Server Technology for Small Businesses

Many of our small business customers fall into the 10 – 30 employee range, often meaning that the previous IT Guy/Gal was the company owner or one of their “tech-savvy” employees/nephews. When onboarding new clients we often see business-critical software running on consumer-grade computers, and our new customers wonder why they should bother “upgrading” their legacy workstations. My goal with this article is to discuss some of the benefits of server hardware and operating systems in a way that makes sense to a business owner looking to make the best decision for their business.

 

Benefits of a Server installation:

1. Reliability: Server memory, called ECC RAM, does error checking and correction and is therefore way more stable than a consumer-grade machine (ie. servers very rarely crash). Enterprise-grade hard-drives have lifespans that are 10x as long lasting as standard drives. Servers often come with built-in hardware RAID, which basically means that your storage is mirrored onto at least two hard-drives – if a drive fails we get an alarm to replace the failed drive but from your perspective there will be no downtime. Performance tends to be significantly better due to superior processors, network hardware, etc.
2. Virtualization is one of those buzz-words that really is worth the “buzz”. If your business depends on multiple software solutions (eg. Customer Relationship Management suites, in-house accounting software, network shares, etc.), a single physical server can simulates multiple servers. This brings big benefits from both a performance and a security best-practices perspective. Provided there are enough resources available in the physical server, this would also enable you to easily spin up new “servers” very quickly with no additional hardware purchased. If your budget allows for it, virtualization can be deployed in a “cluster” of physical servers, meaning that a physical server (host) could have a failure (or could be taken down for maintenance) while your virtual servers are moved to one of the other hosts with no business interruption.
3. User management and portability – in an office of 10 – 30 employees, user accounts (passwords, files, applications, etc.) can become difficult to manage across dozens of computers. Windows Server brings with it several technologies that allow management of a large number of workstations from a central machine called a Domain Controller. Active Directory can be used to manage user identity and passwords, and Group Policy can be used to configure common office policies on the server and deploy to users without the need to install on each individual machine (printers, shares, etc.).User roaming can be supported, where your workstation files are stored on the server, enabling your users to log into any machine in the office and bring their files and applications with them. This can also simplify your disaster recovery strategy since all the data lives on the main server.

 

We deal primarily with Dell Poweredge Servers running the Windows Server operating system for our customers. The Windows Server operating system tends to add at least an extra $1000 to the price, and the hardware more expensive than a consumer-grade machine, however we also sell and support refurbished servers re-certified by Dell for our more budget-conscious customers. When you consider time saved by ease of management, the added peace of mind from using performance and security industry best-practices, and decreased downtime and associated costs, it’s obvious that a modest investment in your IT infrastructure now will quickly pay for itself.