When It Comes To Buying A Server, There Are Several Things You Should Pay Attention To.
For Example, How Is The Server Used, And What Do You Intend To Use The Server For?
How much budget do you have for a server, and are you thinking of buying servers that are new to the market, or are you willing to accept a model or two below the current model? Based on these assumptions, you will get general information about the type of server you intend to purchase.
However, the internal components of the server are critical, and you should pay attention to the technical specifications when buying.
In this article, we will briefly introduce important points about hardware components to which you should pay attention when buying a server.
When it comes to buying a server, there are many technical points that you should pay attention to, but some of them are more important than others.
Essential points of main server memory
According to many network experts, the essential thing you should pay special attention to when buying a server is the main memory or RAM, which is vital in performing activities faster and smoother. In other words, the main memory is installed on a server, and the faster and smoother the programs run. This issue is critical in connection with virtualization technology.
However, buying the main memory you need is just a waste of capital. For this reason, you should pay attention to the needs of the business when buying memory. In general, the memory gets information from the hard drives, transfers it to the CPU for processing, and stores the data in a temporary form. Therefore, the more you use memory with a bass or a higher speed, the faster the process of responding to the needs will be. Also, if you plan to use virtual solutions, you need more memory to make the server run faster.
1. Memory scalability
Almost all servers in the market support the principle of memory scalability. When you buy a server, you don’t need to spend much money from the beginning because upgrading the server’s memory over time is possible.
As the business grows, you can increase the server’s memory over its performance. It’s good to know that in most cases, you don’t need to buy a server as your needs grow, and you can use the old server only by increasing the memory or upgrading it.
2. The number of memory modules
When buying a server, you should consider the number of server slots. For example, Proliant 10th generation dl380 gen ten servers are equipped with 24 memory slots, while dl380 gen ten plus are fitted with 32. Also, pay attention to the fact that in high-end servers like the mentioned examples, if you intend to use all the memory slots, you must install both central processors on your server.
Essential points of server processors
The second important criterion for achieving high performance and smooth execution of programs is the central processors that are installed in the servers. Server processors interpret instructions, receive client requests, process them, and respond to them. In addition, processors are responsible for processing data and performing tasks such as serving websites.
When buying a server, The critical thing to pay attention to is the number of processor slots and the processor architecture the server supports. This issue has made the design of server processors to be able to work 24 hours a day; for this reason, they are not comparable to the central processors of desktop computers. Hence, they are essential in choosing other components, especially the main memory.
For example, Intel’s 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable processors have DDR4 memory with a 3200 Mt/s bus, while the 1st and 2nd generations support memory with a lower bus. In general, when buying a server and processor for it, pay attention to the following points:
1. Processor speed
The speed at which a processor works is called clock speed and is expressed in Hertz (GHz). This is the speed at which the processor operates and can execute instructions. The higher the clock speed, the more influential the processor and the higher the price.
2. Type of processor
Many types of processors are in the market, each offering specific functionality. For example, Intel’s gold, silver, bronze, and platinum Xeon processors provide users with ear logic and processing cores. In addition, the central processors of the servers are equipped with the ECC feature, which stands for Error Code Correction, which allows the processors to fix memory errors affecting the stability to maintain the strength of the server.
3. Processor quantity
Sometimes servers need more than one processor and are equipped with two slots. Specific applications or web servers require significantly more power than one processor. This issue has caused some servers in the market to be equipped with two processor slots. Therefore, if you plan to host virtualization solutions, you should consider buying servers with two processor slots. You won’t have any problems running bare metal hypervisors in this case.
Essential points about external storage space
Server hard drives are used like their counterparts in personal computers for storing and sharing information. Most servers in the market can host both SSD and HDD storage media. SSD or solid-state drives perform faster than hard disks and are based on a flash architecture with no moving parts. When buying hard disks, there are criteria that you should pay attention to, the most important of which are the following:
SAS drives
- SAS hard drives are high-speed, reliable, and ideal for data storage, ensuring stable access to information. These drives are designed to work around the clock and are more expensive than their counterparts.
SATA drives
- These drives are a cheap and cost-effective option, priced per gigabyte of storage. These hard drives are slower in accessing information due to their lower speed than their counterparts, so they are better used to store information not accessed daily. For this reason, companies use a combination of hard disks and solid state memories to take advantage of the high speed of tangible state memories in random access to information when reading them and the increased capacity of hard disks. If you intend to buy a server that only supports hard disks and buy SATA hard disks, the solution available to you to improve speed is the Reed architecture, which chooses the type of Reed architecture depending on the number of hard disks in the server. you put
operating systems
- Server operating systems (OS) are similar to their PC counterparts and come in different versions. However, unlike PC operating systems, server operating systems have more features, making them a good choice for server deployment. Usually, when you plan to buy a server for your business, you should have information about server operating systems. UsuIn the following, we provide a short explanation of this connection:
Windows
Windows is the most popular and well-known operating system in the desktop and server world, and most of the applications are written based on this operating system. Today, different versions of Windows have been released to the market; each launched to respond to users’ needs.
- Windows Home Server: This version of the operating system is designed for home users or deployment on virtual machines. This operating system is suitable for small businesses that intend to purchase servers. Therefore, if you want to implement virtualization solutions on the server, this version of Windows is the right option for deployment on virtual machines.
- Windows Server (Windows Server 2019): Some brands have pre-installed Windows Server on their servers. For example, some HP servers are equipped with such a feature, and in addition, they have images that allow the user to install Windows Server quickly. These operating systems are marketed in the following different versions, which you should install the appropriate operating system on according to the server you have purchased:
- Windows Server Essentials Edition: Supports up to 25 users and 50 devices and is suitable for small businesses with limited users.
- Windows Server Standard: It is the standard version of Windows Server that can support up to 75 users and is more potent than Essential. This version is a suitable option in connection with virtualization solutions.
- Windows Server Datacenter: Designed for virtual data centers and cloud environments.
Mac operating system
MacOS is remarkably user-friendly and has grown in popularity in recent years. Ease of use and lack of regular maintenance has made it the first choice of companies in connection with basic applications such as automatic backup or sharing applications. macOS allows you to share files with Windows devices easily.