Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on April 12, 2003 12:59 AM
Show me a collection of technologies that cost less than Windows 2000 Server (basic), Exchange 2000 Server (basic) and the supporting CALs that can take me within 72 hours from nothing to a fully functional 2 site environment.
The starting point was: 2 servers per site, wiped; about 50 PCs per site, wiped; existing brodband connections at both sites. A list of about 150 users, a registered domain name (for email - web hosting is outsourced). No pre-loaded PC software, profiles, email, etc. Oh, and 1 old Novell box to pull the existing (document) file shares from.
By the end of that 72 hours I (one person only) had set up 4 servers with all the necessary file shares and permissions, created the necessary file shares and permissions, groups, email boxes, special policies, etc. Established domain shares and replication that that allowed users seamless roaming (individual user desktops with full features) to any PC in either site. Set up RIS to be able to completly load new PCs with one of several specific PC images in about 20 minutes of unattanded downloading per PC. Futher cusomize each PC / user login combo based on environment wide managed policies. And a number of other details I'm not even thinking about right now.
I've been hoping to find a set of tools under Linus to address this problem for about 3years, but I always come back to cost vs. work vs. time. In the *nix world every example I've tried to set up in a test lab has fallen into either the versioning pit (versions needed vs. versions shipping vs. the distro you're using) or crazy amounts of poorly documented set-up. Sure after a couple days of digging, searhing, reading, experimenting I can usually make stuff work, but I'm not about to bet my job on the kind of solutions that come out of that. There have been too many time I've though "that should work now" and then had to dig for a couple more days or scrap the project.
Anyway - sorry for the rant. Just show me a fairly well documentated set of tools to do what I did above and I'll give it a try in my lab. Oh, please be specific.
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Posted by: Anonymous Coward on April 12, 2003 12:59 AMThe starting point was: 2 servers per site, wiped; about 50 PCs per site, wiped; existing brodband connections at both sites. A list of about 150 users, a registered domain name (for email - web hosting is outsourced). No pre-loaded PC software, profiles, email, etc. Oh, and 1 old Novell box to pull the existing (document) file shares from.
By the end of that 72 hours I (one person only) had set up 4 servers with all the necessary file shares and permissions, created the necessary file shares and permissions, groups, email boxes, special policies, etc. Established domain shares and replication that that allowed users seamless roaming (individual user desktops with full features) to any PC in either site. Set up RIS to be able to completly load new PCs with one of several specific PC images in about 20 minutes of unattanded downloading per PC. Futher cusomize each PC / user login combo based on environment wide managed policies. And a number of other details I'm not even thinking about right now.
I've been hoping to find a set of tools under Linus to address this problem for about 3years, but I always come back to cost vs. work vs. time. In the *nix world every example I've tried to set up in a test lab has fallen into either the versioning pit (versions needed vs. versions shipping vs. the distro you're using) or crazy amounts of poorly documented set-up. Sure after a couple days of digging, searhing, reading, experimenting I can usually make stuff work, but I'm not about to bet my job on the kind of solutions that come out of that. There have been too many time I've though "that should work now" and then had to dig for a couple more days or scrap the project.
Anyway - sorry for the rant. Just show me a fairly well documentated set of tools to do what I did above and I'll give it a try in my lab. Oh, please be specific.
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