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eeven73 PityDaFool Who Posts This Much
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 5377 City: Halfway
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Posted: Apr 07, 2015 11:55 am Post subject: School me on IT |
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What kind of set up would anyone recommend regarding a small business server with less than a dozen workstations.
We got quoted from Pacific Office Automation and I felt they wanted an awful lot of money to rent a server and trouble shoot.
Please be advised you are speaking to a layman.(I turn 40 this year)
Thanks in advance _________________ Is President Obama a Keynesian? |
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jason_ssr Wakeboarder.com Freak
Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 4054 City: Dallas, Tx
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Posted: Apr 07, 2015 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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what will the server be hosting? _________________ TONA
My avatar is NOT a pic of me! HAHA! |
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eeven73 PityDaFool Who Posts This Much
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 5377 City: Halfway
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Posted: Apr 07, 2015 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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ERP software mainly.
we do NOT have a big IT personel infrastructure
We outsource email hosting, don't know if that is smart. _________________ Is President Obama a Keynesian? |
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ohsix PityDaFool Who Posts This Much
Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 6837
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Posted: Apr 10, 2015 5:36 am Post subject: |
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My company is about that size. We have 2.5 servers. One for our e-mail running Exchange. One for our Oil and Gas accounting software and common drives. And a small (the .5) server for our office phone system which is irrelevant to your question.
We bought our servers from Dell. I think they were ~$4,000 each and cost another ~$4,000 total to set them up. We use a contract IT company which charges $950/month for server maintenance/upgrades and we get a discounted rate of $65/hour for all other IT related upgrades and troubleshooting. I think they're pretty honest on the hours billed and very responsive when we have a problem. I don't think they've ever taken more than 5 minutes to respond to an issue. I know it's not feasible for them to work in Oregon, but that's what we pay for good IT service in west Texas. |
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RampageWake Wakeboarder.Commie
Joined: 23 Jul 2003 Posts: 2002 City: Houston
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Posted: Apr 10, 2015 6:14 am Post subject: |
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It has been a while since I've done IT work so I am of no help, but my wife is in a similar situation setting up for 3-5 ppl. I recommended a single server running 2012 Server Essentials as it integrates easily with Office365 that she uses. 10 years ago with ~25 employees we hosted our own mail, ftp server, dns, & web, but those things have become such a commodity I don't see the point in DIY at a small shop. The quad core server she got with 48GB RAM and 3TB disk can run other several other [virtual] machines. I am familar with VMWare so it did not matter that MS Server 2012 does not include V-Sphere. Her separate machines running Oracle, SQLServer, Linux environments, etc... can all be virtualized on the one [physical] box. There are downsides to having everything on one box, but the upsides outweighed the risks in her situation. _________________
Rhawn wrote: | You should have a less retarded friend read over your posts before you hit "Submit"
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chavez Ladies Man
Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Posts: 27375 City: Roseville
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Posted: Apr 10, 2015 6:58 am Post subject: |
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No SMB should be hosting their own email servers anymore. It is not cost effective nor is as reliable. The only reason would be for someone who is over the top about privacy, but that's a whole different story.
What part of your ERP software needs to be on a "server"? Are you really just using the "server" as a fancy place to store your centralized files? What I mean, really, is are you just using the "server" as a network attached storage device?
The CPA in my office uses tax planning and prep software. It needs a "server" to host the database files. So what I ended up using for him, is a midrange NAS device (2 drive array in RAID 1), and mounted it as a drive on the machines he runs the software from. Works flawlessly and has for 4 years straight.
I dunno, but the days of domain controllers and what-not for SMBs appear to be nearing their end. I don't even bother buying the "Professional" versions of Winblows anymore - it's no longer necessary. _________________
Quote: | That's Mr. Gingermex to you a$$hole. |
RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006 |
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RampageWake Wakeboarder.Commie
Joined: 23 Jul 2003 Posts: 2002 City: Houston
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Posted: Apr 11, 2015 5:13 am Post subject: |
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chavez wrote: | No SMB should be hosting their own email servers anymore. It is not cost effective nor is as reliable. The only reason would be for someone who is over the top about privacy, but that's a whole different story.
*queues clintonemail.com jokes*
What part of your ERP software needs to be on a "server"? Are you really just using the "server" as a fancy place to store your centralized files? What I mean, really, is are you just using the "server" as a network attached storage device?
The CPA in my office uses tax planning and prep software. It needs a "server" to host the database files. So what I ended up using for him, is a midrange NAS device (2 drive array in RAID 1), and mounted it as a drive on the machines he runs the software from. Works flawlessly and has for 4 years straight.
