[Sheflug] Server Specs

["Chris Johnson" <chris [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Its been a while since I last had the opportunity to specify a server and
I've not done one like this before.  Perhaps someone could shed some light.

A school is looking at installing a suite of 20 Apple PCs for Multimedia and
video editing.  I'm going to suggest a Linux server to keep costs down/
allow them to specify better hardware but I have no idea how much hardware
they need.  Throwing aside the issue of HDD space (as I know neither how
many students will be using the servers or how much space they will require
each) can anyone suggest a minimum specification?
I've had a figure of £4000 thrown at me for a server but a quick look
through some catalogues shows £1500 gets you plenty of server ( scsi raid
memory network bandwidth etc) these days.

Intel or AMD?  How much does linux server benefit from dual processors or is
the network the limiting factor?  Would it be easy to split the PCs onto 2
switches and add 2 network cards to the server?  What backup devices are
available that are linux compatible for backing up large quantities of video
data?

Any help appreciated

Chris J

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