IT company recommendation

[toddler]

Can anyone recommend a company they've used with good results in the Glasgow area to manage the migration of a Server 2003 network to Server 2012? Ideally I would like a company that can supply Dell hardware (replacing 20 XP desktops and a couple of servers), Microsoft licences, project manage the whole thing, and provide ongoing support.

[toddler]

techmoan said:

Would you consider HP products? We do also use Dell though.

Is it just Domain Controller and files etc or do you have Exchange and other apps too?

Edited by techmoan on Wednesday 25th November 11:01

I'd rather stick with Dell as I have good experience with Dell kit.

At a high level, I'm envisaging 3 stages:

We're putting in a new MIS. First priority is to get the 20 PCs updated as they don't meet the minimum specs, and a new MS-SQL database server setup ready for the software comapany to come in and install their MIS. I'm thinking Windows 8.1 Pro on the desktops and Server 2012 + SQL Express on the database server. Hopefully this will integrate into our existing Server 2003 network without too many issues.

Next stage will be to migrate network from Server 2003 to Server 2012 (AD, DNS, DHCP, file and print). I have no exposure to Server 2012 and wouldn't know where to begin with this so I think I'll need to buy in the expertise to do this.

Then I need to think about upgrading email. Currently running Exchange 2007 on premise and not sure what to replace it with.

Also need a plan for backup and DR, and ongoing support.

I'm looking for a single company who can supply the advice/hardware/software/skills to deliver the above.

[toddler]

PD1 said:

Dell can provide all of that.

I spoke with Dell. They told me they'd have one of their partners contact me but I haven't heard anything yet.

[toddler]

TheD said:

We supply and install Dell hardware and provide ongoing support. If you want I can pm you some details.

Feel free to PM me some info and I'll take a look. Cheers.

[toddler]

tuffer said:

http://www.seric.co.uk/contact/ Good bunch of guys.

Thanks, will take a look now. Have you used them yourself?

[toddler]

tuffer said:

toddler said:

tuffer said:

http://www.seric.co.uk/contact/ Good bunch of guys.

Thanks, will take a look now. Have you used them yourself?

They are a partner I have done some business with.

Cheers. I'll contact them now.

[toddler]

tuffer said:

toddler said:

tuffer said:

toddler said:

tuffer said:

http://www.seric.co.uk/contact/ Good bunch of guys.

Thanks, will take a look now. Have you used them yourself?

They are a partner I have done some business with.

Cheers. I'll contact them now.

Any joy?

Not yet mate. Filled in the contact form on their web site yesterday but nobody has been in touch yet.

[toddler]

Pieman68 said:

Are you running virtual or physical? Would think a couple of hosts running VMWare essentials plus is worth looking at, get a couple of good sized hosts with shared storage so you have the vMotion etc.

Alternatively, have you considered hosted environment so you move it all into OPEX rather than CAPEX - gets rid of the up front cost of the server environment (host the HW and get SPLA licensing) and makes you more resilient - can back up and replicate using something like SecureVault

From Exchange point of view - do you want to remain on prem, go hybrid or fully into the cloud? Maybe look at O365 as a CSP - something like E3 will give you office licensing for your desktops as well

I work for a national reseller, more than welcome to drop me a PM. We can look at doing either way and offer helpdesk facility with monitoring etc. as well

All physical at the moment. I know very little about vitrualisation, hosted, hybrid/cloud etc... I need to find a local company I can sit down with and brainstorm all these things, pros/cons, costs etc... and find the right partner and best solution for us.

[toddler]

Pieman68 said:

toddler said:

All physical at the moment. I know very little about vitrualisation, hosted, hybrid/cloud etc... I need to find a local company I can sit down with and brainstorm all these things, pros/cons, costs etc... and find the right partner and best solution for us.

How many physical servers do you have at the moment?

Something like a 2 host solution running Essentials plus direct attached to an external storage box. Direct attached means you can go up to 4 direct attached servers, whilst the essentials plus software covers you for a third dual processor server - so you have scope for growth. Fibre is the best solution but cost is probably prohibitive and not really necessary at your size.

Just need the servers to have dual processors, a decent amount of ram and dual power supplies but you can run the hypervisor from an SD card (the Dell servers give the option for 2 SD cards so you have failover) and have all of the disks in the external shelf. With vMotion this then means that if one of the servers fails it can move all of those virtual machines onto the other server so that you can still work from the one host and the storage is still visible - thus giving you a lot more resilience than a physical environment. Other pro being that the physical amount of space is reduced, as are cooling and power costs

Hosted just means that you move everything away from the physical into a datacentre, thus meaning removal of server infrastructure plus the associated power and cooling costs. Big question to ask is what lines you use in the business as the speed of these is the most important factor

Understand you looking for someone local, so hope this gives you a bit of info to go on

We have 4 physical servers at the moment: Two AD domain controllers, an Exchange 2007 server, and a database server running SQL Server Express Edition. They're all running Server 2003. I'm going to do a bit of reading up on VMWare now, sounds promising. In terms of DR, what are the options if your site burns down or can't get access? And how do you back up VMs

Not sure I'd trust the speed or reliability of our internet connection enough to move everyting into a datacentre. We did install a cloud based MIS a few years ago and it was a huge mistake, slow as a week in the jail and killed productivity. Might look at hosted Exchange though.

Thanks for the info. Plenty of food for thought.

[toddler]

Pieman68 said:

toddler said:

We have 4 physical servers at the moment: Two AD domain controllers, an Exchange 2007 server, and a database server running SQL Server Express Edition. They're all running Server 2003. I'm going to do a bit of reading up on VMWare now, sounds promising. In terms of DR, what are the options if your site burns down or can't get access? And how do you back up VMs

Not sure I'd trust the speed or reliability of our internet connection enough to move everyting into a datacentre. We did install a cloud based MIS a few years ago and it was a huge mistake, slow as a week in the jail and killed productivity. Might look at hosted Exchange though.

Thanks for the info. Plenty of food for thought.

From a DR point of view, the best solution is usually a second site. As an example, one of my customers is a school that has 2 sites - the main server room has 2 hosts and a SAN, with a third server set up in a separate part of the school as a failover.

From a backup point of view - we tend to use Veeam for backup and replication and this, from what I can see, is the software of choice in a virtualised environment. There are loads of options for backup, whether these be on premise or cloud based. In larger environments something like disk replicated to disk then backed up to tape. Some hosted backup options will give the option of bare metal restore, allowing you to spool up VMs in the cloud in case of disaster

Lastly, from the point of view of line speeds - do you have ADSL links or a leased line into the premises. Speed issues in the cloud would suggest ADSL, which is not ideal as performance is not dedicated and can lead to slow downs (not my area of expertise but maybe down to contention rates). Leased line is always the best option but cost is often the issue from that point of view

This is a basic overview and there may be someone more technical who can advise better as I am but a lowly account manager but believe that this should help to an extent

More useful info. Thank you again.

We have a 500Mbps leased line with a 100Mbps leased line backup. Our firewall is a bit under spec'd so we're not getting the best throughput, which is another project I'm looking at.