Hello! My name’s Uriel, and I’m appealing to the forum for some help and tips. I know the post is long… and I know I’ll have to research a lot in the net for info. But if you could help me get started and answer these issues and configuration questions I’d be VERY grateful. That way I can plan, prepare myself and buy in a smart way. Thanks a lot in advance!!! I am a MD/PhD student and our lab is being rebuilt. The ‘office’ will be bigger and there will be room for up to 5 computer stations. Being the computers geek of the bunch, I’m now not only IT manager, but network admin too! I am kind of a windows expert (uh-hmm!), tweaking services and startups and registry and loaded with 10’s of utilities that do all I should ever need, etc, but my network experience is very small. The cost of an internet point of access is 100$ per month, so the router will not only let us share the internet connection but also set up our local network for file sharing and central access. We will use wired since we don’t need wireless and laying the cables now is not a problem, and it’ll give better performance. We will carry over an old PIII computer and an iMac 17”, and we have a phaser 8200N network printer. We intend to buy 2-3 new computers as well, for a grand total of 6 connections as of today. 1st question: what is better, D-link (DI-808HV), lynksis (RV082) or netgear (FVS318)? All offer a 8 port router with VPN capabilities, as well as SPI etc. The three seem excellent, although I have a small tendency for D-link since they have a good local reseller and were very nice and helpful on the phone with my inquiries. Nonetheless, if one of the others is better I have no problem buying it. 2nd question: our net connection already lies behind the hospital’s firewall which needless to say is very very strong. The router has SPI and other filtering and management options which I will fine tune and maintain as needed. Will the individual computers still need a software firewall? Or will antivirus suffice? What about Windows XP Pro SP2 built in firewall + antivirus (and automatic updates across the board)? 5 firewall licenses renewed every year add to the cost, besides the antivirus which is beyond question. Given that the computers are not personal, we want a central data storage. That way we solve the previous terrible problem of duplicate files everywhere and overall distributed junk. Applications will remain local, only user data files will be centralized. I intend to convert the old PIII to a file server. I’ll update the BIOS and install 512 MB of the fastest RAM that it accepts (is it enough?). I’ll leave the current HDD for the OS, and want to buy a RAID card that will give me SATA connections to use two mirrored 7200 RPM drives for maximum data integrity. Is this the way to go? Bear in mind that we don’t have huge files to transfer or access or even stream, but rather common files (word, excel, PowerPoint, pictures, etc). We do deal occasionally with relatively large image files when creating figures and posters etc. Will we have to copy those image files locally while working and then copy them back to the server or will the networked access be fast enough? Another question I have is regarding latency: will it be noticeable? Will there be noticeable delays when accessing, browsing and saving centrally located files? Is this configuration usable for four people working at the same time, assuming only one working with a big file? Will there be any trouble streaming music MP3 files to one or more clients while we work? I know that there is bandwidth to spare, but I don’t know the latency issues. Another issue is the ability to record data to CDs from a client. Will it be possible? It is meant for regular backup and for distribution of information (that is, to hand to the big boss our work!). Will the CDR work just fine or do I have to restrict recording speed? Is there a way to instruct the recording program to create a local image first so that a network glitch won’t ruin the CD? Is it even necessary? The PIII already has a network card, I don’t even remember if it is onboard. Assuming it is 10/100, should I change it anyway for a new one? Does it matter if it is onboard or not? Now a central question: can I use windows XP Pro on the server or should I buy the server edition of XP? From what I know, I thought about this network scenario: every client computer has one local login, a general user login for everyone to use (of course it is not an admin login) with all the apps etc available. In order to access the data files the user would have to “log in” into the server remotely. After 20 mins of inactivity the connection is severed. I don’t care if someone leaves the clients open since there will be only apps there (should I care?), but I don’t want strangers to be able to access data of a user who “forgot” to log out (as we all know, nobody logs out…). Will the server know not to cut the connection after 20 mins if a file is still open remotely, even if there was no activity (say it is being worked on but the user hasn’t saved in the last 20 mins)? In the server I’d create personal folders and specify for every folder access rights: admin, certain user, all users, etc. I don’t need quota management. Is this the way it should be configured? Or is it done this way: every user has a login which he uses to access whatever client computer he is using and he is automatically connected to the server and the server’s drive is mapped locally? Which one is better? Which one requires the most management? Which one can be done in plain XP Pro and which one needs a server OS? Or am I completely lost and the network should be configured completely differently? Will I be able to do it or we’ll need a VAR to set it up? Another central question is how will I restrict who has access to the server? Can I do MAC filtering at the router level and that’s it? Will the router keep the local IP addresses of the computers static? Even after turning on and off the router or the server or the clients? or after being connected/disconnected from the external network or being assigned a different IP? The server of course will not be a working station, but how do I have to keep it running (assuming I’ll be using XP Pro)– logged in as admin, user, or will it work without anyone being logged in? These issues are important for security and maintenance issues. Simple question: are there network scanners? We want to buy one, and I was wondering if I can attach one to the router for everyone to use. If not, should I connect it to one comp and anyone that whishes to use it will have to work on that computer, or should I “share” it? Is this a problem? As I said, we have a Mac (OS X 10.2, fully updated). How will it behave in the network? Will it be a hassle to connect it to the windows server? Does it matter for the Mac if the server OS is plain XP Pro or server version? What about an antivirus or firewall? Do I need one? Right now the Mac is standalone, so it doesn’t have AV. And regarding local vs distant files: will it work just fine? Are the file systems compatible at that level – using excel for instance in the Mac to work with the central files? That way the Mac would count as another working station. And a last question: we have in the Mac a special OS 9 application (which is the reason for us having a Mac altogether, and the reason we cannot upgrade to OS 10.3 since it doesn’t work in it). Can I store the user files in the server as the other ‘normal’ files, or should I leave them in the Mac? Since we can work on them only in the Mac the centralized storage is not such an issue for those files. It only makes backup and file access rights easier (user rights and file ownerships is such a hassle in the Mac!). And, alas! The last question: VPN. Will we be able to use it to connect to our files from home (or abroad) through the internet? The catch here is the hospital’s firewall. How does this work anyway? When I want to connect to the router from outside, do I need to know its IP? Or what? Thanks again everybody, Uriel.

wow...my brain hurts... MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

You don't need a router since the hospital has one. You should get a switch instead and your ip from the hospitals dhcp. No server version of XP. Server is 2003 now. I believe for you 2000 workstation would be plenty for your peer to peer network. No reason for you to go client server and active directory. You will control access by user accounts. no account no access. You can restrict who logs onto the server by removing the logon locally right from specific users. Leave yourself, admin and a backup admin account [people who don't make back door accounts are the ones locked out of their system] VPN's would only work if the hospitals router supports it and they allow you to do so. You would need a vpn server at your location. You can't store mac files on a pro box. You would have to have server version and install the mac file system support. I am really surprised your hospital's IT dept is allowing you to do this. Where I work this would not be allowed. Best of luck!