[StaticCG]

I am looking for a decent standalone server for running Windows Server. Should I build the server or is there any good options other than running a cloud AD like a prebuilt?

[Bastille]

Why do you want to setup an AD server, to practice and learn ? Are your comfortable already or are you discovering ?

Why do you want to go with a standalone computer ? Did you consider running your server through an hyper visor like Proxmox or ESXi ? Running servers under VM is more convenient on many levels, like restoring virtual machines, hosting different servers on a single computer, and so on.

Otherwise, any computer with at least 1 core and 2GB of ram could be good, and 60GB of storage. Would be better with 2 cores and 4GB of RAM of course.

[StaticCG]

Why do you want to setup an AD server, to practice and learn ? Are your comfortable already or are you discovering ?

Why do you want to go with a standalone computer ? Did you consider running your server through an hyper visor like Proxmox or ESXi ? Running servers under VM is more convenient on many levels, like restoring virtual machines, hosting different servers on a single computer, and so on.

Otherwise, any computer with at least 1 core and 2GB of ram could be good, and 60GB of storage. Would be better with 2 cores and 4GB of RAM of course.

Planning on how I am going to be running our companies Active Directory server when we move to a new office. I actually am looking to run it via ESXi, but for the physical hardware, I don't know what would be a cost effective solution. Thanks for your detailed reply

[DramaKing]

Active Directory itself won't take much resources, especially not for a homelab. Your biggest consideration will be a license. 😬