network setup for a small office

dusty14

Hi

I have a small company and would like to set up a small network

I have the following

1 xp professional desktop
1 x win 2000 desktop
2 x win 2000 laptops
1 x eircom dsl

At the moment i have both desktops connected to the eircom dsl and on the interent. I would like that these 2 pcs and the two laptops are connect and able to see a common drive? I can share a directory on one for the desktops for this. but i would like some kind of script to ensure this common drive is available to all when the pcs are started up. Also the laptops are mostly off site - is there a way they can access the files on the common drives from outside - a vpn? how do i create this. What about offline files and folders would that work on the laptops. I don't mind spending money on extra equiptment but i would like to keep the cost to a minimum Do i need some kind of firewall or is the one included with my virus scanning software enough

I was looking a ms small business server down the line - maybe in 6 month? Can anyone recommend this?

humaxf1

Hi dusty,

For the common drive to be available at bootup, you could put a batch file into 'startup'. Command would be, net use t: \\%pcname\%sharename%. This will map a drive on the client to the shared drive and give it drive letter, t.

An SBS 2003 setup would be nice to have as you can remote desktop into the server which would act as a file server. It also has Exchange builtin for managaing your mail. Your outlook is then accessible from a web browser via a https connection or a smart GSM phone over GPRS/3G.

A tape drive would be another good investment if you value your data.

For SBS, all PCs would need to be running 2k Pro or XP Pro to be part of a domain.

xephyr

There should be a firewall on your DSL router that, combined with local firewalls on your machines, gives you sufficient protection.

SBS2003 would be a nice to have if you need its functionality. Its considerably more stable than its predecessors.

For a VPN, check out www.accessmylan.com ....it would work well for what you describe and there's a free trial so you give it a whirl. Works on phones/handhelds as well if you like.

As humaxf1 says, get a tape drive or even a removable firewire/USB hard disk. Do it as soon as you can.

[disclaimer] I work for AccessMyLan so probably shouldn't be believed about anything. Ever. Except the bit about the tape drive. Backups are important. ; )

X

dusty14

thanks guys

I have one of those external hard disk things and i copy my sage and office files to it each evening.

I had just joined all the pcs together through the dsl router and put them into a work group. I shared a file on my on pc and can access it from the other. But when i log off it disappears - so i think i need a script - but i keep getting asked for a user name and password - how do i get rid of this message. On the vpn thing - can i use this in my current workgroup setup? or do i need the small business server.

xephyr

dusty14 wrote:

thanks guys

I have one of those external hard disk things and i copy my sage and office files to it each evening.

Excellent.

dusty14 wrote:

I had just joined all the pcs together through the dsl router and put them into a work group. I shared a file on my on pc and can access it from the other. But when i log off it disappears - so i think i need a script - but i keep getting asked for a user name and password - how do i get rid of this message. On the vpn thing - can i use this in my current workgroup setup? or do i need the small business server.

There's a few things you can do. If you map a drive, you have the option of setting 're-connect at login'. Or you can create a .bat file containing your net use command and place it in Start>Programs>Startup

As for the AccessMyLan VPN, it'll work for you now. You just need one 'always on' machine to run the agent. If your interested in giving it a whirl, you can PM me for more details. It works when both ends are NAT'ed and behind floating ips (as you probably are) so I suspect you'll be able to get it going reasonably quickly.

X

rogue-entity

Before you start spending money on M$ Windows Server, take a look at some of the cheaper (often free) alternatives out there.

You have two desktops and two laptops. That is 4 computers. If you can see your business expanding in the future, then you will want to plan for the future. For the moment the fastest way to connect all your computers to the internet would be to get a wireless router with a builtin switch. Such as the NetGear WPN824 Wireless router (or one of the excellent Linksys models).

Connect the DSL modem to the WAN/Internet port of the router, and your two desktops to two of the LAN ports. Install two wireless network cards (preferably matching the make of the wireless router) into your laptops. Setup the wireless network on the router from one of the connected desktops. Enable WPA encryption to secure the network. This will get your PCs connected to each other and the net.

