Questions on setting up the office network..

[RishyCP]

If I intend to have an office with up 60 pc's....

1. The largest switch i can find is 24 port...so...does that mean i buy x3 24 port switches and just connect them to each other to network all the machines ?

2. My understanding is ADSL Router --> Switch --> PC's Correct?

3. How to make 1 of the machines the "server". This is going to be something like a call center. So that machine will only hold records, not be accessed two way all the time by all the machines. I can just use a normal high spec PC
to do this yes?

4. Intending to use Kaspersky and ZoneAlarm for protection. OK?

5. What is a good network monitoring software? Preferably something with an easy to use GUI so that even people with limited IT know-how can use common sense and manipulate it?

Thanks guys...

 

[eibgrad]

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. Yes. But with that many clients you might want to consider a server OS w/domain controller to manage user accounts and logins, enforce system-wide policies, etc. Using strictly workgroup (peer to peer) OSes like Windows 7, Vista, and XP will becomes increasingly difficult to manage. They all have limits on concurrent connections that will suffice in a SMALL workgroup, but simply not scale as the number of peers grows beyond some point (well before 60, we’re talking < 10 here).

4. For a system with that many clients, I would use Astaro (or similar) in order to centralize your security. Just seems easier to me than managing individual clients. And probably cheaper in the long run.

5. Again, Astaro (or similar). Although I don’t know what YOU would call easy. Anything involving networking and system monitoring is going to require a certain level of understanding about the potential threats, how the technology can (or can’t) protect you, etc. There’s only so much you can do without having ppl w/ specific expertise managing your network. And it only gets more complex each day, not less.

 

[RishyCP]

Thanks eibgrad....

About No. 3...I think it was my bad that I wasnt specific enough...there wont be any permanent staff...so no logging in, no user accounts etc. We have a survey to run, we get some college kids etc. They do the survey, records sent to the "server" and thats it...

Still recommend a Server OS?

 

[eibgrad]

Thanks eibgrad....

About No. 3...I think it was my bad that I wasnt specific enough...there wont be any permanent staff...so no logging in, no user accounts etc. We have a survey to run, we get some college kids etc. They do the survey, records sent to the "server" and thats it...

Still recommend a Server OS?

Oh, yeah, I see what you mean, that would sort of be overkill, wouldn't it. LOL

But why go through all that trouble for a survey. You make it sound so rudimentary. Create a website, get one machine to host the webserver and database, and have everyone access it from their own machines over the internet. Sort of the other extreme.

You could still have connections limits depending on the type of applications (e.g., client/server) and level of concurrency needed by all those clients. That’s sort of the beauty of a web application. And why I said, why go through all that trouble.