Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
The Windows server has proper RDP licenses allowing 10 concurrent RDP logins. What some users like most about it is being able remote control (shadow) each other during live collaboration. There are many ways to do such collaboration, but none they have found to be as fast, seamless, convenient, and devoid of hiccups as Windows' native remote control/shadow feature.
Yeah - RDP is avery good protocol - it should be - Microsoft basically ripped off ICA from Citrix to make RDP. Although for collaboration I wonder if a tool like Webex or GoToMeeting might be better than maintaining a Windows box. Something to think about.
Quote:
itguy08, what are your preferred small biz server brands/models and why?
Thanks!
Been a while since I looked at SMB stuff - I've been an enterprise guy for a long time now (used to do 1k Windows servers and now 600 Linux boxes - have always liked Unix over Windows).
But, I've been very impressed with IBM and HP servers. There is a level of quality that Dell can only dream of meeting. From the case to the internals you get the feeling that they know how to do servers. Dell knows how to do cheap $hit, that's about all. We use Dell desktops and they are garbage. The 2.5 year old laptop I have is falling apart - cracked plastic, worn keyboard, etc. The previous HP I had for 3 years was still perfect, as was the ThinkPad before that. Even my 2008 MacBook Pro Unibody looks better although it is worn well and has been dropped.
HP and IBM have some SMB stuff and I'd imagine it is of very good quality. For a small user count and average workloads, I've always been a fan of whitebox servers. At the low end there really isn't much difference in them as many use souped-up desktop boards and such. You can get a decent server form a local guy that you can replace parts using off the shelf components. Have them use a server level case and a decent RAID card and you should be fine. It's the same strategy Google and others use. Lots of cheap servers spread out.
Another interesting option for a SMB is, dare I say it, a Mac Mini + Thunderbolt RAID enclosure like a Drobo. For $39 extra you get a pretty GUI on the UNIX tools for filesharing, Web, email, VPN, etc. You could run Parallels or VirtualBox on it and do Windows too. The integration with Windows is good, and if you can get them to throw some Macs in the mix it's awesome. I'm amazed how easily my Macs (and Linux/Windows) work with my iMac as far as networking is concerned. It's not an option for every environment but for 1-10 users it can be a viable option. And before I get flamed, remember one of the largest tech companies is pretty much all Macs (Apple) with some AIX thrown in for good measure.
Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
The Windows server has proper RDP licenses allowing 10 concurrent RDP logins. What some users like most about it is being able remote control (shadow) each other during live collaboration. There are many ways to do such collaboration, but none they have found to be as fast, seamless, convenient, and devoid of hiccups as Windows' native remote control/shadow feature.
Yeah - RDP is avery good protocol - it should be - Microsoft basically ripped off ICA from Citrix to make RDP. Although for collaboration I wonder if a tool like Webex or GoToMeeting might be better than maintaining a Windows box. Something to think about.
Quote:
itguy08, what are your preferred small biz server brands/models and why?
Thanks!
Been a while since I looked at SMB stuff - I've been an enterprise guy for a long time now (used to do 1k Windows servers and now 600 Linux boxes - have always liked Unix over Windows).
But, I've been very impressed with IBM and HP servers. There is a level of quality that Dell can only dream of meeting. From the case to the internals you get the feeling that they know how to do servers. Dell knows how to do cheap $hit, that's about all. We use Dell desktops and they are garbage. The 2.5 year old laptop I have is falling apart - cracked plastic, worn keyboard, etc. The previous HP I had for 3 years was still perfect, as was the ThinkPad before that. Even my 2008 MacBook Pro Unibody looks better although it is worn well and has been dropped.
HP and IBM have some SMB stuff and I'd imagine it is of very good quality. For a small user count and average workloads, I've always been a fan of whitebox servers. At the low end there really isn't much difference in them as many use souped-up desktop boards and such. You can get a decent server form a local guy that you can replace parts using off the shelf components. Have them use a server level case and a decent RAID card and you should be fine. It's the same strategy Google and others use. Lots of cheap servers spread out.
Another interesting option for a SMB is, dare I say it, a Mac Mini + Thunderbolt RAID enclosure like a Drobo. For $39 extra you get a pretty GUI on the UNIX tools for filesharing, Web, email, VPN, etc. You could run Parallels or VirtualBox on it and do Windows too. The integration with Windows is good, and if you can get them to throw some Macs in the mix it's awesome. I'm amazed how easily my Macs (and Linux/Windows) work with my iMac as far as networking is concerned. It's not an option for every environment but for 1-10 users it can be a viable option. And before I get flamed, remember one of the largest tech companies is pretty much all Macs (Apple) with some AIX thrown in for good measure.
Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it!