Large office with nothing but Macs has one client who has one app that they need to run in order to test it and it needs to run off of a Windows server for the next couple of years.

Who makes the most reliable office PC hardware these days with the best warranty/support?

TIA.

Apple.

Has to be a server?

Dell is probably where I'd start. Good quality, but get a good warranty/service plan (usually pretty inexpensive for what you get), and you'll be fine.

Could the app be virtualized on a Mac for testing? Or does it need to be on a dedicated machine?

Dell can usually get you the quickest on-site support. Otherwise I personally know these guys [www.pogolinux.com] Yes, they're mainly Linux but do lots of Windows boxes too. They also have on-site support options.

But I would probably try setting up a VM on an existing Mac server.

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anonymouse1
Has to be a server?

Has to be able to run Windows Server 2008 so reliably that it's set-and-forget. May be upgraded to Server 2012 at some point in its service-life so it should more than meet the expected minimum spec's for that OS.

Nobody there knows Windows and they've been ripped off by bad IT services in the past so they're wary. The PC will be set up by the guys who created the product and they hope to then leave it in its air conditioned room out of sight and out of mind until the project shuts down, so reliability is important...

They asked for my recommendation and all I could think of was that I wouldn't trust Dell or HP for that kind of reliability. Everyone I know with a Dell had it die in year 2 and went through service-hell to get it running again and HP just plain sucks eggs.

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M A V I C
I would probably try setting up a VM on an existing Mac server.

I wish. Not my call.

Dell - besides the obvious UPS, etc...set BIOS to auto power-on everyday (3AM-5AM) and power-on immediately after a power failure.

No VM's for this. No Apples. This sounds critical.

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Who else are you looking at? Acer? Sony?

Dell and HP are kind of the game for corporate PCs/servers at this point. I think Best Buy has killed off their house brands, and then you have the local providers with white box units.

If it's a setup and forget, put it on a name-brand box and put the box on a service contract. I've got a Dell that just gave up the ghost after 10 years (way past a forecast lifespan) and a couple others at between 4 and 7 years old. Biggest issue with Dell and HP is that you probably can't go to 'Computers R Us' to get a replacement motherboard or power supply if they die off, but then again, that's true with most Apple hardware as well.

Hmm. Interesting question. Doesn't anybody make a bullet-proof server? Something in a rack?

Dell, extended NBD warranty, with raid 5 drives and redundant power supples.

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Nothing to see here, move along.

How bullet-proof do you want to be, and how much do you want to spend? Most real data center servers now have redundant everything. Pair two of them up in a failover pattern and connect both to a shared redundant disk array that has its own backup. Run the dual power supplies in each unit to different UPSes connected to different circuits on different panels connected to different backup generators. Run the redundant NIC connections to separate switches. And so on.

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Chakravartin

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anonymouse1
Has to be a server?

They asked for my recommendation and all I could think of was that I wouldn't trust Dell or HP for that kind of reliability. Everyone I know with a Dell had it die in year 2 and went through service-hell to get it running again and HP just plain sucks eggs.

...but Apple uses HP servers??? Hmmm. ; )

How many people you know have Dell's that died within 2 years? And what exactly were these Dell models?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2012 09:40PM by onthedownlow.

what kind of project is this?

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ztirffritz
Dell, extended NBD warranty, with raid 5 drives and redundant power supples.

This.

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C(-)ris

Have you looked into hosted solutions?

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MGS_forgot_password
Have you looked into hosted solutions?

I second this. Unless it's something that needs to stay in house.
Otherwise, I think a VM is a lot more set it and forget it, and easier to disaster recover from, than any physical server. Unless there are hardware reqs that are hard to meet with a virtualization solution.

What can it hurt to put it on VirtualBox first and see how it goes for a couple weeks?
g=

With the new details... "set-and-forget" no can do. You need someone to manage it... even if just on a weekly basis. If you want something you can setup and not have to touch again, go with a hosted, managed solution - eg [www.atlasnetworks.us]

As far as service goes, you need something well beyond what Dell will sell you.

If it has to be on the local network, just set it up so it connects via VPN and not to the outside world.

Putting a windows server on the network and walking away is a recipe for disaster.

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This cannot be hosted "in the cloud."

It cannot be a VM.

It must be a PC to satisfy the spec's of the client that they cannot vary from, including terms guarantying confidentiality from third parties. (I'm in those offices twice a week, some of the bosses think of me like family and even I'm not allowed to know what the app is.)

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M A V I C
If it has to be on the local network, just set it up so it connects via VPN and not to the outside world.

I think that's part of the plan, already.

I'll look into Dell's extended onsite service warranties.

Thanks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2012 05:38AM by Chakravartin.

I missed this yesterday. It requires an advanced version of Server 2008 R2, but I would get a PC with at least 12 GB of RAM and set up a VM's of both the PC and server in Hyper-V and run the the "network" all on one machine. You can do it with a laptop with 8 GB as long as you get one of the more advanced CPU's. A cheap dual core Pentium does not work (from experience).

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in tha 510.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2012 08:17AM by Filliam H. Muffman.

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Filliam H. Muffman
I missed this yesterday. It requires an advanced version of Server 2008 R2, but I would get a PC with at least 12 GB of RAM and set up a VM's of both the PC and server in Hyper-V...

There's only one PC in this scenario: the server. It will not be on their network. It will have a very limited set of users and a point-to-point connection to one other machine.

Reliability is the most important element as it will be sitting there, mostly ignored by the on-site users, for years. I'm not convinced that Dell is a good choice for this.

I've been thinking that whatever the maker, they should have the computer booting from a mirrored RAID with failover... and enterprise-drives or SSDs. Beyond that... dunno yet.