My office has about 20-30 people using FM at any given time, and we're planning to move from Server 11 to 13 in the near future. I have $2K allocated for new hardware. I'm going on the assumption that a Windows server will give a bigger bang for the buck, but I'm certainly amenable to Apple hardware (everything's currently on a Mac Mini server).

 

I've read over the hardware considerations and I basically understand them, but I don't live in the Windows hardware world much, and my head is turning to sawdust trying to put together the best package for my budget. If anyone can offer any recommendations, I'd be grateful.

 

If $2K is simply insufficient in your opinion, that's a valid answer too.  

A few questions for you:

 

1. How wide of an area will your users occupy? Is this within the same city or across the country?

2. How will the users access the FileMaker solution? via GO or FileMaker Pro on a computer or WebDirect?

3. You most likely have already estimated this into your budget, but is the $2K for the machine only? As you will also need to pick up FileMaker licenses as well.

 

Windows is better than Apple in my opinion as Server gives you a wealth of information for Server Management. However, if you are more comfortable with Apple, you can stick with that.

 

With 20-30 concurrent users, a Mac Mini will not be enough.

FileMaker licenses are a separate budget item, yes. $2K is just for the server.

 

Most of the users will be on the LAN, but there'll be maybe half a dozen outside the office in different cities at any given time. They'll be on FM Pro initially, but I'd like to move at least some of the remote users to WebDirect at some point.

 

I'm more comfortable with Apple, but I have no objection to Windows.

Not sure what brand of server you are looking for but we have purchased several servers from Dell using coupons we have received from:

 

http://www.techbargains.com/dellcoupons.cfm

 

We got lucky one day and found a $500 coupon for a server we were getting ready to purchase + free shipping saved some cash.

 

The coupons change from time to time and you have to keep an eye on them or sign up for their email alerts.

Thanks for the link - Dell is fine by me.

Thanks for answering my questions.

 

If you are planning to eventually move to WebDirect, please take a look at this chart and evaluate where you would be: 

 

If you will only be at 6 concurrent WebDirect users at most, you will be able to get by with a single machine. However, if you think you will go beyond that, you will need a second machine and should plan accordingly.

 

Number of FileMaker WebDirect concurrent users RAM CPU 1-6 Second machine is not required, install on database server 7-16 8 GB 4-Core 16-26 12 GB 8-Core 27-50 16 GB 12-Core

Thanks; it does look like a second machine will be inevitable if we move more fully towards WebDirect. For the present, though, we'll be mostly continuing the traditional client-server route.