Member Avatar for Thinka

Hello all. I'm trying to find a GOOD server for a small business of about 10 people (i.e. 10 - 11 machines, desktops and notebooks) and growing. The only server that I've been able to find is IBM system x3xxx. Could anyone please point me in the direction of any Cisco, Oracle, or other brands - I'd be most grateful.

Also what are people's opinions on easy-to-use servers that are safe, and reliable? And also does anyone know any good books on managing servers for people who are new to it?!
All help will be much appreciated, ta very much!!

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Dani AI

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Short checklist and practical next steps (for a ~10-person office) that complement the vendor suggestions from and .

Decide by role, not just model — file/print, directory/auth, mail, SQL, web, backups. That drives CPU, RAM and storage. For light file/AD duties a modest 4-core host and 16–32 GB RAM will usually be fine; heavier mail or database roles need more memory, faster disks, and separate I/O. Consider running multiple roles as virtual machines on one physical host to simplify growth and backups.

Hardware/features to insist on

  • ECC memory and enterprise-class drives (not consumer desktop disks).
  • Hardware RAID with battery-backed write cache; prefer RAID10 for active data sets (better rebuild and write performance).
  • Hot-swap drive bays and at least one spare drive in the chassis.
  • Redundant power supplies and a UPS sized for graceful shutdown.
  • Out-of-band remote management (IPMI or vendor remote-console) so you can recover a headless machine.
  • Buy a support/warranty level that matches your tolerance for downtime (onsite next-business-day vs carry-in).

Backups, testing and deployment notes

  • Follow the 3-2-1 backup principle: 3 copies, 2 media, 1 offsite — and test restores regularly (don’t just rely on snapshots). See a quick primer here: What is the 3-2-1 backup rule?.
  • Use image backups for quick full-server recovery plus file-level backups for day-to-day restores. Automate daily increments and periodic fulls.
  • If you’re new to servers, consider hosting services for mail or backups to reduce on-prem complexity.

Further reading and resources

Caution: plan for growth, include restore testing in your schedule, and buy support that matches your business needs — hardware spec and service contract matter more for uptime than the brand name alone.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

HP/Compaq ?
Dell?

there the main server manufaturers for small businesses. Make sure you understand the licencing if you get windows server. You may need to buy additional CALs (client access licences)

Member Avatar for Thinka

Dell?

But I read on another thread on here that Dell hardware isn't very good when it comes to servers, and that their support system is even worse? I was thinking IBM to be honest. Also is it only Microsoft that do server software, or is that just the most popular, and probably the best option if you have Windows PCs on the network (which I do)?

Member Avatar for jbennet

yeah its the best if you are going to use it with other windows machines - the other option would be linux but i prefer windows.

hp/compaq servers are very good.

Member Avatar for Thinka

OK Cool, thanks.

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