In determining what server is right for your business a number of factors must be considered such as virtualization, cloud-based sharing, workforce size and expected usage. With the increased efficiency of servers, multiple workloads such as file sharing and storage, managing network traffic and performing database queries. In addition, the size of the workforce and the data space allotted to each employee will determine the server disk space required for a business.
The first step in determining what server is right for your business is calculating the minimum amount of memory and storage required for business operations. Some of operations expected to be performed by a business server are:
1.) File and document sharing
2.) Print management
3.) Office/Corporate e-mail
4.) Customer management and billing
5.) Human Resource (HR) benefit and payroll processing
A certain amount of server processing, disk storage and memory space will be required for all of these tasks. Adding up the disk storage, memory space and processor cores associated to each of the above functional tasks and allocating an additional 10% on top of each of the three results should produce a set of server specifications for a business that meets all of the performance requirements. For STEM-based businesses, additional factors such as run-time performance, threaded application processing and additional processing power needed to run customized data queries or other specialized applications must be considered as well.
For servers configured as virtual machines, the network performance of the server, including the number of interface cards (NICs) are additional factors that must be consider as well. For smaller virtual servers, an absolute minimum of two NICs are required but four or more NICs ought to be the minimum required amount for server performance optimization.
Besides identifying all of the hardware specifications required to run the business-critical applications today, the future growth rate of the business should be a factor in deciding on a server. If the size of a company has been relatively stable for the past few years, then no adjustments to the original specifications are required. However, for a business that is growing rapidly, purchasing a server that meets today’s requirements may result in having an under-powered and inadequate server within 6 – 12 months. In the latter case, adjusting the minimum amount of disk storage, memory size and processing cores by an additional factor provides enough spare capacity to handle the increased workload in the future. As always, the Nerds are simply a phone call away and eager to help you make the right decisions @ 512-401-6373 or 210-657-6373.
