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Ask Slashdot: Uses For a Small Office Server?
ragnvaldr writes "I'm the 'IT guy' for an office of about a dozen people. And when I say IT guy, I mean I'm the only one here who can use google well enough to figure out how to make things work. We have a 500GB Mac server with a Drobo with 6TB of storage attached. So far all this server does is back up data, and I want to make it a little more useful. We also have a Filemaker server on it, which I have yet to learn how to use at all, let alone efficiently. Any suggestions to make this machine a little more useful?"
Porn server, of course!
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
what does the office do and what software do you us? Windows or mac on the desktops?
Here's how you can best serve your employer: Realize that your problem is out of your hands. Figure out first what you need that thing to do. Then hire a professional who can deliver that. Don't half ass it. Don't risk your job and get fired for half assing it and failing miserably. Hire pros. They are worth their weight in gold.
Give me your password and I'll think of something...
...you let a perceived need dictate a use, not the other way around.
How many printers do you have? How are they set up? Are you a workgroup? Do you want to centralize administration? What kind of software are your users working with? Do you use Outlook?
To get any decent suggestions your going to have to give a little more information.
Doorstop?
Seriously, data backups are crucial in every enterprise, even small ones. That's a *great* use for your server. Are you checking on your process by restoring files once per month? Once per quarter? I joined a bioscience center that had faithfully been making backups for half a year before I joined but five months of the backups had no data. So do check, please.
I have more questions about your backup methods than I can easily list here. Still, there are other good uses for *every* server. They can all:
1) Provide DHCP addresses
2) Offer NTP to keep the clocks synchronized
3) Provide comprehensive system logging (for all systems of concern)
4) Store and/or offer common utilities like print services
First off replace it with a linux server or at least a Windows server
Mac OSX Server is pretty powerful and you can do alot with it. it could be a print server, a web server, ftp, email, application . . . i would caution putting all those services on one machine, as a single point of failure is sometimes trouble for the less experienced, and you don't want to bring down any data. i have a couple of mac servers running virtually using Parallels on a couple of MacPro's and it handles it quite well and it's very stable and efficient.
i would take a class or buy a book or just RTFM . . . 0_o
It sounds to me like you haven't identified a business need and are fishing for one. Wouldn't it be better to look at how the business operates and from there see if there is something that can be done more efficiently? If there is, then ask yourself how this server can be used to address that problem. A server can do a lot of things, but don't look at those things and try to force it on the business when the need doesn't necessarily exist. It may create more problems then it solves.
If what you are really looking for is something to play with, then Filemaker sounds like a great place to start. It could be your introduction to databases. Once you understand the power of databases, you may find areas of the business that might benefit from a database. But until you have the knowledge, you aren't in a position to implement and support one. Just remember, if you're going to play with something, don't do it on a production server. Backups are a real business need. Even if that is the only thing the box is used for, it is a perfectly good reason for its existence.
Use and study it as much as you can: knowledge pays for itself and OSX Server is not the same thing as a raw linux/bsd box. (And while you're at it: enjoy every single pixel of their Apache and Mailman admin interface OSX style, you'll miss 'em in real life!)
Requirements first, lad.
What do you need? What would improve productivity or whatnot?
If you don't need anything, then turn it off. Saves money. Quantifiable improvement.
yup. Something about a solution in search of a problem is coming to mind.
Mod points: Guaranteed to remove your sense of humor.
Side effects may include gullibility and temporary retardation
If things are working as they should already. Create a whole bunch of servers! Centvm, DNS vm, even web hosting... You are not risking much if you just pay attention to your memory. Max out the internal drive space and RAM.
i dont know what your office do, but it could be used to share some motivation videos, maybe some porn to release the stress, mmm i dont know any game server for macosx, but seriously, why the f. you ask this on /.
I dont think you would get another answer than install porn
It's generally better to start a project from "I want to accomplish [x], so what do I need?" rather than "I have [x], so what can I accomplish with it?" The first approach will be much more focused and more likely to succeed.
Second thing to keep in mind: you don't want to experiment on a production server. I don't care if the "production server" is only a backup server-- if you don't want to endanger your backups, then it's still a production server. This means you shouldn't do anything with this server until you've planned what you want to install on it, and you've already set up a test implementation and you know what you're doing.
