Server and client software - a little help pls

Warbie

Warbie

Warbie

Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2003
Posts
6,189
I'm trying to decided on which operating system/s use with a small network of 10-16 pcs and a single server. The network will be used in an internet cafe for general browsing, emails and printing.

Is something like MS Small Business Server necessary? (with the client licences this works out to be quite costly), or could we get away with just XP proffesional? I assume the server will need some kind of server os? (i'm new to anything to do with servers)

Any advice will be much appreciated.
 
It depends what you want the server to be doing. 2003 would be too expensive as the server os, sbs would be cheaper but still not cheap. Depending on what you need the server to do then linux could be an answer.
 
That's the thing. The owners want to provide a very basic service - internet browsing, emails, printing, and that's pretty much it. I can't see the server being used for anything more demanding than print sharing - which is why i'm wondering whether an expensive server OS is required at all.

Initially there will be 11 workstations - so worst case scenario would be them all wanting to print something at the same time.
 
You could have one master machine with xp pro on it which has the printers mapped to it and make sure it's switched on all the time. XP pro hasd a connection limit of 10 clients but i can't see that being a problem unless 10 people tried to print at the same time.

Even better, why not get a network enabled printer?
 
Good suggestion. I was wondering whether a server was needed at all - a network enabled printer could well be the answer.

What does setting up a master machine involve btw? I've heard the term used a few times before but am not really sure.
 
I would strongly advise getting a decent HP network printer, the 2015dn we use here for example is very good (although not colour), then you simply install the printer on each computer and you're away.

All i meant by master was the fact that it's always on and make sure it has xp pro and not xp home otherwise there's not much difference
 
Cheers mate - you've been a great help in this and the other threads about setting up this cafe.

I'm thinking a simple router, switch, master pc (for the cafe management software), 10 clients and network printer setup is the way to go.
 
Sounds good the main thing I would look at is getting a router with enough config options to allow them to block / enable internet sites and various other usefull config options.

Another thing people over look is putting on decent Anti Virus software that autoupdates to protect you from nasties on the internet. People in Internet cafes can go to anywhere in theory so make sure you use good group policies and control of user rights to stop them installing software and making changes to the PC's.

;)
 
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