that is around $20,000 that will hold my SQL server databases. So essentially I just need a database server. Would any of you have suggestions as to what is the best server to go with for this purpose and this price? I'm looking for something that is 3Ghz + with around 4000Mb of Ram if possible.

Thanks for your help!

 

[jkupski]

Before you make a huge mistake, before saying "I have $20k to blow on this application, spec me out something that costs that much," and end up spending a whole bunch of money you may not need to, STOP NOW and assess your situation.

How much data are we talking about here? How many users does the system need to support? Any additional applications required? Does this need to integrate into a specific pre-existing infrastructure?

 

[NickFerrar]

Yeah amount of storage required + performance needed will determine the server, you could spend $5000 to $1million on "a SQL server".

As a starting point I'd look at PowerEdge 2850 with 2x3GHz 2MB cache CPUs, 4GB RAM, 2x36GB 15k drives internally for the OS (or more disks in Raid-5 if OS performance is critical to). Then you're looking at direct-attached storage for holding the data drives. Also make use of Dell's professional services to spec and test the server, they should do this free for a large purchase. You could even get the server on 30-day trial, if it doesn't perform as expected then get it replaced (Dell hate doing this though which is why they usually prefer to use their consultants to architect the system).

 

[romlopez]

Also if you know how to install hardware, you should highly consider just buy 1GB of RAM at Dell, and the other RAM somewhere else... It costs 4* less.
Also as previously said Processor and memory power is mostly needed here, I would recommend more than 4GB's of memory. If you check Dell's website they help you out to decide which server to use according to how many users needs to support, applications. (jkupski said)
SCSI for OS and SATA 3.0 Gbs 16MB cache HD's for data. In this configuration you might even get two servers and NLB them for fault tolerance.