Typically, as software changes and companies grow, you will be putting more demands on your server and it has to be able to adapt. All the servers in this test support two Pentium II processors, although we only tested the systems with one installed processor. Scaling up to two will seriously boost performance across a network. System memory also plays an important part in server performance. For the purpose of this test, we asked all the manufacturers concerned to supply their machines with 256MB of memory in order to compare the machines fairly.
Expansion slots are another issue.
It is always better to have as many devices on-board as possible so that there are lots of free PCI and ISA slots available. This allows you to add extra SCSI controllers, network cards, modems as so on as you need them. Most of the systems here have integrated network interfaces, graphics subsystems and SCSI controllers so lack of expansion slots is not really an issue with the machines in this test. Redundancy features are another key area, features such as multiple fans, redundant power supply or redundant hard disk will help eliminate a certain amount of down-time. Limiting down-time is extremely important as most workgroup servers are going to have mission critical data stored on them.