Building small business network for dummies

[kefegg]

Hi guys,

I have a question about making a small business network. But... I'm a noob on this one.
At my work (I repair cars), we are running a network which was build by the IT-people from VW-Audi.
The server is a Dell PowerEdge quad-core Server running Red Hat, I don't know exactly the type, and the 6 workstations are Dell Optiplex with some dual core processor in it and running XP Pro. Exact numbers and names I can write down tomorrow.

Situation now is that the contract between my boss and VW-AUDI is finished in a few weeks and we are free to run software whatever we like because of they stop providing their software.
We would like to use Windows based software for accountancy and add 2 more workstations that are located in an other garage.

Question: Is it manageable for a noob (I do know my way around in a home network) to accomplish this?
-Formatting and installing the server would be the most easiest part, I guess. I would like to reformat and reconfigure the workstations to.
-The VPN for the 2 workstations = big question-mark.
-Setting up an email-server is also a big "?"
-Configure the server so that every user (name) has got his own environment and software to work with would be the best situation. But I guess that configuring each workstation for specific demands is a lot easier.
-Would a gigabyte network switch in combination with changing all networkcards in all stations from 10/100 to gigabyte help to reduce the traffic-jam when much people are working in the same program?

Why this question:
Workstations are gonna run a prog that is named "CARFAC".
actually we are running it already for some years but it is installed on an old Pentium 4 PC, converted to a server. The whole system is a bottleneck and the guys from CARFAC are not able to install their software on a Linuxbased server. So for upgrading our network we would like to reuse the Linux server, which is pretty fast compared to the old Pentium 4.
And for lowering the costs we would like to give it a try ourself.
It also would be a good learning-school for me

.

For all dumb questions, please don't curse me.
All advice and suggestions are welcome. At the moment I'm searching as much info as possible about similar situations.

 

[Specop 007]

Heres my honest, and not very knowledgeable, answer.

Outsource it. Find a good local IT company and have them do it. Things like this have a way of becoming much more than a 2 day project and quickly evolve into a part time job. What happens when the server goes offline? What happens when Clara in Service cant print? What happens when Dave in Sales borks up his email account? Worse yet what happens when the email server gets hacked and you face getting blacklisted for spam? Never mind staying up on the patches, updates etc etc.

If you are an IT type guy then go for it. I would be very reluctant to take on this project unless you have a desire to become the part time onsite IT support person.

Now if you do desire to do all of that then of course this will make an excellent inroad into that role and you can disregard everything I've said.

 

[kefegg]

Now if you do desire to do all of that then of course this will make an excellent inroad into that role and you can disregard everything I've said.

I am aware of what possible things that might show up and I do know that handling these things is not for a rookie. It's my boss how gave himself the "IT-Manager" title

but to be honest; surfing for male documentary pictures and plugging in his HTC touch pro is the best he can do. (he knows I'm joking about that)
He asked me to think about it because he knows I'm going to study network management (evening-school or something named like that).
But for now the best I can do is connect 2 PC to a small Ubuntu (file) server.

Tomorrow I give him notice of my posts here and he can see for himself what other people suggest us to do.

 

[mammador]

I would second asking a local ICT consultancy to look over the situation for you. but I would say do you need a centralised admin system? i think for a small office, a peer to peer network can suffice. Simply set up shared folders and applications, and perhaps have a switch in order to route packets to specific machines. A client-server architecture seems overkill for a small setting. As most likely you would all have fat clients, better just get connected workstations.

 

[kefegg]

Long time ago a started this thread to find a solution for a "simple" network in a small business.
Mammador's tip was a golden tip because everything is running pretty smooth.
Situation now: Dell Server is rewritten with Windows 2008 Server used as Fileserver and sharing applications.
The workstations are connected in peer-2-peer and everything is up and running.
Only 2 problems are: the Backupsystem is not working properly and the secure vpn connection.
Anyone has got a proper solution for the second issue?

We want to make the application runnable from another geographic location using VPN. VPN itself is not really a problem I guess but it should be Secured also.

I also have some questionmarks about the hardware.
-Server needs just one NIC?
-Minimum specs for the client on the other location?
-Ports needed to be open?
-...

If you guys can advice me something, pffff, it would be more than welcome.

 

[Nemesis13]

Whats your time frame to do this? You are gonna have some major downtime, unless your doing this on a weekend.

 

[gsaldivar]

Backup system is non-functional? Tread very carefully. Get that system repaired/replaced and back in service before making any other changes...

 

[kefegg]

Will be done in a weekend.

For now I do incremental backup to a USB harddrive. But the tapestreamer that was working before seems to be dead for now.

I'm trying to simulate the setup with virtual box at home. If the virtual setup works I'll configurate it at my work.

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