I dunno, but the days of domain controllers and what-not for SMBs appear to be nearing their end. I don't even bother buying the "Professional" versions of Winblows anymore - it's no longer necessary. | _________________
Rhawn wrote: | You should have a less retarded friend read over your posts before you hit "Submit"
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RIP M.H.Legge |
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eeven73 PityDaFool Who Posts This Much
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 5377 City: Halfway
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Posted: Apr 13, 2015 7:37 am Post subject: |
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chavez wrote: | No SMB should be hosting their own email servers anymore. It is not cost effective nor is as reliable. The only reason would be for someone who is over the top about privacy, but that's a whole different story.
What part of your ERP software needs to be on a "server"? Are you really just using the "server" as a fancy place to store your centralized files? What I mean, really, is are you just using the "server" as a network attached storage device?
The CPA in my office uses tax planning and prep software. It needs a "server" to host the database files. So what I ended up using for him, is a midrange NAS device (2 drive array in RAID 1), and mounted it as a drive on the machines he runs the software from. Works flawlessly and has for 4 years straight.
I dunno, but the days of domain controllers and what-not for SMBs appear to be nearing their end. I don't even bother buying the "Professional" versions of Winblows anymore - it's no longer necessary. |
In my laymans understanding, Yes we are really using the server to store centralized ERP and Accounting software and files and accessing with 12 or so workstations.
Quote: | We bought our servers from Dell. I think they were ~$4,000 each and cost another ~$4,000 total to set them up. We use a contract IT company which charges $950/month for server maintenance/upgrades and we get a discounted rate of $65/hour for all other IT related upgrades and troubleshooting. I think they're pretty honest on the hours billed and very responsive when we have a problem. I don't think they've ever taken more than 5 minutes to respond to an issue. I know it's not feasible for them to work in Oregon, but that's what we pay for good IT service in west Texas. |
The quote I refered to was in the 1k per month range for "support". Frankly, that isn't a huge sum until we think about it in the framework of $12K a year regardless of need. Maybe it is a fair deal, dunno. _________________ Is President Obama a Keynesian? |
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Broccoli B Wakeboarder.com Freak
Joined: 12 Jul 2003 Posts: 2670 City: Grand Rapids
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Posted: Apr 14, 2015 9:13 am Post subject: |
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Around here, instead of paying a monthly fee for support you buy a bucket of hours ahead of time. Typically those hours would expire 1 year from purchase if not used. Basic workstation/server support around here is $150 to $225 an hour. _________________ Brent B
jt09 wrote: | don't assume what you think i assume. you would assume wrong. |
lcap wrote: | you assume that i assume that my assuming is wrong and assume your assumption therefore must be correct. |
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nmballa Wakeboarder.com Freak
Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Posts: 3906 City: Milwaukee
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Posted: Apr 14, 2015 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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Have you looked in to having it hosted in the cloud. I forget the service we use but we now host our accounting (quickbooks enterprise) is hosted by a third party service. Works quite well. We are also in the process of building out Open ERP. Hope to launch in Q3. _________________ jt09 wrote:
I used to get all happy when the girlie would make a colonic appointment. That meant she was going to be breaking out the "fine china" soon.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509037985&ref=profile |
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eeven73 PityDaFool Who Posts This Much
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 5377 City: Halfway
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Posted: Jul 28, 2015 8:23 am Post subject: |
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Trying to upgrade our email hosting.
Currently been on hold for 90 min and transfered 4 times.
So..... anyone have any recommendations in regard to small business email hosting companies? Looking for 30-40 boxes with 3000Mb capacity per box. _________________ Is President Obama a Keynesian? |
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Broccoli B Wakeboarder.com Freak
Joined: 12 Jul 2003 Posts: 2670 City: Grand Rapids
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Posted: Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am Post subject: |
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https://products.office.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-online _________________ Brent B
jt09 wrote: | don't assume what you think i assume. you would assume wrong. |
lcap wrote: | you assume that i assume that my assuming is wrong and assume your assumption therefore must be correct. |
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chavez Ladies Man
Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Posts: 27375 City: Roseville
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Posted: Jul 28, 2015 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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This^
No need to look any further. _________________
Quote: | That's Mr. Gingermex to you a$$hole. |
RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006 |
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eeven73 PityDaFool Who Posts This Much
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 5377 City: Halfway
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Posted: Jul 29, 2015 6:11 am Post subject: |
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Thanks guys, I honestly didn't realize Microsoft offered hosting. _________________ Is President Obama a Keynesian? |
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Chad H PityDaFool Who Posts This Much
Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 6449 City: Atlanta
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Posted: Jul 29, 2015 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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eeven73,
We use google for work. We are a smaller company with intent to grow, but it seems to work well since most of us are mobile. |
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nmballa Wakeboarder.com Freak
Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Posts: 3906 City: Milwaukee
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Posted: Aug 09, 2015 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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Chad H wrote: | eeven73,
We use google for work. We are a smaller company with intent to grow, but it seems to work well since most of us are mobile. |
Same here. We have been very happy with it thus far. _________________ jt09 wrote:
I used to get all happy when the girlie would make a colonic appointment. That meant she was going to be breaking out the "fine china" soon.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509037985&ref=profile |
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