Re: Google Apps Premier and OpenOffice

[Lukas Beeler <lukas.beeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 16:04, Jeff Crosby <jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Initially, we priced out 2 physical servers to spread the load of 5 virtual
> servers and for redundancy. ÂIf one of the physical servers would have a
> problem, the other could handle all 5 for a spell. ÂNow we're in the "let's
> get the costs down" phase. ÂIf we go with 1 physical server, we could keep
> the old servers as backups instead of buying a second physical server.

This stuff is usually not as simple and flawless as one might think it
is. A High Availability environment requires on-site personnel with
the appropriate expertise - with external expertise, a HA environment
makes little sense, unless you also have appropriate SLAs with the
external expertise.

Be aware of application support when using virtualization and think
about the consequences when virtualization critical base
infrastructure like domain controllers.

> 1) Receive orders from customer and salesreps, forward to System i for
> processing, receive results from System i, and transmit same to customers
> and salesreps (mission critical).

What does mission critical mean? How much downtime is acceptable? How
fast do you expect recovery when your server room burns down? How much
when the server burns? Or, what kind of SLA do you have to satisfy
with this infrastructure?

> 5) Exchange (unless we go with Google Apps).

Where are your domain controllers? For redundancy, you need at least
two. Remember many special considerations when implementing
virtualized domain controllers.

As a baseline, for your needs (ignoring SLA/redundancy) you need at
least three machines - an SBS 2008, a terminal server and a server for
your LOB app. I would not bring redundancy or a SAN into this mix: The
easier a setup is, the easier it is to fix.

> The cost difference between a SAN and non-SAN setup for this is $1,619.
> Still think a SAN is overkill?

What kind of SAN? I seriously doubt that, because IBM charges about
10kUS$ - 15kUS$ for their entry SANs. Without any disks.