Small NT 4 server network construction newbie - need quality input.

[NewSage]

<i>Thanks for checking out my posting!&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm positive that <font color=red>all</font> responses will be of great value.</i><br><br>Our small company has about 13 pcs, Mostly 2 year old or older HP Vectras, and 2 Gateway2K machines (same age), and two Fujitsu Lifebooks (1 1/2 year old) in the office(s).<br><br>The Vectras have anywhere from a P75 to a PII 266 processor.<br><br>They all have NICS of one flavor or another (the HP ones are probably proprietary).<br><br>I've attended an NT server 4.0 intro class which covered a large group of subjects (12 hour course) -- I'm confident I can administrate this network once we've gotten the system up and running and have had a good chance to get real hands-on experience / black eyes.<br><br>I'm using the Que Special Edition Using Windows NT Server 4.0 online book ( <A HREF="

http://www.mstraining.com/book/toc.html"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.mstraining.com/book/toc.html</A>

)as a reference / tutorial.&nbsp;&nbsp;(they have a LAN book at that site which discusses networking history too.)<br><br>My problem:&nbsp;&nbsp;It's my wonderful task to figure out what hardware needs we have to make this all work -- Both on the LAN side as well as the PC construction side.&nbsp;&nbsp;My manager and I both are comfortable building PCs, and he wishes to construct the server from parts he's found for good prices.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>My manager doesn't have any clear ideas about anything to do with this other than having the outcome be a good, contemporary network to connect our 13 PC office systems.&nbsp;&nbsp;(ZIP disks have been our tried and true friends so far!)<br><br><br>My needs:<br><br>1)&nbsp;&nbsp;What kind of machine / configuration will work well as a server? (we're probably going with fat clients, loaded with applications)<br><br>2)&nbsp;&nbsp;Is it wiser to purchase a server package for this instance and have support from a large corporation for the machine OR should we put this together with our choice of good quality parts?<br><br>3)&nbsp;&nbsp;Will a fast, cheap m-board work well for the application or is NT 4.0 too picky about hardware?&nbsp;&nbsp;Should it be 500 mhz...slower of faster?&nbsp;&nbsp;Should I recommend taking one of our PII 266 machines and converting it into a server?<br><br>4)&nbsp;&nbsp;Ram: is 128 meg enough?<br><br>5)&nbsp;&nbsp;Hard-disk: need your recommendations to avoid sorrow later.&nbsp;&nbsp;Please give me your experiences here and include drive-specific details please.&nbsp;&nbsp;(SCSI ultrawide or will a good IBM Deskstar Pro set work well?)<br><br>6)&nbsp;&nbsp;Should we use the NICs present in the machines (most are 10/100 bt).<br><br>7)&nbsp;&nbsp;RAID setup - advantages/ disadvantages to NT internal RAID / External RAID boxes.&nbsp;&nbsp;(Revisit question #5 please.)<br><br>8)&nbsp;&nbsp;What kind of LAN topology is recommended?&nbsp;&nbsp;(remember, I'm fairly new to this subject, have mercy, please.)&nbsp;&nbsp;We've ruled out peer-to-peer, BTW.<br><br>9)&nbsp;&nbsp;I have one person located in another building on-site who will need transparent connectivity to this network.&nbsp;&nbsp;How can I accomplish this?<br><br>10) Email facilities - We have lots and lots of accounts&nbsp;&nbsp;with a local ISP which have their own mailboxes.&nbsp;&nbsp;Am I going to want to move into a model which has their mailboxes local to the server and a DSL / ISDN / ?? connection?&nbsp;&nbsp;We're on-site at a large corporation and I doubt we'll be able to bring in a T1, DSL, or any other lines easily for our host site's security reasons.&nbsp;&nbsp;Their phone network is digital and modem speeds are usually at 28,800 and less (more frequently lower than higher).<br><br>11) And, how about Windows 2000 Server?&nbsp;&nbsp;Should we consider purchasing and installing it primarily instead of NT 4.0 Server?<br><br>What to do, what to do....<br><br>I've been given a deadline of two weeks (initial) to figure out the hardware side of the issue.&nbsp;&nbsp;He wants it installed by the end of July -- and more realistically, I think, mid to post-August.<br><br><br>Thanks for your great input and help (I've seen a lot of good responses here to other people's quesions.)<br>RSVP!<br>- <font color=red>NewSage</font>

 

[ATCal]

The &quot;parts he's found for good prices&quot; always scares me when talking about a server. Unless you are experienced, I wouldn't mess with piecing a server together.<br>Your enthusiasm is thoroughly commendable, however I think your requirements are a little involved for a newbie. I would recommend you hire a consultant for the initial setup and learn the administrative end first. This is a business and NT can be quite unforgiving. The worst thing for business is downtime which NT will provide plenty of if not set up correctly.<br> <p>Al<br><a href=mailto: atc-computing@home.com> atc-computing@home.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[DaveGoTech]