Third thing to keep in mind: in current IT practices, it's often not worth it for a small company to do things for themselves unless they need to. You probably need a local file server and therefore also a backup scheme. Aside from that, things like web hosting, email, and chat are usually better handled by a big company that can afford a datacenter. If you do try to do email internally, make sure you back it up and have a plan for outages and disaster recovery.
All that aside, you could start with basic services: directory services, file sharing, email, etc. Filemaker has its uses, but let the use determine the tool. Don't go around pounding on everything just because you've found yourself a hammer. Define the job, and then pick the best tool for the job.
Do you have a mac os x server license? If not, you can buy it, and you'll have a lot of services available, from podcast server to directory server, iCal server, and a lot of options.
Make sure it is reliable before you get people to rely on it. Make sure both the computer and storage are on UPS and have good surge protection. Ideally you want the server to shutdown before it loses power. Also, make sure you have some sort of backup scheme in place. Tape backup, DVD, whatever, just make sure you can backup the data and restore. It's a really good idea to test your backups from time to time to make sure they can be read. Ideally you will also save your backups either off-site, or at least in a fire safe. Also, check that the server area doesn't get too hot as that can cause problems as well. Make sure you apply current OS patches. Ideally you will also have anti-virus protection. If the office has access to the internet, make sure you have at least a cheap hardware firewall, or better if you can, to protect everyone. Consider physical security. Do you lock the room with the server? Use cables to secure it? Document things in case you need to rebuild it.
Consider information security: does everyone get access to everything?
Besides that, file servers tend to be very handy, even for small offices. Put any sort of shared resources you use on the file server instead of on individual PCs. Things like: document templates, form letters, contact lists, etc.
Beyond that, it really depends on your business doesn't it? I assume you bought Filemaker for a reason. Information sharing must be important somehow. You can use Filemaker as the heart of a lot of business applications. Would an internal web server be useful? Internal mail server? List server?
One more thing, teach people how things are intended to be used.
Help them out - make sure their PCs are properly patched, have anti-virus, and ideally aren't running as administrator.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
What?
Maybe thats directed towards the editors.
Backup. Oh you're already doing that? Done.
This depends on a lot of things we (and you seem to) not know about. No offense.
In a nutshell: You seem to be looking for trouble.
Have you seen any new needs coming up? You shouldn't have to shovel functionality down just for the sake of it. Sometimes simplicity is worth it and more is less.
Also, we can't be in your office to know what goes on there. You most probably know better than all of us.
If you can google enough to make things work, the next step seems to learn how to google enough to know about what is worth making work.
I wish I could give you output regarding a lot of cool things you could do with your server to boost productivity, make people happy and make you happy, but what are your needs on the first place? You wish to learn? Increase profit? Reduce downtime? Those are all useful in one way or another.
If you wish to learn, you can just go around asking yourself stuff:
Have you got some monitoring going on?
Is your server hardened? Could you think of ways of breaking into it?
Does it have any form of redundancy? What happens if it explodes?
Is a domain server needed?
I think you should pay attention to what happens on your office/network, study a bit if you're serious about it, google and answer things for yourself. And for pete's sake, don't go testing things on the server.
1. Get in the apple server bootcamp class and learn how to use it. Its not a overly difficult course and gives you good insight into what all the platform offers you.
2. Hire me as your mac admin short term since ive been doing this for the past 15 years and need to eat.
Advice is buy a 386 off eBay, open it up and take out the LED and the turbo button, bang a hole into the mac server, solder in the turbo button and put a battery containing led with acid mixed together into the server case. Now it's a little more useful. Anymore worthless questions or did you expect we all have magic "useful" ways that'll increase your bottomline 20%?
if your company is more than ten people, you should try a wiki of course.
Set up a document versioning system to track changes.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
Using Apache, you can fire it up as a local web host, for company wiki or SVN.
- Holy crap, I've got MOD points! Who thought that was a good idea.
6Tb of storage is excellent for a file server. However, unless you are bringing files offsite and running occasional restore tests, then it's not really a good setup as a backup. I'm not sure of the Drobo's capabilities, or how the drives are configured within it, but you might consider taking a couple of them offline and cycling through them like tapes; bringing the spare drives offsite.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Host a company wiki.
Although, I have to say, getting people to use a wiki is like pulling teeth at my company.
There will be no thinking outside the box here! This is Slashdot and we are legion. Now go back to your cube. (and stop trying to make the rest of us look bad. we are already at least 3 rules ahead of you)
Then use this server as a test environment for your learning purposes and for demo applications. You could use this server to help discover what you might or probably don't need.
