Small Office and File Sharing

krozor · 3 Jun 2015 at 13:36

Hi All,

I have been investigating the best possible solution for the below:

2 Desktop PC's running Windows 8.1, both have Office 2013 installed and email with Office 365 Essentials. Its a small business.

They want to investigate the possibility of hosting their files on the cloud so that they can be accessed by both machines when needed. Currently this is happening on one of the desktops and there main folder "Work Docs" is being shared to the other machine.

This works fine but they would like to access there files also on their tablets and remotely etc.. I did look at OneDrive for Business but have been told this is a personal storage and not designed for this purpose. I also looked at using Sharepoint as part of Office 365 essentials but it has a Sync limit of 5000 items which does seem small to me. Currently the folder has over this and sitting on around 50-70 GB's.

What do you guys recommend? scrapping the cloud route and just back up to the cloud? or maybe Google Drive is better for this?

Many Thanks

Andy

ginjaninja · 3 Jun 2015 at 18:34

perhaps a router that supports vpn termination, so users can dial in and access files on smb shares

ginjaninja · 4 Jun 2015 at 13:14

http://www.draytek.co.uk/information/our-technology/vpn-overview

ive successfully used draytek in the past...more i think about it, more i think this is good solution as other parts of the solution can remain the same..

Caged · 4 Jun 2015 at 21:38

Don't do SMB over a WAN link.

You're also making assumptions that they have a NAS / server available to be connected to.

OP - I would see why OneDrive for Business isn't a suitable option. It's not the traditional file server but it's only two users so I can't see how they would struggle.

ginjaninja · 5 Jun 2015 at 05:04

You're also making assumptions that they have a NAS / server available to be connected to

.

"Work Docs" is being shared to the other machine.

Don't do SMB over a WAN link.

Why not over wan link ..inside a vpn...smb may not be tge most efficient protocol but for ad hoc access without introducing another component its fine.

Caged · 5 Jun 2015 at 08:03

Sharing files off a desktop is not the same thing as having an always-on server or appliance hosting those files.

And if you aren't aware of how SMB performs across WAN-style latencies then don't suggest it.

This is a clean slate with very little in the way of requirements (that we know about). Why put something in when there are more suitable alternatives?

Toughnoodle · 5 Jun 2015 at 12:02

I'm not too impressed by OneDrive either. It doesn't seem to be as user friendly as I expected.

Have a look at Dropbox. You could sync the fileserver PC with the cloud and that account can be used on a tablet. Also doubles up as offsite backups.

If you wanted to keep the users separate and share only certain things then use two Dropbox accounts.

I doubt I'd go the VPN/SMB route unless you've got a server and Active Directory.

ginjaninja · 5 Jun 2015 at 12:41

ive used smb over wan/vpn on adsl class connections and it was fine for me..

the permission are already setup on the current fileshare presumably...no burning need to introduce more complexity for what is a very entry level environment (no server, two pcs sharing files)

Server/Active directory would make things simpler and more robust, but for a simple low cost entry level solution in keeping with the current class of solution, client vpns, a few hostname entries on the client, a static ip or dyndns service on the office router, would meet the requirement as outlined.

Offline files feature of windows can be used to sync files in the file share with clients (over office lan/vpn) to avoid need to use wan at 'runtime' (but for small files, not concurrently used introduces more challenges than its worth, esp if users have reliable enough internet access)

if the files are on a cloud backup (a reasonable suggestion), then this does provide alternatives for roaming clients as outlined.

with all suggestions maintaining a master and dealing with conflicts may be a challenge; windows offline file feature has some logic to help with that...say if two people edit a file at the same time and try to sync..

jameshurrell · 5 Jun 2015 at 12:46

I would also look at OneDrive, GoogleDrive, DropBox or similar. For 2 users it seems overkill to do anything more fancy than this.

With these solutions, files are available locally and in the "cloud". The same account can then be installed on the second machine. Change a file on the first machine and it will sync to the cloud and then back to the second machine. Files are also available offsite on tablets/home PCs etc.

Ethan62 · 5 Jun 2015 at 14:09

One of my clients using Trend Safesync for business.

PC/Laptops/Macs have a client with a local store of the data.

Android, IOS etc have an App to access the data.

Functions similar to drop box.

m4rkw7 · 5 Jun 2015 at 14:47

Sharepoint's 5,000 limit is per each library.
Another limitation is that you can only upload files up to 2 GB in size.
You can use Sync to tie sharepoint in with OneDrive for Business but this has a sync limit of up to 20,000 items in the OneDrive for Business library.