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December 1996 Reviews This Month
Prohibitively high-priced servers forced many small businesses or workgroups to buy a beefed-up desktop PC to do the job of a file server. But while a system marketed as a server has the same basic components as a fast PC with lots of RAM, there are (or should be) characteristic differences.
There are four important elements to a great server: robustness, expansion, management and support. These elements are important when building a server, but all four elements may not be completely necessary for every server implementation.
The components in a robust server are higher grade than those of most workstations on the network. High-quality components improve system stability and sustain good performance as more users are added to the system. The processor in the server is of a powerful (Pentium or higher) class, and a really robust server may handle more than one. The underlying subsystems in a robust server are capable of supporting high throughput, such as a PCI-based network interface card and a SCSI hard drive.
Expandable servers have a direct correlation with robustness within a server. As the number of users on the network increases and server activity rises, modifications can be made to the system without making another large investment. You may also be able to upgrade a very expandable server to the next generation of processors.
Server management allows system administrators to monitor server activity, catch system bottlenecks, and be made aware of component failures or potential failures. Management software isn't usually included with a standard PC but can be added later on. The caveat to going this route is that the management software won't be specific to the server, so you may not get a complete, detailed look at all of the components.
Great customer support for your server is essential
for getting answers to problems and potential problems, and for
getting replacement parts for a system that has a hardware failure.
A server manufacturer should provide 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week
phone support coverage and overnight replacement parts. A three-year
warranty seems to be standard as well.
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