next IT step for small business?

[Whirl-Secret]

Oh don't let your server be a dhcp client, it will definitely need a fixed IP.

TBH even when I really know what I'm doing it takes a while to set up a server, that's why disaster recovery solutions are so expensive yet ppl still buy them! I would say:

3 hours to back up all current hardware (so if it gets to 8pm on sunday and you are stuck, you can revert). Acronis Trueimage is really good and cheap for this, it might be worth buying the licences anyway.
1 hour to unpack hardware
4 hours to install sbs and apply patches and set up disks
1 hour to set up dhcp
1 hour to set up smoothwall (dunno anything about it though)
3 hours to set up domain and join the PCs, sort out dns
1 hour to create user accounts and set up emails
1 hour to setup backup scheduled task and plan media pool.
Since SBS has some sort of sharepoint installed too I think, then you'll want to play with that too, so 1 hour.
1 hour : Sorting out shares, (especially if you need to sort out ppl's data), especially if there are no ntfs permissions just now.
1 hour, Installing printers
3 hours to get used to SBS at least (of course it will take weeks but this is for starters).
1 hour set up VPN for yourself

It will take all weekend I would say. Remember to double your rate on sunday :P You will of course have many 'oh shit' moments so just acccept them when they happen. Any of theses could screw up and take 3 times as long.

Not trying to scare you, but best to have time to spare. If you get it all sorted in 1 day, then superb. I'd say most people don't! The times above are based on Windows 2003 standard edition mostly, I can't remember how SBS handles dns and dhcp, but i do remember that the first sbs i set up really did take all weekend.

[BarryS]

Agree with all the Whirl-Secret says, it normally takes me about two days.

One gotcha: you must ensure that dhcp tells the clients to use the ip address of the SB server as the first dns server, by all means use the ISP ones for subsequent servers, but it's crucial that the SBS is the first in the list.

Another one: You must also take into account the time needed in setting up the client machines. When installing SBS you will, no doubt, be installing XP SP2 in to the client apps area of the server along with Outlook 2003. When you define the users, you should also name the client computer that they will be using, this will allow the \\server\connectcomputer magic bit to set them up as local administrators so that the client apps can be installed properly, the workstations will also try to install XP SP2 if not there.

You may also want to log on as the users, start outlook, attach the existing pst files and copy the contents into the mailbox.

Don't underestimate how long all this client set up will take!

Be aware that you will no doubt have to go back later to sort out issues that will only arise when the client starts using the system, I can almost guarantee that you will be there for another day to sort this out, particularly in the area of calendar sharing and delegation.

I kow that this all seems like a nightmare, but trust me, once it's up and running there's very little to do, particularly as Exchange SP2 allows for a much larger mailstore because now it's recognised that it has a very different function to that which it was conceived for and now forms the cornerstone of many businesses.

[Fat Tone]

Thanks for all the pointers. My quote has gone in. If they don't like it, I don't really mind

[Fat Tone]

So now we are struggling for space, and I'm being asked if the Smoothwall box can go.

Was planning on the Std Ed. of SBS, and you only get ISA with the Premium version. Presumably the firewalling of Std isn't up to snuff for this app.

If we did go with Prem instead, is it reasonable to run ISA as well as all the rest? Internet traffic won't be huge. One reason for Smoothwall is another user is sharing the single ADSL line and the Orange interface is currently being used for that, keeping them totally separate from the 'business'.

Instead of going with Prem I could consider a decent hardware firewall...any thoughts?

TIA

T.

[BarryS]

I have a thought:

If you go the ISA route, all internet access from within your side of the network would go through your SBS box. That in itself is not a problem, it's built to handle it, however...

My sbs2k3 box developed a fault yesterday, it would start to boot, then would fail when 'preparing network connections' or shortly afterwards when actually starting all the services.

I use a Draytek router with NAT to provide dhcp and internet access, if I had been routing everything through ISA on my SBS box, I wouldn't have had any 'net access and neither would the rest of the family. Whilst the SBS box is still a 'single point of failure' in many respects, it's always handy if you can at least ask for help when you need it!

A sensibly set up domain will prevent other user getting to stuff they shouldn't.

Oh, and the failure on my box was owing to something buggered in the Raid array. Unplugging one of the disks has allowed the system to come back up, albeit not optimally. All I need to do now is rebuild the array, specifying the correct disks as target and mirror

So a +1 for having some kind of raid 1+ array in place.

[Fat Tone]

Cheers Barry, I like the look of the Draytek 2800. One is on its way.

Two questions:

1. Whats the best AV s/w for the server. Trawling the net, opinions seem to be divided, with few having painless experiences.

2. Email handling: What's the best way of transferring the service to Exchange?. They currently have two separate domains (fred@*.co.uk) handled by two different suppliers, accessed by pop3/smtp.
Much of the email is internal but a lot is also external (particularly for one of the domains).

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[BarryS]

1) I have used the symantec groupware product, but I'm re-thinking it. My reasoning being that the virus thingies are only triggered when they reach the client, not the server, so any decent client av should work (although I'm very happy to be taught a lesson here if anyone has any other experiences).

2) Bearing in mind that I haven't studied the link above regarding two domains yet, this is what I do for a single domain. Presumably, the company already has mail routed to a pop3 server exposed to the 'net somewhere. I would leave it this way and use the pop3 connector in Exchange to collect the mail every 15 minutes and distribute it to the clients. This way, you do not have to worry about redundant power supplies, dual bt lines etc, you can leave all that stuff to the ISP. When setting up exchange tell it to route all external mail to the ISP's smtp server then if you are doing any maintenance you can simply stop the mail from being downloaded until you are ready for it, rather than people getting the 'could not deliver message for 2 hours' type messages that I have seen. Again, if anyone has other experiences to share, please do.

Barry

[Fat Tone]

Hi Barry

Re 1) I quite like Sophos, but I've only used the client part. Their SB product costs about the same as Symantec, but I'm not sure they'll run to that. I suspect they'll just go for another copy of Norton

Re 2) I've been reading my book a little since posting and I was coming to the same conclusion. My only complications are:
a) I haven't read the above link in full yet either, and
b) The two business domains are provided by separate suppliers, neither of which is the ISP!

I have a little (more!) digging to do!

Thanks again,

T.

[BarryS]

2) no problem there. Most ISPs will let you send stuff out through their smtp server if you are connected to them (except BT!, I use Nildram, now part of Pipex). The POP3 connector can download mail from *any* pop3 server, you just need to specify username and password as you would expect.

[Fat Tone]

Guess who the ISP is! BT

[BarryS]

I think I have a customer who is with BT and can send stuff out, I'll check their settings. It could be that BT business users can.

[Fat Tone]

First thanks to everyone for the help so far.

I'm in the middle of it now, and would appreciate if you could take a look at http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?p=581433 as I have need of some help before tomorrow

Thanks,

T.