Multiple Remote Connections with SBS and Access Database

projects14a

projects14a

projects14a

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16 Jun 2008
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Evening folks,

Ive recently taken on a project for a good friend to build an Access database which will be used by all employees of their small company. Being that they are all feild sales, they dont have an office as such, they are dotted over the country and effectively work from home.
The solution that im currently working on will be an Access database hosted on a small server which will be located in their 'office'. They will then be able use the remote connection to access the database from their own computers.

Being a small company, they are keeping their budget as small as possible so firstly i'm looking for a entry level server thats £300 or under with OS included. Obviously it doesnt leave me many options, but would like any recommendations of good sources.

At a later date i'll be asking some more technical questions about setting it up, ive worked with servers before, but not set one up from scratch, so know basic admin, but not the more involved tasks such as setting up remote connections.

So firstly, could anyone point me in the right direction for a decent server for sub £300 with SBS 2003?

Many thanks in advance!
 
Yikes, didnt think it was still that expensive since the release of 2008. My friend thinks he can get it from the states for around £100 not entirely sure where from. Ive suggested XP Pro as for our requirements its adaquate (no plans for exchange server at this stage).
He's also found *Oi no competitors!* again, it should meet our requirements with ease for the time being, although alittle worried the power supply as its only 260 watt, not sure how well they cope being on 24/7. Otherwise spec looks fine.
 
Either of those two methods would work, although i would probably want to use RWW to allow for more connections. I was hoping to set up SBS so that each employee has their own user account, but without individual PC's in the office is RWW still possible? What i thought would be a get around for this is if they just logged into the server as a user as apposed to an administrator.
 
Just had a scout around and found the HP ML115 looks very suitable for our needs, thanks for the heads up ;)

Found one on ebay for a very good price with Windows Server 2003, will i be able to use RWW with this OS?
 
Ok, found out Windows Server 2003 doesnt have RWW (for anyone else interested) But have found the ML115 with SBS for alittle bit more, but still within budget :D Thanks again sOck!
 
Yeah, think i will do. Ive not implemented a RAID before, so will need to do abit of reading first. Are software RAID's configured within windows or DOS based? i.e. Needs to be done before windows is installed.
 
Thanks for the info, i will ask the seller whether he is able to set it up, though being an Ebay seller, not sure he'll want the bother.

I understand there are different methods of implementing a RAID, i.e hardware and software, but are there also ways of saving the data? I'm under the impression you can have a mirrored drive or one where the data is saved accross the 2 drives and if one fails it uses a check sum on the other drive to restore. Any suggestions as to which would be most appropriate?
It will probably depend on which method i use for implementation, the OS is preinstalled on these servers so i guess the software option is probably the easiest to implement. How would i know if i could use the chipset on the motherboard to minimise the performance hit? Guess its a bios setting? Also assuming it would need to be set up prior to installing the OS?

Thanks again for everyones help, its greatly appreciated!
 
The company only has approximately 10 employee's, and they wont all be accessing the database at the same time, hence we expect it to be adequate. Not using a web based database as it would increase cost and development time, also i think they prefer to keep it in house.
The only real function of this server at the moment is going to be to host this database and allow remote access to it, in an ideal world and with a larger budget, we would have looked at something which is specific to this type of task, but to meet their budget and requirements, i cant think of a better solution.
What other options do i have? What will allow them to access the database? I was under the impression they could using terminal services as a friend has implemented using XP Pro.
 
I understand everything your saying, I've worked in support and consultancy myself, although never got very involved with the server side of things (dispite requesting training while employeed), just performed day to day administration for the various clients we had.

I know in the long run this isnt the best solution, the database will be very simple and shouldnt grow to huge sizes. Its simply to track the status of dealings with clients etc, so each employee will probably update either once a day or once a week their designated status's. Its just a way for them to centralise their information as they currently pass around excel spread sheets i believe on a weekly or monthly basis.

For back up purposes, my friend has said he will ftp a copy to his web host so atleast it will be off site, but this will obviously not be automated as many of the online back up are these days (have used some in the past)

I believe they have a business ADSL line at their office, which would lead me to assume they have a static ip. Ive not set a server up before so im probably going to need some pointers :o

They already have a copy of access, so that shouldnt be a problem. With the antivirus, i dont think they will be able to afford it which i know is not ideal, but theres only so much i can do. I may try to factor this in once they become more dependant on the database, when it becomes more of a business critical application.

Thanks for your help, I'm trying to deliver the best solution i can (within budget) for my friend, so really appreciate the advice.
 
