Servers for a firm

kateliz

Hi, I am doing a project for an accounting firm. We have to replace old systems with new systems and servers.
Can any one help me to use what servers and what should be the hardware specifications for each server.
What I am thinking it should include ADDS, DHCP and backup servers but what else?

AndersonSmith

You'll need to provide us with some more information to get a good answer. Are you going to be running applications and/or databases on these servers or are they just going to be file servers? Is it in a domain environment currently and if not are you going to be transitioning to a domain environment? How many users are going to need access at any given time? Are you going to be running Exchange, Hyper-V, VMWare, etc? Give us as much detail as you can. Thanks!

kiki162

Yeah we need more info. Another thing to mention is do they want some type of disaster recovery plan in place, in case servers crash and things go offline...and really BAD stuff. You could look at getting all of your stuff hosted with AWS or Rackspace, that way you don't have to worry about getting hardware or downtime.

poolmanjim

As mentioned already in the thread, there is A LOT to your question that isn't included. I defer to their comments on what we need to answer this question better.

When you are specing out an upgrade for any kind of business, you have to think of so much it can be daunting. The first thing you need to establish is what do they need? Most small companies could literally get by with just a file server and a backup for that server, realistically as most SOHO routers include a DHCP and DNS service on them. Do they need Active Directory (if so, justify it to them and to yourself)? Don't give them a corporate level design unless they need corporate.

What does the budget look like? If their budget is $1200 total, you're looking at a server with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials or something along those lines. If its more than that, you have more options available.

It gets very complicated very quickly.

Dojiscalper

90% of my clients are small firms, lawyers, accountants, etc and most use a router for DHCP and peer to peer workstations with one of them acting as a file server if they even get that far. Sometimes they use a NAS storage device with cloud backup, I recommend they at least get that much, but most are to cheap and risk data loss.