Congratulations! If you’re thinking about purchasing a server for your small business then that probably means the company has experienced success and is starting to grow. That’s great news.
Servers make it easier for employees to collaborate and share information. They can also help a business increase security and centrally manage critical business applications. But it’s important to consider the purchase carefully and make the right decision. With that in mind, here are five questions to ask before buying a server for your small business:
1. What can I afford?
The budget you have available for purchasing as server is clearly going to be the first consideration. If all your business needs is a file-sharing and print server with basic capabilities such as remote access, a lower-end server should suit your needs. If your business is growing fast it’s a good idea to spend more because low-end servers tend to be less scalable.
2. What kind of workloads will I be running?
The configuration and price of the server will depend largely on the types of workloads you’ll be running. Do you need the server to host a website or a database? What about email? Take some time to consider your daily operations and your business needs and make sure you’re armed with that information when evaluating servers.
3. Is it scalable?
If the business is growing you’ll need a server that will grow with it. If you’re going to be adding lots of new users and hosting many large files, such as videos and images, then look for a server with a great deal of storage capacity and multiple drives.
4. Does it support virtualization?
Virtualization isn’t just for large enterprises. Many smaller company are also realizing the benefits of virtualization technology, which allows users treat one server as if it were multiple servers. Make sure the server supports virtualization if that’s one of your objectives.
5. How will I protect the data?
Now that you’re going to be storing a great deal of data on a shared server, it’s important to make sure that information is fully protected against theft, hardware failure, computer viruses and natural disasters. Use a cloud backup solution like Carbonite and all of that critical business information will be safe and accessible no matter what happens.
Learn more about Carbonite Server Backup solutions and start a free 30-day trial whenever you’re ready.
