I think the best practices in this case would be what Jim Winters said (move EXEs to client machines), and upgrade the NICs/switch to 1Gb (if possible).... The server and development machines should be connected to the same switch. You do not mention processing or file file specs, so I am shooting on the penumbra here.

The performance in this case is limited by bandwidth and processing on the client machine, the server should be just a lean fast file sharing machine. UNLESS YOU ARE USING CITRIX/Virtual PC TO RUN THE APP ON THE SERVER.

With 7 or 5 disks you should do:
Make sure they are SCSI, minimum SATA
d0 & d1 = OS files only, set swap file to a set size, Raid1, full back up weekly (these files should change very little)
d2-d6 = All other files, Raid5, in a different scsi/ata/sata channel than the d0/d1 channel, BACKUP DAILY

No impact with dual monitors, server optimal memory is about 2Gb, no less than 1Gb. Go for Xeon Processor, dual is desirable but not mandatory. 1Gb RAM on client would be nice.



>What are best practices for the server and local development machines?
>
>Server Machine:
> -- Local for my location, with WAN to corporate.
> -- all FoxPro data files and user appliction EXE files are located on server.
> -- Switches are HP ProCurve 100mb.
>
>1 What is the impact of having 7 hard drives on server instead of 3? Wouldn't throughput be greater? Hardware raid 5 is assumed in both cases.
>2 What is the impact of having second processor on a P4 level machine?
>3 What is optimal amount of RAM on Server?
>4 Would 1gb network switch and 1gb network card in developer machine improve performance?
>5 Are there any services on server that can be turned off?
>
>
>Local Machine:
>1 Any performance penality running dual 17" flat panel monitors? (Matrox card with 32mb memory)
>2 1gb Ram. Is that too much?
>3 IBM P4 machine 2.6ghz ....
>4 Work files on 2nd local hard drive.
>5 Should developer machine and server be attached to same network switch in the wire closet? All connetions are 100mb Ethernet Cat5.
>