Estimate for a Small Business Network?

Question

Estimate for a Small Business Network?

Answer 1

Server that will handle SBS with 7 users and a decent tape backup: $3500

Backup software $700

Server Antivirus software w/ email protection $750 (Don't even CONSIDER running exchange without server-level virus protection!)

anti-spam $500



SBS Licenses $2000



Remember you will have about $1000 per year re-occuring expenses for AV and tape backup software...



Every 3 - 4 years you will have the microsoft licensing upgrades at $2000, probably needing hardware upgrades at the same time.





Switch $100



cables, ends, crimpers... really depends on the distances... 1000 Ft. of cable is going to run around $200, depends on if you have to run plenum cable to meet fire codes or not... could be more, could be less.





What will you actually be doing with SBS? What services are you interested in? Just file sharing and email? If you need SQL, add about $1000 to the licensing.





If you are just going to do file sharing and email you could also go Linux:



Server with tape backup to easily handle 7 to 25 users:

$2000

Server software: Free

Backup - included

antivirus - included for email (clamav/amavisd under postfix)

anti-spam - included (dspam or spamassassin)

Yearly licensing and upgrades: Free



switch $100

cable etc - as above



You could pay someone $1000 to set up the linux email/Samba etc and still save money.

Answer 2

to estimate the server cost i would need to know how it will be used. if it is only for domain rights and file storage then an ordinary pc with 3 hard drives in a raid five config should be fine. A good apc battery backup that will give you about 30 minutes of run time. then i would go with 24 port switch with 1gig ports and then the cat 6 cabling.



A rough estimate would be about $2000-$2500 dollars

If you have to buy the server software i would add another $300-$500 dollars. on the cal side i think sbs comes with 25



http://bitsandbytescomputers.sytes.net

Answer 3

For a small business network, the cost estimated will be $10,500

Answer 4

Brian's answer is right on. Unless you have apps that must run native on a Windows Server OS, there is no reason not to consider a Linux server system.

Answer 5

You want to build it yourself because you are in the IT business or just to save money?



If to save money, I'd advise you not, the headache you'll get is not worth it unless you know how to manage Active Directory.



Server is around $2,500 for a proper one with RAID

You'll need 5 additional CALs of course

Gig Switch is $100

Go with Cat5e cables unless you need more than 1Gbps capacity for some reason.



Now, if you want this to be only a file server, setup is easy and should take 2-4 hrs.



If you want to setup a proper Active Directory with OU and group policies, setup could take 1-2 days and you'd need a company to manage that server on monthly basis addressing problems, checking backups....etc.



Oh, we didn't even talk about backup, either backup to USB drives, or better try to get online backup.