Need Advice for SBS 08' vs Win2K8 Std w/ SQL 2008 Std.
Have client - at any given time - 5 concurrent users (max - typically 4 concurrent on a busy day)3 differnet (separate entities) locations, same deal. - 3 small mom & pop hotelsCurrent Confg:7yr old Dell PowerEdge's - Win2K SBS - only using AD & SQL features - for hotel reservation applicationCurrently setup as separate domains (1 each location w/ domain users - frontdesk people all login with same user/pass)SQL DB's about 4GB each location - they do not use any other feature from SBS - Just AD and SQL.Owner wants/needs to upgrade to newer version of Property Management App (same vendor as current; just newer version)My first thoughts/suggestions:In a since, duplicate what they have now - just replace old with newNew Dell PE's running SBS 2008 Premium (to have the SQL component)Build new AD and setup the boxes pretty much as they have it now; However, at the same time, can I do something different, do I actually need to go the AD route?Would this be too much administration (for me) for this few users?Hardware; Xeon, 6GB, 250(RAID1); redunant P/SI can have this for less than $4K per location, including SBS 2K8 Premium (which is feasable)Issues so far:Vendor is telling me that SBS SQL only supports 1CPU (who cares for this scenerio) and 1GB.I can only find that the "Express" Editions have this limitation - So if anyone can confirm or not - awesome?Second, for some reason he telling me that this is too much hardware for SBS - I just dont understand his thinking, anyone?I believe he is pushing for no SBS and using Win2K8 and SQL separately - to me this is just too expensive (SQL alone is more expensive than SBS) for this scenerio, am I wrong?Third, I am now discovering that it is NOT recommended to run SQL on the DC of the SBS Domain; to install it on a 2nd box (for which it comes with the license to do this very thing) - 2 boxes per location is just too expensive for these people and space is limited.Note:The application requires SQL std. 2008 per vendor - I'm ok with this, this is thier deal.But the databases (at each location) are as small as 5GB. These are not big properties/hotels here.Just FYI - properties are connected together over DSL with VPN appliances - this seems to be working ok for them for the amount of traffic. They use this to check/verify the other properties available rooms with one is full.Does anyone have any other suggestions for this scenerio? (I know, sounds like a freakin Microsoft Test Question doesn't it) but its real.I have been doing work for this guy for a few years bandaiding this stuff over the years until its death. Whomever put it in originally, hey it was a nice run.But I really want to keep cost down (but he is willing to spend); just for IT professionalism.Whatever is suggested/advised would be nice.Randy Okum, MCITPTechKEYS
March 18th, 2010 5:05am

Hi, As the issue is more related to SBS server, regarding the Windows Small Business Server issue, please post to the Windows Small Business Server discussion group. The support professionals there are better equipped to assist you. For your convenience, I’ve included the link of Windows Small Business Server discussion group: Discussions in Windows Small Business Server Generalhttp://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs SBS08 Public Newsgroupshttps://connect.microsoft.com/cougar/content/content.aspx?ContentID=8333Best regards,Wilson JiaThis posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 24th, 2010 6:19am

Hi , From infrastructure front , is there a need to upgrade the server to support property management app is what i would think If your app does work with current setup then i would not go for newer version if you are cost centric. And sbs premier edition supports SQL. If you are not using SBS , then yes installing SQL on DC is not recommended practice, you can think of virtualization. I would say with hyper-v/ microsoft virtual server you would only pay for licenses and not for hardware . Try exploring those. For more information on working aspects of SBS , please follow wilson's suggestion
March 24th, 2010 9:23am

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics