Hey guys i know this isnt really regarding speed or networking but i find you fellas very knowledgable and was wondering if you can help me with this:
current set up @ a network:
8 servers running, 1 for each department of the company(ex: 1 for department a, 1 for b, 1 for C, 1 for d and so on)
my boss wants to get rid of the 8 servers, and just use 1 main server, and have 1 back up server.
How would i go about taking those 8 servers running windows 2003 on each one, and make them all run on 1 server and a backup server there with that info just in case the main one goes down.
i was told something about possibly using VMWare, is that the best option or are there other options? can you give me a lay out on how to go about this in a timely fashion... i would also like to mention that the company cannot afford going offline ESPECIALLY 1 of the servers that hosts the exchange server(so they can recieve their emails) and the blackberry enterprise server CANT GO DOWN either. they need their blackberry phones to constantly work.
edit: i know im asking for alot of help but if u can give me a decently detailed plan that would be great, you dont need to explain everything to the T because worst comes to worst im sure if i know what steps to take i can research more on that step to get a more detailed look on how to go about it.
and lastly, what problems can i run into? so im ready for them.
EDIT: Oh yes, I forgot to mention 1 thing, 1 of those 8 servers is a server running their website, I think it will be a good idea to keep that on its own server.
Question to Philip, and YeOldeStonedCat
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TheNetNewbie
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YeOldeStonecat
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First thing to do is lay out what each of your 8 current servers runs. Are they being underutilized? Could those be consolidated at all?
Something like
Server 1...Active Directory/Infrastructure
Server 2...e-mail
Server 3...database A
Server 4...file storage, print sharing
Server 5...wireless and antivirus management, other network tools, etc
Server 6...Accounting apps
Server 7...database B or more storage?
Server 8...Web
Agreed..web server should be separate, actually recommend you host that elsewhere in a data center. Or at least have it on a server that's DMZd or VLANd off of your primary network.
VMWare could be a good option. They do have kits that allow you to do failover, for example, build 2x physical servers, each one running 4x virtual servers. Some options include failover...say you have a problem with one of the physical servers...it will "move" those 4 virtual servers to your other server..so for a while, it can run all 8x virtual servers and keep production running..while you fix the other one..and then shift those 4 back when the second server is up and running. You can migrate your 8 existing servers using a "P to V" client they have, which allows you to suck in the current servers and turn them into hosted virtual servers..sort of on the fly.
Something like
Server 1...Active Directory/Infrastructure
Server 2...e-mail
Server 3...database A
Server 4...file storage, print sharing
Server 5...wireless and antivirus management, other network tools, etc
Server 6...Accounting apps
Server 7...database B or more storage?
Server 8...Web
Agreed..web server should be separate, actually recommend you host that elsewhere in a data center. Or at least have it on a server that's DMZd or VLANd off of your primary network.
VMWare could be a good option. They do have kits that allow you to do failover, for example, build 2x physical servers, each one running 4x virtual servers. Some options include failover...say you have a problem with one of the physical servers...it will "move" those 4 virtual servers to your other server..so for a while, it can run all 8x virtual servers and keep production running..while you fix the other one..and then shift those 4 back when the second server is up and running. You can migrate your 8 existing servers using a "P to V" client they have, which allows you to suck in the current servers and turn them into hosted virtual servers..sort of on the fly.
MORNING WOOD Lumber Company
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Guinness for Strength!!!
To do anything nice with vmware, you need a san. Cant do DRS, HA, DR, vmotion without one. So no failover (HA).
I would say removing 6 servers is a very bad idea.
Exchange should not be running on a DC
BBE must be run on a non exchange server
You should have 2 DC servers.
Perhaps you can let us know why he wnats to scale down? What kind of servers do you have, are they new .. if not vmware will work poorly.
Consider how much ram each server has now, if you use vmware you will need the same amount of ram on the vmware server.
Why not migrate your webserver offsite to a hosting server? There one server down.
