WebJunction

Hi -

It's hard to give an answer to this without some idea what this server is used for. by saying it is a "peer to peer server" you are really only saying what it's not used for (it's not a domain controller).

So aside from being used as a desktop, what else is it serving? And how many computers is it serving to?

Dale

I found this document on the Sagebrush site that lists the hardware requirements for the 5.3 version of Spectrum. The minimum hardware requirements are pretty slight as far as servers go -

Spectrum server
Minimum Recommended Operating system: Windows NT® 4.0/Windows® 2000/2003 Server
Minimum Recommended Processor: Pentium/166 MHz Pentium III/450 MHz
Minimum Recommended RAM: 128MB

http://www.sagebrushcorp.com/download/pdf/sphwreq0317ms.pdf

There are additional recommendations as far as hard drive space and such based upon the number of item and patron records that will be stored.

Do they have to / want to host the ILS in-house? I think a growing trend among libraries is to look toward an ASP solution for their ILS - especially among smaller libraries. This allows them to concentrate on library "stuff" more than IT stuff in regards to the ILS. It might be something to consider before spending money on a new server.

Sorry for the jargon -

ILS = Integrated Library System - made up of the various staff modules (circulation, acquisitions, cataloging) and the public (OPAC - online public access catalog) modules.

ASP = Application Service provider - from Wikipedia "An application service provider (ASP) is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service (SaaS)."

Basically, many libraries are looking at someone else housing the server that runs their catalog and letting that company deal with all of the headaches of keeping anti-virus and security patches current, perofrming and testing back-ups, completing restores of data when there has been a problem, or hard drive failures, etc.

The library and its patrons access the catalog through the library's internet connection - and as long as the library has adequate bandwidth on their internet connection, it is hard to distinguish when the catalog is housed in the library and when it is housed in a data center of a company.