Small office network...

Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
...putting in a...small office network. 3 work stations, what I think of as desktops, each having the programs, quickbooks, excel, word, etc, and one server that will hold the common data, as I understand it.

Any tips or hints or things to be aware of so I feel like a semi educated consumer and don't get abused too badly by the vendor?

:popcorn:


:buddies:
 
GWguy

GWguy

*
Larry Gude said:
Prefer FedEx.




:lol:



We got ups all over the place and a generator for the greenhouse that picks up in under a minute.

:buddies:
Click to expand...

Good. You want small FedEx on each of the computers, network devices and server to carry it over until the genny picks up.

Select a service company that has been around awhile. Small start-ups tend to have one or two clients and use that as a jump off point to bigger and better things, leaving you without service.
 
O

officeguy

Well-Known Member
- backup

- get a good firewall. For the size of operation you are talking about, SonicWall has a couple of products in their 'TZ' range that should be a good fit (including stuff like remote access into your domain via VPN).

- backup

- depending on how dependent you are on the network working, consider getting two network connections (cable modem as primary, DSL as failover). Reduces the likelihood of loosing data in a major outage because your connection to offsite backup broke down.

- backup

- Have your server configured with a small RAID (system of two to eight harddrives that act as one and provide internal redundancy if one of them croaks).

- did I mention backup

- Look at power consumption of your equipment. The desktops can happily fall asleep if unused, just keep the server and the network stuff permanently awake. Cheap network switches tend to use more power than some of the better ones.

- consider getting a lockable enclosure with a rack-mounted server. Makes it less likely that a burglar walks off with your company data.
 
hvp05

hvp05

Methodically disorganized

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