Comment on Looking for help/guidance on how to setup a server for a business
IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Others have already mentioned about the challenges on the software/management side, but you also need to take into consideration hardware failures, power outages, network outages, acceptable downtime and so on. So, even if you could technically shoehorn all of that into a raspberry pi and run it on a windowsill, and I suppose it would run pretty well, you’ll risk losing all of the data if someone spills some coffee on the thing.
So, if you really insist doing this on your own hardware and maintenance (and want to do it properly), you’d be looking (at least):
- 2 servers for reundancy, preferably 3rd one laying around for a quick swap
- Pretty decent UPS setup, again multiple units for reundancy
- Routers, network hardware, internet uplinks and everything at least duplicated and configured correctly to keep things running
- A separate backup solution, on at least two different physical locations, so a few more servers and their network, power and other stuff taken care of
- Monitoring, alerting system in case of failures, someone being on-call for 24/7
And likely a ton of other stuff I can’t think of right now. So, 10k for hardware, two physical locations and maintenance personnel available all the time. Or you can buy a website hosting (VPS even if you like) for few bucks a month and email service for a 10/month (give or take) and have the services running, backed up and taken care of for far longer than your own hardware lifetime is for a lot cheaper than that hardware alone.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Overkill for a small startup. We sell to medical practices and they get (at most) a small tower server from HPE (ML30). Backup servers can either be a small 2 bay NAS or a microserver depending on the needs
If they can afford that. Most are already good by just using a decent online UPS.
Not a multi million company.
Routers: BS.
Network: Maybe 2x 16 port switches but too much overhead. 1x 48 Port if you really need that.
Internet uplinks: If you have a satellite office and need the S2S-VPN to be constantly up.
Btw: You didnt mention a duplicated phone line ;P
Again overkill.
Backup on the server with something to a 2-Bay NAS and a secondary job with rotating external USB disks to take or somewhere external with you.
Monitoring: Yep
Alerting: Done by monitoring in the best circumstance
On-call 24/7: As this is a small company: LOL
Dashi@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You missed the (and doing it properly) part. Could you do it on his setup? sure. Could you do it on your setup recommendations? Sure. Could you do it on a little raspberry pi? Probably. A industry standard best practice for backup is 3-2-1. Do all companies follow industry best practices? Heavens no. Redundancy is great, it may save you from calling someone at triple rates for after hours support only to find your one 48 port switch failed. It’s all about what risk you are willing to take on any of this.