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Hi everyone,

I finally found a job that will give some exp to my IT career one of them is in a company that wants to create an IT department… Long story short , i forgot everything related to IT during unemployment.

They want me to re install their local network physically and software wise. They are using a software server with windows 2008r2 installed in a somewhat normal pc, knowing that they have 30+ pcs connected to it wired and wireless.

Ofc proposing a data center will be a fast end to my career xD so i welcome all your suggestions, ideas and critics.

13 Spice ups
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I’d start out by mapping the network - maybe use Spiceworks to get a good inventory. Then, the first thing on my list would be to look at the fault tickets for the past, say 12 months. That will give you an idea of what the users get up to. Of course, if there is no ticketing system, then bring on Spiceworks!

Once you have some sort of handle on the scope of your network and the key issues it’s engendered - start ticking the issues off one by one. Make sure you keep good stats on calls, resolutions, etc.

Finally, take a hard look to see if you have any PCs running XP or earlier rand make it a huge priority in the next 5-6 months to move these onto the latest platform (e.g. Windows 7 or 8.1). I;'d also migrate the Ad to Server 2012 and put it on a real server class system.

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Depending on your environment, I would think that a good early step (once you’ve gotten a feel for budget constraints) would be to get at least a tower server - get away from using a standard PC if you can help it. Ideally, a pair of tower servers set up with VMWare or Hyper-V, then you can flesh out some virtual machines for the business’s needs (i.e. domain controller, exchange server, file server). Having a pair would allow you to have redundancy in case there’s a problem with one machine. Do they have any form of content filtering in place? It sounds like it’s a small business, so I’m uncertain as to what they would be willing to spend - can it be done right or does it have to be done cheap?

If you’ve not set up a network before, I would advise some training videos (i.e. via Pluralsight) as they would probably be the quickest way to get you through the process with some level of comfort.

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I’m with Nick - if you can get a couple of tower servers and set them up with some kind of virtualisation technology, you’re well on the way to getting it off the ground.

As for the specs, I’d say you want to look at something with plenty of CPU cores and plenty of RAM. There’s no hard and fast limit, and it’s only decided by your budget, really. Nothing overboard though. Maybe a hundred or so Gb of RAM, 24 cores and you’ll have some leftover in case new servers/extra resource is needed.

Again, as Nick says, you want to get your DC and File Server set up. Exchange depends on what the company’s using for email at the moment. If they’ve got something else sorted and they’re happy, it’s one less headache while you get your feet on the ground.

Those 3 have your basics covered. You said it’s only around 30 PCs at the business, so you don’t need mountains of storage and resource to throw at them.

Sadly, I’m not much of a network guy, so I’m not sure what it’d take to get your network off the ground, but it sounds like there’s at least SOMETHING in place there (albeit sketchy sounding). If it works for now, you’ve got some breathing room to learn how to improve it. Maybe price up some small switches to cover everybody and get cabling sorted around the office so everyone’s got a wired connection. Run it all back to mission control and you’re well on your way.

YouTube and Google can help you get your head around the virtualisation side of things, and from there it could branch out into setting up your network. Just get Googling and see where it goes! Best of luck mate

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First: with any IT project, back out and come at it from the perspective of what the business needs. Come up with a list based on your experiences, then engage with management to finalize and prioritize. Examples include: security, stability, wireless access for staff, wireless access for guests, remote access to email, remote access to company data, compliance with relevant regulations, et. al.

ONLY when you have these requirements properly defined and prioritized should you move on to designing the network.

WHILE you’re working on the requirements, fully document what you have. Be detailed:

  • Server(s): Hardware specifications, server OS, running services, serial number, warranty status, etc.
  • Workstations: Hardware specifications, OS, serial number, warranty status, location, type (desktop, laptop).
  • Network Devices: Shared printers, print servers - make, model, serial number, warranty status, owned or leased.
  • Software Licensing: The bane of IT’s existence. Make sure you know - and can prove - what you own and where it’s installed. Do this before you get an audit notice. Also gain a complete understanding of any special software your organization is using. For example, a non-profit may have a donor tracking system … that’s 15 years old … and runs on a DOS-based database … on a 20 year-old PC … on the floor … in the broom closet … next to a leaky water pipe.
  • Infrastructure: Switch make/model, serial number, warranty status; cable type; number of ports in use; whether ports are properly labeled to match patch panel; router make, model, and serial number; components of wireless network.

As noted, Spiceworks is a great tool to help with this.

Once you have a firm grasp on what the organization needs AND what it currently has, you can craft a “Good, Better, Best” proposal for the Powers That Be. Keep in mind that you should never - under any circumstances - offer a solution you are not 100% comfortable supporting. Management is looking to YOU - the IT Professional - to guide them.

Take the long view while you’re at it. It’s not always necessary to dump $75k on new tech all at once. Hit the big stuff (like software out of license compliance or server hardware that can’t handle the required workload) first, and structure the rest in 1, 3, and 5 year milestones. Remember to build in regular workstation refreshes every 3-5 years. A popular desktop refresh policy is 1/3 of the units every year.

