If dial-up (vpn) is important in this network expansion, you should look
into Microsoft's Terminal Server.  While not very popular, you would be
astounded at how real time your work can be while away from your office.

I have a client that dials in via POTS (plain old telephone system) with his
laptop, he gets connected @ 26,400 because he's in a rural area and he can
run applications at the office as if he were there.

The Terminal Server hardware we chose was an HP Netserver with a pair of
450mhz Intels and a SCSI raid of 5 drives @ 10.5 gigs apiece.  There's 512mb
RAM on board and the connectivity is DSL at about 850 to 1,200 kbps.  We had
a leased line but change to our local Telco's DSL at a savings of about 150
dollars a month!

The Citrix client needs to be installed on each remote computer but that's
the great part, too.  You can download the client for free at www.citrix.com
and with a scrap of paper that has written on it, your log-in name, password
and the IP address of the Terminal server -- you're in.

You don't need to run Terminal sessions inside the office.  If you wish, you
can map the hard drive on the Terminal Server to your desktop, the printer
or anything else connected to it and you have your server solution.

If you're on a tight budget, I've seen some dual processor systems with
raids on Ebay from reputable vendors (obviously, some dot.com or enterprise
is upgrading) for under 2500 dollars.  Terminal Server with 25 user license
cost us about 1500 dollars.

One more thing...with Terminal Server, that old 486 or Pentium 75mhz can
connect within the office on a terminal session and never need to be
upgraded since the applications and horsepower would come from the server.

--gary r. tennesen
[log in to unmask]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Jobe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 7:33 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Small Network - Big Changes


> A friend of mine wants to change their office network (Win9x peer-to-peer)
to a server-style environment where the majority of the company's data would
be stored on the "server".  They also want to allow the employees to access
this new server from outside the physical building (dial-up, VPN ?).  They
are also planning to open a small branch office that will be accessing the
same server during business hours.  I was thinking along the lines of an
external router/firewall/VPN device, but that still wouldn't solve the
server storage problem.
> Thanks for any suggestions!
> Ron Jobe
>
>                          PCBUILD's List Owners:
>                       Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
>                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>

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