TLDR: keep it so simple that it *can't* screw up and you can't get your ass kicked.
Just keep it as a file server! OSX server would have been a simple drop-in solution for groupware but OSX server is dead - and having the organisation's groupware residing on just one physical machine is questionable.
It would be wise (even if you were a real IT person) to try to move any responsibility you have to somebody/somewhere else. You can do this by using hosted groupware such as Zimbra or Goolge Apps and even hosted file server such as Ignyte (it's awesome!, you just run a VM locally as a cache and use simple online the web interface to manage everything.)
Also, just a thought - if you just need a simple file server then using just the Drobo without the server is probably the way to go. If you use just the Drobo you have 1 less moving piece to fail.
Remember, if something goes wrong it is *you* who is responsible - and "I'm not an IT guy anyway" doesn't cut it.
I'm presuming this machine is for internal use only. If you need to host external services, such as a website, pay $1k for another Mini Server and use that exclusively for external facing services.
That being said, you could activate the Wiki function and produce a little company Intranet where people could post and update information. That's quite easy to do once you've enabled the WebServer (using Server Admin).
It's also easy to set up LDAP server, which will at a minimum simplify your account management. You could use Mobile accounts on each workstation, so that the workstation's data is local but is automatically both backed up to the server -and made available- if the user has to log onto or borrow another machine.
You could configure VPN for safe remote access (but that's a bit tricky.)
Right now the best book on OS X Server Admin is Daniel Eran Dilger's book. (http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Leopard-Server-Developer-Reference/dp/0470521317)
My experience as a SOHO user/administrator of Server going back to Tiger Server is that each version has gotten easier to use, but unless the out-of-the-box configuration is -exactly what you need-, it's worth paying a couple $100s to get an expert to fully configure the server initial setup, particularly the DNS. If the DNS isn't set up perfectly, a lot of stuff breaks in OS X Server. (I've used Mid Atlantic Consulting here in the DC area.)
Finally, you need to have an additional backup strategy that involves off-site/off-machine backups. Consider the recent tornadoes all over the US! I have a pair of USB drives and my plan is to monthly back up to one and swap it for the other stored at an offsite location (friend's house.) (Disclosure: I'm about 6 months behind doing that, one of the drives in an external exclosure died and I haven't gotten around to replacing it.)
Stop! Stop right there!
RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!
I think the most important thing you can do for your small company is to research and implement an off-site backup solution. Find one strikes the right balance of cost versus privacy/security for the business sector that you're in. So if you're using the Mac as a central place to back up the employees individual computers, or if you've made it the place where everyone saves all their files, that's a great first step. But it needs to be augmented with off-site backup.
I have seen too many examples of small businesses losing all of their data to theft or fire. I don't mean I'm reading about them on the web, I mean I hear these stories in person. I'm honestly amazed at how many times this happens, and having central backup or central storage alone isn't enough to mitigate the dangers.
Good luck, and happy Googling!
If the rest of your computers are macs as well, use the space on that drobo for everyones timemachine backups(assuming no one has like 1Tb of data on their machine). Timemachine works pretty well for recovering both accidentally deleted files or restoring a machine thats had a hardware failure of some kind. If you don't want 12 machines all trying to back up data every hour all at the same time over your network, you can change how often timemachine does backups by editing the file /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto.plist. If you aren't familiar with launchd(what OSX uses to start and stop processes) then def read up on it before editing any plist files.
Normally I recommend NOT editing anything in /System, but thats where apple put the time machine preference files so I suppose in this case it's acceptable to modify that file.
Oh and some type of wiki is always a nice tool, I think OSX server comes with one, or you could just use WikiMedia.
If I think of anything else I'll be sure to post it, but as others have said, it's best to think of what your business needs rather than invent problems to fix.
If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
Plan A: Set it on fire to reduce heating bills.
Plan B: Sell all of that gay Mac bullshit, and apply the pittance towards buying an NAS. Not for file backup... for primary data storage on a raid 1 array.
"Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
I run the server for a small company as well, and since we do some Apache/MySQL stuff on it anyway, there's a lot of lightweight, mostly turn-key Apache/MySQL stuff I've set up opportunistically, some of which have turned out to be useful to the whole organization, and some of which have just turned out to be useful for me and the developers. It's a bit simpler to set up on a Linux server where a lot of this stuff is prepackaged for you, but Macports is rather straightforward, and installing PHP apps is only marginally more complicated than unpacking a zip file. Among other things, we're using:
Limesurvey
Pastebin
TikiWiki
WordPress
All of these require (trivial) database setup, which I manage with phpMyAdmin.
