A bit OT perhaps, but there are smart folk here!

I have a customer who has three branch offices.  People there struggle 
to make documents available between offices and I've been asked to make 
recommendations.  One runs SBS 2003 (but the installation CDs are lost, 
so I can't configure FTP for example!).  Another runs an ancient old box 
running Windows Server 2000.  Active Directory linking the two servers 
was broken years ago and have been treated as separate domains ever 
since - I fear complete collapse if I try to re-link them!  The third 
office has Vista PCs with peer-to-peer ad-hoc sharing.

"Best" solution, I figure, could be replacing the servers with a 
Terminal Server and keeping everything centralised - probably cheaper 
than trying to link three servers via VPN.

Another option might be to install a third-party FTP server and run 
something like WebDrive on the PCs to synchronise folders in the 
background.  (Maybe the two Windows Servers can already do this - I 
ought to check that out!).

A third option is to use the "Cloud" we're all hearing about and use 
something like Skydrive with carefully-devised permissions, but this 
requires positive care from each person to keep (copies) up-to-date on 
Skydrive.  It's cheap: and this customer is having a lean time, so I'm 
inclining towards this option.

Grateful for any comments.

Phil

In article <iVTsm.116119$4f4.102358@newsfe11.ams2>, Philip Herlihy 
says...

> "Best" solution, I figure, could be replacing the servers with a 
> Terminal Server and keeping everything centralised - probably cheaper 
> than trying to link three servers via VPN.
> 
Hell, if you're going to do that might as well use Linux instead.

Personally, I'm for one server and using rsync which communicates via 
SSH and only updates changes, thus keeping traffic down.


> A third option is to use the "Cloud" we're all hearing about and use 
> something like Skydrive with carefully-devised permissions, but this 
> requires positive care from each person to keep (copies) up-to-date on 
> Skydrive.  It's cheap: and this customer is having a lean time, so I'm 
> inclining towards this option.
> 
> Grateful for any comments.

"Cloud" solutions are great until the internet connectivity dies.




-- 
Conor
www.notebooks-r-us.co.uk
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't 
looking good either - Scott Adams

Conor wrote:
> In article <iVTsm.116119$4f4.102358@newsfe11.ams2>, Philip Herlihy 
> says...
> 
>> "Best" solution, I figure, could be replacing the servers with a 
>> Terminal Server and keeping everything centralised - probably cheaper 
>> than trying to link three servers via VPN.
>>
> Hell, if you're going to do that might as well use Linux instead.
> 
> Personally, I'm for one server and using rsync which communicates via 
> SSH and only updates changes, thus keeping traffic down.
> 
> 
>> A third option is to use the "Cloud" we're all hearing about and use 
>> something like Skydrive with carefully-devised permissions, but this 
>> requires positive care from each person to keep (copies) up-to-date on 
>> Skydrive.  It's cheap: and this customer is having a lean time, so I'm 
>> inclining towards this option.
>>
>> Grateful for any comments.
> 
> "Cloud" solutions are great until the internet connectivity dies.
> 
> 
> 
> 

Can that happen?   ;-)

Phil

Philip Herlihy wrote:
>
> Can that happen?   ;-)

You bastard, you joke about these things! I've had 3 weeks of bloody awful 
intermittent faults on my ADFSFL with the line down 50% of the time and Zen 
doing their best to sort it out and BT pretty uninterested. It turns out 
that BT are upgrading the local exchange to 21st century. please, please do 
not joke about this ever, ever again.

If the client wants something reliable to connect their offices, get them to 
pay a guy to walk around between them with a floppy disc.

On Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:52:56 +0100
"GB"  wrote:

> If the client wants something reliable to connect their offices, get
> them to pay a guy to walk around between them with a floppy disc.
> 
We used to call that sneakernet, back in the days when we were using
10base2 Ethernet and calling it cheapernet. I think these days he should
be carrying a flash drive rather than a box of floppies.

