If you’re running a small or medium-sized business, you will need to ensure that you have only the best server for your small business. The best small business servers are absolutely essential for any modern company, and while cloud-based servers are gaining popularity, on-site servers that you operate yourself can still be the best way to go.
These small business servers will also be easier and more affordable to expand as your business grows.
So, we went ahead and curated a list of the 10 best SMB servers, ranging from those aimed at small businesses to the sort that bigger corporations need to survive. Without further ado, let’s dive into the best servers for small businesses.
A Xeon dream with plentiful connectivity on offer
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1225 v5 | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics P530 | RAM: 64GB | Storage: Up to six SATA HDD | Connectivity: 10 x USB ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, serial, PS2, Gigabit Ethernet | Dimensions (W x D x H): 17.5 x 43.5 x 36cm
There are so many different servers out there, and that means that you’ll sometimes have to sort through entire price lists in order to find the best small server for you. Just look at the Dell PowerEdge T30 – you can buy it either as a barebones or as a fully configured server. Aimed at the entry-level/SoHo market, the T30 manages to fit in a ton of expansion potential into a tiny, mini-tower-like chassis, and it even comes with a wealth of server features by default, which makes it a perfect alternative to an office workstation.
Shows you how cheap a barebones server can get
CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics | RAM: 4GB | Storage: No drives included | Connectivity: Up to 12 x USB ports (4 x USB 3.0), 2 x DisplayPort, VGA, serial, 2 x PS2, Gigabit Ethernet | Dimensions (W x D x H): 17.5 x 43.5 x 36cm
Servers do not have to be massive or expensive. Take the PowerEdge T20 for example; it has benefited from a wealth of knowledge derived from the 20 years of experience Dell has building servers. While the barebones version doesn’t have a hard drive, it’s certainly cheap – in the recent past, it has been priced at less than £100 (with cashback offers, that is – it’s always well worth keeping an eye out for these).
It has a Haswell-based Pentium processor that can clock up to 3GHz and supports up to 32GB DDR3 ECC RAM (note that this model comes with 4GB). Expansion capabilities include four SATA ports (32TB if you use 8TB hard drives), four I/O slots and 10 USB ports. Astoundingly for a PC of this price, you also get two DisplayPort connectors, a VGA one, two PS2 and one serial port. Other than a Gigabit Ethernet port, the other points of interest are a 290W PSU and an Intel-based RAID controller.
