Windows 2003 Server installation help

[MediaInfo]

Hi All,

I am planning to install Windows 2003 Server in my house and i need your help and guidance before i go ahead and start installing.

First thing i would like to know is if the computer (hardware) i am going to use to install Win 2003 Server would be capable enough to run the network smoothly?

The computer is:

1) P3 500 Mhz Processor,
2) 512 MB RAM (I am willing to upgrade this if necessary)
3) Two Hard Drives, one is 80 GB and other is 40 GB

I will be connecting 3 computers to it as Clients.

At this point of time, i have no plan to install Exchange Server but i will see if there is a possiblity at the later stage.

I am only creating this network for learning purposes.

Your help would be very much appreciated.

Many Thanks!

 

[basst]

I'm running Windows 2003 Standard on a IBM Netfinity 5000 server with 256MB of memory and 40GB RAID-5 SCSI disks.

This is running fine for me. I also have 3 other computers including a DELL C600 laptop with 500MB of memory running Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition as another DC.

I'm only using the setup for testing and MCSE certs so you should be fine as long as your hardware is compatible with Windows 2003.

 

[58sniper]

Server and Exchange on that same box aren't going to be the fastest with those resources. That's scraping the bottom of the barrel there.

System Requirements for Exchange Server 2003

http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/sysreqs/2003.mspx

Windows 2003 Server R2 System Requirements

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/sysreqs/default.mspx

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[LWComputingMVP]

First off, if you want to learn, I suggest you get yourself a subscription to Technet Plus - costs about $350 for the download version, but you get most of Microsoft's major products to play with - XP, Vista, 2003 Server, Exchange, SMS, BizTalk, CRM solutions, Office Pro, SQL2005, Small Business Server, and MANY other titles. Oh and you get 2 FREE calls to Microsoft Support for the year - which typically cost $245 each.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/ms788692.aspx

Second, the hardware you have is fine for learning purposes... just don't expect it to be fast. I would strongly recommend investing in a decent box that you could run Virtual PC/Virtual Server/VMWare on. I spent (~5 months ago) $700 on an Athlon X2 Dual Core 3800+ CPU with 2 GB of RAM and a PCI-X graphics card - this runs Virtual Server for me, SQL Server 2000, and Exchange without issue.

 

[MediaInfo]

Hi,

Just want to say Thanks to all of you for your valuable replies. I have installed Windows 2003 on my computer now. I will see how it goes.

Many Thanks!