Upgrade options for a friends small office server.

[AdamPD]

Hi all,

I have a friend who runs her own accountancy business, she currently has a Dell poweredge server with Windows 2008 R2 Standard on it.

It used to be used for regular server related tasks, such as user accounts (4-5 staff members), file sharing and MSSQL.

She has since closed her business, but still does work from home for her existing clients.

So she uses the server exclusively for two applications, Ultra Tax and an accounting program called CS Accounting. (She accesses the data over the network from her Desktop PC and Laptop)

She obviously no longer needs most server functions, such as active directory/domain services etc.

The UltraTax program stores data in a file/folder system and the Accounting program uses a MSSql database (Currently using MSSQL Express)

So all she really needs now, is MSSql and file sharing to store her Tax program data.

The programs are now complaining because the OS is out of date, so I've been looking into upgrade options for her.

It seems like the most straight forward route would be to upgrade to Server 2012, then to 2019, but the cost of the 2019 license is around the $999 mark from what I've seen.

I was thinking wouldn't it be easier to just install Windows 10 Pro and set up MSSql on that along with a shared directory for her data?

 

[Neemobeer]

You could potentially run it on Windows 10, but you will likely run into problems. Windows 10 is limited in the number of connects it can handle as well as being a client OS it's designed to prioritize graphical applications and not background services. This means that server based applications could be slow although it may work if there are less than 2 people using it otherwise you're going to want a server OS.

 

[AdamPD]

I almost forgot about the max connections for desktop OS', she should be ok though as she only accesses MSSQL from one machine at a time (Desktop when inside, laptop when outside or when in a different room).
Thanks Neemo!

 

[AdamPD]

Just a thought, if we went the upgrade route, so from 2008 R2 to 2012 R2, then to 2019 R2.

There's two things that I'm thinking about

1) Would we need a license for 2012, or can we upgrade to it, then upgrade again to 2019 R2 then apply a license?
2) Once we have 2019 standard installed, can we downgrade the edition to Essentials? (she has no need for the standard license)

 

[Neemobeer]

You shouldn't need a 2012 key only the 2019 Essentials license.
Install 2012 then install 2019 and enter the Essentials license key.