IBM x206m Server or Drobo

[Marshall]

Hi,
We have a IBM x206m server which we use as a mail and file server.
I been looking at the Drobo on there web site, and I'm thinking of selling my server and replacing it with the Drobo.

Reason for doing this is, I'm trying to avoid maintenance costs from IT companys doing maintenance on our server such as SBS upgrades and the ongoing expense of buy antivirus for SBS and MS Exchange.
I can do without MS Exchange I'll just POP the email.

What are your thoughts on replacing a server with a Drobo, good idea or not?

Thanks
Marshall

 

[mbolick]

You do not want to use a Drobo as a Server. It is not in the same catagory at all. I have 2 of them and while they work okay as a CONNECTED external drive array, they are in NO way a server. If you want to get away from the SBS server just purchase a hosted exchange solution and a solid NAS. Dell makes some excellent NAS products that can function as a basic network controller...including sharing printers and files. The Drobo is not designed to provide file serving to more than one user at a time...it is slow and often requires a reboot when trying. I have tried to Drobo with and without Droboshare to try and utilize it as a NAS and trust me...it isn't pretty. You will be crying for the days when you had the SBS.

NAS with hosted Exchange = Good Idea
Drobo and anything more than directly attached storage = Horribly Bad Idea.

-michael

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Quite a downgrade...you lose so much of the benefits of SBS, collaboration, remote web workplace and OWA, shared fax, sharepoint, the cool features of Outlook with Exchange. Plus removable backup (I hope)...you won't have that with some home NAS box.

SBS is designed to be end user friendly, just pickup a quick book on it, learn how easy it is to run yourself. You don't need outsourced IT for regular maint and updates. Set WSUS to automatically update your server and workstations. Antivirus you'll still need anyways...server or no server, there's not much of a cost difference.