Type of server needed?

[mickey]

I am new to learning about networking and need someone to help me out with a theoretical question please (and please excuse my ignorance, but if I don't ask I can't learn).

If a company wanted to set up set up a learning database to be accessed from users both inside and outside of the company (could be a high volume of users at times), how would they do this? The company currently runs 1 server with Windows Server 2003 software installed.

I have considered that I would need to set up a database server (Microsoft SQL server for instance) and link it to a web server for publishing the database on the web, but I need to clarify a few things:

1. Firstly, is Windows server 2003 just like an operating system but for my server instead of a PC? And When people talk about having a dedicated server, does this mean, for instance, that if I wanted a server for files/print/web/database/mail/etc that - (A)I would have five machines that each ran each of the above services, or does it mean - (B)that I have one server running 5 server programs/services?


2. Would the set-up in (A) only be used by a very big company, if so is there another way?

3. If (B) this is the case then could I run the required additional services on the server that I already have? If this is not advisable is it because:

a) The database requires a stand-alone server (for the reasons given above)

b) There will be problems with other services if a high volume of people decide to access
at one time.

D) There is a security aspect to people accessing data from the same server?


I know this may be a little long winded, but couldn't think of another way to explain myself.

Thankyou.

[DynamicTech]

1.) yes, server 2003 is meant to be run on a server, not a desktop. A dedicated server is a server dedicated to a certain function. I personally would dedicate a server solely for a database.

2.) the setup would depend on your network. Each network has it's own set of needs.

3.) b and d. You DO NOT want to store all of your valuable data on one server.

[mickey]

Thank you for your reply.


I would like to know if I can achieve what I want (a shared database), using only 'Windows Server 2003' and the products that come with it, such as 'Sharepoint' and IIS 6.0 ? As I thought that I read an article (which i can't find now!) that seemed to use 'Sharepoint' to achieve this. Or would I need standalone software, such as Microsoft SQL server?