Don't overreach though. Your time is valuable, so you're much better off paying a bit to one of the many service providers who will gladly provide you with similar services for free or cheap, than mucking around in config files you don't understand. Your intranet server is still a great place to do proof-of-concept setups for things that ultimately you'd want to outsource. I use it more for things that require more customization than I can get from a service provider, but I'm a fairly experienced system administrator.
There's no failure quite as dissatisfying as a complete and total solution to the wrong problem.
Setup Cron (or whatever) to send alerts via email. Did the backup complete successfully? Send an Alert. Did the backup fail? Send an alert. Is a disk failing? Send an alert. Is the CPU usage higher than average over a six month period? Send an alert. Is it a full moon? Send an alert. Is it the vernal equinox? Send an alert. Is it Elvis' birthday? Send an alert. I do a whole This Day in History alert. You can also use ASCII to jazz up the emails, as long as it still looks good on a phone display. I also have a few thousand jokes that I setup to randomly insert one joke as a sig to each alert. There is also the countdown of how many days left to xmas that kicks in after Turkey day.
Set up an Alfresco server.
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Installing_on_MacOS_X
I think its free for up to 15 people. It will give you CMS experience, give your small company an organized place for your documents, and if you stick with OSX, you can back it all up with Time Machine. If Alfresco is no longer free, try O3Spaces.
*Disclaimer: Your question made it on to Slashdot because the idea of "I have this cool powerful thing, what can I do with it?" is an extremely valid and commonly asked question which will yield a lot of useful responses. Unfortunately, it exposes you to inevitable flaming (for good reason, there's a lot of disgruntled and "more-qualified-than-you-for-your-job" people on Slashdot without a 500GB Mac Server at their disposal but plenty of experience to find a valid business purpose for it). Hold your ground though, because asking questions will help you keep that job of yours. Just remember that most businesses frown upon "buy first, find a fun use for it later" approach at IT equipment, so comments will reflect that. :)
-Tres
Is this a relatively recent Mac OSX Server operating system?
Are the workstations also Mac?
Share Calendars
Centralized Address Book
Share Files
Print server
DHCP
DNS --- you can have friendly names for all IP connected internal devices
Landing point for remote managment -- when you are offsite, you can VPN into the server and launch Apple Remote Desktop or "Chicken Of The VNC" so you can log onto your co-worker's desktop to interactively resolve an issue.
Software Update Server (workstations download from your server, instead of from Apple, so you use much less bandwidth.)
Network home directories if you are inclined
Any number of office automation and data management tasks can be built on Filemaker ---
--- personalized form letters or email blasts
--- project tracking, todo lists
--- hr management functions
--- document management
--- product documentation
--- build quotes and estimates
--- invoices
Network location for software installers
Image server to restore or upgrade workstations.
"All it does is back up data."
If you fuck uppa da backups then you gotta backa da fuck up and finda youself a new job. Capisce?
Be well aware of what you don't know. There are good comments about security and reliability already. Outsource things such e-mail and web services to a reliable, willing to be audited vendor. Ensure DR plan and testing is included.
Now the big point. You have greater than 6 TB of storage. Is there a backup and recovery plan in place? RAID is not equal to backup. Is this information important to the business or is someone unwilling to learn "delete" options? Does the backup plan include off site media migration? That can be as expensive as Iron Mountain, a company safe deposit box or just someone takes a tape set home on Fridays. Test your recovery on bare metal. Cloud backups are one option, although you're now betting that another company will survive and maintain any privacy requirements you have. Warn the decision makers, ensure that the "when Drobo raid controller burps and scrambles all disks" there will be no recovery is a possible scenario. Granted that may or may not happen this year or next. It's more likely that Bart the intern will purge the Drobo so he can save DVDs he's ripping all afternoon. Now you have redundant movies.
Document the warnings and the decision to not spend money and accept the risk(s). As management amnesia sets in, this keeps you from holding the bag.
I run a small office as well and found the following two applications helpful
1 fax server
2 scanner
We all use faxes. Just imagine how much easier everybody*s life would be if they could send/receive faxes from their machine instead of using paper.
Imagine how much faster everything would be in the office if ALL documents were stored on a hard drive that can be backed up instead of expensive fireproof cabinets.
