Q: My fiance is a business and wants to share her appliactions remote employees – QuickBooks (with multi-user license), the most important files, etc. .
I hours in the business of setting up a VPN, but I get the impression that doing that will actually drive its network data center. This will mean that they never leave the house in case of network failure, right?
Given that uptime is important, seems to find a dedicated host is a prerequisite for peace. It would be a profession like any windows software is Windows based . So far, the only options I found that she might seem a suitable $ 400 – $ 500 per month cost. Is there a cheaper option?
Re:I'd look around and find one that lets you buy and configure your own server and send it to them(colocate)
Think about it. If it goes down for a hardware reason (drive crash, power supply burn out, etc) he's even more hosed because the colo company doesnt care about his hardware, and now he has to go there to deal with it.
Lease a server, then the hardware is SEP.
http://www.serverbeach.com/catalog/microsoft_servers.php
http://www.interland.com/dedicated/details/?package=Win%20Entry%20Level%20100&page=el100win
http://www.rackspace.com/products/recommended/windows.php
(btw, this is if you even go with a dedicated server, first make sure its the right choice for your app needs)
Re:How fast is your home's cable Internet connection? Most cable ISP's have a pretty low limit on the upstream bandwidth. For example, they might give you 1.5Mbs downstream, but only 128Kbps upstream. Unless the upstream bandwidth is several times faster than this, your cable Internet connection won't be fast enough to support more than 1 or 2 remote users.
Sounds like you might have to go with the dedicated hosting option. I'd look around and find one that lets you buy and configure your own server and send it to them(colocate). You'll want to put Windows 200x Server on it and configure it to run your applications using Terminal Service. You'll probably want to post another message here asking people to help you make sure you have the security locked down.
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Mwilding, how many remote employees will there be? I didn't understand what you meant by "she can never leave the house in case the network goes down." Will her LAN be in her house?what I mean by that is that if the server is hosted at our house and the network goes down, she/we/me have to get it up and running again. What if we go away for a week? This could be a big problem.
FYI – As the company gets started, it will be a virtual company. All employees will be remote (3-5 for next few months)
Re:Mwilding, how many remote employees will there be? I didn't understand what you meant by "she can never leave the house in case the network goes down." Will her LAN be in her house?
Running multi-user applications like Quickbooks over a WAN(i.e. the Internet) is a very bad idea. The lack of speed on the remote clients' Internet connections will make accessing a multi-user database far too slow. You could also run into data corruption issues if the remote client's Internet connection is lost.
If you can get a high-speed Internet connection at your office, setting up a VPN so the remote employees can connect to the office LAN might be the best way to go. Have a computer on the LAN for each remote employee and let them remote control their computer to run their applications like Quickbooks. They could remote control the computer using the built-in XP Remote Desktop or 3rd party software like Symantec's pcAnywhere. This would give them LAN performance and protects them from data corruption due to Internet connection failures.
If you wanted to go with the dedicated server, you'd need to have a Windows 200x Server running Terminal Service running at a host's location.
Re:Keep in mind that only the very latest quickbooks seems to work over the WAN. My wife's former employer tried pro 2002 over the wan in multi user mode, and it bombed pretty quick, causing corruption and loss of data. Investigate each app you wish to run, and look into using terminal services and compatability for each app in question.
I myself would want an expert in the field to help get this going.
I have a friend who hosts servers of that nature, I will ask him about it. PM me with specific apps that you wish to run.
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