Need advice on what network to setup and how???

Zaino said:
At the moment that box is a Core i5 PC box running 4 Gig ram, 500GB Hard drive and Windows 7. Is that good enough or should it be upgraded? And if yes, then to what?
Also, will I have to change the operating systems on all the pc's or can they all remain as is (Windows 7)?
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That should be fine. I would however put another hard drive inside the box to mirror the existing one. I would also get a external eSata drive or something like that to act as another mirror you only hook up once a week and then store offsite (home safe etc) incase you have a break in and the box gets swiped. Sorry, I'm paranoid about data loss, even more so when it involves business data/mail as it's not something you wanna lose and the cost in hard drives is insignificant compared to the damage to your business. You might have to bump ram up a bit but I doubt it and even if you had to it's cheap. Do however get a decent APC UPS for the PC to run on seeing it's your server and that will ensure nice clean power for it taking care of spikes & brownouts that has a tendency to kill electronics.

No, all your other PC's will remain as is with Win7, no changes required in OS. Might just have to adjust a few network setting to point it to the new server. Only the box running VPN/Server will have CLearOS installed.
 
ponder said:
That should be fine. I would however put another hard drive inside the box to mirror the existing one. I would also get a external eSata drive or something like that to act as another mirror you only hook up once a week and then store offsite (home safe etc) incase you have a break in and the box gets swiped. Sorry, I'm paranoid about data loss, even more so when it involves business data/mail as it's not something you wanna lose and the cost in hard drives is insignificant compared to the damage to your business. You might have to bump ram up a bit but I doubt it and even if you had to it's cheap. Do however get a decent APC UPS for the PC to run on seeing it's your server and that will ensure nice clean power for it taking care of spikes & brownouts that has a tendency to kill electronics.

No, all your other PC's will remain as is with Win7, no changes required in OS. Might just have to adjust a few network setting to point it to the new server. Only the box running VPN/Server will have CLearOS installed.
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Ok. I have been checking out VPN packages now and alot of providers give different Bandwidth options (10, 20, 40, 50Gigs etc) Is this different to normal internet bandwidth because my internet bandwidth is uncapped. Can you help explain this to me? And if it is different bandwidth required especially for the VPN, then how do I judge howmuch bandwidth i need, taking into consideration that the files are generally under 3MB each. Please advise.
 
Or host one server at a datacenter with a fixed ip. Probably the easiest method
 
Thanks PAUL5186. I am looking for easy, efficient and cost effective. Would you mind elaborating a bit on your advice because I am not as "IT-SAVVY" as many of you guys. Excuse the ignorance :o
 
Well there are a few options regarding hosting. You can either host your own pc in a datacenter or get a hosted shared solution. It all depends what you want to spend a month.

Personally I would recommend a SAMBA file server. This can probably be setup within a couple hours with any linux distro. Nothing too fancy or over complicated. Each user would get a username and password to login. Then get your domain administrator to setup an A record to the public IP of that server.

e.g shared.domain.com - You can then map this drive on all your computers.

Alternatively you can even stick one of those little NAS devices in a datacenter with a public IP and access - probably the cheapest and simplest route.
 
Zaino said:
Ok. I have been checking out VPN packages now and alot of providers give different Bandwidth options (10, 20, 40, 50Gigs etc) Is this different to normal internet bandwidth because my internet bandwidth is uncapped. Can you help explain this to me? And if it is different bandwidth required especially for the VPN, then how do I judge howmuch bandwidth i need, taking into consideration that the files are generally under 3MB each. Please advise.
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The solution we have been punting using ClearOS does not use a VPN provider/packages. With ClearOS you become your own VPN provider using your existing uncapped bandwidth.
 
ponder said:
The solution we have been punting using ClearOS does not use a VPN provider/packages. With ClearOS you become your own VPN provider using your existing uncapped bandwidth.
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So what hardware do I have to purchase in order to set this up in 3 offices? And any extra costs like monthly costs or additional software that will be required?
 
Zaino said:
So what hardware do I have to purchase in order to set this up in 3 offices? And any extra costs like monthly costs or additional software that will be required?
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Each location just needs a pc for ClearOS that establishes the VPN across your normal internet connection. None, ClearOS is free and you are using your existing uncapped bandwidth/adsl.
 
Thanks guys
This forum is the best and you guys have been more than helpful.
 
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