[OPLINTECH] How much server: 1 or 2 CPUs?

[Shane I. Hoffman]

In addition to what Chad said, you might wish to consider Raid 6.  With drive sizes what they are now a days, you run the risk of a drive failing while recovering.  Raid 6 allows for an extra drive failure.  It's saved me at least once.

-----Original Message-----
From: oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at lists.oplin.org] On Behalf Of Phil Shirley
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 10:22 AM
To: oplintech at lists.oplin.org
Subject: [OPLINTECH] How much server: 1 or 2 CPUs?

I'm trying to figure out "how much server" I need, and I would be grateful for any comments. Below is information about what it will be used for, and the basics of the two quotes I've gotten. Basically, I'm trying to decide if I need two CPUs or if one will do. Based on the quotes I've gotten, going with 2 CPUs means getting a different model of server which means the cost goes up by 2/3; I'm not sure it's worth that, though I can see the wisdom of providing for future needs.

This will be our main Windows server; I plan on getting Server 2012 on it. It will serve as a domain controller and file server for our 34 staff computers. (Our public computers are on a separate segment of the network, and not in the domain.)

It will also run these the management end of these things:

-- Librarica's Cassie to manage printouts and logins to 40 public Internet computers and 12 public catalog computers (not in the domain)

-- Kaspersky for antivirus, etc., on all computers

-- Deep Freeze for public computers

I have a quote from Dell for this:

PowerEdge R320
Intel Xeon E5-2407 2.20GHz, 10M Cache, 6.4GT/s (quad core)
8 GB RAM (2 of these: 4GB RDIMM, 1333 MT/s )
4 TB HDD space in RAID 5 (4 of these: 1TB 7.2K RPM SATA 3Gbps 3.5in Hot-plug Hard Drive) PERC H310 Integrated RAID Controller

Somebody told me that this single CPU wouldn't be enough in the long run and encouraged me to get two, so I got a second quote from Dell:

PowerEdge R520
Intel Xeon E5-2407 2.20GHz, 10M Cache, 6.4GT/s QPI (2 of these)
8 GB RAM (2 of these: 4GB RDIMM, 1333 MT/s)
4 TB HDD space in RAID 5 (4 of these: 1TB 7.2K RPM Near-Line SAS 6Gbps 3.5in Hot-plug Hard Drive) PERC H310 Integrated RAID Controller

The price for the second one is considerably more (1.67 times the first one), and I'm not convinced I need that.

I don't expect to be putting a lot more load on this server in the next few years by adding lots of workstations and software; I think the main need for increased resources in the future will come from loading new versions of Windows Server.

Any thoughts?

Phil
-- 

Phil Shirley
Technology Services Coordinator
Cuyahoga Falls Library
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
330-928-2117, ext. 109
pshirley at CuyahogaFallsLibrary dot org

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