Excellent response Al !!! I could not have said it better.<br>I hope you can convince your boss to go this route.<br>We have been in the reseller business for over 20 years, and have<br>witnessed first-hand the disasterous results of 'home-made servers&quot;.<br>With the complexity involved, you should indeed consider hiring a local, <br>well-respected reseller to supply your server (configured according to <br>your needs), and set-up and install the whole system. You could work <br>with the person to gain knowledge in supporting it.<br>Believe me, in the end, your company will have spent a lot less than<br>'doing-it-yourself' and have a 'functional' system.<br>

 

[Guest_imported]

I couldn't agree more.&nbsp;&nbsp;Keep this advice in mind.&nbsp;&nbsp;Do it right the first time.&nbsp;&nbsp;Do it right the first time.&nbsp;&nbsp;And do it right the first time.&nbsp;&nbsp;You'll be much better off learning from a person who has done this many times before than learning from mistakes that you couldn't possibly have forseen.&nbsp;&nbsp;Good luck!<br><br>- John Hayes<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;AlphaSource Computing

 

[MasterRacker]

I'm going to vote with everyone else here.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you don't have a good base of professional experience with these things, pay someone to design and set up your network then gain your experience administering it.&nbsp;&nbsp;Buy a server, as a unit, that was designed to be a server.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Look at it this way:&nbsp;&nbsp;You listed 13 PCs so we'll assume you have only 13 employees.&nbsp;&nbsp;Most businesses account for their internal costs at 50.00-100.00 per hour per employee.&nbsp;&nbsp;Using a middle figure of 75.00 per hour cost times 13 gives 975.00 per hour.&nbsp;&nbsp;In other words, downtime costs your business <i><b>at least</b></i> 975.00 per hour (probably much more).&nbsp;&nbsp;At that rate it doesn't take long to justify some reseller fees.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>If your management thinks this is all so simple that someone who has had a couple of short courses can design, install and configure it all in 5 weeks, they're being very unrealistic.&nbsp;&nbsp;There are a LOT of issues:<br><br>1. A single domain network will work, but some should design it for you.<br>2. A switched 10/100BaseT network would work but someone will need to lay out the wiring, pull the wires, set up patch panels, equipment racks , provide filtered power for the equipment, etc.<br>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;Depending on the distance, your user in the other building will need either a fiber optic (probably buried) or wireless link (if lower speeds are okay) to your main facility.<br>4. If you're trying to move mail in-house, you may need to set up a mail server.&nbsp;&nbsp;(I would not recommend running Notes or Exchange on the same machine as your file and print services) which means a second server.<br>5. If you're doing Internet connectivity (who isn't?) you will need some kind of proxy and firewall plus a router?<br><br>I'm only scratching the surface.....<br><br>Disclaimer:&nbsp;&nbsp;I am <b>not</b> a reseller myself.&nbsp;&nbsp;I am simply pointing out what I think is the prudent course. <p> Jeff<br><a href=mailto: masterracker@hotmail.com> masterracker@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> Of all the things I've lost in life, I miss my mind the most ...

 

[fenris]

I must aggree with everyone else here. Where I am working know has about 35 computers, 2 extremely remote sites ( at least 5 miles to the closest), 2 Sites requiring a fibre line to get to them. We have three servers here, each running specific applications. I must mention that I started working after the original person who had a hand in the networks equipment selection and design left, All I can say is what a mess.<br><br>As far as servers go, it is definately worth getting a dell or compaq server. They are well worth the money. Well strictly speaking, two of the servers are not really servers, one was in place before I got here and the other, we had no choice but to put it in. The one server is a dell precision 610. It is dual pII xeon 450, 256 mb ram, 18 Gb 10,000 rpm scsi drives. The other &quot;server&quot; is a dell precision 210, dual pIII 750 with 256 Mb ram 30 Gb ide. That machine could definately use the scsi drives. When I put it into production, I had no choice it was costing well over $2500/hour. fortunately, most of the time the workload of the servers is not the large. So we can get away with using high end workstations instead of server class machines. There is talk of getting acctual servers and putting the two workstations back into the users hands (I got first dibs in the dual pIII).<br><br>I would not have wanted to setup the network myself, becuase It can be a nightmare. I am fairly experienced, but I am the only one on the site that knows anything about computers other then using word and excel. Get a consultant in to do the work, but make sure you ask questions and the plans are run by you to make sure everything looks reasonable.<br><br>Do you have a number of specific software packages that are to be used off the server? Central Database, accounting packages, etc. I would recomend getting seperate servers for each of these packages as well as a server for the networking, and print sharing.<br><br><br><br> <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>