Im in TOO Deep>>>>>>>>> 6

[popotech]

hello,
I have a major problem, as the webmaster at my job I have been given the job of networking the entire building of about 80 nodes. we will be using a windows 2000 professional as our OS.

Let me start here with what they want:
- they want an email set up so the officers can check their email i was just going to use outlook, I hear about a thing called logon scripts but unfortunately I have no idea on how to use them I don't even know if it needs to be on the 2000 server. Heck, I don't even know if I need to 2000 server to run the network.

- they want it so that anybody can get on any computer and login and see their personalized desktop, I have done some research on this and found something called "roaming profiles" is that right?????

- they want all the users to be able to access the internet, I have purchased a firebox firewall to be installed at a later date, and also purchased a DSL line to run into the building. I only got a DSL into the building because out all the nodes only about 6 of us will actually be on the internet

Those are the only real pains in the back side that I can believe I will encounter, I believe I will have to assign all the pcs a static ip so I won't be needing a DHCP but I believe I will need to run the DNS on the Server......?

Any guidance will be much appreciated, once again I know your a busy person so if you could, throw some of that knowledge my way or even give me something to go I.E. site, webrings or forums anything would be great thanks in advance.

 

[jamor1999]

Dude, please e-mail me, I've just shown my coworker this post and we are dying to talk to you! I saw the look in his eyes. We feel your pain because we were just there! jamor1999@yahoo.com

 

[turquoise]

Heay popotech

Forget everything posted above, with the skill level you admit you have and the importance of the project, you need to either,

(1) Outsource but manage the project. Use a authorised company to install and config the system for you.

or

(2) Attend MS or equivalent training course on how to install, config and secure a windows 2000 domain. Only then set about planning the system ready for install and config.

Sorry mate but

no training/understanding + lack of specification = project failure.

And I don't mean to disrespect any advice in previous posts but you wouldn't know if the advice was good/bad/installing a back door or anything. And never seek advice from unknown's via private emails etc. only ask questions in open forums.

It's up to you BUT REMEMBER it's gonna be YOUR HEAD on THE BLOCK when it's all F**KED UP. Oh and possible criminal liability if you were in the UK...


May not be the advice you want but it's the best.

 

[CharlieJax]

Outsourcing is a good call if your company wants to spend the money I'd go this route as well.

If you are going to build it yourself, don't take MCSE courses, check out a local JR. College, they will probably have some W2K server classes and networking classes that will be about 5000 times more valuable (your value may vary) then learning how to pass the MCSE exams and a heck of a lot cheaper.

Lack of training never caused a project to fail.. its always poor planning (which can be effected by training)

Leave it to the British to have a sensable answer!
CJ
- Jr. Rocket Man

 

[jamor1999]

If you really want to do this, it's not going to be that difficult. If you're not interested in this area of IT, then out source the job.

If you decide to go for it, don't let anyone discourage you. I started my first IT position only two years ago. I managed the helpdesk and the network with my only co-worker. We knew NOTHING when we got on the job. The reason we were hired was to save money on outsourcing costs, anyway. The IT dept has grown slowly and we now have five more employees -each with their own skill level.

I didn't know how to map a network drive when i first started, now I manage four of our citrix servers (two of which I configured myself), and I help maintain and troubleshoot over 10 servers running AC, Exchange, Lotus, etc. I'm starting my studying now for Citrix Certification.

 

[TRACEYTEK]

Just for your information my job is a web developer and i had never done this before only at home and then got a job doing it. I was in too deep too....but the more i stuck at it the more i learnt.

Anyway the web server win 2000 iis crashed and i was oh no why,,,,well a virus got into it. So i had to reinstall everything again.

Then i found out that you need several updates after you install WINDOWS 2000 so get MSBA a tool that microsoft has and you run this and it tells you what updates are missing and whether your machine is setup correctly.

I also found out there was no firewall installed, again i hit the roof....that soon changed.

