New Legacy Network

[c2knewbie]

Hi Guys,

The IT dept in my school wants to set up a legacy network. We are a totally C2K school so this is the first time that is going to be done,and with me being new to the job........im a little out of my depth. I've worked on legacy networks before but have never had the "joy" of building one from scratch!!

they also want it to be wireless   

if anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated.....because at the minute im totally lost lol!
I think i need a step by step guide lol

[Si]

It's something that would require a lot of planning and discussion.

If you remember your systems analysis from A-level days (or HND/HNC days), you might want to go through the systems life-cycle thing and work through that.  When you have worked out what the school actually needs from the legacy network you should have an idea of what gear you are going to need. 

To be honest, the job is above and beyond your job description. Ask for a pay rise

[c2knewbie]

lol i would love a pay rise but iv only been here three months!

they say they need it so they can install all their own software etc for computing class. They have come to me saying, "we need a legacy network set up, has to be wireless for use with notebooks, we will be using slim clients, and we need a wireless hub. Could you price this and get it set up for before xmas?"

....they can be quite demanding lol! Any ideas of where i need to start??

 

[Bill Bixby]

lol i would love a pay rise but iv only been here three months!

they say they need it so they can install all their own software etc for computing class. They have come to me saying, "we need a legacy network set up, has to be wireless for use with notebooks, we will be using slim clients, and we need a wireless hub. Could you price this and get it set up for before xmas?"

....they can be quite demanding lol! Any ideas of where i need to start??

 

How many machines?  How many servers?  How much storage? Do you need switches?  What WAP to use?  Do you know how to set the servers and clients up, will you need time to learn this stuff, will you be expected to do everything else as well while you're learning the stuff etc.. etc.

I've never used thin clients, but if they're operating wirelessly will that not be kind of slow if there's a room of 30 of them?

[c2knewbie]

its 10 machines, so will only need one server and an average amount of storage space. I'll need to learn everything from scratch, like iv built a few servers and racked them but never had to go into the ins and outs of its workings/configuration.

seems like a lot of work for just one technician 

[Bill Bixby]

its 10 machines, so will only need one server and an average amount of storage space. I'll need to learn everything from scratch, like iv built a few servers and racked them but never had to go into the ins and outs of its workings/configuration.

seems like a lot of work for just one technician 

The size of the network doesn't matter that much I suppose, whether it be 1 client or 100, there's still the same work to be done.  I did it here, but I spent a few months with a test network learning group policy and how to lock down the machines as best as possible.  They're asking a lot in a few weeks, tell them you'll work evenings double-time.

[c2knewbie]

Seems like a lot of hassel coming up to xmas which i dont really want lol! Where do you think i should start? i was thinking of just using an old machine as the server?

[Bill Bixby]

Seems like a lot of hassel coming up to xmas which i dont really want lol! Where do you think i should start? i was thinking of just using an old machine as the server?

An old machine would do for test purposes, what thinclient server software are they using?  Why do they want to use thinclient?

[dfinney]

You have no chance getting it setup for christmas on your own. As bill said you need at least a month to get to grips with GP's, DNS, DHCP etc. For setting up your server i would go with Win2008 as it is piss easy to setup, you just tick what your want add your info and hit finish. Try talking them into buying you some specops software http://www.specopssoft.com/products/specops-deploy.

One of the most annoying parts to setting up a new system is adding users, either get a good bit of software to do it for you or start messing with DSADD and CSVDE.

Attached is the files that i got of Richard Herron SEELB for bulk importing users when i was at Fort Hill.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[dfinney]

C2knewbie if there looking for a legacy network asap i would just tell them you need a proper server, there designed to run 24/7, plus you'll need a good UPS and Portable HDD's for backups.

[Ray]

Don?t forget to think about the following in the planning stage:

Usernames & passwords - will they be the same as C2k and what about adding new students as years go on,

Backups - If the system goes belly up or if a user deletes their work how will you get it back? How will you back up the server and where will you store them?

Wireless security,

AV software,

Internet access - will this system use the C2k connection or do you need to consider an alternative for updates of the AV software etc

Disaster recovery ? In the event that the servers hard drives fail how will you get it back up and running quickly, will you create a ghost image of the servers system partition after every major upgrade so you can quickly reinstall the server? If so how and where will you store these images?

Spare parts ? E.G. Server hard drives, if the server goes down do you want to have to wait a week for new drives to be delivered?

***** MOST IMPORTANT *****

Documentation:
Ensure you document everything from the initial planning / discussion stages right the way through to the system being live, and every update after that. While you may know the setup the next person in the job may not!!!!!!!!

[dfinney]

If your using the HDD less thin client pc's over wireless they will be slow as hell as they boot from the server, if i were you i would go for something like the fujitsu esprimo or HP's small form factor pcs, at least there easy to upgrade.

Also the Board should provide you with sophos for free, just phone them and check that its still available before you quote me on that.

[Gerard]

id still be tyring to swim in the deep end without richards help lol.  we upgraded our network from rm connect 2.4 after 2 years of me working here.

before i worked here i had never used a network. but richard done all configuration for me iv just been learning various bits as i go from various problems popping up.

i'v only started documenting things now

[colerainehigh]

Hi, when I started work here they were at the tail end of installing a MAC legacy network but I think the previous technician had worked with David Wharke from C2K.  David came here to hook the legacy network up when I took over as IT Technician and he had a lot of knowledge.  I would contact him for assistance and advice.

[Ray]

I forgot to mention earlier about the lifespan of the servers, you may want to consider telling management that in say 5 ? 6 years the servers will possibly be at the end of their useful life (as the main servers, they may still be ok as print servers or for some other less demanding roll) and as such in year 3 ? 4 you will need to be looking at planning an upgrade of the servers. You don?t want to find yourself in panic at the end year 5 with no upgrade plan and an ancient server!

While the management / finance team may not like the sound of spending even more money in the future, they should appreciate you for considering future demands on the system, newer software, bigger file sizes than first anticipated, more users than planed for . . . .  A server purchased today may not meet system requirements in 5 years!