Setting up a 10 workstation small business network

scottbecker17 · Jan 30, 2015

I have a small business that is currently using a pc as a file sharing server. We have a 10 person network using windows 7. We use a switch and a comcast router/modem. All 10 workstations are wired in. The pc we are sharing all the files on isn't that great and I feel like I should replace it with something......any suggestions? what would be the procedure for doing this?

Ra_V_en · Jan 30, 2015

The simplest and probably the cheapest solution is NAS
Procedure is trivial you get the NAS Storage device connect it to the network, play a bit with access privileges and you are done.

kanewolf · Jan 30, 2015

You could replace it with a new server if you are using a windows domain. If you are only using a workgroup, then you could replace it with a NAS.

Do you have a budget?
How much storage space do you need?
What is it used for? small files, home directories, video, database ???

For 10 simultaneous users, you should look at a mid-range NAS (4+ drive, with dual ethernet). You should also get a managed switch so that you can have multiple gigabit network connections to your storage. You also need to ensure you have a backup philosophy. You may be use a USB3 drive connected to the NAS depending on the space required.

If it is just storage, then you would initialize the new storage, copy the data over. What is done next depends on how the storage is accessed. If it is accessed via "\\server\volume\" then you could make sure the new storage shows up with the name "server" ....

scottbecker17 · Jan 30, 2015

kanewolf :

My budget is $1200 and we are just using it as a file sharing device. I need less than 500gb of space. The file sharing is simply a small database and sharing documents ect ect

Ra_V_en · Jan 30, 2015

kanewolf :

Not sure where did you get those conclusions from, almost any small-office grade NAS will have no problem with sharing over AD... even $200 WD My Cloud EX2 does.
I totally don't agree which a multiple lan ports or requirement of the managed switch, the fact is if the switch he has is already 1Gbps it's far more then fine within a 10 station network. If you don't have a RAID 0 or 10 configuration the hard drive attached to it will already hit its limits especially on smaller files.
Making backup of hdd on another hdd is just what raid 1 does... if you want more then you choose different media type for offline backups like streamer or BD.

May personal type for OP needs would be something at grade of Synology DiskStation DS412+ or WD My Cloud EX4.

kanewolf · Jan 30, 2015

Ra_V_en :

My point wasn't that a NAS and AD were incompatible, it was more "maybe you need a new windows 2012 server" ...

If this is a domain server in addition to a file server then a NAS is not the optimum solution.

But for $1200 what I would recommend is a DS415+, 4 2TB WD Red disks. Create 2 RAID 1 volumes. Allocate your storage needs across the two volumes and have them back each other up. Also I would get a managed switch such as this to allow you to use link aggregation with the NAS.

You will end up with 2 TB of RAID 1 with full backup.

I am sure that somebody will have a Qnap or Thecus version which is similar.

scottbecker17 · Jan 31, 2015

kanewolf :

Ra_V_en :

My point wasn't that a NAS and AD were incompatible, it was more "maybe you need a new windows 2012 server" ...

If this is a domain server in addition to a file server then a NAS is not the optimum solution.

But for $1200 what I would recommend is a DS415+, 4 2TB WD Red disks. Create 2 RAID 1 volumes. Allocate your storage needs across the two volumes and have them back each other up. Also I would get a managed switch such as this to allow you to use link aggregation with the NAS.

You will end up with 2 TB of RAID 1 with full backup.

I am sure that somebody will have a Qnap or Thecus version which is similar.

Excuse my ignorance on this but is there a problem using the switch I currently use?

kanewolf · Jan 31, 2015

If it isn't a "smart" or managed switch then it probably doesn't support link aggregation. Link aggregation allows you to connect multiple network cables to the NAS to provide more than 1Gb total bandwidth to the NAS. If you look at Synology's website on the DS415+ they show two different levels of performance. One with a single Gig-E and one with two Gig-E. You can only accomplish the higher performance with the dual connection. Each of your 10 users would still have a max of 1Gb available, but the AGGREGATE bandwidth for the workgroup would be higher.

scottbecker17 · Jan 31, 2015

kanewolf :

Thanks for your suggestion......Again excuse my ignorance. right now I have a souped up PC acting as a file sharing device....how do I get all those files to the NAS I am going to install?

kanewolf · Jan 31, 2015

scottbecker17 :

A USB3 external device might be the fastest. You could then use that same device as a third backup copy of your data.

Copy from the PC to the external disk then move the disk to the NAS and read from it. You can either use a web interface or you can actually open a linux shell (terminal) window.

Search

Setting up a 10 workstation small business network

scottbecker17

Reputable

kanewolf

Ra_V_en

Honorable

kanewolf

Titan

scottbecker17

Reputable

Ra_V_en

Honorable

kanewolf

Titan

scottbecker17

Reputable

kanewolf

Titan

scottbecker17

Reputable

kanewolf

Titan

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page