Firstly, (and most importantly) read the documentation: http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/resources/documentation.html
Secondly, you can set up a wiki server pretty easily. It is extremely useful for self-help and internal process documentation. Easy to add videos, screenshots and keep the documentation up to date.
Thirdly, if you don't have an office collaboration server, you can also run your own Jabber server.
Both Wiki and Jabber services have their own documentation at the aforementioned link.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
An organization of 12 people is not going to need much in the way of centralized "IT" services, so keep it simple. You don't want to create more work than necessary and your company likely wants to keep the overhead of IT low at this stage. Back up their laptops/workstations to the server and provide core services like file shares, print shares, DHCP, and authentication. Use cloud services to provide things like Exchange, SharePoint, and what not if you need them. Then just make sure you are backing up any data that is solely hosted on the server. Always, always, always have two verified copies of everything, and try not to keep them in the same location.
generally, it sounds like you have a file server. So, #1 is to keep that running well and backed up, which actually isn't that hard.
After that, there isnt much you need it for that you couldnt do in the cloud. So, if the question is "i have hardware can i use it for something", the answer is, you could use it for stuff that is free and easier to manage in the cloud. With the exception, generally of storing files.
Want email... put it on a hosted exchange server for $7/user/month and forget about it.
Want a wiki... use any of many online systems.
If you want to justify your job you can try to build all this stuff on your server, and worry about the server, power and configuration full time. But that is just an inefficient use of your companies money and your time.
So, make sure your files are stored and backed up- maybe accessible remotely and securely. But other than that...
...it's full of stars.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
That machine could be adding to the company's bottom line instead of just being a depreciating asset.
Install Gentoo
It's rare to see such a combination of technical experience, and familiarity with the realities of implementing a solution in a small business environment.
Usually you can only get one or the other from any particular individual. This is solid advice and a good starting point. It should be modded up.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
If the server were to randomly break in the near future, what would be the cost to the company in terms of lost time? Today, computers are often cheap compared to human time.
If you want to expand your knowledge and experiment with extra functionality, get a cheap computer to experiment on. It might make financial sense to end up with several servers with trialed programs that ended up working and become part of mainstream work. Then, you might want a professional to consolidate the servers.
It's generally better to start a project from "I want to accomplish [x], so what do I need?" rather than "I have [x], so what can I accomplish with it?"
Your's is an engineer's answer. Innovators, on the other hand, tend to be driven more by the question "What can we do?" than by "What do we need?", as in Faraday's answer to "What use is electricity?": '"What use is a new-born baby?" The history of technology is full of examples where the major benefits were not even imagined before the technology became available.
This is not an easy point for me to admit, because I am by temperament more of an engineer than an innovator.
All of them count as "useful" to someone or other.
1. Configure it as an unsecure FTP server.
2. Expose it to a public network for a few days/weeks.
3. Collect 6TB of pr0n and movies from your server.
4. ?????
5. Profit.
It's a shame that you have that much computer going to waste.
What about using as a place to put all the illegal mp3's and videos you get from torrents?
This signature has Super Cow Powers
If you don't need a high end mac server, having one is a liability in various ways; aside from the fact spare parts are expensive, and what will have to happen if it breaks after warranty. You could also consider making the server dual-use.... E.g. have it double as the Boss' workstation.
"I'm the 'IT guy' for an office of about a dozen people. And when I say IT guy, I mean I'm the only one here who can use google well enough to figure out how to make things work. We have a 500GB Mac server with a Drobo with 6TB of storage attached So far all this server does is back up data,
A 6TB drobo is plenty of backup storage. Sell the overpriced Mac server (assuming it's relatively new and sells for a lot) and buy an inexpensive Dell server, as you don't need a MacOS server for backups. You're working backwards --- you don't just buy expensive servers and look for things they can do; your department gets asked to meet technology needs of the business, you determine how to meet those needs, and some might involve providing services that require a server -- there are also some system administration functions (such as single signon, central user management, endpoint policy management) that may require a server.
Your organization should be planning what it wants the IT infrastructure to do, and budgeting and acquiring servers appropriately as required to solve problems and satisfy the needs facing the organization. If you find you actually got equipment not being utilized, then someone screwed up. I've seen people fired for blowing their IT budget on a Mac server, when there was no real justification for why the server absolutely had to be that uber-expensive type, and cheap Linux/Windows servers on the market would serve the file sharing/backup function just as well.
