Mike Coan wrote:
We have a small office LAN (10 workstations) We are in the process of replacing our server. For one of our major applications we have to have a Windows Server. My plan is to run SuSE 9.3 x64 on the server, and then run Windows 2003 server as a guest OS using VMWare workstation 5.0.
So, what's the reason to install Linux if you need Windows? It won't become more stabile that way.
i am not inclined to use raid 5. Our current server had raid 5 with a Perc controller and 3 Ultra 160 SCSI drives. When one of the drives failed the controller began beeping like crazy, but everything worked Too bad i didn't know what the beeping meant. By the time I figured out what the beeping meant, a second drive failed and I had to reinstall Windows Small Business Server on the remaining drive.
Do not expect any pity from me! I had a good laugh. (^-^) Honestly, the normal reason there are special features in a server is not to maximize the available power. It is to minimize downtime by redundancy and sturdy components and replace parts that do break as easily as possible. Furthermore most dedicated servers come with some kind of software to continuously check the state of the hardware. If those ten people can not work with the major application on your server what does it mean for your business? Add to that the time you spend to reinstall the server and the mood in the office because of your downtime, perhaps even trouble with clients or problems because of data loss and you will quickly appreciate a sturdy server. If a lot of people are working with a server then even downtime is a real loss of money. Sandy PS: Recently I spend almost an entire week mostly to install and verify that our new UPS will work as advertised and that our servers will indeed shut off if the power comes down. I sleep better now. Of course, there are some more people at our office who would be a bit put off if they couldn't use one of our main servers. -- List replies only please! Please address PMs to: news-reply (@) japantest (.) homelinux (.) com