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Antmiller720 · Dec 2, 2006, 04:17 PM

I am looking at severs to invest in for a business I wish to start. I have secured capital (thanks uncle sam) now I need to get a server. The server needs to have at least 2 TB of hard disk storage space, and needs to be able to be accessed by at least 20 people over the internet. I have found Ether disk 2 tb servers for around 1500 us dollars, and "backup" servers for around 4000 us dollars for same amount of disk space. I want to know if a Ether disk server would be able to handle med to high data transfers of largish chunks of data from up to 20 people over the internet. I am aware this is a complete beginner question, I am a beginner is why :D . Links to where I may educate myself on server capabilities or any thing else that would be helpful for the above would also be appreciated.

Curlyben · Dec 2, 2006, 04:25 PM

OK a few questions.
What do you intend to use this system for ?
I'm just in the process of installing a multi site ERP system with up to 50 users concurrently over the company WAN with sync'd disaster recovery option.
2Tb seems like a lot of sorage for only 20 users, my main file server is only a couple of hundred Gb's

You also need to consider you internet connection.
20 internet connections isn't high usage, doesn't even scrape low.
What size pipe are you looking to use ?

Antmiller720 · Dec 3, 2006, 10:19 PM

Thanks for the speedy reply! The users will be at least 20 at minimum, round 40+ is the goal per 2 tb, possible more. What I will be providing is storage space of up to 1 gb for use over the internet for special purposes, most people will not be using the full space allowed however. This is not going to be a in house intranet or multi site network, but a service over the internet. I know it sounds weird with the space involved for number of users, but I believe that I have a customer base that is interested. Don't want to say too much about the service I plan to provide before I have it up, sorry to be obscure. I don't know the internet connection I will be usings bandwidth yet, what ever proves to be cost efficeint for twice expected volume of use. I am truly at the planing stage and looking to see what I need to learn and use for the business. Have had the business plan aproved and funds secured, now need to get the hardware and such. I have a felling I might not of answered your questions :D Thank you for
Your help I will try to clear any ambiguities I have left if you need any more info. I am also getting sevral books to try and cram the info I need into my head, any suggestions on that score or links are also welcome

Curlyben · Dec 4, 2006, 02:38 PM

Hmmm OK your response really doesn't make anything clearer.
Now if storage is all you are interested in then a simple NAS would suit your needs.
These are cheap for a lot of storage space and can be connected to any networked computer.
Saves on the expense of server hardware as you can happily mount them on a simple desktop machine.

If you really want to go the full server router, how about a 2U spec server attached to a storage array filled with large SATA or SAS drives. This will easily give you the capacity you require, with a lot of inbuilt redunancy.