Many small businesses don't need any servers at all, anymore, now that certain NASes can commonly fill the role of file servers. Perhaps a NAS device (or other solution) for backups. Another reason small businesses might have a server is for DHCP, DNS, active directory, and shared applications. Databases used by SMB apps are usually peer-to-peer or something like an access DB hosted on a CIFS file share.
and I want to make it a little more useful. We also have a Filemaker server on it, which I have yet to learn how to use at all, let alone efficiently.
Just because you have a filemaker instance, doesn't mean that using it would be a good choice.
That's a "when you have a hammer handy, everything looks like a nail" thing. Seeing as you don't know how to use filemaker, and have no long term planning for type of use/ ongoing maintenance, and you probably have limited administration knowledge of filemaker - that's yet more reasons to avoid deciding to put that piece of software into production at this point --- you should understand it, be trained on it, understand how it works in detail before you consider creating anything with filemaker and championing it as something the business should rely on.
As a company becomes larger, IT guy becomes a full time role. Eventually you need an IT staff. What percentage of your staff should be in IT depends on your business. But having 1 IT staff member per 10 or so users is a minimum.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
If you have a Mac Mini with OSX Server, you really should be running it as such. There is a great write up regarding the setup for a complete noob here http://www.wazmac.com/servers_network/fileservers/osxserver_setup/osxserver106_setup.htm
Dan. -- So what if it's spelt wrong, nobody's perfect
http://www.fengoffice.com/web/community/why-is-open-source.php
was in Linux Journal this month.
Its like your own Google Docs.
As has been mentioned many times, you're trying to find a solution for a problem you can't identify. What you need to do is think about you would feel is missing and how much you will miss it in the future.
My professional experiences have all been with companies where the end goal would require massive growth at some point. A twelve person company doesn't need a whole lot. The people working together are usually pretty intimately familiar with each other and data organization isn't very critical. If the long term plan isn't to stay small, but to eventually grow to hundreds or thousands or employees, keep that in mind when examining your needs. When everyone isn't on a first name basis and/or working in the same office, sharing data becomes a chore is not properly done. A wiki (or CMS) is a good thing for a dozen people but of absolute importance to a larger organization. Why not start one now?
Sticking with my theme of eventually having a large organization, the ability to find people is an often overlooked need until it's too late. Consider having a user directory with pictures, contact information and work group data. When doing this, make sure it allows for editing by the user as people are likely to link out to their projects and documents when given the chance. Also, having a single point of management for vital information (like when phone numbers change) means it can be an administrative nightmare.
Forums and blogs! Email is great but it's not always the best way to propose ideas and have random discussions. Forums allow for much better data persistence (usually only an admin can remove a thread) and give people a place to have more "off topic" banter. While I don't personally have much of a use for a blog, many people find them to be useful scratch pads. At the last place I worked, I occasionally updated a blog with tips and tricks, software patches for third party tools and random tech bugs I'd dealt with.
Whatever you do, make sure you have a central point of access. A unified search component (like a search appliance) is key to making sure that, when you have the date, you can find it. People are good at remembering a single point of entry but less so at remembering an ever growing list. All of these resources are useful but, unless you have a simple way to get to them/find data, they won't get nearly the utilization they could.
Lastly, if you do this all on a single host, you're destined for pain. I don't know anything about the Drobo (and I don't feel like looking it up), so I have no idea if it's running in a redundant state. Regardless, the fact that you have a single machine attached means that, if that box has a problem, all of this is for nothing. At the very least, you should get a second machine with a mirror of any resources/sites you create, so you're not left dead in the water if it fails. I'd actually recommend three, so you can have two in a production swappable state and one where you can test new software and upgrades before making them live.
Good luck.
http://www.imagepoop.com/image/3545/Bottle-Opener-on-Computer.html
to code or not to code, that is the question.
We have no idea what you are doing and what the office is doing. If no central database or file access is required, then a server for backup seems fine to me.
Your mac mini has a lot of juice for a tiny little box, and cycles you don't use disappear into the ether. May as well be using it as much as you can.
He will perform exploratory research on the departments' only production backup server, risking the economic well being of some 24 people. First he needs a development system, once that's in place, I'd suggest either email, website, or database.
Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
... install Amahi.
Dozens of apps to use, simple and easy to install.
I'd recommend the expresscd.
http://www.amahi.org/
http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Main_Page
AFS supported of course.
