Carestream Orthotrac on Windows Server 2012 Foundation or Essential

[amn70]

I just want to get some opinions. My client will be migrating their outdated dental software Orthoware over to Carestream Dentals newer Orthotrac. Their official system requirements for the server machine as far as operating system is concerned is Server 2008 or Server 2012 Standard. However they told us we can run the server under Windows 7/8/10 Professional if we keep the workstation count under 5 machines which is perfect since they are small office and only have 4 active workstations. This will be nice cost savings for them since they will not need to purchase Server 2012 Standard and 5 CAL's. However I am thinking that if they go to Server 2012 Foundation or Essential it will give them more future growth potential as far as workstation count without the need for the more pricey 2012 Standard and CAL's.
Even though there is no plan now or in future to run the network in domain environment I would prefer some of the benefits of Server 2012 without the high cost to my client, but what surprises me is that they do not officially say it can support Server 2012 Foundation or Essential. Oh BTW, they do not need SQL Server. As a matter a fact I believe needs only SQL Server Express. Should there really be a reason a program like Carestream Orthotrac who's server application can officially run in Windows 7 Pro or Server 2012 Standard not be able to properly run on Server 2012 Foundation or Essential? Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[SAFCasper]

Bottom line - if Carestream say it's not supported, don't use it.

Sure, it will most likely work... but the second something goes wrong and you need assistance from Carestream... "Sorry, you are running an unsupported operating system, we can't help you"


That aside, I would give their tech support a call and ask. System requirements aren't always fully inclusive so it may well be supported. But get it in writing or record the call so the situation I described above never happens

 

[putz]

You're talking maybe a 400$ difference between Standard + cals vs Essentials:
(example)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2715676

Really doesn't add that much to the cost in the grand scheme of things. Remember your customer is wanting something to run their business, not something you want to let them go cheap on unless they prefer to lose money vs making it.

Server Standard may seem more expensive at first, but your not limited like you are with Essentials when configuring an environment. Plus you only ever want to use what the vendor supports, it may not always make sense but if you want their support it doesn't matter. Also, I believe one license of Standard can be used to install a physical instance of the OS on a server to run solely HyperV without impeding your licensing and then you can activate two virtual instances of the OS on that hypervisor with the same license. So you could do something like have one instance for your clients business application while the other instance could be used in the future for a domain controller and general file server or whatever. I just think its a better investment upfront.