Re: Small office Recomondations
From: Merv Porter [SBS-MVP] (mwport_at_hotmail.com_no_spam)
Date: 02/12/04
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Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 19:42:47 -0500
While SBS 2003 may be a solution, it may be more complexity (and $$$ for
maintenance) than your users want to deal with. And while some of features
of SBS 2003 will work with Win9x machines, it's best to have either Win2K
Pro or WinXP Pro (but not WinXP Home Edition) workstations in the new
domain. This may mean added $$$ for software/hardware for a total network
upgrade to SBS 2003. And if these are true techno-phobes, they aren't going
to handle major changes gracefully. :-)
If all they need is File and Print sharing, buy an external USB hard drive
for the File sharing and attach it to a workstation that will be left on all
the time (essentially, a workstation/server). Preferably, this would be a
WinXP Pro machine. Put the shared files on the USB hard drive. Schedule
NTBackup to do a nightly backup of the USB drive to the workstation hard
drive. This offers the possibility of data recovery but nothing if they
have a fire, theft, or other disaster since you're not moving the data
offsite for safekeeping (a penalty that many P2P networks pay).
Alternately, if they can live with a weekly back up, you could add a second
"file sharing" HD to the workstation/server and back up the shared files to
the external USB drive. This could then be (gently) transported offsite for
safekeeping until the next scheduled backup.
While you're at it, create a "user" folder for each user and configure all
their Word, Excel and other apps to point to the "file-sharing" HD (no more
saving data to the local hard drives). These then will also be backed up
nightly.
The print sharing can be handled by sharing local workstation printers,
buying a cheap print server (<$150) to directly connect supported printers
to the network, or purchasing a network-ready printer to drop onto the
present P2P network.
The firewall part can usually be handled by an inexpensive and properly
configured "firewall" router (assuming a broadband connection). If they
have a dial-up account, there are other devices that can implement a shared
dial-up connection for the network users.
Now, if they truly need all the benefits (and associated costs) of a
client-server network, disregard everything I've previously said and buy SBS
2003 and upgrade the workstations to WinXP Pro.
-- Merv Porter [SBS MVP] =================================== "Phil Fluhr" <pfluhr@softskills.com> wrote in message news:OB#L4mL8DHA.1716@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl... > I am looking for a Server Recomdation for a Server and Firewall for a Small > office 5 users currently with little chance of adding users next 18 months. > Currently they are a peer to peer and use a 3rd party contact manger. These > are old school technaphobes who have not used the network much but, need the > benifits of a Server for Print and File sharring. > > I'm looking for a simple solution that will be easy to install and maintain > Server and Firewall. > > Can I get the solution for under 2K > > Thanks in Advance > > Phil > >
- Next message: Kim Johnson: "RE: Upgrade to Windows XP Pro"
- Previous message: Les Connor [SBS MVP]: "Re: Can't log in anymore!"
- In reply to: Phil Fluhr: "Small office Recomondations"
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