I'm trying to build a new server for our office. Below are the specs from the software company. We run 9 workstations, so I'd rather just go with a Windows 11 Pro system instead of Server OS. Trying to stay around $1500. Looking for suggestions for the build.

My idea is to go with a Raid 1 setup on M.2 storage. So find a motherboard with dual M.2 storage slots, put matching 1 TB cards in there. And then pretty basic setup after that. No need for big graphics. Thanks for any suggestions.

• Intel Xeon Processor (6th Generation or higher)
• 8 GB RAM
• 1 TB 7200 RPM Hard Drive Raid Level 1 or 5¹
• Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
• Intel USB Chipset with at least 4 powered USB 2.0 Ports²
• Additional PCI, PCIe, or USB 2.0 (or newer) expansion slots may be required Supported Operating Systems: 64-bit
• Windows® Server 2019 Standard (ES V21.00.18 or higher) • Windows® Server 2016 Standard (ES V18.0 or higher) • Windows® Server 2012 Standard – R1 or R2 (ES V17.0 or higher)
• Windows® Server 2012 Foundation – R1 or R2 (ES V17.0 or higher)
• Windows® 11 Professional (ES V21.00.18 and higher) o Microsoft supported CPU3 o Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) o 16 GB RAM
• Windows® 10 Professional (ES V18.0 and Higher)
• Windows® 8.1 Professional (ES V17.0-19.10)

Special Note (January 2020): Windows 10 Professional, as a server, is only recommended when all computers on the network are on Windows 10 Professional. 4

Note: To be able to utilize more than 4 GB of RAM in your server you will need to use a 64-bit OS A Dedicated Eaglesoft Server is recommended for 6 or more workstations, a Server OS is recommended for 10 or more workstations.

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Posted by seawolf06

Member since Oct 2007

8159 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 9:24 am to Kingpenm3

Have you looked into a dedicated NAS like Synology or QNAP?

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Posted by ColdDuck

BR via da Parish

Member since Sep 2006

2893 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 10:25 am to Kingpenm3

Why not just get Server 2022 Essentials. It is on a few hundred bucks. Go to Dell, find a tower server with RAID and buy it. Easy.

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Posted by bluebarracuda

Member since Oct 2011

18842 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 10:36 am to Kingpenm3

Get an older Dell R730 or HP DL 380 G8, throw on TrueNAS, call it a day. Plus those things are so easy to swap hardware inside

Edit: I assume you want just a file/storage server? If you want a multipurpose server, get one of the above, run proxmox as the hypervisor, then passthrough all of the drives to a TrueNAS VM and have plenty of overhead for other VMs. You could do a ZFS array with Proxmox, but TrueNAS would be far better for your needs

This post was edited on 4/8/22 at 10:40 am

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Posted by Korkstand

Member since Nov 2003

29000 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 10:45 am to bluebarracuda

quote:
I assume you want just a file/storage server?

Judging from "Eaglesoft" in the notes it's to run software for a dental practice. Not sure if they would provide support for a virtualized install, but maybe so.

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Posted by j1897

Member since Nov 2011

3902 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 10:47 am to Kingpenm3

You don't need 2 m.2 slots, just PCI-E. You can get a pci-e nvme raid controller for like 50 bucks.

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Posted by lsufan1971

Zachary

Member since Nov 2003

21420 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 1:23 pm to Kingpenm3

quote:
a Server OS is recommended for 10 or more workstations.

You will be limited to 10 concurrent connections with a workstation OS as your server.

If you have any type of personal data, payment info on that box etc you need a server OS and use AD. You’re asking for trouble with simple security.

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Posted by rumination

Member since Jan 2020

742 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 3:39 pm to ColdDuck

Good idea.

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Posted by jdd48

Baton Rouge

Member since Jan 2012

22834 posts

Posted on 4/8/22 at 3:45 pm to Kingpenm3

I personally would not go with spinning disks of any kind in this day and age, even in a smaller setup like this. I am not sure if the 7200 RPM drive was a mistake in the spec, but that's a spinner. I'd personally go with enterprise SSD's. They're orders of magnitude faster than spinning disks. You can certainly go with NVME or M.2 drives, but they're not going to seem any faster than SSD's without the backend infrastructure to support it (10 GB ethernet or fiber cables and a 10GB switch).

This post was edited on 4/8/22 at 3:52 pm

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