Re: Small business thinking about backing up data, having a server and 2-3 users - is SBS2003 right for them?
- From: "Frank McCallister SBS MVP" <anonymous>
- Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 23:40:25 -0500
What Super G and Leythos have said are very good suggestions although I
disagree on the use of VPN for such an unsophisticated user when Remote Web
Workplace, unique to SBS, is actually more secure than VPN and extremeley
easier to use. However, when you price all this I fear the shop owner will
severely lacerate his head when he raises up from underneath the car on
jacks in shock :>) You may need to come down a little on the specs for such
a small shop. SBS Standard, upgrading the 2 XP Homes, with a Dell or HP
server, 1 GB RAM, with 2 SATA drives in RAID 1 and 2 USB drives for Backup
will do the job without ruining his pocketbook.
As far as Firewall goes you could use an inexpensive but stepup from the
cheap under $100 jobs with the
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1651401,00.asp Netgear which uses
Sonicwall technology for $220 street. Use two NIC setup.
In my opinion you should use
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/partner/vendorsearch.mspx put in your
Zip Code and search a widening area until you get at least several Small
Business Specialists and find out how many installs they have done and get a
couple of references. Get the one you select to do the install and setup for
you while you learn. If you decide to do the Install yourself do it three
times from scratch erasing the OEM install to get a feel for how you want it
setup. Come back here with questions.
--
Frank McCallister SBS MVP
MCP Microsoft Small Business Specialist
COMPUMAC
"Derek" <123123123123@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uQwpmdDYGHA.3448@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Newsgroup,
I have been asked by a friend to find out what would be best for his
business so that they could do data backups of their single financial
application.
**** Company Info - Current Setup ****
Its a car workshop with 2-3 people in the office. They have Windows XP
Home
on the 2 PCs in the main office. A 3rd PC is in a back office and is for
general use, email, and website surfing.
The financial application currently sits on the "Master" pc. The other
pc,
"Slave", is networked to the Master with a crossover network cable. The
Slave pc slows down sometimes when accessing the financial application as
a
client on the Master pc.
The financial application is installed as a Master/Client setup with the
Master on the Master PC and Client on the Slave pc. This seems to work ok
on the Master but there is noticable slowdown some times for the
Slave/Client when working on an invoice.
They dont do backups at present.
**** What they want ****
A - They are looking for an easy to use backup method which will be
reliable
and straightforward.
B - They would like to be able to use the internet securely on any of the
3
pc's.
Bi - They also want any clients who come in to be able to connect to the
internet using a Wireless connection (delivery updates, email checking,
web
browsing for customers to pass the time).
C - Remote access from home for the boss if he needs to do some work from
home.
**** My Suggestion ****
1 - Financial Application - Use a server for hosting the financial
application. Have the 2 main office pc's work as clients that connect to
this. Since this machine is a server is should handle the requests ok and
they shouldnt see any slowdown. Either use a WirelessLAN router or cables
(they are due to have major reburbishment in the next 6 months so wireless
would be very useful).
2 - Backups - Use a USB tape drive for backups. Full backup on a Saturday
with Differentials Mon-Fri. This data can include the financial
application, personal area or any other folders they would like included.
3 - Secure Internet - In order to try to fit this in with the server
network
I was thinking about 2 networks, both wireless. One would be properly
sercure (128bit, WPA hidden SSID etc) and used for the office data
(server -
client network). The other network would just have the SSID hidden,
possibly some WPA security passphrase that was told to customers who were
allowed to connect. I have called these "Data WLAN" and "Internet WLAN",
just for the sake of this posting.
I'm a bit unsure about the 2 networks. My theory is that one is safe and
the other is risky, and I want to keep them seperate but I'm not sure if I
need to.
How do I make the internet safer on the 2 client PCs if they connect to
the
internet? Should they use the financial app/data server for their
internet
access or should they connect to the internet using the Internet WLAN? If
they are up to date with patches and anti-virus and only visit sites they
trust, I "guess" they should be ok. But is there a better way of doing
this?
4 - Remote Access - I expect he can use IP web login onto the server, or
some sort of VPN tunnelling, and do any work that way. Is that possible?
How big a job is this?
Is it possible for me to do this myself with remote assistance
(phone/remote
access) from a friend who used to teach Windows Server stuff?
************************
Basically they want backups, faster access to the financial application,
secure internet that wont compromise their server (data/backup) and remote
access.
************************
What do you think and what do you recommend?
Thank you.
.
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