Especially with the blazing-fast tech market, any self-respecting IT guy should be on the look-out for new developments that will potentially help productivity. Even if some uses turn out to be totally superfluous, the expected return from trying out new stuff is huge.
If you're not getting paid to be the IT guy you're a chump.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
0. Don't even touch Filemaker. It's the bastard pseudo 'database' from hell.
1. Sell Mac.
2. Buy hardware that will run MS Server 2008 + Exchange etc all natively.
3. Use free SQL Server Express or full SQL Server if you really need db services.
Basically, dump evil proprietary hardware and horrendous pseudo db software in favour of industry standard evil proprietary software. Your life will be easier and service provision will be better.
Install a jabber server, put clients on everybody's desktops - we started using it about 6 years ago and its become an essential part of our business.
Obviously you could just use somebody else's IM service, but we're not a big fan of the mystical cloud at our place, and most of our staff are developers so nobody is afraid of getting their hands dirty, so to speak.
you're doing it wrong
If you're using Filemaker in this day and age you are making the same idiot mistake that people using Access are making. If you have legacy data wrapped up in Filemaker that's one thing, although I think it behooves you to extract it ASAP.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
And I say this as an IT guy myself.
You can put together all the fancy features you like. I don't care what they are, what is important is what the business can benefit from.
So you need to do two things:
1. Don't speak to us. Speak to the people in your company who are driving the business.
2. Stop thinking in terms of "clever things I can do with the server" and start thinking in terms of "things I can do that offer a tangible benefit to the business". 99 times out of 100, those things will fall into one of four categories:
a. Bring money in - either directly or indirectly.
b. Save money.
c. Reduce risk.
d. Make life easier for someone else in the business.
B and C are relatively easy. A is seldom found in IT; D often requires people to change the way they work. Getting people to change the way they work is generally very difficult, so unless the benefit is so absolutely vast that even the most deluded, stuck-in-the-mud person would see huge benefits to it before you've even finished explaining your idea, you may well be wasting your time. If you have an idea that offers only small benefits but requires significant changes to how people work, forget it.
Your's is an engineer's answer. Innovators, on the other hand, tend to be driven more by the question "What can we do?" than by "What do we need?", as in Faraday's answer to "What use is electricity?": '"What use is a new-born baby?" The history of technology is full of examples where the major benefits were not even imagined before the technology became available.
Are we talking about potential innovation here? Is this guy looking to invent a new kind of server technology? Or is it some guy who'd be pleased with himself if he learned to set up a wiki on his local server?
Giving an engineer's answer can be helpful if you're talking to someone who's hoping to be an engineer.
Well.. the hardware will probably Linux of FreeBSD just fine.. but dump the Mac server crapola. Mac is a desktop operating system, and so is Windows, and neither one has any place in the server market as far as I'm concerned.
A Doorstop.
Don't waste time your time with Filemaker unless your business needs a database. Do try setting up a wiki for a knowledge base, it is simple and will save you and your company time and money. But as with so many other posters let business do the driving not IT. The centralized auth/auth stuff is more trouble than it's worth for many companies. Put a good post in your knowledge base on password managment maybe with a link to a good keychain wallet utility for the Windows users in your organization. Centralized printing always was a dumb idea. Buy good printer(s) with builtin print server(s) ie. any network laser printer and put the printer names locations in your knowledge base. DNS caching is neat but can be more trouble than it's worth. Read about it first, try it with just two or three machines first and if you roll it out document it in your knowledge base.
I have set up a Wiki where I work, we store our staff meeting notes, staff directory, our current forms and templates and also use it to store a procedure manual.
Of the wikis Ive used Dokuwiki seems to be one of the best for such a purpose, light weight uses file storage (not DB) so its easier to manage documents with.
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
Get a $400 PC "server". IBM is always selling them refurbished for $200.
Load Linux.
Then you are pretty much unlimited in what the machine can do.
* Backups (though I'd never put backups on a shared machine)
* Firewall
* Proxy
* Content filter
* email server
* web server
* Asterisk/ VoIP server
* DLNA server
* Music streaming server
* Shared folders for the entire enterprise
* CRM server
* document management server
* Wiki
* Project management server (redmine)
And those are just off the top of my head. There are thousands of other uses - literally.
Sell the Mac and consider swapping out the Drobo for a real disk array.
