[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On Thu, 11 Mar 2010, Henry Bremridge wrote:
Been in two discussions over this, can someone help.
- I am involved with a charity, and their IT set up drives me nuts
a) Is it possible, on a windows box, to have one application connect
over a VPN with all other web connections to be via local ISP?
It should be - the VPN will establish a route to a destiantion IP address (or range of IP addreses). So any application accessing that IP address ought to go over the VPN and anything accessing anything else ought to not go over it - however I don't know what sort of policies and control Windoes VPNs have to offer.
b) What would be the ballpark guesstimate cost of:
1. Connecting ~ 20 Windows XP currently on a peer to peer network to a
linux server, then storing all user data in subdirectories on
the linux server (full read / write access to all data to all
users). Any additional equipment would need to be bought. I
guess the following would be required
- Server (although I think there is already a box that could
be used)
- Switch or router
- Some cabling
Buying basic equipment. (currently all user data is copied to
all other machines using xcopy: its cheap, it works, its a pain)
Although not a major part of my business, I have built little file-serving appliances for my clients in the past - miniITX bases, 2 drives, mirrored, shuttle type case, running Linux & Samba. Hardware costs you're looking at under £300. (One client I lease this facility to for £30 a month which includes remote backup. They're in their 4th year now and I'm about to replace it with new....)
The alternative is a ready-built NAS type box - and there are many makers of these now with as many prices to match. Some have backup facilities, some don't.
You probably already have the switch and cabling if currently networked them all together, but a cheap 24-port 10/100 switch could be £70-£150 plus cabling.
Time on-site is the most expensive part of it, especially if you're paying someone to run cables, etc.
2. Adding email facilities for about 50 user to go out over local
ISP, but making sure two applications access a VPN
Basic email is cheap these days, but you do get what you pay for - e.g. anti-virus, spam, remote webmail, etc.
(One of the tech volunteers suggested that point 1 would be
impractical because Windows Server purchase and set up costs alone
would be in the region of £5000. When I suggested ubuntu would be
considerably cheaper it was implied I did not know what I was
talking about. There were mutterings about Windows Exchange etc. I
am quite prepared to believe I do not know enough: hence the
question).
If separating data storage from aplication execution, then providing a "black box" data storage unit is relatively easy - they're called NAS boxes, and to build one using Linux is fairly trivial and cheap (see above).
To run applications on a server is harder - then you probably are looking at a Win box, but I think in this case, you just need data storage - you're not using any thin client type of things - as all PCs are effectively stand along with their own licensed copies of the applications, etc.
- What is the performance difference - if any - between sharing applications on windows with GoToMyPC vs sharing applications on Linux (debian) with ssh -X .... Or would I be correct in assuming that the performance difference would be negligible
I don't know what GotoMyPC is, but running applications on a remote server is going to be as efficient as the server is in terms of it's capacity to run many applications, and the network trasport. Personally, if on the same LAN, I'd not use ssh unless you really needed that extra layer of encryption, however it's relatively easy to do.
Gordon
-- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html