Advice-Small Family Buiness Setup

[Tippy33]

I appreciate any advice in setting up a family small business.

We will have:
1 Server to share files for.
2 Laptops
1 Reception Laptop
1 Higer End Work Station for Auto Cad (design computer for designing home designs)

All we want to do is have an internal network where all computers can share and access common files. That is why I am thinking of a file server. If so, would this server need to be pretty beefy? Any Specs are greatly appreciated....Does it also need to be RAID configured. This server will also probably host a few applications like accounting and quotes?? Would Server 2008 Standard be too much for this? Not sure if I want to set up different accounts through Active Directory.

We would like a hosting company to filter and host our emails so all we have to do is input the POP3 account info in Outlook and we can then send/receive email. We don't have the budget for a Small Business exchange server.

Also, if these laptops are used on the road, then connected back in the office on the network, would they have to re enter their static IP addresses? And more importantly, would documents and emails be resynced and processed to the server?

Any advice or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

TZEUS

 

[Noway2]

I personally would recommend Linux over Windows for servers any day, hands down. From my experience working with both, the advantages of cost, performance, applications, and yes, even support all go to Linux. Of course, if you are already familiar with Windows Server Edition or haven't used Linux/Unix and don't want to spend some time, well that could be a game changer - but you will pay in not so small $$ for Windows.

I doubt you really need anything beefy for a file server unless you plan to bang away at it with a massive load in real time. In server applications, both CPU and disk can be bottlenecks, it depends on what you are doing. A mirrored RAID is good for maintaining increased up time. More importantly, and for your application MOST importantly, KEEP GOOD BACKUPS, preferably daily. For a server, I am using an el-cheapo desktop PC that is hosting multiple web sites, email server for multiple domains, DHCP, DNS, and a bunch of other stuff.

For remote access, use a VPN. There are even software based ones like OpenVPN or use a Cisco VPN router and the Cisco client software.

Get a business grade Internet access, register your own domain for $6, and have them change the reverse IP to your domain. This will faciliate accessing your system by name remotely and you can avoid using IP addresses. Your ISP should also provide you with sufficient email, and you can even get "vanity" email which would be at your domain instead of at your ISP's name. No need to go into hosting for that.