Spec's are:

CPU Processor AMD Opteron (Dual Core) ( 1214 ) 2200 MHz
MOTHERBOARD Motherboard ProLiant ML115 (G1)

Chipset nVidia 3400 Pro

Processors (Max) 1

PCI 32 bit 2 x PCI 33MHz Slots

PCI Express Slot 2 x PCI Express x8 Slots
MEMORY Memory 1024 MB ( 8192 MB) PC2-5300 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Memory Slot 4 x DIMM
STORAGE Hard Drive Interface SATA

Hard Disk 160 GB ( 1 x 160 GB) 7200 RPM
OPTICAL DRIVE Optical Drive Type DVD-ROM/CD-RW
INTERFACES/PORTS VGA Port 1

Mouse Port 1 x PS/2

Keyboard Port 1 x PS/2

USB Ports 8 x USB

Serial Ports 1

RJ-45 Ports 1 x RJ-45
NETWORK Network Card HP NC320i 10/100/1000 MBps Integrated PCI Express
SYSTEM Security Power-on password; Setup password
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Operating Systems Supported Microsoft Windows Server 2003: Standard & Enterprise Edition (32 and 64 bit); Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003; Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, Web Edition; Novell NetWare 6.5 SBS (only after SP6 release); RedHat Enterprise Linux; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
COMPLIANCE Standards ACPI V2.0 Compliant; PCI 2.3 Compliant; PXE Support; WOL Support; IPMI 2.0 compliance
ELECTRICAL Power Supply 370W

Voltage/Power/Frequency 100 to 240 VAC / / 50 to 60 Hz
ENVIRONMENTAL Environmental Operating Temperature 10 to 35 C - Humidity 10 to 90 %

Noise Level (full operating mode) 38 dbA
PHYSICAL Form Factor Micro ATX Tower (4U)

Dimensions 17.5 cm(W) x 42.6 cm(D) x 36.7 cm(H) - Weight 10.5 kg


As you say, will only be using a very small part of the systems capabilities, so sure this small server will be good enough for the very basic task it will be used for. Im used to working with much laster and more expensive servers using all the above mentioned services, and whilst i know how to use most of them, i wasnt the one to set them up or administer them. But as this is a small company with all employees being based all over the uk, they will never use exchange, or OWA.

The database, once I've finished it, will only be approximately 5mb so they're really wont be much strain on the system.
 
I have suggested that we upgrade the RAM and install an additional hard disk for RAID, but the answer so far has been that its not necessary (for the time being at least). Im planning to install it in the buildings shared server room where im hoping they have a UPS (i've not been on site yet).

We could set something web based up later, at the moment the priority is to get it all up and running. Ive not used SQLExpress or ASP.NET, so not sure it will allow me to enforce all the features i am with Access, things like input mask's, msg boxes etc etc. Will certainly look into it for the future though.
 
Thanks, am going to need it, have a feeling i will soon have loads more questions! And thanks again for the advice, will definately do my best to tackle all issues raised.

One last set of questions which ive been thinking about is can i set it up at home and then move it onsite? Or am i better off just leaving it till i get onsite and set it up there? Reason i ask, i have a feeling it will intefere with DNS settings etc if set up at home first, or will this be easily changable when on-site?
I dont know how to set up the DNS side of things, im guessing i will need to set up a static IP for the server to allow for remote connection, but is this IP set by the DNS?
 
Right, will be setting this up in the next day or so, and have a few quick questions... in order to set up remote access, what information do i need (apart from the ISP settings)? As they have a domain for their website and email (wont be using exchange) do i need to set up some sort of forwarding from the domain to the server? or just use an IP address? Is it as simple as following the wizard or is it more involved requiring ports to be opened or static routes to be set up on firewalls?

Ive not done this before, so please forgive my ignorance. Thanks in advance!!
 
Well, everything has been bought and created now, all thats to be done is to set it up. Ive discussed the issues with the person Im building it for and he's fine with it, and doesnt expect it to become a problem for the forseeable future.
If these issues start to become a problem, then we'll have no real alternative but to looks for a web based solution, but Im still not 100% convinced we could get the same functionality. Ive built web based systems in java whilst at uni, although wouldnt use java for this instance, but for the budget and time frame, i dont think this would have been viable.
 
Yep, its not ideal, worst comes to worst at least we can use it as a model should there be any issues with its use.

Just trying to get the remote side of things up and running now, found out they can have a static ip and having the buildings IT technician set up the router and firewalls before i try to set up. Im aware ports need to be opened and forwarded to the server which ive sent him the details of. But in terms of setting the server up, is it just a simple case of running through the wizard? Also, do i need to contact their web hosts to forward a web address such as "companyxyz.com/remote" to the static ip address of the server?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, have done a fair bit of searching online for guides, but not found anything comprehensive as of yet.
 
Thanks atomiser, great help as always ;)

Think i understand the proceedure now, so hoping that once i've gone through the wizard and the IT technician has set up all the port forwarding, it should all work out. Only thing left to do will be to create the link from the dns host, but that should be doable from home.

Last question, is the wizard quite simple and self explanitory? As I've not run through it yet, im unsure what its going to involve.

Thanks again, your a legend :)
 
Great, thanks! Yep, will be careful not to enable the emails as its a tiny server for the amount of emails they recieve! My friends mailbox alone is 4Gb and he says he's one of the better ones at deleting old messages :eek:

At the moment, i believe it will just be the RWW that we will use (although will be TS into the server from RWW), if the VPN offers a better solution then we can enable that also and see which is most suited to the task.

Thanks!
 
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