Server for small business

[PraiseJeebus]

Hi all,
Hopefully somebody can help me out. A customer has asked me to price up a new server for them, I have little experience in server pricing/building and am wondering what the best way forward would be?

They are a small company with 4-6 users, all application software is run from their local machines. From what I can see their existing server is mainly used for file storage and the office printer/copier scans to a shared folder on the server which they access from a shared "Scans" folder.

Would a server be needed as other than using active directory and DHCP server service running, their server is no more than a file server.

I was thinking of getting a high end Windows 7 Pro machine running an i7 processor, 16GB RAM and installing either a RAID1 or RAID5 card with some SAS drives. Switching DHCP back on in the Router. Sharing everything as it is in the server now. I was thinking Win 7 as their back up software can be installed and upgraded for little extra cost, as it would if I upgraded to server 2008 or 2012 essentials.

Am I barking up the wrong tree or some method to my madness? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Paul

 

[SAG]

If you are considering a Win7 machine as a server (which I've done, but frown upon) than I am assuming that AD is not a necessity? And no LOB app is on the server?
If that's the case, and this office is in a Workgroup environment, why not just get a NAS and be done with it?

 

[PraiseJeebus]

We had considered a NAS, and there would be a couple of things stopping us, one is we are unsure if the copier/printer that scans to a folder on the server can do the same to a folder on the NAS and backing up the NAS to usb drives (they are using back up assist at the mo). Hence going the Win 7 route.

 

[Martyn]

We had considered a NAS, and there would be a couple of things stopping us, one is we are unsure if the copier/printer that scans to a folder on the server can do the same to a folder on the NAS and backing up the NAS to usb drives (they are using back up assist at the mo). Hence going the Win 7 route.

Synology NAS's will do that. I'm pretty sure the scans won't be a problem and I have a small business backing up their Synology NAS to 2 external usb hard drives as well as another destination. 4 clients use it as a file server and each client pc also backs up to the nas from it's local file system daily.

 

[SAG]

Martyn said pretty much what I was going to.
Any good business NAS (even some of the end user models) support backup to USB.
As for scanning from a networked printer, that is usually done via SMB or FTP... and once again, pretty much all NAS devices support one or both of those protocols.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

What kind of office is it?
Does their server host any applications?
Do they need user control, access control, certain "stuff" that active directory allows? Check into this....pitching a workgroup network to a healthcare agency for example would be a bad move.
AD comes with benefits...allowing easier management and setup...so although a server has up front costs, it has long term easier management from your perspective.

 

[TAPtech]

A lower end Dell server with Essentials 2012 would be very cost efficient. It would also lend itself to an easier upgrade path in the future if they need it.

Some places, though, would likely never need much more than a NAS unit.

 

[ArtemusComputerTechnology]

I totally agree with buying\building a server with Windows Essentials 2012 for 4-6 users. A desktop model server is ideal for the workload. I'm not sure what the company's budget is but I personally setup these servers in the past few months for some SMBs. They are small, efficient and very easy to setup.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859107921

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859108029