From Aventine Solutions
[edit] Requirements
Original system requirements from ESC for a frontend and a backend server were:
Front-end Server 1
200GB of hard disk
4 GB of RAM (can it work on less)
- Operating System windows 2003 SBS
- .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 & 3.5
- IIS7
Backend – Server 2
200GB of hard disk
4 GB of RAM
- MOSS 2007 SP1
- SQL server 2008
- CRM 4.0 (fully patched)
- .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 & 3.5
They have agreed that we could squeeze it on one server for now with 6GB of memory and I think we are going to try 4GB because 6GB is hard to configure with the hosting companies. Please note feedback about this from Brecht Vliege:
I think that running the system initially on 1 server can be a good idea in the beginning of the project to test and stabilize the product.
However we do not advise placing the front and back end systems on 1 server when placing the product live. This configuration will bring security and performance flaws since sharepoint and crm use a lot of system resources. In the future we can "easily" move the website and sql server to another system or web server to improve performance when needed. However moving sharepoint and crm won't be so easy.
Also note that Microsoft itself does not recommend running all of this on a single server. We will try it and expect that we might have performance problems, in which case, the first server becomes the backend and we add second, lest powerful machine as the separated frontend.
Therefore, the specification for now, for a single server is:
- at least 200GB hard disk
- single dual-core CPU
- 4GB RAM
Software licenses will come from The Tube's subscription to BizSpark and are the following:
- MS Server 2008
- MS SQL Server 2008
- MOSS 2007 SP1
- CRM 4.0 fully patched
- IIS7
- .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 & 3.5
[edit] Proposals
[edit] XS4ALL
| Website:
| http://www.xs4all.nl/en/allediensten/eigenserver/ds/specificaties.php
|
| Contact:
| Abdel Issa, 020/398 7164
|
| Price:
| Setup €150/Monthly €369
|
| Contract Length:
| 24 months
|
| Model:
| Type II Intel Quad Core
|
| CPU:
| single Core 2 Quad
|
| Memory:
| 4GB
|
| Storage:
| 1TB RAID 1
|
| SLA:
| unknown
|
| Features:
| remote serial console, remote power switch
|
| Notes:
| seems like a good middle priced solutions. They have an excellent reputation in the Netherlands. Price does not include managed firewall, managed backups or managed system administration.
|
[edit] Terremark
| Website:
| http://www.terremark.nl
|
| Contact:
| Joost Kolk, 023/547 7946 ext 555
|
| Price:
| Setup €5,250/Monthly €1,050
|
| Contract Length:
| undetermined
|
| CPU:
| 2.0 single Quad Core
|
| RAM:
| 2GB
|
| Storage:
| 73GB SCSI SAS RAID
|
| SLA:
| 99.5% availability
|
| Features:
| managed firewall, managed backups of full system including OS image, VPN access
|
| Attachments:
| solutions, Europe Capability Statement
|
| Notes:
| This seems like a top-of-the-line, high availability, fully managed solution. You get what you pay for. The SLA is extreme high availability. These people usually do large, custom installations and this project is almost too basic for them. Note that for this extreme price we don't even get our 4GB of RAM or enough storage. A colleague that I worked with at Chess recommended this one.
|
[edit] PCExtreme
| Website:
| http://www.pcextreme.nl
|
| Contact:
| Attila van der Velde, 0900 9633
|
| Price:
| Setup ?/Monthly €190
|
| Contract Length:
| undetermined
|
| Model:
| SuperMicro Quad2Core
|
| CPU:
| single Core 2 Quad
|
| Memory:
| 4GB
|
| Storage:
| 500GB SATA II
|
| SLA:
| very basic, 8x5x4
|
| Features:
| Supermicro IPMI (KVM, PDU + remote install), hardware RAID 0/1
|
| Notes:
| unmanaged, no RAID, we do the firewall, backups and system administration ourselves, very cheap, can be ordered online at http://www.pcextreme.nl/winkelmand/dedicated-server/4. Watch out, we don't know yet the set-up fee; most of the information I got was only from the website. This company was recommended by a colleague at Fortis.
|
[edit] Hostnet
| Website:
| http://www.hostnet.nl/dedicated-server/dedicated-server-prijzen-en-aanvragen.php
|
| Contact:
| awaiting callback 020/750 0800
|
| Price:
| Setup ?/Monthly €289
|
| Contract Length:
| undetermined
|
| Model:
| Dell 2590
|
| CPU:
| single Core 2 Quad
|
| Memory:
| 4GB
|
| Storage:
| 4 x 146GB SAS in RAID 5
|
| SLA:
| unknown
|
| Features:
| Plesk is an option
|
| Notes:
| seems like another good medium priced solutions, awaiting info on set-up fees and length of contract, this is completely unmanaged, but a managed server is also an option. Bruno has used this company.
|
[edit] Rackspace
| Website:
| http://www.rackspace.co.uk
|
| Contact:
| Tom de Groot 020/753 3230
|
| Price:
| Setup €362/Monthly €438
|
| Contract Length:
| undetermined
|
| Model:
| Rackspace Tower Server
|
| CPU:
| single Dual Core AMD
|
| Memory:
| 4GB
|
| Storage:
| 250GB SATA RAID 1
|
| SLA:
| Fanatical Support 24 x 7
|
| Features:
| estimate includes managed incremental backups including database and managed firewall
|
| Attachment:
| proposal
|
| Notes:
| medium-high price solution with good support and managed firewall/backups.
|
