What OS to install?
Asked by
bpeoples (
2551
)
October 16th, 2008
I run the IT for a small business. All the workstations are Windows XP, we’ve got a Win 2k3 SBS server w/ Exchange, Fileserver, etc. on it. FTP & some backup systems are running on a CentOS server. I have an old SBS server that I’d like to be running some middleware that we need for a few things (that only runs on windows). However, I can’t join it to the domain due to the EULA restrictions. So I’m guessing I need to install something on it. Any thoughts? I appear to still be able to buy XP Pro, but is there a better option?
Happy to take any advice, but remember the restriction: I need Windows 2000 or newer to run the software I need this server to run.
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9 Answers
You sound more qualified than any of us on this decision.
If you buy Vista Business or Ultimate, it can downgrade to XP Professional… so at least then you’d have the choice.
@Elumas—see the last paragraph of my question…. I don’t think that win32-only proprietary software runs on linux…. or at least not last I checked =) Is there now an ENABLE_WIN32 option in the kernel config?
You can buy XP Pro until January 2009, so don’t waste your money on Vista just to downgrade. If you don’t have a lot of tech money to spend, this might be the best bet. You also could purchase a copy of server 2003 standard and use it for an application server. You just have to keep the SBS server as the only DC.
You can’t join what to the domain due to restrictions? The SBS, that sounds crazy? The middleware applications? What type of applications are you trying to run? We need more input to answer this question.
Pro will let you properly join a domain where as home will not.
Linux would be even better if you are ‘serving’ the applications to your clients but not if you wanted to run a win32 application server side. It’s fairly easy to get a working Samba set up.
Wine might be able to emulate your software if it’s not real graphics intensive. I’ve had good luck with it in the past but I haven’t tried to run server side applications on it.
Really though, we need all your details to make a call on this one.
@bodyhead: SBS2k3 has a EULA restriction that it MUST be the domain controller for its domain. If you make it not be the DC and just join it to the other SBS server (or a 2k3 standard server) it’ll shut down every 90 minutes, explaining the EULA violation in the eventlog. I had no idea it did this, and am rather miffed.
Wine is a good thought, but probably not going to fly—the software is actually just hooking into Outlook’s API to send e-mails to users when the have new voicemail (and delete the voicemail from the phone server when they delete that e-mail). It’s nifty, but I’d be happy with the phone server just sending e-mails and not requiring another computer handling it.
The other alternate may be to just have one of the workstations be this “server”, and the user needing to remember to not turn off their computer.
We’ll see =) Thanks for the tips so far!
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