Server time?

[Mary Ann L.]

I am in charge of our five computer peer-to-peer network in name only. Being
the administrator of our two dentist, one hygienist, two clerk office I am
really the only one who pays attention to the computers. Two machines are
Windows 2000 and three are XP Pro. Our technician is telling one of the
dentists about the new Windows 2003 Server and how easy it is to set up and
operate and how it would add stability and speed to our network

We aren't having any particular problems with the way things are now but the
technician says that we might soon start to lose some files or get bumped
off the Internet when we download large files (we have cable) without adding
a Server. Can someone tell me in what ways we would be better off getting
the Server before we spend so much money? Thank-you.

 

[Mary Ann L.]

Thank-you, Nick. The dentists here throw money around like it was water. I
don't and that is part of why I was hired I think. Do you know anything
about "we might soon start to lose some files", I have no idea what he meant
by that.

 

[NDanger]

I truthfully have no idea either and I worked for MS for almost 6 years
supporting this stuff! I would have this guy clarify, in writing,
exacly what he means by all these things he is telling you. If you would
like my assistance I'll be more than willing to look at it with you. Just
remove the no spam and extra spaces from my e-mail address.

HTH!

Nick

 

[Ken Wickes [MSFT]]

I agree. If he really wanted to sell you Server he could extol the virtues
of Active Directory, which is probably overkill for a network of 5. The
only thing I could possible think of where a server might save your from
losing files is that I think there is a admin recover option if your lose
the keys for the Encrypting File System. That's pretty far out there
though.

 

[Mary Ann L.]

I talked to the technician on the phone just now and he said that a server
acts like a traffic cop--routing all the network traffic exactly where it
needs to go. He said the way we're set up now, we could start to lose some
files when the network traffic becomes heavy.

I can't say for sure but I don't think more than three computers are in use
at any given time and we don't use the computers any differently than other
small office. He also said our data would be more secure because he could
set up the server so that all our data could be transferred to it. I think
he means that the data would be somehow more secure residing on the server
than on the individual computers. It seems to me that if one computer goes
down now we may be crippled, but if we got the server and it went down we
would be out of business until it got back up. Am I making any sense?

I agree. If he really wanted to sell you Server he could extol the virtues
of Active Directory, which is probably overkill for a network of 5. The
only thing I could possible think of where a server might save your from
losing files is that I think there is a admin recover option if your lose
the keys for the Encrypting File System. That's pretty far out there
though.

--

Ken Wickes [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I truthfully have no idea either and I worked for MS for almost 6 years
supporting this stuff! I would have this guy clarify, in writing,
exacly what he means by all these things he is telling you. If you would
like my assistance I'll be more than willing to look at it with you. Just
remove the no spam and extra spaces from my e-mail address.

HTH!

Nick

water.

I

office

I machines
are

set

up now
but

 

[Ken Wickes [MSFT]]

I suppose you could set up the server as a router, but that's a very
expensive router. I also have a hard time imagining a dentist's office
saturating a 100Mbps ethernet. Things could possibly get slow, but you
wouldn't lose files.

Having a central server can make sense. It often will have better hardware
and/or a backup system and possibly better controlled security. However you
wouldn't need Server for this until your network grew to 10 machines, you
could use Pro until then.

I'm not convinced you need Server. You may want to think through security
and backup configurations.

--

Ken Wickes [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I talked to the technician on the phone just now and he said that a server
acts like a traffic cop--routing all the network traffic exactly where it
needs to go. He said the way we're set up now, we could start to lose some
files when the network traffic becomes heavy.

I can't say for sure but I don't think more than three computers are in use
at any given time and we don't use the computers any differently than other
small office. He also said our data would be more secure because he could
set up the server so that all our data could be transferred to it. I think
he means that the data would be somehow more secure residing on the server
than on the individual computers. It seems to me that if one computer goes
down now we may be crippled, but if we got the server and it went down we
would be out of business until it got back up. Am I making any sense?

I agree. If he really wanted to sell you Server he could extol the virtues
of Active Directory, which is probably overkill for a network of 5. The
only thing I could possible think of where a server might save your from
losing files is that I think there is a admin recover option if your lose
the keys for the Encrypting File System. That's pretty far out there
though.

--

Ken Wickes [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

I truthfully have no idea either and I worked for MS for almost 6 years
supporting this stuff! I would have this guy clarify, in writing,
exacly what he means by all these things he is telling you. If you would
like my assistance I'll be more than willing to look at it with you. Just
remove the no spam and extra spaces from my e-mail address.

HTH!

Nick





Thank-you, Nick. The dentists here throw money around like it was

water.

I
don't and that is part of why I was hired I think. Do you know anything
about "we might soon start to lose some files", I have no idea what he
meant
by that.
"Nick Danger @ .ndanger.net>" <nick<nospamnospam> wrote in message
Someone is trying to sell you a new server. If what you have is
working and you are not having any problems, you do not need a server.
A server is not going to ensure that you stay on the Internet. That
is the job of the ISP. A server is not going to help you get large
files either.

If you are seriously looking at this, make sure that your tech fully
documents everything that this new server will do and have him sign
it.

My $.02

L. Nick Gage MCSE NT4, Win2K




I am in charge of our five computer peer-to-peer network in name only.
Being
the administrator of our two dentist, one hygienist, two clerk

office

I
am
really the only one who pays attention to the computers. Two machines
are
Windows 2000 and three are XP Pro. Our technician is telling one

of
the

dentists about the new Windows 2003 Server and how easy it is to

set

up
and
operate and how it would add stability and speed to our network

We aren't having any particular problems with the way things are now
but
the
technician says that we might soon start to lose some files or get
bumped
off the Internet when we download large files (we have cable) without
adding
a Server. Can someone tell me in what ways we would be better off
getting
the Server before we spend so much money? Thank-you.

 

[Nick Danger]

I agree with Ken. This guy is just out to sell you something that you
don't need.

Ken: You wouldn't happen to be on the AD support team would you? I'm
an old Perf team member.