Planning to meet your server needs is an assessment activity that requires a bit of investigation on your part. Ultimately, you are trying to answer a number of "how much" and "what kind" questions:
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How many employees do you have? |
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What problem are you trying to solve? |
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What kind of software do you need for the number of people you have? |
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How fast does the server need to process data (i.e., processor speed)? |
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How many processors do you need? Some solutions require two or more. |
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How much memory (RAM) do you need? |
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How much hard disk space does data require, now and in the future? |
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What kind of hard disk controller (SATA, SCSI, or SAS) do you need? |
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Do you want a rack mount server or a tower? |
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How many network interface cards do you need? |
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Do you plan to attach additional backup and storage drives (tape or optical, for example) to your system? |
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What level of RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) do you want to support? |
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What kind of server management tools do you need? |
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Do you want help getting your server set up? |
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What level of maintenance and support do you need? |
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The good news is that even if you don't know where to begin to start answering these particular questions, the analysis you do of how you want your database, Web server, file server, or other system to function will actually lead to the answers. Once you have a good idea what you are looking for in a solution, a reseller, consultant, and the tools on HP.com can help you convert those good ideas into real server specifications (more on this in the Use it section).
Assessing your needs |
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If you don't have answers for the list of questions above, how do you go about assessing your solutions needs? You have to evaluate several different aspects of the solution to get a complete picture you can use to find the right server to support it:
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The solution itself |
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Software |
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Data |
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Users |
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Your solution |
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While you probably have a good idea of what kind of solution you are planning to create, the more details you can define for it, the easier it will be to choose the right hardware. For example, if you are building a file and print server you might ask:
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How many employees are in your company? |
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How many and what kind of printers do you need to support? |
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How much data do you have now? |
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If you are setting up a Microsoft Exchange server or other e-mail system, you might ask:
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What services do you need to support: e-mail, instant messaging, contact management? |
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Do you plan to support mobile access to your e-mail? |
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In addition to defining how your solution will behave when it first goes into action, you need to consider any additions or changes you plan to make in the next few months or even a year. While your print server may only need to manage one or two printers initially, you may intend to grow it to support eight to twenty printers of varying types, including multifunction printers, scanners, and other printing and imaging devices. When you choose to buy a server for your initial implementation that will support future expansion, you save both time and money.
The software |
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If you plan on running a particular set of software packages on your server, such as a Web server or database, you should gather all of the pertinent details about those packages before you go server shopping. Most have very specific requirements for the kind of systems they need, including the best processor speed as well as a minimum amount of memory and hard disk space.While the documentation for each software package includes these basic requirements, consider asking the software manufacturer or reseller for their advice on what kind of system to buy. It is in their best interest for your solution to succeed, and they have a lot of experience putting their software to work on different servers. Most can quickly and easily tell you what kind of server best supports their software when it runs alone and even in conjunction with other software packages. Typically, this help is free, so take advantage of it.
The data |
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How much data you have now and how much you'll generate over the life of the server will directly dictate how much storage space your server should offer. While defining exactly how much data you have, or how much you will have, for that matter, is much like shooting a moving target, there are ways to calculate some approximate numbers based on past history.For example, if you plan to build a file server to hold documents currently scattered among many different desktop systems, add up the amount of space they take up and divide that by how long it took you to create them (in months, preferably). You'll have a good idea of how much storage space you need immediately, and you can calculate the average amount of data you create per month. Multiply that average by 24 or 36 months, and you'll have a good idea of how much storage space you'll need on your server in two or three years.If you are creating a more complicated solution like a database-driven Web site, rely on your programming staff or consultants to help you define how much data the system will generate. Also, don't forget that your actual data isn't the only information your server will store. Any software you install will take up disk space, as will the server's operating system, so you have to take all of that into account when you consider drive space. The good news is that a reseller or sales associate can help you pull this all together.
Users and performance |
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Finally, you need to have a good idea of how many people will be working with your solution and how well it needs to operate for them. Both of these factors affect the horsepower (both processor speed and memory) your server needs. If your file and print servers will only have eight or 10 users, you won't need as much power. However, if it will have to support 50 to100 users your power needs will be more significant.If you are building an intranet or a Web site, you need to have a rough estimate of how many people will visit the site per day. In addition, if you are building a database solution, how many people will be accessing the database at once?Also, don't just think about how many users your system needs to support when you launch it. As with data, consider how many users you expect to support in six months, a year, or two years. You want to be sure that your server is ready to support an increasing number of users.Tip: Depending on the complexity of the solution, you may have to evaluate each of these different aspects yourself, or the IT professionals building the solution may do it for you. If you are putting the solution together yourself (for an office file and print server or a small intranet, for example) assess your needs as completely as possible but don't be afraid to rely on a reseller, consultant, or other expert for help reviewing your work. They don't have to build the solution from soup to nuts to give you the benefit of their expertise, and the few hundred dollars you spend up front to buy a few hours of a professional's time could save you thousands of dollars down the road.
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When to consider a server | |
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Related links | |
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Related courses | |
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| The HP Learning center offers a variety of courses related to creating a marketing brochure. Visit it today and look for: |
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Firewall basics |
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Introduction to storage area networks |
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