Servers are dedicated high performance computers that run applications and store data on redundant storage. Your team accesses those applications and files over the network, and when the server is built right, nobody thinks about it at all. That is the goal. ASAP Computer Services sells, builds, installs, and supports business servers across San Antonio, and we have been doing it since 1999. Need a server, or want a straight answer on whether you actually need one? Contact us, call 210-497-1424, or email us.
Benefits of a Server in a Nutshell
- Consistency, all users working on the same data, connecting the same way
- Security, control who can get to what and what they can do with it
- Fail-safes, RAID drive arrays protect your company from data loss when a drive fails, and drives do fail
- Scalability, servers support anywhere from 5 to 1,000 users and run virtually any business application
- Availability, physical, virtual, local, and remote access are built into Microsoft Windows Server 2025
Server Brands and Models We Sell and Install
We are brand-agnostic and spec-driven, but these are the platforms we quote, build, and install most, because they have the parts availability, warranty support, and management tools a business server needs:
- Dell PowerEdge, the T360 and T560 towers for offices without a rack, and the R660 and R760 rack servers for server rooms and virtualization hosts. iDRAC remote management on every one.
- HPE ProLiant, the ML350 tower, the DL360 and DL380 rack workhorses, and the MicroServer for very small offices with very small budgets. iLO remote management included.
- Lenovo ThinkSystem, the ST250 and ST650 towers and SR630 and SR650 racks, a strong value line with excellent reliability records.
- Supermicro, custom builds when a workload needs a configuration the tier-one vendors do not offer at a sane price.
- Synology, RackStation and DiskStation units as backup targets and network storage alongside your primary server.
Every server we sell arrives configured, not in a pile of boxes: RAID built, operating system installed and patched, remote management enabled, monitoring and backups configured, and the old server’s data migrated. We sell the hardware, the licensing, and the installation as one accountable package.
Servers come in several shapes and sizes. The most common are a rack-mounted chassis, a blade chassis, or a pedestal (tower) chassis which looks similar to a normal computer. Server applications include email such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL database servers, file servers, remote access and remote application servers, virtualization hosts, failover server clusters, web servers, and DNS.
Active Directory, DHCP, file and print, line-of-business applications, and countless other server roles all run on server operating systems. It is best practice for separate applications to run on separate servers, and specifically, Active Directory domain controllers should not perform other roles. Virtualization makes that affordable: one physical host, several isolated virtual servers.
Windows Server 2025: Editions and Licensing, Explained Honestly
Microsoft Windows Server 2025 is the current release of Microsoft’s server operating system, and it is what we install on new builds. Our experience spans the entire line behind it: NT Server, 2000, 2003, Small Business Server 2011, 2008 R2, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019, and 2022, which matters because most server projects start with migrating an old one.
- Windows Server 2025 Standard is the right choice for most small and mid-size businesses. It runs every mainstream server role and includes rights to run two virtual machines on the licensed host, so one physical server can host your domain controller and your application server legally and cleanly.
- Windows Server 2025 Datacenter earns its price only when you run many virtual machines per host, think a dozen or more, because it includes unlimited virtualization rights. Most small businesses never need it.
- Windows Server 2025 Essentials exists for very small offices, up to 25 users, on modest single-socket hardware. Cheap, capable, and limited by design.
Licensing is core-based with a 16-core minimum, which is exactly the kind of detail that turns a bargain server quote into a compliance problem later. We quote hardware and licensing together so the number you see is the number you pay.
San Antonio’s Server Hardware Gurus
When ASAP Computer Services designs a server, the hardware is spec’d around the task the server will perform. Every application has recommended CPU, RAM, and disk requirements, and the array type, SSD versus NVMe, cache, and network configuration all follow from the workload. Under-powering a server is like not brushing your teeth, it is just not smart and you know better. You need enough power to run your programs so your company is more efficient, not more frustrated. Over-buying is its own mistake, and we will tell you when a quote you got elsewhere is selling you cores you will never use.
Windows Server Case Studies
The classic small office. A business with five employees needs shared access to documents and a QuickBooks application, local access only, email hosted in Microsoft 365. This is a plain-Jane file server scenario, and it is the most common client-server environment we see. Our build: a Dell PowerEdge T360 or HPE ProLiant ML350 tower, multi-core Xeon, 16 to 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD RAID-1 array, and Microsoft Windows Server 2025 Standard, with backups running to both a local target and offsite cloud storage, because a backup that lives in the same building as the server is only half a backup. That is it, nothing more, nothing less, the right amount of hardware for the users and the applications.
The multi-site business. A business with 4 locations in San Antonio needs secure VPN access to a line-of-business SQL application from every site, with failover so that if one server dies, data and applications stay available. Our build: two identical virtualization hosts, Dell PowerEdge R760 or HPE ProLiant DL380 class, roughly 16 cores and 64 to 128 GB of RAM each, RAID-1 for the hypervisor and RAID-10 SSD for the data, running Windows Server 2025 Standard guests in a failover cluster on Hyper-V, with dedicated switching for replication traffic. Hyper-V is included in the Windows licensing you are already buying, which is why it is our default hypervisor for small business clusters; we support and manage VMware environments as well for clients already invested there.
Server Sales and Installation FAQ
Do you sell the server or just install it?
Both, as one package. We quote the hardware, the Windows Server licensing, and the installation together, then deliver a configured server: RAID built, OS patched, remote management enabled, backups running, and your data migrated from the old machine.
Which server brand is best for a small business?
For most small businesses it is a toss-up between a Dell PowerEdge tower and an HPE ProLiant tower, and the deciding factors are price on quote day and warranty terms. Lenovo ThinkSystem is a strong value alternative. We are brand-agnostic and will show you the comparison.
Do I even need a server, or can I run everything in the cloud?
Honest answer: plenty of five-person offices no longer need one. But line-of-business applications, SQL databases, large file workloads, and compliance requirements still favor on-site servers, and a hybrid of local server plus cloud backup and Microsoft 365 is the most common right answer. Ask us and we will tell you straight, including if the answer is no server at all.
What does a small business server cost?
A properly built single-server setup, hardware, Windows Server 2025 Standard licensing, RAID storage, backup, and installation, typically lands in the low five figures all-in. Failover clusters and virtualization hosts scale from there. We quote the complete number up front, hardware and licensing together, no surprise line items.