In message <20090922041754.0dcaf794@bluemoon>, Rob Morley 
 writes
>On Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:52:56 +0100
>"GB"  wrote:
>
>> If the client wants something reliable to connect their offices, get
>> them to pay a guy to walk around between them with a floppy disc.
>>
>We used to call that sneakernet, back in the days when we were using
>10base2 Ethernet and calling it cheapernet. I think these days he should
>be carrying a flash drive rather than a box of floppies.
>
Noooo, not sneaker net, if it's an open plan office then it's Frisbee 
net.
-- 
Clint Sharp

In message <iVTsm.116119$4f4.102358@newsfe11.ams2>, Philip Herlihy 
<me@here.localhost> writes
>A bit OT perhaps, but there are smart folk here!
>
>I have a customer who has three branch offices.  People there struggle 
>to make documents available between offices and I've been asked to make 
>recommendations.  One runs SBS 2003 (but the installation CDs are lost, 
>so I can't configure FTP for example!).
Sharepoint on the SBS2003 box? Where are you in the country, if you have 
a genuine license I can help with the disks. Alternatively you could 
investigate the Google Office apps...
> Another runs an ancient old box running Windows Server 2000.  Active 
>Directory linking the two servers was broken years ago and have been 
>treated as separate domains ever since - I fear complete collapse if I 
>try to re-link them!  The third office has Vista PCs with peer-to-peer 
>ad-hoc sharing.
>
>"Best" solution, I figure, could be replacing the servers with a 
>Terminal Server and keeping everything centralised - probably cheaper 
>than trying to link three servers via VPN.
*Very* expensive if you need more than two concurrent users
>
>Another option might be to install a third-party FTP server and run 
>something like WebDrive on the PCs to synchronise folders in the 
>background.  (Maybe the two Windows Servers can already do this - I 
>ought to check that out!).
Should be able to configure DFS on the servers
>
>A third option is to use the "Cloud" we're all hearing about and use 
>something like Skydrive with carefully-devised permissions, but this 
>requires positive care from each person to keep (copies) up-to-date on 
>Skydrive.  It's cheap: and this customer is having a lean time, so I'm 
>inclining towards this option.
>
>Grateful for any comments.
>
>Phil

-- 
Clint Sharp

On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:50:15 +0100
Clint Sharp  wrote:

> In message <20090922041754.0dcaf794@bluemoon>, Rob Morley 
>  writes
> >On Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:52:56 +0100
> >"GB"  wrote:
> >
> >> If the client wants something reliable to connect their offices,
> >> get them to pay a guy to walk around between them with a floppy
> >> disc.
> >>
> >We used to call that sneakernet, back in the days when we were using
> >10base2 Ethernet and calling it cheapernet. I think these days he
> >should be carrying a flash drive rather than a box of floppies.
> >
> Noooo, not sneaker net, if it's an open plan office then it's Frisbee 
> net.

Floppies were unreliable enough without chucking them around so the
sliding covers didn't fit any more.

Clint Sharp wrote:
> In message <iVTsm.116119$4f4.102358@newsfe11.ams2>, Philip Herlihy 
> <me@here.localhost> writes
>> A bit OT perhaps, but there are smart folk here!
>>
>> I have a customer who has three branch offices.  People there struggle 
>> to make documents available between offices and I've been asked to 
>> make recommendations.  One runs SBS 2003 (but the installation CDs are 
>> lost, so I can't configure FTP for example!).
> Sharepoint on the SBS2003 box? Where are you in the country, if you have 
> a genuine license I can help with the disks. Alternatively you could 
> investigate the Google Office apps...
>> Another runs an ancient old box running Windows Server 2000.  Active 
>> Directory linking the two servers was broken years ago and have been 
>> treated as separate domains ever since - I fear complete collapse if I 
>> try to re-link them!  The third office has Vista PCs with peer-to-peer 
>> ad-hoc sharing.
>>
>> "Best" solution, I figure, could be replacing the servers with a 
>> Terminal Server and keeping everything centralised - probably cheaper 
>> than trying to link three servers via VPN.
> *Very* expensive if you need more than two concurrent users
>>
>> Another option might be to install a third-party FTP server and run 
>> something like WebDrive on the PCs to synchronise folders in the 
>> background.  (Maybe the two Windows Servers can already do this - I 
>> ought to check that out!).
> Should be able to configure DFS on the servers
>>
>> A third option is to use the "Cloud" we're all hearing about and use 
>> something like Skydrive with carefully-devised permissions, but this 
>> requires positive care from each person to keep (copies) up-to-date on 
>> Skydrive.  It's cheap: and this customer is having a lean time, so I'm 
>> inclining towards this option.
>>
>> Grateful for any comments.
>>
>> Phil
> 

Thanks, Clint:

I'd wondered about Sharepoint or DFS, but only one of the three offices 
has a server worth investing in (one has an elderly Win2K server and one 
has no server at all).  That's why I'm looking at a "cloud" approach. 
Google Apps is an interesting thought, but there is likely to be a 
training issue - people there are impatient with anything new, so 
sticking with the known MS office apps might be better if we can get the 
sharing worked out.  TS is expensive, but if we end up with one server 
instead of three it might be economically feasible.