Problems you can run into, your vmware server crashing and all your servers are down or lost forever.
If you are going to do vmware, you should have a san ... then the host servers are just hardware they can catch on fire and you will still be up and running.
Other then providing a reason for the downsize, i would say keeping 8 servers is best.
If space is a problem, buy a rack and mount the servers in there, shelves can be bought and 8 servers + upses will fit fine on a 48U rack.
I would say removing 6 servers is a very bad idea.
Exchange should not be running on a DC
BBE must be run on a non exchange server
You should have 2 DC servers.
Perhaps you can let us know why he wnats to scale down? What kind of servers do you have, are they new .. if not vmware will work poorly.
Consider how much ram each server has now, if you use vmware you will need the same amount of ram on the vmware server.
Why not migrate your webserver offsite to a hosting server? There one server down.
Problems you can run into, your vmware server crashing and all your servers are down or lost forever.
If you are going to do vmware, you should have a san ... then the host servers are just hardware they can catch on fire and you will still be up and running.
Other then providing a reason for the downsize, i would say keeping 8 servers is best.
If space is a problem, buy a rack and mount the servers in there, shelves can be bought and 8 servers + upses will fit fine on a 48U rack.
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YeOldeStonecat
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This isn't something you want to rush into. As discussed over IM last night....you have a lot of homework to do first.
You've barely been there for 2 weeks..and don't have an idea of what those 8 servers are currently running. In detail.
You need to really look at everything...everything..that is being run on those 8 servers. They may have 8 servers now for a reason. Or they may have experienced fast growth and had poorly managed outsourced IT that simply added another server for some new job in order to make money...instead of adding that feature to an existing server.
Microsoft Small Business Server is an example of putting most of your eggs in one basket, you have your primary server running Active Directory and all those infrastructure services, as well as Exchange Server, Sharepoint, Shared Fax, an Remote Access Portal, etc. For many companies, even up to your size...it can do the job well.
However...it's not designed for "heavy loads"...since in itself it's already doing a heavy load.
Your company is an architect/construction firm. From my experience, these types of businesses can push their network and servers a bit more.
You said approx 50 users.
*File storage....large CAD drawings..those are huge files. You want network storage with a fast disk subsystem. 15krpm drives in a big RAID array. This is not something I would want hosted on a server doing other jobs..such as SBS. I would want this on a dedicated network storage box.
*Line of business applications. As soon as you mentioned construction design....I asked if they run Timberline. "Yes". That's not a lightweight application..it desires a pretty potent server. I would not want to run Timberline off of another server that runs tons of other apps, I'd want this on its own dedicated server.
*Need to inventory your entire network and all users..and see what else they run. Contact management software, other accounting applications, etc.
*Do they run a Terminal Server, so that the foreman on job sites can remote in with their laptops from the site trailer office and get access to Timberline or drawings.
*A design shop does lots of printing, commonly massive drawing files going to a Design Jet plotter. Printers should be shared from a server. This server should be a server of light load, so that sending a big drawing to the plotter doesn't bog down other things that server is doing.
No way do I see combining all 8 servers into 1.
I can't even bring it down to 2....I'd not even want to squeeze it down to 3....I'd want to start with 4 servers and 1 backup box. And we've already moved your web server offsite to a proper hosting company.
1-DC/Infrastructure. Running Active Directory and all that comes with it..DNS, DHCP. Also antivirus management and print serving.
2-Exchange Server
3-NAS box for storage of files according to workgroups
4-Application Server for hosting apps such as Timberline
Backup Box..since your boss wants redundancy into your network...take a look at Zenith InfoTech
http://www.zenithinfotech.com/bdr_sol.asp
They have a NAS box that does your backups, it runs agents on all your servers, does near CDP, and it also has the ability to be a VM host..so that if a server goes up in smoke, you can restore the backup image onto the Zenith box yourself and run that server as a virtual machine, until you get your physical server fixed/replaced. It then performs a bare metal restore onto your new server.
