Recommendations for Network Equipment and
Services for Small Business’

This document attempts to very briefly present, explain and justify our recommendations for a typical Small Business Server and network. More detailed documents can be found on our web site, this should be seen as a broad overview of a complex subject.

We find that the needs of most small and medium business’ are quite similar when it comes to an IT Client/Server network although there can be requirements for “tweaking” systems to fulfil certain individual or specific tasks. On the whole the network file server must be powerful enough to service the current and future needs of the network users, users PCs must be sufficiently stable and reliable to allow them to perform their jobs properly with a minimum of interruptions, their data must be stored securely and backed up regularly, the network should be protected from viruses and other malware as well as being behind a secure firewall to protect it from malicious outside intrusions – and the whole thing should perform reliably and efficiently, and almost unnoticeably.

Microsoft Small Business Server
Small Business Server (SBS) is the key to a reliable and affordable total network solution.
It provides...

• file, print and application sharing
• automatically managed email, messaging, contact lists and shared calendaring
• remote access to emails, data and applications held on the server from anywhere, via the internet
• network aware shared fax service
• security with built in firewall
• security against accidentally deleted data
• and much, much more.

Small Business Server does not require hugely expensive or sophisticated Server Hardware and is, itself, priced to attract rather than repel a typical small business owner or IT manager.

We have more information about Small Business Server on our web site here.

Network File Server.
Of the huge choice of File Servers available we offer a choice of 3 which we feel covers the range of requirements of our clients from “we need a server at the cheapest possible price” (a questionable sentiment at any time in our opinion) through to “we need a high performance, reliable and cost effective server for the network”. We call them our “Basic Spec”, “Adequate Spec” and “Preferred Spec” servers. Obviously other models can be supplied if required but our chosen three cover most requirements. They are largely the same system, but we add extra memory, hard disks and other features to the basic model to achieve the higher specs and higher performance.
For instance, doubling the memory from 1Gb to 2Gb helps speed up routine network functions such as indexing files, printing, performing software updates over the network, etc as well as helping efficiency when sharing resources between office based and remote users.
Separating the operating system and data onto two different hard disks also helps with the speed and efficiency of the network. It means that one disk is not being permanently “thrashed” by the whole network, allowing some resources (such as email, printing, security) to be dealt with by one hard disk, leaving the other to store, manage and share data files.
We also recommend mirroring each hard disk to another identical unit so that if one disk fails there is another identical one ready to take over from it leading to much reduced down time and potential for data loss.

PC Systems
We offer a range of PCs from an entry level system which is capable of running basic Microsoft Office applications (MS Word & Excel) or Sage Accounts, for example through to highly equipped PCs suitable for running “power applications” such as CAD software, design or page layout (DTP) programmes such as MS Publisher, Adobe Photoshop and Corel Draw. Other advanced applications which benefit from the faster processor, hard disk and increased memory would include MS Project, Macromedia Dreamweaver, MS Access & Excel (with very large databases or spreadsheets), etc

We focus on Business PCs rather than home user systems. That means that our systems might not have quite as many flashing lights, or weird sticky out bits of plastic as some which might be offered. They are, however, built to be dependable and to operate reliably in an office, laboratory or workshop environment for year after year with the minimum of fuss.

Fujitsu Siemens PC and Servers.
Our experience over the years with Fujitsu Siemens PCs and Servers has been first class and so we continue to recommend their systems wherever possible (and appropriate).

Fujitsu Siemens systems are supplied with their 3 years, on site hardware warranty and Fujitsu usually manages to send out an engineer within a day of a problem occurring.

We feel that we are offering our customers greater long term security by supplying systems from one of the major world wide companies rather than a small generic UK brand name, or even systems which we could build ourselves.

Operating System - Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional is the preferred operating system for PCs which are to be used in a professional office environment. Whilst superficially similar to the cheaper Home Edition it is actually a much more advanced product specifically designed for working all day, every day with maximum reliability in an office environment and supports advanced features such as Remote Desktop, File Encryption, Access control (to restrict access to sensitive files), Centralised administration (in a Windows Domain environment), and much, much more.

Additional Software - Microsoft Office 2003
Microsoft Office is designed to be the perfect companion to Windows XP.
It is available in a few variants ranging from the Basic edition which includes just the most regularly used applications (Word, Excel, and Outlook) right up to the Enterprise edition which seems to include everything except the Starship itself !!

