Small Business Network setup

[Quinn06]

I need some imput.


My business client has 10 Computers, They file share heavily, but they do not use a server, nor do they want to. They all have their own individual printers so no sharing of printers.


They want to get a new router, switch, plus have wireless capability.

What hardware would you recommend, that also has a good price?


Just want to pick your brains so see what you guys use..


Thanks

 

[PCSupportGlasgow]

THEY NEED A SERVER or at the very least some sort of NAS with backup in place for it ... ok you say they not want one but 10 pcs is alot of user data that could probably kill the company in the event of a catastrophy eg fire,flood or a break-in. Or even what to stop little tommy the office junior getting into accounts data and telling whole office what everyone earning? or miss peeved off accidently deleting all the files on jim the office lounge lizards pc for that unwanted advance in the office kitchen?


without a server in place backup, accountability or even file permissions will be a tech nighmare.


ok router wont matter as it always going to be faster than their internet connection.

as for switch most major brand gigabit switches will do just remember to get one with extra ports for future.

as for wireless really depends on the site eg open plan?, old biulding? thick walls? interference from elsewhere?, etc get a survey done and make sure you use business grade APs and not home consumer stuff or you will only have nothing but frequent annoying cakls from client.

 

[Maccadon]

Don't try to safe money on the router.
That's the most important point.
Look for the better brand modem/routers like Cisco (not linksys), AVM Fritz or Vigor Draytek.
For the switch look for a Cisco or a 3Com.
It may cost a little bit more but it will safe you a lot of trouble plus your customers will be much happier.

Also let them know what a NAS can do for them.
Brands like Synology and Qnap give great hardware for a good price.

 

[road]

At the very minimun if there will be no more than 10 computers Windows Home Server would help out fine for backups and all the file sharing. That would be much better in terms of saving those files if one of the computers goes down.

 

[DanF]

Also, if you're getting a NAS make sure that you can set up accounts and privileges just like you would do with a Windows Server OS. Some NAS can't do this.

 

[krtechsolutions]

Sonicwall tz200w for the router/firewall and built in wireless

And

Smc 1gb switch

Synolgy or buffalo NAS

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I need some imput.

My business client has 10 Computers

You are putting your reputation on the line here.

They are at the limit of workgroup networking...they cannot grow and if the TCP/IP or browsers do not release the 10th computer on reboot then someone is not getting back on the network...this can get screwy in a hurry. This is a very bad idea. Not a great Idea even for those under 8 or 6 PC's.

They file share heavily, but they do not use a server, nor do they want to. They all have their own individual printers so no sharing of printers.

Workstatiion software is optimized for just that. File sharing heavily says We need a server. The throughput of a workstation and server are not the same even in identical hardware. They will save time with a server and probably lower overall costs.

They want to get a new router, switch, plus have wireless capability.

Why? Be careful just following/ doing what clients ask as they may have different motives than are obvious and which are based on incorrect knowledge and assumptions. This whole setup is a non professional fishy smelling deal and I would take a step back and make sure that the owner and I fully understood each other before proceeding.

I have done enough of these "Save money" deals to know that when the job is over and it doesn't do what they expected they blame the technician. And rightly so. They need a consultant to advise them the correct way to setup not a technician to install whatever they think they want.

What hardware would you recommend, that also has a good price?

Without knowing more I would lead towards either Microsoft's Windows home server which cost's $92 OEM and you can put it on any workstation just about. Or I would take any workstation and put Linux on it as a free server.

I would go with super sized sata drives in mirror 1 or 5 and then attach a USB external super sized drive/or raid case for the daily backups.

I know enough about human nature to know they are not backing up every pc every night. With the server you can put their data on the server or sync their workstations to the server and make sure at least that the server is backed up appropriately.

I wouldn't install 10/100 switch as its not much money to move them to Gigabyte switch, even if the nics are 10/100 they can use the throughput as they upgrade their systems to the now standard 10/100/1000 nics. Or you can buy the 1000tx nics now for as low as $10-11 and make more money installing them in the old workstations.

I think Dlink has a 24 port 10/100/1000 for $160.

I like Dlink and Netgear but wouldn't recommend Cisco nor Linksys. Go with N 300mbps protocal.