Re: Migrating "up" from XP Pro
Jabez Gan [MVP] <mingteikg@blizNOSPAMhosting.com> wrote:
> Well, for me, I do agree with what Lee said, but not every business
> sees the advantage of upgrading all PCs to XP Home.
>
> if the business is looking at the short term cost - get a tech to
> help out once every 2/3 weeks, then so be it; but if the business is
> looking at the long term cost - and willing to have an in-house to do
> basic managing of SBS, it would be better.
>
> I think it all depends on what the business prefers.
I support numerous small to medium businesses running domains, and I don't
go in to see them nearly that often. I don't support workgroups, because
they're a huge PITA and cost far more to support in the long run. I do most
of my support remotely. But when stuff is set up right to begin with
(including an investment in good hardware), and the user accounts &
workstation configs are locked down, they don't need much support, honestly.
To the OP - it's important that you not allow your own lack of familiarity
with AD temper your recommendation here. If you're not in the MS partner
program, get in -and take the (quick) exam so you can sign up for the MS
Action Pack, and deploy pretty much all the software you'll need to know in
your own lab / home environment to gain familiarity.
>
>
> "leew [MVP]" <useContactPage@LWComputing.dot.com> wrote in message
> news:480ec59e$0$15197$607ed4bc@cv.net...
>> Gary Richtmeyer wrote:
>>> "leew [MVP]" <useContactPage@LWComputing.dot.com> wrote in message
>>> news:480e2241$0$15195$607ed4bc@cv.net...
>>>> Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] wrote:
>>>>> Gary Richtmeyer <glricht5-removeme-@imailbox.com> wrote:
>>>>>> I work with a small business that has a PC (Dell Optiplex 320,
>>>>>> SATA, no raid) running Win XP Pro which is used to simply hold
>>>>>> files that are shared among their 8 users in a simple workgroup.
>>>>>> It's a pretty straight-forward file sharing environment; they're
>>>>>> even using the simple file sharing technique.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> However, their business is growing and they will soon have 13
>>>>>> users, which exceeds XP Pro's 10-user limit, so they will need
>>>>>> to upgrade to a Windows server environment. (Linux and other
>>>>>> non-Windows OSes are not an option.)
>>>>>> My challenge is that I'm not very familiar with the Windows
>>>>>> Server arena other than casual reading of various announcements
>>>>>> and the like. They don't need a domain or any of the other
>>>>>> server-type features -- at least, not yet. All they need is a PC
>>>>>> that will hold an share files for more than 10 concurrent users.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> From the research I've done, it appears that Windows Server 2003
>>>>>> R2 Standard is what we need. Does that sound right? Also, I'm
>>>>>> not sure how the licensing works. If I understand correctly,
>>>>>> they need a license for the OS itself and then a license for
>>>>>> each concurrently logged-on user. True?
>>>>>> Looking for some general guidance.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>> Gary Richtmeyer
>>>>> If you're going through the bother of doing this, *do* put in a
>>>>> domain. Workgroups simply do not scale. More than a small handful
>>>>> of users & they're a nightmare to manage...why not bite the
>>>>> bullet? Workgroups are not generally suitable for businesses as
>>>>> there's no central management, security, administration, whatnot.
>>>>>
>>>>> I strongly suggest you take a look at SBS2003 - it's less
>>>>> expensive than regular W2003, comes with extra stuff
>>>>> (Exchange...which, if you support e-mail at all, is a very good
>>>>> thing to have- no more PST files & POP3 accounts to manage), and
>>>>> is designed with loads of setup assistants/wizards to help you
>>>>> get it up and running. I'd say that the vast majority of
>>>>> businesses who migrate to a domain & Exchange are very pleased &
>>>>> never look back. Try posting in
>>>>> microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs. If you haven't set up a
>>>>> server before you may wish to have a consultant help you out, to
>>>>> make sure everything is covered, and
>>>> I agree - check out Small Business Server 2003. Should you decide
>>>> to go with that, I would recommend purchasing it with Software
>>>> Assurance through a volume licensing plan. Doing so will provide
>>>> you the upgrade to SBS 2008 at no additional charge for the server
>>>> software component. SBS is due to be released in the second half
>>>> of this year. (Though note: there will be no "easy" upgrade to SBS
>>>> 2008 - you
>>>> will need to do a fresh install and a migration).
>>>>
>>>> Also, I strongly recommend you hire someone to implement this. SBS is
>>>> pretty easy to manage, but if you don't set it up properly,
>>>> it can become increasingly more difficult to manage and maintain
>>>> and in turn, more costly.
>>>>
>>>> -Lee
>>>
>>> I probably should have mentioned two additional items: 1) about
>>> half of the users are running XP Home, and 2) they have no person
>>> with more than a passing knowledge of PCs who could do
>>> administrator-type activities. I'm a PC tech contractor that's been
>>> working with them for about a
>>> year or so and I come in about every 2-3 weeks or so when they need
>>> something done. I agree that a domain environment (especially SBS)
>>> is in their future, but anything beyond doing simple file sharing
>>> at this point in time probably won't fly (especially when they find
>>> out the cost bump involved).
>>>
>>> Are you all really saying that it should be a domain environment or
>>> nothing? Is there no short-term solution that addresses just the
>>> file-sharing situation, so that we can address the migration to a
>>> domain environment as a separate project (such as moving the XP
>>> Home users to XP Pro)?
>>>
>>> -- Gary Richtmeyer
>>>
>>
>> What I'm trying to suggest is that managing a workgroup is a HUGE
>> pain and completely lacks security (and I know small businesses
>> often don't care about security, but that's why the trusted advisor,
>> such as yourself, is there, to help them understand that (and I
>> realize that's not always possible). That said, in most cases,
>> especially with that many systems, I find the workgroup is FAR more
>> work which just costs them more. I find that using remote access
>> services, backup simplicity, Volume
>> Shadow Copy, shared calendars and contacts often (but admittedly not
>> always) is sufficient to get the deal moving.
>>
>> Your first step will be to upgrade the XP home systems to XP Pro as
>> you will need that for the domain. But if you've use SBS, you know
>> that administration is not difficult and should not add much if
>> anything to their bottom line - indeed, the additional benefits
>> could provide greater revenue opportunities that easily justify the
>> costs. -Lee