Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Absolute Confusion

[brownsl]

I am absolutely confused on what to look for for our company. We have simple needs but trying to find what is available is overwhelming. There seems to be so many options out there that I have no idea what to do. Hell, I am not even sure if this is the right forum to be asking for help.

We are a small company (<10 employees) and we are geographically diverse. We are an engineering consulting firm and we have a need to store our Window files such that everyone can access them. Currently, we use a Windows VPS solution from 1&1 that seems inadequate.

We currently access our files by mapping a network drive. It is very slow. I am not sure if it is because of our method of access or if it is just 1&1. I have tried setting up a VPN with 1&1 but I have been unsuccessful. It is convenient to access the files as if they are on just another drive on our individual computers. We do not want to use FTP or some other method to access the files.

We currently have 20GB file space that is about all used up. We want something with more space that provides fast access and that is reliable.

[ubservers]

Hi,

You are looking for file sharing. You might want to look at solutions such as Samba servers or file sharing/hosting solutions.

Why don't you want to use FTP?

Hope this helps!

[SnoorkAdvertiser]

Do you know how much bandwidth you would require? Also what is your budget you are aiming for? What about location?

*I recommend getting a server in a location where most of your customers are located in, so the latency won't be high.

[Coolraul]

Good day, you actually are on the right track for your needs but while a vps *could* suffice if you are running out of room you may want to try another one of these options.

First off don't start with your budget or ftp or any of that. What you want is to first get a good inventory of where your users are, their remote location connection speed and what they are running. It sounds like windows so stick with a windows server solution or a hosted shared office solution.

1) There is windows small business server. This should be run on a dedicated server. The problem you are having with speed could just be a function of the connections from each location or maybe your 1and1 vps is just poorly situated (not 1and1's fault) from your users. Connecting to windows or samba shares with slow speeds will feel .. slow You can get additional diskspace with a dedicated windows server, opt for managed server so you have some help monitoring and managing it.

2) If the above doesn't work for you can go with a hosted solution like Microsoft office skydrive or others like it. It depends on the type of files if they are large CAD drawings, accessing these over internet shares is not going to be pretty.

3) Try a hosted teamspace / sharepoint type solution where people are checking out documents and downloading them when they need them then uploading them when finished. It may work for your situation but doesn't work with all situations.

If you can give a bit more information on geography and what your users have I am sure people here can help you.

[Douglas]

I was actually going to recommend a SharePoint solution to you, but CoolRaul already beat me to it. I do agree that you should maybe have something centrally located amongst all staffers, though you should consider the fact that if some of your staffers are overseas that you may want to get something along the East or West Coast (depending on where your team sits).

As far as not wanting to access stuff via FTP, is it because of security concerns?

[brownsl]

Thanks for all the info so far.

With respect to location, we are mostly located in the Midwest (Columbus/Chicago) with one of us located on the East Coast.

We are all running Windows Vista or Windows 7. Everyone but me has RoadRunner-type speeds while I connect using DSL.

We like having the file server appear as just another drive on each of our computers. I do not think we can do that using FTP but I may be wrong on that.

I definitely think a Managed Solution is the way to go.

We currently use the file server to store our analysis files and reports. It is used only internally and is not customer-facing. We have a separate web site host that allows us to provide the final reports to our customers. So bandwidth requirement is only us accessing the files on the server. The way we do it now is that we download the files to our computers, edit them, then upload them when we are done.

I am not that familiar with SharePoint. I did some reading on it and to be honest it is just a bit overwhelming. So much information and features and capabilities that it only serves to confuse me. Maybe it is the right solution but I can't tell with all the talk on the MS website about Sites, Composites, Insights, Communities, Content, Search. It seems to be a bunch of techno-babble.

Thanks again for all the help.

[Douglas]

brownsl, what you may want to do is reach out to potential hosting providers that you're interested in and discussing your situation with them. Also, find out if they're a SPLA partner, and how many Windows certifications they have floating on their team. Hopefully you'll find someone that'll put it in layman's terms for you and won't dazzle you with a bunch of uber-geek speak.

Good luck with your hosting search!

[Coolraul]

Brownsl,

Go with a managed dedicated server running Windows small business server in Chicago. Singlehop is a good choice for datacenter. Then have each of your employees connect via vpn to the server. Look for a local Microsoft partner to help you.

Sharepoint would work as well but it sounds like the server would be a better solution.

[tim2718281]

Originally Posted by brownsl

We currently access our files by mapping a network drive. It is very slow. I am not sure if it is because of our method of access or if it is just 1&1.

Is downloading files slow, as well as uploading them?

If it's just uploading that's slow, it may be a limit of the user's upload speeds ... typically 125,000 bytes per second or slower.

If downloading is slow too, one thing you might try is keeping local copies of the files on each computer, and keep them in sync with the server using a program such as rsync.

You need to exercise some care when making updates; but you need to do that anyway.

[Mr. Obvious]

Why not give Dropbox a shot? Sounds like it's just what you're looking for.