Retrospect System/Data Backup.
In line with industry recommendations, we offer a “disk to disk to tape” backup system whereby the server hard disks are backed up to a separate external hard disk once or twice per day, which in turn is automatically backed up to tape periodically. Disk to disk backups work very quickly meaning that there is little noticeable effect on the performance of the network during the backup. The speed also carries the benefit that if a system or data restore is required it too can be performed very quickly with a minimum of disruption.

Ideally, disk to disk is performed to an external disk (which might even be connected to one of the PCs instead of the server) so that if there was a catastrophic failure of the server, or, for example if it got stolen then all the system data is safely backed up and stored in a separate location.
Tape backup is not as quick as disk, but offers the advantage that the tapes are small enough to be regularly taken off site for security reasons, and cheap enough that they can be filled and stored to provide a full archive of the business data.

Backups stored on disk tend to be viewed as short term, being overwritten much more often than those stored on tape and therefore do not usually contain a complete historical archive. Disk to disk is the most commonly used, because it’s the most convenient and therefore tends to get done more often whilst disk to tape is the most secure because it can be moved and stored off site conveniently.
If you only choose one then choose disk to disk but for maximum security disk to disk to tape can’t be beaten.

Sophos Anti Virus Anti Spam.
We install the Small Business Suite from Sophos, a very highly regarded piece of software.
The anti virus element of it monitors the network for viruses which might have entered the system through web based downloads, from borrowed disks or from being hidden in, for example, jpg files of Word documents.

The Sophos anti virus software continually scans the network for virus like activity (which it immediately stops, obviously) but also scans the binary makeup of files searching for known patterns of digits which could make up a virus. It is VERY secure.
The anti spam element works on two levels. First it scans all incoming and out going emails in a similar manner to the anti virus element, looking for recognisable “patterns”. It also examines the title and content of emails looking for words and phrases which are the most likely to be “undesirable”. Those it quarantines await your deletion or otherwise as the case may be.

Both elements are continually updated with the latest virus and spam definitions by the server, which in turn regularly automatically updates itself from the Sophos Downloads server over the internet.

Installation
Our day rate for installation time is £350 and the work involved in an installation such as the one described would normally take around three days. We require half of one day to assemble the components in the file server, configure and format all the hard disks and to install and configure the SBS operating system before bringing the systems out to you. We would then require in the region of three days to complete the job in your offices. It is impossible to give an exact time frame because a) we can never predict what little surprises your existing systems might have in store for us, and b) our experience is that little jobs get added to the whole once we are on site as the client goes through several occurrences of “oh, while you’re here could you just take a quick look at…..”. Most of the “extras” might be minor in their own right but can sometimes add up to fairly lengthy periods of extra time when taken over the length of the job.
That said, three days won’t be very far off the mark.

ADSL Broadband
To enable us to provide remote assistance, and to set up remote connections so that emails and other work can be attended to whilst not in the office we require you to have an external static IP address. Your existing Broadband account might already include a static ip address (many business oriented accounts do). If not then most providers can set one up for you, often free of charge (although some British Telecoms providors make a charge for theirs). If you need assistance getting either your Broadband or Static IP address set up, we can provide high quality Broadband/internet services through a small, fantastically efficient and helpful organisation called Andrews and Arnold.

Broadband Modem/Router.
Sometimes the equipment which is already on site is good enough for us to set up remote connections, VPN tunnels, a firewall, and other facilities to maximise the features, security and efficiency of the network and the network access to the internet. And sometimes it is not!
We can advise accordingly when we perform a site visit with you. If your router is not up to scratch we recommend models from the Draytek range. We have found them to be very reliable, fast and very reasonably priced.

Support & Maintenance
Once you and we are satisfied that the network is installed and functioning as it should then you would normally move on to our support and maintenance agreement. That is invoiced quarterly in advance (at £450 per quarter) and allows for up to two full days of support time per month (in half hour blocks) without further labour charges becoming due. As part of the service we monitor the reports which we receive from your server and fix minor snags as they occur, or often before they occur, with a remote log on. We alert you to more major problems and suggest an appropriate course of action. We also make sure that software updates are properly installed on the server and that the anti virus and backup systems are working correctly.

Whilst the primary purpose of the agreement is for the support and maintenance of the file server and its operating system we are also happy to include advice and fixes for the minor issues which may crop up on the networked PCs but would ask you to note that more major problems with the PCs (which are very rare these days) are treated separately, although usually at a much discounted rate.

We hope you have found this overview to be of interest. If we may be of any further assistance please don’t hesitate to call us on 01458 270027 or email us at info@deltapc.com.

 

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