Windows IT Admin - multiple sites

[Moley]

Putting this one out there to try and ratify my own thoughts, any comments and advice welcome - a sanity check if you will.

I work for a small technology company with a three man office in Australia, 10 man office in UK, 5 in Malaysia and about to open an office in the US which will become global HQ and grow to 20 people within 12 months (maybe even 6 months).

Currently I run an SBS server in the UK which handles our Exchange but pulls email down from an ISP using a POP connector - primarily because the other office all use POP/SMTP from the ISP too with the exception of the Oz office who setup their own exchange server which also gets mail from the ISP using POP. We also use Sharepoint and have a VMware environment for dev/test.

As we are now growing and have attracted outside investment I think it's time to unify everything and get Exchange working as it should be (mail coming direct to us NOT an ISP) with all the offices having local Windows domain controllers for DHCP/DNS/AD and probably local Exchange too.

I'm thinking of linking all four sites with site-to-site VPNs and using local domain controllers all replicating one domain for authentication across the group (there will be an amount of inter-office travel for senior staff) and local Exchange servers so mailboxes are geographically local for staff.

All staff will need access to sharepoint too so until I can replicate a server in the states having a VPN allows access to the UK sharepoint box for all staff.

Remote access will be needed to the Vmware test platform from all offices too.

Does this plan sound like a reasonable start or do you guys have other recommendations based on your own experiences?

Thanks!

 

[LizardKing]

Sounds like a lot of hassle if you ask me

Take a lot at 365 and Azure, there is no real need for a dc/exchange at each site for that many people (imo of course)

 

[Moley]

Sounds like a lot of hassle if you ask me

Take a lot at 365 and Azure, there is no real need for a dc/exchange at each site for that many people (imo of course)

We use Azure for our customer facing hosting platform and I am looking at 365, the problem with that is the migration, which looks a pig. If anyone else knows better I'd be happy to listen!

J.

 

[Battery!]

Migration to office 365 from Pop accounts is simple.

The main plan you laid out sounds fine, it's not a hassle of you enjoy this kind of thing.

I'd create a root domain then sub domains the the individual countries, you could then use office 365 for your mail, sharepoint and might as well use Lync while your at it.

Configure dirsync, replicate all your users up and password sync.

The documentation on technet is straight forward enough and setting all this up with a new domain should go pretty smoothly.

 

[Xez]

I'm not sure if I'd bother with DC's at each remote site and exchange etc. It is just additional cost for little benefit.

Depending on the applications you use a virtual environment would suit you perfect. Terminal servers or Citrix are good for this sort of thing when configured correctly.

You also have to ask yourself due to the remote sites would it be more reliable and efficient to have a complete cloud based solution. This way you should have more resilience.

You could keep Exchange locally, setup outlook anywhere and buy a third party SSL certificate. Or you could go office 365, you would obviously need to do the costs to this but longer term Office 365 is obviously more.

 

[xxalxx]

Get a MSP to do it all for you? Whereabouts in Oz are you ( ahh your UK with an office in Oz )

 

[traveyb]

Like Battery! said, create a root domain and subdomains for each site. Have a DC in each site and setup O365 with an E1 plan (or whatever MS recommend). If your company grows to a site that would benefit having on premix Exchange, then install a 2013 box

 

[Toughnoodle]

I'd use Office365 for mailboxes/SharePoint and aim to implement single sign on. Not sure if I'd use OneDrive, but I'd look to put the file serving in the cloud too. I'd host a Domain Controller at a colo (for bandwidth reasons). Also put a second Domain Controller at the site with the most users. Link them all with VPNs. One Active Directory domain unless you've got administrative reasons for creating child domains (separate IT departments in a group of companies).

A lazy way of doing this would be to buy 2012 Server, use downgrade rights to install 2012 Essentials, unlock the 25 user limit with the 2012 Server key and that'd give you synch'ed passwords via the wizards. Not sure how easy that is with R2.

Don't create an administrative overhead for yourself by deploying hardware where it doesn't need to be. Also servers are just the start of it, so you'd have to deploy and manage UPSs and backups.

The SBS POP3 connector needs to be ditched ASAP. There used to be this email loop nightmare in the SBS 2003 POP3 connector: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=16419

 

[accod]

Depending on the applications you use a virtual environment would suit you perfect. Terminal servers or Citrix are good for this sort of thing when configured correctly.

Not between Australia and the UK, lag would be terrible!

 

[GhostlyPea]

Citrix or Terminal Services can work perfectly fine over that distance, I've been involved in numerous projects to do just that (Singapore, Aus, China, NA etc.). The two caveats are:

- Don't skimp on a local breakout. A pseudo-business connection won't cut it. Get a proper line delivered from the likes of Cogent or whatever the quality local providers are. As an example, the NA site used a "business" Comcast line. It was awful and they had problems for months. Got rid and replaced with a dedicated Cogent circuit (not private) and it was sorted.
- Use WAN optimization. A Cisco WAAS or a Citrix offering.

It's possible, but not on a budget

- GP