“Refresh” doesn’t necessarily have to mean “replace”. You might get away with a memory upgrade and deploying a fresh OS image, for example.

5 Spice ups
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Well, you’ll need to define what roles and services you’ll offer not just today, but n years down the road. It sounds like the company is somewhat willing to invest in hardware or software, so I’d personally try and spec a server for what the company will need in 5 years (usually the duration of a server warranty) with the expectation that the company will be replacing this hardware at that time. It’s also always a good idea to add more to this to anticipate unexpected growth.

How to exactly do that is more of an art than a science, but I typically look at how much data the company had 5 years ago and how much they have now and try and plot that growth first. Usually this isn’t a simple “every year we grow by 100GB” sort of thing but you can usually extrapolate a percentage of growth. Round that up to the nearest 5%/year and make the calculation. Then add at least 10% to it to not only account for unexpected growth but also to give you your needed free space to make sure it runs. I personally like to err on the side of caution and will add 25 to 50% more than needed because storage is cheap (and it’s always cheaper when you buy a server then after the fact).

From there you need to identify the number of servers and what they’ll be doing. It sounds like you probably have a typical SBS setup where you have a single server acting as File/Print/AD/GPO and possibly exchange. If you have email on site you need to split that off onto a second server.

You’ll want to look into virtualization as well, it’s free and helps you keep hardware costs down.

For an office of that size you probably don’t need more than two servers (maybe three), at bare minimum this means a virtual server with a 6C12T processor and 16gb of RAM. If you’re running exchange you’ll want to double that. (now’s the time to look in to Office 365)

Just a basic configuration you’re looking at about $4,300 for that server with a 5 year NBD warranty. When you factor in OS licensing you’re looking between $5,000 and $6,000 when you’re all done. This might sound like a lot but it’s an investment for the comapny, and leasing is always an option. (did everything through Dell’s website, T620 Server with 2TB RAID 10, 16GB of 1600mhz memory, single E5-2620)

If that’s a big pill to swallow there is nothing wrong with going with refurb hardware (check with DFS or XByte to name a few). You’ll easily get 3-5 years on “used” hardware without a problem and you’ll still have warranty options.

When it does come time to purchase you’ll want to use a vendor/reseller, they can get you better pricing that direct and often help you out in determining your licensing options too. Just remember they’re in sales, they want you to part with your money. There is nothing wrong with asking us to double-check thier work.

2 Spice ups
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Put a box around the “physically” bit.

If this involves running cable or installing wireless access points, it’s almost always better to contract those tasks to reputable companies specializing in such. You may hear, “I’ll have the electrician take care of that.” Most electricians are not certified in low-voltage wiring and are entirely unqualified to properly run network cable. Ask before rejecting the suggestion, however, as the number of low-voltage certified electricians is growing (for obvious reasons).

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A hundred GB of RAM would definitely be nice, but in a tight budget, you could make do with significantly less - a DC is going to take about 2GB, and a file server another 2. If you go with Exchange, that will take up a good bit more memory (not sure how much only 30 users will run, but we have 12GB for ours - but that supports nearly 300 users). You could probably get by assigning 4 GB to that, but I’m sure someone more knowledgeable about Exchange will chime in to confirm or correct me.

For starters, I would probably look here: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/poweredge-tower-servers

You could probably shoot for the T420 Performance model, raise the RAM (I would personally want 16GB to allow for at least a small amount of growth). I would also feel more comfortable adding in a second HDD to run a RAID 1. The capacity of the HDDs may need to be increased based on the level of data you expect to manage. If it’s just some basic work documents, the 500GB might be fine for starting out.

Keep in mind that if you go with this lower-cost option, you will likely need to upgrade to something more serious before that 3yr warranty runs out - assuming the company grows. However, where you’re new on the scene and depending on the dynamics of the company, it may be easier to state “I want to spend $4000 on new servers - plus licensing costs, then we can invest in a higher end solution when the company is ready” than to go in guns blazing with “We need to spend $10000-$15000 to get off the ground.”

Again, it’s going to be a matter of weighing your needs/expansion goals against cost (if the big shiny server’s only going add $1-2k, they might want to go that route). You’ll want to get in contact with a rep of the vendor of your choice (we’re a Dell shop and are quite happy) to get a feel for what your options are. Hopefully one of the other small business guys around can tell you what they’re running.

Edit: I will defer to Bryce and Paragraph’s expertise on some of this stuff here - they’ve got far more experience than me, and I believe in an environment closer to yours.

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The only thing that I would add to this is find out what kind of policies they have in place, if they have no policies (AUP, password, etc) you might want to start documenting some outlines of policies that you are going to implement.

Also, while going through all of this, document everything. That way you will be able to create/update the DR plan.

2 Spice ups