# Which Server Edition



## Alex Ethridge (Apr 10, 2000)

I have no experience with any server edition of Windows and it scares me every time I have to get into a server to just check or verify settings when looking for a problem with a workstation so help me out here.

If someone were setting up a small office (veterinarian, dentist, accounting) of a server and about ten or fewer workstations, which server software would fit that need best?

There are some programs that will be installed on the server and run entirely from the server. Then there may be some that will be installed on the server _and_ every workstation and pull files from the server.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Small Business Server was always the version for small companies. Now they refer to it as Windows Essentials.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/serv...2-r2-essentials/default.aspx#fbid=biBDxANwlfb
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sbs/


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## Alex Ethridge (Apr 10, 2000)

Just trying to learn a little here -- what would be the next step up from that?

The reason I ask is that I am seriously considering buying one just to learn on. I learned user-grade Windows by crashing it over and over and recovering/fixing/reconfiguring; but, I can't do those without-a-net experiments on an in-place server.

The latest Windows Server I have access to here right now is 2000 and that is very dated.


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

I learned a ton from SBS back in 2003 or so.....and it translated readily to the big boy edition at the time....which in turn led to 2008 r2 and hard to believe THAT is 6 years old.

but yeah, I learned a lot that was very readily transferred to the big ones from SBS. Enterprise would be a great place for you to at least not be scared of killing it.


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## lunarlander (Sep 22, 2007)

You can get the free trial from MS here, good for 180 days.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx

After that trial is over. Reinstall and continue, although you'd have note down what settings you did before.


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## Alex Ethridge (Apr 10, 2000)

Thanks for all the help. Especially, I didn't know about the trial version. I downloaded the ISO and will be trying it out when work slacks. It's tax season and these tax preparers have me running right now.


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