Get another PC to work as a server. Install Linux onto the machine. (SuSE is a good choice). Setup Samba to share a directory on the server that can then be setup as a "drive" on all the computers. You can then install a PPTP VPN server. Connect this PC to the router, and configure the router to forward PPTP packets to the Linux server. This will allow people to connect via VPN to the Linux box, which is providing the shared directory.

This way all you need is, A wireless router, 2 Wireless Laptop cards, A spare PC and a Copy of Linux (downloadable from the net).

dusty14

hi again

i don't think i can put linux on the pc as we use it day to day as a desktop - can i do the same vpn thing without changing the os - is this secure?

humaxf1

for the batch file:

net use t: \\%servername\%foldername% /user:%username% %password /persistent:yes

this should solve the drive disappearing and being asked for U & PW all the time.

xephyr

dusty14 wrote:

hi again

i don't think i can put linux on the pc as we use it day to day as a desktop - can i do the same vpn thing without changing the os - is this secure?

Hey There,

There are a few good ways of doing vpn but it will depend on how much effort you want to expend. The AccessMyLan.com stuff isn't free (we need to eat!) but its pretty cost effective.

If free is the way you want to go, see if you can source another PC (an elderly one will suffice) and investigate Smoothwall/IPcop which both have reasonably comprehensible VPN options. I suspect it will involve a bit more work for you, though. In particular, you will need to setup dynamic DNS if your Eircom IP address is moving about.

Cheers,

X

dusty14

i will download the trial version and see how it goes -

dusty14

i now have the pcs connected to my eircom netopia box and all are working and can read files on the shared area on one pc. I want to share another area just for two pcs - i want to restrict access for the other two - how do i do this? also buying a network printer and another pc - no space on the 4 port eircom box - what do i need to buy - a 12 port switch? Also for the printer - does one of the pcs have to act as a print server?

xephyr

dusty14 wrote:

i now have the pcs connected to my eircom netopia box and all are working and can read files on the shared area on one pc. I want to share another area just for two pcs - i want to restrict access for the other two - how do i do this? also buying a network printer and another pc - no space on the 4 port eircom box - what do i need to buy - a 12 port switch? Also for the printer - does one of the pcs have to act as a print server?

'Ello,

You can restrict the access to specific usernames when you create a share, via share properties>Sharing Tab>Permissions>UserNames. Its a bit more complicated if you want access restricted to specific PC's.....is restricting to users sufficient?

As for the network stuff.....try to get a 12/16/24 port switch and one crossover cable to make it talk to the existing four port. Maplin's or PCWorld can probably supply both.

If you can get a printer that has a network card built in, that might be a better medium term investment. If not, sharing it out on one pc works fine for medium size print jobs.

Cheers,

X

rogue-entity

dusty14 wrote:

i now have the pcs connected to my eircom netopia box and all are working and can read files on the shared area on one pc. I want to share another area just for two pcs - i want to restrict access for the other two - how do i do this? also buying a network printer and another pc - no space on the 4 port eircom box - what do i need to buy - a 12 port switch? Also for the printer - does one of the pcs have to act as a print server?

To connect all your PCs together, setup a VPN, restrict access to shares by PC/user etc, restrict internet access to certain sites etc

Dedicate a PC with TWO network cards to work as a gateway between your network and the DSL modem. Download and install Censornet onto this PC. Just tell the installer which network card is connected to the modem (external) and which is connected to the rest of the network (internal) and it will setup the firewall appropriatly. Set the IP of the external port to Automatic (DHCP) and it will get an IP from the eircom router. Set the IP of the internal port to "192.168.2.1".

Once this box is up and running, connect the external port to the modem and the internal one to the switch. Connect your PCs to the switch as well.

Your PCs should get an IP from the linux box but if not, just give them IPs in the same range as the linux box, eg. 192.168.2.x
Go to [url]Http://192.168.2.1[/url] to access the Censornets web admin page. From here you can make changes to the system. If you login into the Censornet box via SSH, you can install Samba from the command line. Samba is a more powerful file server for Windows networks. You can restrict access to certain IP addresses, as well as do per user or per share security.

If you have any questions or problems, just send me a PM.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

for a free VPN system, look at http://www.hamachi.cc seems pretty efficient and effective!