Re: Setting up WORKGROUP

jeffuk123 wrote:
Thanks for your prompt replies.

I totally agree with you both.

I suggested a server etc, be it SBS or XP. They are adamant they can't afford anymore than the 15 PCs!!! I will suggest a NAS box as a further recommendation, as I can see as you both suggest, this could be an ongoing nightmare, as I have experienced with other workgroups.

Am I correct to assume that if they ridiculously decline the NAS box, I am going to have to setup each PC with the 15 user accounts in order to share files, or simply just have one account called 'user' for example on each PC for simplicity?

I don't wish to get into the realms of different permissions on different PCs for different users, I believe they don't want this anyway.

Regards,
Jeff

"Bob Willard" wrote:


jeffuk123 wrote:

Hello,

A client is to obatin 15 new PCs, all XP Pro, to be setup as a workgroup.

They couldn't afford a proper server.

I believe each member of staff is to have their own XP Pro PC, and none of these PCs is to be setup as an XP 'server'.

Apparently, everyone needs access to each others shared data.

I would appreciate any advice or guidance with regards simplifying this task and setting it up. In addition to the best procedure for backing up.

Many kind regards for any advice.

Jeff

You are lucky, since you have a client who is penny wise and pound foolish.
The client will be a steady stream of income to you, to fix stuff that has
been broken by design. This client needs a server, and they need to set up
each workstation to keep the useful data on that server, and they need a
backup app and some procedures to regularly do backup and to test backup.
--
Cheers, Bob


To get the $s to buy an entry-level server, you might suggest that the client
re-think the kind of PCs needed. If the users are only doing email/browsing
plus a little M$Office work, then any modern PC is overkill; for a new XP PC,
the slowest desktop with 512MB is OK; or, they might consider second-hand PCs.
And, if money matters, I'd vote against Vista: it needs more RAM, it wants
better CPUs and better VGAs, and it crashes more often.

Also, if some of the 15 folks do CPU-intensive work while the rest are light
internet/office folks, consider getting strong PCs for the neediest and weak
(cheap) PCs for the rest. {Many companies get strong PCs for execs and for
their secretaries, while getting cheaper PCs for the folks who do real work.}

I don't think you need to create 15 users on each PC, unless each user actually
uses each PC. I'd suggest one user account per PC, with unique usernames and
unique PCnames to keep track of which shared file belongs to which user --
Joe on JOEsPC, Alice on ALICEsPC, etc.

Note that they will sometimes hit the XP PRO limit of 10 concurrent inbound
accesses; esp. in cases where everybody at the site needs to get at the same
file. There is no real workaround, other than to buy a server OS or a NAS.
--
Cheers, Bob
.