I need help!!
Our company just purchased a shop management software package (Jobboss from exact software) and we need to purchase some hardware to run it on. We currently have a peer to peer network of 7 machines in our shop. Five on wireless cards and two wired to the router. The software we purchased though will have a 4 seat concurrent user license. The computers range from a newer pentium four with xp home down to some older pentiums with windows 2000 and one ancient one that just accesses the internet basically for shipping duties. The system was cobled together over time and there is no real strategy to any of it, they are all basically seperate machines that can just comunicate over our net. The office computer back up quick books pro and ms works files, the cad computer backs up its files sort of, but mostly its a pretty haphazard affair.
The problem is that I know home computers and home networks a little bit (I upgraded the shops current network to it's current state such as it is), but the software vendor is recomending a dedicated server with small business server 2003 for more then 4 machines. I look to them for help, but they just want us to run it on the best thing possible. We talked to a local guy and he was willing to sell us whatever we decided we needed. We talked to dell and they want us to spend big cash it sounded like. It's hard to know just what will work for our needs in the real world.
The boss has pretty much put it in my hands to decide what we need. I would say I probably have a budget in the neiborhood of under $2,000 for everything. Here is our wish list and perhaps someone could tell me if its realistic.
First we need to run the new software. First and formost as fast as we can.
Second, we need to get our current network more under control. I would like all the data in the company in one localized place for reliable back up. I was thinking a SATA raid of two drives then one external hard drive for off site storage. I would like all the data in one place and then images of all the other drives for quick recovery time given how critical each machine is, or at least about four of them that we rely on very heavily.
Third, we will only be purchasing one machine. A second work station isn't an option. We are seeking ISO9000 and AS9100 certification and as such many features of this software tracks data for that project. We also have all our current job router sheets and such in a filling cabinet on paper. As we inpliment this new software there will be a LOT of data entry of our old stuff in to the new system. We NEED another work station for these two purposes.
Fourth, the quicker we get it in place the faster we can get it implimented and move ahead with ISO certification. The software rep said a three week implimentation was very aggressive and we want to be as aggressive as we can about it. We definately don't want to be at the other end of the scale at like three months or something.
Those are our priorities and they are in order of importance. Are we being realistic? Can we accomplish all of that with one machine? Can we do it without bringing the hole shop down while we do it? Can we do it with the budget proposed? What is the best and most cost effective way to accomplish those goals?
The local guy really wanted to go with a dedicated server as well, but the cost alone looked steep since the operating system was a large chunk of the budget. His next choice was a beefy dedicated server, say with an AMD64 and a gig of memory and xp profesional. Would a dual proccesor machine or something else a person might not normally think of be a good choice in this case or is the AMD64 the way to go and really nessesary?
Does anyone have any advice on all this or at least a recomendation on who to consult with on this??
Sorry this is such a long post, but thanks SO MUCH for any input anyone might have.
Our company just purchased a shop management software package (Jobboss from exact software) and we need to purchase some hardware to run it on. We currently have a peer to peer network of 7 machines in our shop. Five on wireless cards and two wired to the router. The software we purchased though will have a 4 seat concurrent user license. The computers range from a newer pentium four with xp home down to some older pentiums with windows 2000 and one ancient one that just accesses the internet basically for shipping duties. The system was cobled together over time and there is no real strategy to any of it, they are all basically seperate machines that can just comunicate over our net. The office computer back up quick books pro and ms works files, the cad computer backs up its files sort of, but mostly its a pretty haphazard affair.
The problem is that I know home computers and home networks a little bit (I upgraded the shops current network to it's current state such as it is), but the software vendor is recomending a dedicated server with small business server 2003 for more then 4 machines. I look to them for help, but they just want us to run it on the best thing possible. We talked to a local guy and he was willing to sell us whatever we decided we needed. We talked to dell and they want us to spend big cash it sounded like. It's hard to know just what will work for our needs in the real world.
The boss has pretty much put it in my hands to decide what we need. I would say I probably have a budget in the neiborhood of under $2,000 for everything. Here is our wish list and perhaps someone could tell me if its realistic.
First we need to run the new software. First and formost as fast as we can.
Second, we need to get our current network more under control. I would like all the data in the company in one localized place for reliable back up. I was thinking a SATA raid of two drives then one external hard drive for off site storage. I would like all the data in one place and then images of all the other drives for quick recovery time given how critical each machine is, or at least about four of them that we rely on very heavily.
Third, we will only be purchasing one machine. A second work station isn't an option. We are seeking ISO9000 and AS9100 certification and as such many features of this software tracks data for that project. We also have all our current job router sheets and such in a filling cabinet on paper. As we inpliment this new software there will be a LOT of data entry of our old stuff in to the new system. We NEED another work station for these two purposes.
Fourth, the quicker we get it in place the faster we can get it implimented and move ahead with ISO certification. The software rep said a three week implimentation was very aggressive and we want to be as aggressive as we can about it. We definately don't want to be at the other end of the scale at like three months or something.
Those are our priorities and they are in order of importance. Are we being realistic? Can we accomplish all of that with one machine? Can we do it without bringing the hole shop down while we do it? Can we do it with the budget proposed? What is the best and most cost effective way to accomplish those goals?
The local guy really wanted to go with a dedicated server as well, but the cost alone looked steep since the operating system was a large chunk of the budget. His next choice was a beefy dedicated server, say with an AMD64 and a gig of memory and xp profesional. Would a dual proccesor machine or something else a person might not normally think of be a good choice in this case or is the AMD64 the way to go and really nessesary?
Does anyone have any advice on all this or at least a recomendation on who to consult with on this??
Sorry this is such a long post, but thanks SO MUCH for any input anyone might have.
