Setting up a office Network..

JUGGY said:
You can but to have more than 2 concurrent connections you need to have a application sharing environment. Besides, if you're insistent on using open source there will be no such thing as remote desktop.
Click to expand...

SuSE Linux (and others) are able to connect to Winders PC's with remote desktop.

You can use VNC on Linux and Windows should you need to remotely access a Linux (or pre-WinXP) PC...

SME Server also offers a complete PPTP VPN server which's 100% Microsoft client compatible. I have set it up and used it previously, works just as well as any Winders server - plus SME server is free.
 
frenchi6625 said:
dude, take a step back here and make a list of things you want to be able to do on this network of yours. list everything, from what type of apps you want to run all the way through to what notebooks or desktops you want to use. planning is key here.
Click to expand...

I agree here. Plan ahead, no use in rushing in.


Besides, planning makes it so much easier.
 
frenchi6625 said:
geesh about 12 over the last 3 years actually. yourself?
Click to expand...

About the same but M$ only. A few in the UK.

I find it interesting dealing with different suppliers and comparing how their service stands up to ours.

We actually have it better than most people think. In the UK most infrastructure suppliers service sucks. 3 months to get 8MB ADSL installed by BT, there isn't a celular service provider that does pay-as-you-go 3G for the interim either and Wimax is very limited as is WiFi coverage.
 
stuff exchange, no way that onsite people can manage it, for that you need semi-qualified IT staff. Unless you are happy to pay some guy R300 bucks every month to come and fix problems you could be fixing yourself.
 
I have been experimenting with using online services to create a virtual infrastructure.

For small business it works well, and it's very cheap

use Google for email calender and contact, maybe even as a document server. (no server and no backups needed) it saves you big bucks on servers and expensive software.

Gmail can download you pop3 mailboxes these days and you can use it to send mail as non-gmail accounts (ie [email protected])

I have been running my IT consultancy like this and I am very happy with it.

Keeps it very simple and offloads a lot of risks
 
For those who don't know

Gmail has shared Calendering, Contacts and Docs

Why pay MS when Google has it for free.
 
\-: ˙˙˙ʍoɹɹoɯoʇ ʎldǝɹ ll,ı os ʍou ʇɥƃıɹ pǝʇsɐʍ ooʇ ʇıq ɐ ɯ,ı
 
Current Internal Network(workgroup)
----------------
5 X Desktop PC's (XP SP 2)
1 X Fileserver(Linux)
1 X Webserver (linux/Apache/mysql)
1 X Database Server(SQL 2005)
3 X Laptops (XP SP 2)

Internet
--------
4mb Adsl Line With Dynamic DNS

External Access
---------------
We need to be able to use the servers as if we where on the same network as in the office.
we are probally gonna have to a DC of some sort. Samaba
THen some soft Of VPN server

Am I on the right track ?
 
greggpb said:
Current Internal Network(workgroup)
----------------
5 X Desktop PC's (XP SP 2)
1 X Fileserver(Linux)
1 X Webserver (linux/Apache/mysql)
1 X Database Server(SQL 2005)
3 X Laptops (XP SP 2)

Internet
--------
4mb Adsl Line With Dynamic DNS

External Access
---------------
We need to be able to use the servers as if we where on the same network as in the office.
we are probally gonna have to a DC of some sort. Samaba
THen some soft Of VPN server

Am I on the right track ?
Click to expand...

SME Server will sort you out with user auth, VPN, webserver and db, if you could maybe use mySQL instead of MS SQL. Otherwise you'll need a third server just for SQL. Add to that Openfiler for 1TB of redundant file storage and you're all set.
 
I prefer Clarkconnect to SME server, it's more up to date. SME server hasn't been updated in years (I see there is a new one now finally). Clarkconnect is your firewall, web access proxy, content filter, file and web and database server, VPN server and has a reliable built-in DDNS service. It's completely free for up to 10 mailboxes. but if you are going to use pop3, you can keep going with users until you hardware runs out of steam. Clarkconnect also has a service called flex-share, where you can share a folder via Samba, FTP and Web. So that should make pulling documents remotely a breeze.
http://www.clarkconnect.com/info/features.php
http://www.clarkconnect.com/wiki/index.php?title=Modules_-_Flexshare

using clarkconect you can condense 2 of your servers into one and go for a cheap basic ADSL modem. Saving R5000 for the extra box

Why do you need SQL 2005? Lots of cash you are dumping there.

A hint on the hardware side. Go for AMD dual cores for the desktop. The CPU's are cheaper than the Intels and provide far better bang for buck. Onboard DVI is also standard on most AMD boards (Nvidia or ATI chipsets). So LCD quality will be far higher. Gigabit lan is also standard on those boards. True that per Ghz Intels are quicker, but a 2Ghz Intel (E4400) and a 2.5ghz AMD (4800+) are the same price right now. That makes the AMD about 10% faster.

Also make sure the stuff you get has a minimum 3 year warranty. after spending the big buck you don't want any financial surprises in 13 months.

Go with a minimum of 1GB ram on all the machines and good luck finding decent windows XP installed notebooks.
 
Last edited:
SME does all that. and the latest version rocks. but anyway, I think this is all a bit advanced for gregpbb. greg pm me if you need help setting it up, I'm in CT area.
 
Thanks for the help guys I will be looking into ClarkConnect and all the solutions above...

Just busy Upgrading the m1330's from vista to XP2..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X