The firewall used DHCP but there is only 25 licences on it so make sure your firewall has unlimited access as after x amount it will crash the system.

Sorry can't give too much help just some that i come across.

Good luck.

 

[popotech]

CharlieJax,
i tried to email you about the problem but got no response just wanted to let you know i was trying to get a hold of you. that goes for you as well jamor 1999.
popotech
you can shoot me an email at
bottomsup0@excite.com

 

[SteveTheGeek]

Popotech,
In my opinion, your boss(es) are trying to get something for nothing, possibly without realizing it. Would they have one of their car mechanics rewire the building's electrical system, or have the building electrician swap out a car engine?
It is great that you're accessing resources like Tek-tips to get this network going, but you're not exactly starting out at the shallow end up the pool here. The mistakes you make through lack of experience are going to haunt the network a year or three down the road. If you're inclined to venture into the networking side of the IT field, then this is a terrific opportunity for you, though, and I'd recommend taking a step back and (depending on your learning style) diving into a few good books (Mark Minasi's Windows2000 Resource Kit is terrific) or taking a class.
<rant>
As a consultant, I was called into far too many really hosed-up small networks purely because the managers didn't (or couldn't) spend just a bit of the hardware/software budget for expertise.
</rant>
CharlieJax's post above is pretty well on-target if you are going to do it yourself. I'd add a couple things:
-You'll likely end up having everyone store their Word/Excel type documents on a &quot;home drive&quot; on the server. This makes it very easy to back up everyone's data so that when their machine crashes or is infected by a virus they haven't lost everything they've ever worked on. (And once you have home drives set up, make sure everyone is using it or understands the ramifications of not using it.)
-Tape backups are generally the best way to back up data, I'd recommend getting one with the same capacity as your server hard drive space. Get at least ten tapes, and run Monday-Thursday daily, Friday1-Friday5 (rotating through five weeks), and an annual one. Keep at least one (ideally the most recent one) off-site at any given time. A good tape backup properly configured and tested (doing a restore of a randomly picked file at least once a week till you're confident about it) will save your bacon at least once.
-Make sure anti-virus is running on every machine, and is getting updates automatically. Ideally use the Outlook Security Patch on all the workstations. Test the antivirus with infected emails under controlled conditions if at all possible.
-Get Mark Minasi's Windows2000 Resource Kit anyway; almost everything in this thread is in one or another of the books.
-Keep your users informed as to status and progress. Usually if they know what's going on, they're far more tolerant of problems.
-To the extent possible (and really, this one can take a lot of willpower), document things as you go. Write down tech support numbers, serial numbers, goofy installation workarounds, settings, etc (of the DSL line, hardware manufacturer, software manufacturers, perhaps a trusted local networking vendor, etc) all in one place, so if/when you have to call someone when something dies, you're not spending the first 20 minutes looking for a phone number or registration number.
HTH,
-Steve

 

[popotech]

well in reply to your post, this is a field that i definetly wanted to get into in the first place. i really get a buzz when it comes to networking yes i am the first to admit that i am wet behind the ears but eager to learn all about this networking solution. look i am surrounded by many non tech. users who don't have the first clue about pc's, let alone networking.

what is going to happen as of yesterday,sorry just found out, is we ran out of money for a server with the win2k server OS. so now we have to use our AS400, is this going to be possible, i have already mapped a drive to the AS400 but i need to log onto the server in order to get the user accounts information. Desktop,My Docs, etc.

thanks again,
popotech

 

[SteveTheGeek]

Roaming profiles likely won't be possible with the AS400, as far as I know that's a Windows NT/2k network feature. You can probably still use centralized network logons and such, but my suspicion is the AS400 expertise in this forum is going to be pretty light (mine is, at any rate), so that'd be a question better asked elsewhere.
-Steve

 

[popotech]

anyone know of a good forum room for AS400 knowledge i went to iseries.net but it seemed to fall short?