I'd be very glad of any help with the disks.  I have only one of the 
(three?) and that's Disk 3.  It's from an OEM ("for distribution with a 
new server only") set of SBS 2003 Standard with SP1 for a Dell server, 
fully legally licencsed.  If you could make me a copy of the relevant 
media I'd be really grateful!

Phil

In message <20090923034948.42ff2110@bluemoon>, Rob Morley 
 writes
>> Noooo, not sneaker net, if it's an open plan office then it's Frisbee
>> net.
>
>Floppies were unreliable enough without chucking them around so the
>sliding covers didn't fit any more.
>
Newbie... Proper floppies didn't have sliding covers.
-- 
Clint Sharp

In message <tjlum.148419$hv7.124779@newsfe10.ams2>, Philip Herlihy 
<me@here.localhost> writes
>Thanks, Clint:
>
>I'd wondered about Sharepoint or DFS, but only one of the three offices 
>has a server worth investing in (one has an elderly Win2K server and 
>one has no server at all).

E-Mail me.
>Phil

-- 
Clint Sharp

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:44:08 +0100
Clint Sharp  wrote:

> In message <20090923034948.42ff2110@bluemoon>, Rob Morley 
>  writes
> >> Noooo, not sneaker net, if it's an open plan office then it's
> >> Frisbee net.
> >
> >Floppies were unreliable enough without chucking them around so the
> >sliding covers didn't fit any more.
> >
> Newbie... Proper floppies didn't have sliding covers.

Don't call me a newbie, I was using paper tape around the time 5.25"
floppies became common.  :-)

Rob Morley  wrote in news:20090923191336.54e12e05
@bluemoon:

> Don't call me a newbie, I was using paper tape around the time 5.25"
> floppies became common.  :-)
> 
> 

I've still got a stack of dBasell code on 8" floppies in the loft..

Lord knows how I'd ever read it.


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 David ~ Lincoln UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:16:29 -0500
Dai  wrote:

> Rob Morley  wrote in news:20090923191336.54e12e05
> @bluemoon:
> 
> > Don't call me a newbie, I was using paper tape around the time 5.25"
> > floppies became common.  :-)
> > 
> > 
> 
> I've still got a stack of dBasell code on 8" floppies in the loft..
> 
> Lord knows how I'd ever read it.
> 
> 
Grab this before somebody else does

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200334679457

:-)

>> Don't call me a newbie, I was using paper tape around the time 5.25"
>> floppies became common.  :-)
>>
>>
>
> I've still got a stack of dBasell code on 8" floppies in the loft..
>
> Lord knows how I'd ever read it.
>
Jest not.  I came across some "ARCHIVE-BACKUP"  8" floppies last year at a 
site, let's hope they are not needed.

(A week later that film was re-run on telly where the high-school geek uses 
an 8" floppy to play wargames)

> You bastard, you joke about these things! I've had 3 weeks of bloody awful 
> intermittent faults on my ADFSFL with the line down 50% of the time and 
> Zen doing their best to sort it out and BT pretty uninterested. It turns 
> out

Common story.. Zen are one of the best ISPs (if not the best, they come top 
in many surveys) and they really do keep a tidy ship. They must curse having 
to piggyback on BT infrastructure in places.

Cheers, Rob.

Rob Nicholson wrote:
>> You bastard, you joke about these things! I've had 3 weeks of bloody awful 
>> intermittent faults on my ADFSFL with the line down 50% of the time and 
>> Zen doing their best to sort it out and BT pretty uninterested. It turns 
>> out
> 
> Common story.. Zen are one of the best ISPs (if not the best, they come top 
> in many surveys) and they really do keep a tidy ship. They must curse having 
> to piggyback on BT infrastructure in places.
> 
> Cheers, Rob.
> 
> 

It's only fair to say my experience over many years of BT (and more 
recently Demon, which uses BT infrastructure) has been excellent.  There 
have been occasional faults, but they have been fixed very quickly.

Phil