Absolutely not true. Ferdinand, some of what you say makes sense, but a lot of it is very misleading. I'm sorry.
First of all, it is free. Of course, you pay for the OS, whether is is Windows Server 2000 or SBS 2008. I was referring to the fact that Exchange Server and SQL 2005 are included in SBS and SQL 2008 is included in SBS 2008 Premium, where you must buy them separately with the non-SBS server. And, while CALS are a little more expensive with SBS, they are CALS for the OS, SQL and Exchange. And, if you need to add a CAL it is added for all three again. That is a huge advantage.
Yes, redundancy is important, but how is Small Business Server not redundant. It is built around the same core architecture as Windows Server 2008. The redundancy is mostly due to the type of hard drives and the RAID you use. In fact, the different RAIDS are chosen due to whether you are looking for more space, more redundancy, faster reads or faster writes or any combination thereof. Reliability is measured in a lot of different ways, but I can't recall the last time I had to reboot my server or that it ever went down.
First of all, Dell doesn't even make a 2900 anymore. It has been replaced with the T series. I do agree that two Mirrored 146 Gig hard drives are a good choice, but she will have to pay $700 just for 146 GBs of space if she goes with the 15,000RPM drives.
I also don't understand only purchasing four GBs of memory. Part of the biggest advantage of the 64-bit OS is you no longer have the 4GB limit, which as you know, is basically 3.2GB. I would highly recommend moving up to eight GBs of memory. Memory is the singly most inexpensive way to improve performance in a computer.
All of these are choices, but more and more computer users are backing up to hard drives and even RAID systems via NAS or local external drives. Tapes can be very expensive and the backup software is rather expensive as well. Again, this is personal preference. And, a buy doctor may forget to change the tape.
I am not sure why I would recommend Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2008 certainly has its advantages and will be supported long after 2003 is not.
I am not that big of a fam of Small Business Server. It always come on a low end system with one hard drive. If it fails you are dead in the water.
I am not sure if others on here are not true IT guys and you are. I do not see how you can be a true IT guy and do consulting when you make a statement that SBS ALWAYS comes on a low end system with one hard drive. That is the single most false statement I have ever read about servers. It is simply and completely not true. First, any OS can come with a server. And, almost all can be purchased separately. SBS can be ordered when you configure your server (Dell in this case) just as Windows Server 2008 can. There are no restrictions on the RAID or number of hard drives. You do NOT have to use only one hard drive. I would almost argue that a server with one hard drive isn't even a server, which technically, of course, it is. And, you can certainly purchase it separately and install it on as robust a server as you choose. Its only restrictions are number of total users, one domain and no other SBS on the domain and a few other minor things that are above the scope of this post for the questioner.
She will have to make up her own mind as to RAM, number of hard drives or space, type of RAID and OS, but to state that SBS only comes on low end systems with one hard drive will unfairly convince her to not consider it. I happen to think it will meet her needs much better, but I can't say that Windows Server 2008 will not work for her.
SBS 2008 Standard Edition SP2 is around $899 installed after the mail in rebate of $200.00
http://www.viosoftware.com/SBS+2008...?osCsid=634cf4e5a33f3b4f64b46553fc7652aaIt can be purchased here for $899.00. It can probably be found somewhere cheaper in the full version if you look around.
A couple of articles on SBS.
http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/compare-features.aspxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Small_Business_ServerAs to the actual server, I lean towards Dell, and I would recommend the T610 which is the equivalent of the 2900. The top of the line is the 710, but I don't think you need that much server and would you would be OK with the 310, but I wouldn't go any lower than that.
