Small Office setup - Domain or Workgroup?

seamus

Hi Guys,

Something I'm a little undecided on. I'm installing the I.T. infrastructure for a small (4 people) company that has moved into a brand spanking new premises. They've previously had no network save a DSL router to give internet access, and a few creaky machines, so I've been lucky in that I've been given free reign to go off and source new hardware across the board.

I'm installing an SBS 2003 server, but I'm undecided as to whether to go the domain or workgroup route. The server will be mainly used for file serving, though there may be printers eventually thrown in there, and perhaps a VPN setup.
My main concern is credentials. With the workgroup, each person obviously needs two accounts - one on their machine and one on the server, with identical credentials. With the domain, you only need one account. One of the owners would be fairly capable of a password reset if I showed him how, but my support would be limited to non-business hours. So if someone forgot their password (as they do), the owner would need to log in with the admin account on the local machine, reset the password, then log in to the server machine, reset the password again there.
With a domain however, I could just install the adminpak on his machine and add a link to Active Directory. Much neater.

I'm sure this is a contentious issue, but does anyone have any insight?

SouperComputer

Personally for a fileserver, I wouldnt even bother with SBS. Any flavour of linux will do what they need easily, reliably and cheaply. Of course, if you want to run exchange in the future, the go with windows. But for a small office I would either use a client Microsoft OS or linux on the server.

I would go for a workgroup, unless they plan expanding big time in the near future. You can then use XP home on the client machines.

Getting the account credentials to sync is not hard at all, unless you want to force them to change their password.

seamus

The problem with going cheap and tweaking, is support. I can't provide it, cos I have my own job
I would happily have gotten them the best deal and cheapest software if I could support them on it, but as it is, we've had to run with Dell for the machines (with a support agreement), and XP Pro/SBS mix because I can at least support them over the phone for configuration issues.

I also wouldn't be happy sticking linux in there, when it's not something I've worked with in a production environment before. The server may have to take on extra duties in future (such as printing and VPN), and cutting my teeth on these things when I'm getting paid for my time isn't really right.

dahamsta

Looks like a good opportunity to start to me seamus! Linux will handle file and print services via samba out of the box, and configuring it is trivial via Webmin. I can't comment on VPN because I haven't done it myself, but I'm pretty sure it'll be easy to set up.

In all seriousness though, it looks like you have your mind made up: If the password reset problem is going to come up, it's going to come up, so you need a domain.

adam

seamus

Ken Shabby wrote:

Looks like a good opportunity to start to me seamus! Linux will handle file and print services via samba out of the box, and configuring it is trivial via Webmin. I can't comment on VPN because I haven't done it myself, but I'm pretty sure it'll be easy to set up.

Tbh, I'd be tempted enough to do it. But the whole thing has been going on so long now (since before Christmas - no delays on my side ) and they're getting it cheap from me for various reasons, so I'd prefer just to get it out of the way instead of spending a week of evenings getting everything working.

In all seriousness though, it looks like you have your mind made up: If the password reset problem is going to come up, it's going to come up, so you need a domain.

Pretty much. That issue probably won't come up. But considering that I can probably see myself connecting to their network from home a couple of times to sort out whatever issues, I think a domain is just that much easier to manage.

xephyr

If you (or they) have already paid for SBS2k3, it makes sense to use it. In the general case, I find this kind of customer is better of with a domain. Its easier for you and easier for them to get help from someone else if needed.

And if they are growing, they might need the domain functionality later.

Can SBS even be installed in a workgroup mode? I've never noticed but my guess is that it cannot.

Cheers,

X

MartMax

i'm not an IT guy but if they already hv SBS, go with domain. make full use of it like exchange, file server, etc. make them use outlook calendar, mail, blackberry service, etc.

as for backup, just let them do full tape backup daily or weekly. support wise, can you not remotely handle them? our office used to get remote support unless it's really hardware matters the guys came it to fixed or do watever with it.

is_that_so

If you've got it use it. Good practice for you as well. Domain is the best approach as posted earlier so you can get access to all the SBS goodies. Way over-spec for such a small office tbh.