[aclug-L] Re: several questions...

["spiff" <spiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

First an apology for the tardiness in response.   I was about to the point
of flaming the list when I discovered the list I had to subscribed to was
not this one.  Wouldn't the egg have been on my face?  Any way, I found that
my message had made it and that it had been replied to so all is better now.

>This can be doable.  You'll have an increase in security if your firewall
is
>a separate box from everything else, though.  But that should be cheap, as
>even just a 386 can make an adequate firewall.

I will take this into consideration, however I am not sure how easy it is
going to be to convince the boss of the necessity.  Understand that
currently (UNFORTUNATELY) there is no SECURITY on the network.  Everyone is
logging in as the same username and well, if you are in second grade chances
are you already know the password to get on.  I have argued that this is
insanity, but no one seems to listen.  Given thought to doing something
"evil" to prove the point, but figured it would only cause me more grief.  I
guess one day the network will get what it has coming to it.  I am only
hoping to somewhat minimize adding another HUGE hole in what is already
there.



>Avoid e-Machines at all cost.  Let me say that again.  Avoid e-Machines at
>*ALL COST*.  e-Machines are the lowest of the low.  Worse than Compaq
>Presario, worse than Packard Bell, worse than most Commodore 64's and Apple
>II's.

>Of those two options, the HP Brio is by far the winner.

>But... it's probably overkill, too.

I pretty much figured e-Machines were junk, I haven't heard a good thing
about them yet.  I also figured the Brio would be overkill, but didn't want
to hassle with going out and buying an old machine that could potentially
lay down due to age or something odd like that.  Besides, due to the fact
that I don't have easy access to used materials here in Hutch, and couldn't
probably get a day trip to Witchita for equipment collection, the new one
will come shipped to the door for about the same price as buying it out of t
he newspaper used.  (Ever noticed Packard bells run rampant in the
newspapers?)

>A 486 or low-end Pentium will probably do the task for you--depending on
how
>many users you have.

The number of users at this time can't exceed 30.  We only have that many
employees, however chances of everyone getting email is slim, so drop the
number of email users down to say 10 or 15.  The number of users with access
to the internet would most likely be the same or smaller.  Due to the fact
that computers are evidently like diamonds in the boss's eye, the number of
users simultaneously logged onto the internet would most likely never exceed
5 or 10.  I figured with a web cache and perhaps setting up some 56k modems
to work in tandem, I could give them fair enough performance.  I am pretty
sure ISDN, DSL, and cable are all out the window for this location.

>Probably.

That's always good to hear.  I wanted to get a feel for my options of
assistance before boldly rushing forth and volunteering.  I suppose it would
be better if I was actually to the point of doing all of this, and would
love to say it is going to happen in a week or two, but given the track
record, I figure this is going to be three months or more down the road. :(

>Give us some more details about what you're actually needing to do.

>Will this server be for internal use only?  Will employees be able to
access
>it from home over the Internet or via dialup?  How many users will you
have?
>What type of Internet connection do you have or will you have?

The server will be for internal use only.  At most I can imagine one person
possibly dialing in to gain access to email, but if I can I am going to
thwart that.  Pretty much just trying to offer an alternative to spending an
ungodly amount of money of things like "web ramp", "exchange server", and
"proxy".  Looked into that and sheesh, one would be looking at spending
somewhere in the neighborhood of $3000 just on software plus the necessity
of a computer that would cost far more then $399.  Have you ever looked at
the minimum requirements for those things?  It's no wonder computers have to
continually get faster they have to be able to keep up with the bloatware
that Micro$oft continues to spew forth.

Any way, thanks for the information thus far.  I suppose when I know more so
shall you.

-Seth aka spiff


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