- Use the machine to mine Bitcoins
- Run Seti@home or one of the other BOINC projects
- Gaming server or pirated MP3/movie/series server
Until you know what you are doing is sounds daft to be trying new things before understanding the essentials. Write a list of the things you already need it for and make sure you can look after it for those.
I'lm the IT guy for a small company. Uh how many employess? 70?
Which means everything that plugs into the wall you are responsible for?
Which means they give you no IT budget?
Which means you are expected to play the little Dutch boy and locate rumage sales to scavenge computer parts?
Which means you are running legacy programs that still run on NT 4.0 or worse Windows 98?
Which means the smooth running of the IT infrastructure is soley on your shoulders and I bet they pay you 45k and smile about it.
Here is what you should do. Spend time updating your resume and find another job. Then your company will realize that running the IT Dept. takes money and maybe they won't treat it like a fast food resturant.
You could persuade management to fund some after-hours coursework at your local community college, there are many IT related subjects available.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
If I couldn't find a really good use for it, I would respond instead by locking it down and making it a really *good* file server/backup machine. I'd kill any process that isn't directly necessary to file serving and the function of the machine. More programs running == more potential security vulnerabilities, and these are your *backups*.
P.S. you do have offsite backup as well, right? Juuuuust checkin'.
expandfairuse.org
You should offer dedicated hosting! And give us a free spot since we gave you the idea. :p
It might even bring in a profit! Too sweeten the deal, I'll give you, personally, a piece of stock.
There's been a lot of great advice above. A couple of things stand out for me.
1. If you do important things with the server, make sure you rotate a good, encrypted backup offsite at least once a week.
2. Help business drive its needs by enabling proof-of-concept ideas. Innovate and educate. Buy pizza and do a demo.
3. Understand how asking the server to do more can impact it. More memory, disk, and backups mray be needed. Pace, plan, prove value.
The comment about non-production system use is helpful but doesn't buy you a new one. Perhaps a virtual machine approach that can be shutdown at will.
You didn't say anything about what your business is and whether it has any regulatory and compliance responsibilities, such as a medical office or financial agent. These can greatly impact the way you have your electronic information and you should have a sense of your compliance with such laws as HIPAA or FCRA and industry standards like PCIDSS. At the least, you follow standard accounting practices for tax purposes.
install ubuntu linux
thank u 4 so
Hi,
I'm in a similar boat. I setup a NAS server to use as a local backup protection (running RAID). However, we also use it to host project wikis, project management databases (via Trac), subversion repositories for code and media files. However, one issue to consider if that if you are caught at work with a folder of music files acquired non-legally, some companies may consider this non-authorized use of company computers and in some cases, you may face disciplinary action - so be warned....
Victor
You've got a good start. You identified what assets you have and what functions your server currently provides. Before you start talking to your company's other stake holders you need to perform an honest needs, wants, and culture assessment. Here's where to go next:
* Is my company willing to spend money, or am I in a "cheap is best" scenario?
* Can I become the IT guy without getting into trouble for reducing my contributions to the company's bottom line?
* What kind of budget do I have (if any)?
* How many man hours per week am I willing to devote to being "that IT guy?"
* Are my current suite of services functioning properly?
* Do I have enough drive space?
* What is the state of my software licenses and my hardware warranties?
* Are we using FileMaker Server? If so, who is developing it and are they willing to keep that role? If we aren't do we need it?
Only the dead have seen the end of War. - Plato
The business I'm at is an NPO movie review business. We have a website that I don't have much to do with, and an already running and functioning filemaker server, neither of which I have anything to do with, except for using them just like any other employee. I came here a few months ago and all the tools that I described were new within a few months and unimplemented entirely. I have no IT experience, and was hired part time to do whatever everybody else doesn't have time to and to take care of local, in office computers. So all I've got going for me personally is that I'm the most computer savvy person in the office (pretty computer savvy--extremely savvy compared to the rest of the office--but hardly a professional) and actually care enough to find solutions to things. Like I said, the reason I'm asking is because I already had those tools laying there, an want to find out the best way to make the most use of what I've got. Preferably simple, yet productive/ease of use type things. eg. a single, shared Address Book so that every single person in the office doesn't have a different one with no way to know whose is most up to date.
drinkypoo runs from a simple question, troll, here http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2225174&cid=36390518 ? Perhaps because it shows you are nothing but a TROLL, & a "ne'er-do-well" that claims he has a "massive ego", but nothing to show for it (delusions of GRANDEUR there, boy?)?? Absolutely.