Spreading the load of your users needs across several different servers gives you the benefit of higher uptime for those services. If one application is acting up, and requires a reboot...if you were running all of your services on one server, all users experience downtime. Versus...when you spread your network needs across several servers...if one thing is acting up and requires a reboot of the server...only the users of that particular service get impacted, other things are still running.
You've barely been there for 2 weeks..and don't have an idea of what those 8 servers are currently running. In detail.
You need to really look at everything...everything..that is being run on those 8 servers. They may have 8 servers now for a reason. Or they may have experienced fast growth and had poorly managed outsourced IT that simply added another server for some new job in order to make money...instead of adding that feature to an existing server.
Microsoft Small Business Server is an example of putting most of your eggs in one basket, you have your primary server running Active Directory and all those infrastructure services, as well as Exchange Server, Sharepoint, Shared Fax, an Remote Access Portal, etc. For many companies, even up to your size...it can do the job well.
However...it's not designed for "heavy loads"...since in itself it's already doing a heavy load.
Your company is an architect/construction firm. From my experience, these types of businesses can push their network and servers a bit more.
You said approx 50 users.
*File storage....large CAD drawings..those are huge files. You want network storage with a fast disk subsystem. 15krpm drives in a big RAID array. This is not something I would want hosted on a server doing other jobs..such as SBS. I would want this on a dedicated network storage box.
*Line of business applications. As soon as you mentioned construction design....I asked if they run Timberline. "Yes". That's not a lightweight application..it desires a pretty potent server. I would not want to run Timberline off of another server that runs tons of other apps, I'd want this on its own dedicated server.
*Need to inventory your entire network and all users..and see what else they run. Contact management software, other accounting applications, etc.
*Do they run a Terminal Server, so that the foreman on job sites can remote in with their laptops from the site trailer office and get access to Timberline or drawings.
*A design shop does lots of printing, commonly massive drawing files going to a Design Jet plotter. Printers should be shared from a server. This server should be a server of light load, so that sending a big drawing to the plotter doesn't bog down other things that server is doing.
No way do I see combining all 8 servers into 1.
I can't even bring it down to 2....I'd not even want to squeeze it down to 3....I'd want to start with 4 servers and 1 backup box. And we've already moved your web server offsite to a proper hosting company.
1-DC/Infrastructure. Running Active Directory and all that comes with it..DNS, DHCP. Also antivirus management and print serving.
2-Exchange Server
3-NAS box for storage of files according to workgroups
4-Application Server for hosting apps such as Timberline
Backup Box..since your boss wants redundancy into your network...take a look at Zenith InfoTech
http://www.zenithinfotech.com/bdr_sol.asp
They have a NAS box that does your backups, it runs agents on all your servers, does near CDP, and it also has the ability to be a VM host..so that if a server goes up in smoke, you can restore the backup image onto the Zenith box yourself and run that server as a virtual machine, until you get your physical server fixed/replaced. It then performs a bare metal restore onto your new server.
Spreading the load of your users needs across several different servers gives you the benefit of higher uptime for those services. If one application is acting up, and requires a reboot...if you were running all of your services on one server, all users experience downtime. Versus...when you spread your network needs across several servers...if one thing is acting up and requires a reboot of the server...only the users of that particular service get impacted, other things are still running.
MORNING WOOD Lumber Company
Guinness for Strength!!!
Guinness for Strength!!!
Why do you need to cut back servers?
I would agree with yeold, 4 or 5 servers is the lowest i would go. As for a nas box, why buy more hardware when he has all those servers?
When i start a new job, i only do break / fix work for the first fiew months. You dont know enough about the network, to do it safely after 2 weeks. And you will mess something up .. or not know you messed something up.
I would agree with yeold, 4 or 5 servers is the lowest i would go. As for a nas box, why buy more hardware when he has all those servers?
When i start a new job, i only do break / fix work for the first fiew months. You dont know enough about the network, to do it safely after 2 weeks. And you will mess something up .. or not know you messed something up.