Office Setup.....

profrec · Aug 11, 2006

Appreciate this may not be the place to ask, but kind of figure most of you guys will know the answers.

I'm looking to set up a small office 6-10 pcs running on a network and also to host my own sites, hopefully can use the same server for the network and hosting. The business isn't in IT or webdesign.

Where's the best place to start looking at getting the equipment? What kind of equipment do I need?

How difficult would it be? Specialist? Currently no network cabling so that would need to be installed anyway.

Should I just get in some professionals? Anybody know any local to MK?

Jeewhizz · Aug 11, 2006

I know a networking guy who's in cheltenham who would be able to do the network setup, PM me if you want his details.

In regards to what you need, it depends how much you want to spend. You will need a server for backups, so factor that in. You could go the M$ route, and use windows, MS Server 2003, and MS's backup programs (or buy a third party one) but you are going to spend over £5k at the least.

You could go open source, and use linux (it's not scary), and 99% of all the software is free. You just need time to learn how to do it all (which you may not have) if you aren't familiar with it.

Finally, i wouldn't host your website from your office if it is mission critical. What happens if you get a power cut? Or if you can't set it up securely? Remember that adsl lines have an upload limit of ~ 500kbit/sec = 50kbytes/sec. If you have 10 users using your site, they can each only get 5kb/sec max - if you have high size files, then your upload will be saturated.

If you really want to host from your office, then you need a leased line, or at the least, an SDSL line of >4mbit. I wouldn't even bother (and i'm a server admin) and so I would use a hosting company to either colocate your server (not very ideal) or get a dedicated server through them.

Jee

paul · Aug 11, 2006

I no expert but, hosting your own websites on your office server is not a good idea, think about security and speed. Get yourself a reseller account sonewhere for the websites, should only cost a few hundred.

charlie · Aug 11, 2006

setting up a business in my mind is a "needs must" scenario

PCs - hardware is dirt cheap at the moment so not an issue.
You could get a server just for file storage and back up plus a router to share the internet connection or even go wireless to avoid the mess

hosting - well this would depend on your operation - if its justa brochuer site then this is easily hosted on a BT line - but for ease of use sign up for the fixed IP. This is ideal and saves you money in your early days.

we hosted application services and website on a BT ADSL for 2 years from the office and at the time had a 7 fig investment over 40000 accounts (avg once a month access) - and it went off twice in that time, once when they dug the road up and another time when someone didnt pay the bill

profrec · Aug 11, 2006

Thanks Guys,

Ok, so hosting sites on my own server is probably beyond me and additional expense/problems that I don't really need.

When looking at dedicated servers or reseller packages what should I look for.

I know two sites I have are php and main site is .asp, so the servers needs to support these but interms of the traffic allowance how should I estimate it.

Say I had 10,000 visitors in the month of which 2,500 uploaded a document no bigger than 50kb. How much GB of traffic do you think I would need as my allowance?

I think I saw somewhere that it depends on the size of the site but am unsure?

Jeewhizz · Aug 11, 2006

well 2,500 x 50kb is 120gb of uploads.

if you have 10000 visitors, and your page is 20kb in total, then that is 200,000 kb - another 200gb...

People always overestimate their site visitors though

I would go for a shared hosting account then. It'll have to be windows, as you need .asp.

charlie · Aug 11, 2006

lots of the decent hosting services offer an unmetered contract.

be sure of your popularity - if your confident then phone some one and see if you can cut a deal - normally you can buy extra bandwidth on the fly. but Jeewhizz is right on the button saying :"People always overestimate their site visitors though."

this mix of php and asp might be a stumbling block - might be cheaper to rewrite the simplest one