As part of my job I build, configure and maintain servers for small to medium sized business so have used a wide range of servers on a regular basis.
The Proliant ML370 G4 like most HP servers is generally a well constructed, reliable server computer. I have used the lightning fast dual Xeon 3.02GHz version with standard 1GB of PC2-3200 DDR2 and as you might expect it runs quite nicely. The server case is quite robust and fits nicely into your rack if you put it together correctly!
Our ML370 is currently running Windows 2003 SBS, Exchange 2003, BizTrack, Navision with still plently of processing power left over. Based on 50 users constantly access files over the network, emailing and using SQL server heavily it still seems to show room for expansion alongside the growth of the business. If you are considering using Terminal Services for thinclient users then this server has handled up to 25 concurrent connections with no problems
If you purchase the 6 hot-swappable SCSI 200GB hard disks in RAID 10 its well worth the money for the longterm. If the RAID doesn't come preconfigured from HP then its no hassle at all to set it up yourself, using the handy bootable serveRAID CD HP provide. You can also use the built-in SCSI card for a tape drive.
HP's tech support are pretty good, based in Ireland (at the moment) and competent enough to talk you through any issues.
But if you are a very small business (1-10 users) not planning on using any processor intensive server-side applications, then maybe a custom built P4 3.0GHz server would be cheaper and more apt for your needs.
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Dec 9th, 2005
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