Advice on new network setup 4

[DanielUK]

Hi, not sure if this is the best forum for this.

I'm after a bit of advice on the upgrading of our existing network and software as we move to a bigger premises.

Current situation: I work in a small mail order/call center environment with about 11 users currently running on a Win2k network (1 Win2k DC and a member server as backup) with a 3Com OfficeConnect unmanaged 16 port switch. Broadband is provided for by an inexpensive Netgear ADSL Modem Router DG834 and I have a backup ISDN router which is a Cisco 801.

So far this setup has worked fine and been managed by myself as the only IT person in the company.

This new move to a bigger place will bring oppurtunity to expand the number of staff (to a maximum of 30) working in the same building. We're also changing to a more robust database system which will mean a lot of database traffic going to and from the database servers. The good thing with this database app is it's geared for thin clients so i can re-use some of our existing hardware.

I have a limited budget to setup what I think I need, which has to be manageable by one person and hopefully use some existing hardware. I plan to keep my DC and member server and get two new 2003 servers (1 as backup) purely for the database application.

So, I need recommendations for the following:

1. A single 48 port 10/100 switch. Not sure whether a unmanaged switch will be good enough but I hear good things regarding the HP Procurve 2650.


2. A printer server..will any old machine do e.g. a celeron 500 with 1 gig ram?


3. A Terminal Services server...again, what specs should this be? FYI, the client machines will connect to the database app via RDP through the Terminal Services server. We're also going to allow RDP from outside so the odd user can access the database app from home.


4. Broadband and firewalling/security. I'm not sure whether my cheap DG384 is up to the job or should I be looking at something beefier or maybe a separate hardware firewall? We use broadband for browsing, emailing and it will for the link between our database stock system and our remotely hosted webistes, to update stock etc Ideally I would like something not too expensive and easy to manage as I had a helluva time setting up my Cisco 801 ISDN router!


5. Email. We currently (and very clumsily) use Outlook Express on a number of workstations. I need to move up a step to something that is more centrally managed that at least give a shared inbox. Will Outlook do this? Exchange is a bit costly at this time and seems to be very resource hungry both in managing and hardware so I'm keen to avoid it at this stage. Any suggestions on how to manage this?


Thanks in advance for any advice on any of the above!

Dan

 

[markdmac]

I have to agree that the most cost efficient model for you is to go with SBS. I would suggest you get Premium as that will also get you ISA and SQL at a discounted rate.

Your environment is small enough that it should not be a big deal for you to manually recreate your users in the new SBS domain. You can then migrate your other servers tot he SBS domain if you wanted to, though there will be no reason to make them DCs. SBS is tweaked to function as the only DC and must be the FSMO role holder. The only real advantage for having multiple DCs in a 2003 environment is for when you must support a remote site and want to allow local authentication.

I've not seen any message above regarding the TS licensing. Just want to make sure you are aware you will need to setup a TS License Server and will need to have a license for each connection to the server.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[DanielUK]

Thanks once again Bob, more fuel for thought. We're trying to work out the layout of the warehouse so I know where to put things from an IT perspective, so this stuff really helps.

Thanks markdmac. What happens if the sole 2003 DC crashes? I have the secondary DC ready to seize the roles if needs be (and I've had to do it twice) and I thought this was the same for 2003.

Also, I've been reading more on the 2003 licensing but was unaware/ignorant of TS licensing. These, I take it, are separate from the 2003 CAL's so if I have a separate TS server I need as many TS server licenses for the number of users accessing the TS Server?

Thanks

Dan

 

[markdmac]

With an SBS environment, the SBS server by default is used for file, print, email and web all in one. So if that goes down, access to data is not there anyway. A second server as a DC is OK but would offer you little. Better question for you is why is your current environment so problematic that you have servers going down so frequently. I have customers on SBS that only have servers get rebooted during scheduled maintenance and have been that way since SBS 2003 was first released.

For the TS licensing, you surmise correctly. TS CALs are totally independant of Windows CALs. With your SBS CALs you will get free licenses for Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003. Furthermore Remote Web Workplace will allow your users to remotely control thier desktops without additional cost. But if you setup a seperate TS box, then you will need to install TS License Server and install TS CALs which must be purchased seperately.

Out of the box you will get 120 days of temporary licenses to use, after that your clients will not be able to connect. I do not advise waiting for expiration. Users tend to get grumpy when they cannot connect.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript