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Advice on small office virtual network environment

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  • 27-11-2012 9:26am
    #1
    Cionn
    Registered Users Posts: 697 ✭✭✭


    I am looking for some advice to assist a friend. He is setting up an accounting practice in the country and wants to have his client server envirment in the "cloud". As he is setting up he will have one office location with the requirement to work remotely on server based software ( nothing too demanding but multi user access is a requirement). His plan is to work from another location 2-3 days a week and also to allow other employees access access from home. The office will be too small for dedicated IT resource and therefore the solution needs to be low maintenance.

    I have found a Citrix solution here http://citrix.com/products/vdi-in-a-box/overview.html?ntref=prod_cat this seems to tick all the boxes but whenever I have seen Citrix before it seems quite expensive.

    I would appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks for taking the time to read this so far.

    Cionn


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    #2
    Cionn
    Registered Users Posts: 697 ✭✭✭Cionn


    Has Anybody got an opinion ? Or should I post in a different area ?

    Cheers

    cionn


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    #3
    Mr. Fancypants
    Registered Users Posts: 1,894 ✭✭✭Mr. Fancypants


    Sounds more along the lines of Citrix XenApp rather than VDI in a box to me. With Citrix XenApp he can publish his applications or desktops out to users. Still fairly expensive though. A cheaper solution again would be to just use Windows Remote Desktop Services. It has a lot of the features of Citrix XenApp but without some of the higher end features. In fact Citrix XenApp requires RDS to be installed for it to work.
    I imagine he would need a file server/domain controller and a rds server in a hosted environment to make this work. You would obviously need vpn access also. Do you have a hosting company in mind?


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    #4
    Cionn
    Registered Users Posts: 697 ✭✭✭Cionn


    Thanks for the response.

    I was hoping there was an a outsourced solution as IT knowledge will be limited and I don't think there will be up for the challenge of maintaining the correct security settings.

    As for a provided any suggestions would be welcome.

    Cheers

    Cionn


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    #5
    ressem
    Registered Users Posts: 2,426 ✭✭✭ressem


    The accountant needs to identify what requirements he has in terms of software. What is adjustable?

    A very basic setup where the IT is someone else's problem might be...
    1. Hosted Sage or Opera for accounts and payroll.
    2. Google Apps (Gmail + Google Drive) or MS Office 365.


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    #6
    censuspro
    Registered Users Posts: 881 ✭✭✭censuspro


    I'm also in a similar position. I have multiple accounts and payroll software licences that I need due to client requirements however they are all installed locally on one desktop. I have a couple of other accountants that I do some work for me but unless they have the same software it makes it very awkward. Does anyone know of a solution where I can install all the software remotely therefore only pay for one user licence but can also grant access to other users.

    I've used logmein but although it's convenient for logging in to answer a quick question, it's not really suitable for working on for long periods.

    Anyone have any suggestions?


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