My colleague asked me to cross-post this here to receive input from professionals:
We have access to 2 unused servers
- RX300 S3:
Disks: 2x73GB, 2x146GB & 2x300GB CPU: 2x 1,994Ghz (intel Xeon-ID 5130) Memory: 12GB
- RX300 S2:
Disks:4x70GB CPU: 1x3,2Ghz Memory: 13GB
One of them will most likely be used as a terminal server (Remote Desktop Services), the other as a testserver to run backup restores for our internal (non-production) SharePoint farms (using Backup Exec). To perform the restores, we will set up a couple virtual servers using ESXi (which should be possible, despite 64bit not being possible).
What would your choice be for these servers, and why? We could purchase some extra hardware (disks, cpu, memory or what not) but will only do so if we feel it is really needed.
We have about 120 internal users, which produce a daily load of perhaps 20 for the TS, with peaks on wednesdays and when our lovely Belgian public transport services decide to strike.
We are currently thinking of using the first server for TS, because end users will use that. It doesn't really matter if our backup restore procedure isn't lightning fast, as it will be a test environment.
Thanks for your input
There are a million things you could do with a server. But you will always use them to fill a need. Make a list of needs for your specific environment. Then list those needs in priority of importance to your environment. And see if the spare servers can fill any of those needs.