If you already have a server there is a good chance that we will be able to use that server to host the office database for RealDropzone™ the only requirement is that you have Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or 2008, workgroup edition or higher. Additionally, you’ll want about 1GB of memory available exclusively for SQL Server and about 10GB of disk space to handle both the RealDropzone database, and an external USB hard drive used for local backups.
It is very important that *QUALITY* hardware is purchased for your server. I cannot stress enough how critical it is to not go with discount hardware or home built machines. You can go with any solution you want for your workstations, but the server is effectively a single point of failure for the software running at the office.
Pricing for hardware changes all the time, we recommend DELL servers and will assist you in pricing one on their website with the specifications that you will need. (please note that you can ussually save 10% on dell equipment just by calling them and haggling the price below the one on the website)
Server prices will range from $1,800 to $3,500 depending on the size of your business. Some things to consider when purchasing a server:
BUY THE SUPPORT PACKAGE! DELL offers an extended 3 year on-site warentee for just a few hundred dollars. This is well worth it because it means that if anything goes wrong with your device that you will not have to pay to get it fixed, and that it will be fixed the next day.
You must have a Microsoft operating system and licenses for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or 2008. We recommend purchasing Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 Premium with 5 client access licenses because this will provide you with Microsoft Exchange and some other useful server tools at a discounted price.
Get a server with hardware RAID! These add a significant amount to the price of the server and many people want to skip this purchase. Hardware RAID controllers are able to mirror the data on two harddrives at the hardware level without effecting performance. Because hard drives are the one device that is most prone to failure, this is critical to keeping your business up and going. With a properly configured hardware RAID controller you can have a hard drive fail completely and will continue to be able to use the server without trouble while you replace the failed device. This beats being offline for a busy saturday!
We do not sell hardware but we would be happy to walk you through purchasing a server from DELL or HP by pricing it on their website, and then calling to haggle down the price for you.