> <snip> > What do others (particularly others who have been > involved in buying a "first server" for a small > business) think about this?
I will probably end up rambling but I would like to chime in since I have much experience with this area (SMB's with employees<10 ). I started to 'consult' independantly in 2001 and picked up several SMB's that I had rapport with. Three of these I have watched grow from 2 employes to over 25. In the beginning when I first met them they just used workgroup sharing on windows PC's (worked fine for 2-3 users with no more than sharing a few docs) but went on a typical growth path from there of eventually needing a central location for files for easier sharing/backup. At that time I remember setting them up on Slackware/Samba white box 'servers' that I had boiled down to a standardized hardware and scripted install (sort of my own fileserver appliance). Again, this combo worked well as it was; speedy, stable and pretty much bulletproof as we hardly had to touch them once setup. Most of my work came from the desktops at that point. Next step was eventually my clients discovering the use of email and scheduling as they collaborated more and more with employees that were no in larger offices and are now down the hall. This was around 2002 and I started to look for solutions. MS had SBS2K but having most of my IT experience with MS stuff I was really reluctant to put my clients on it because of fear of instability and constant updates, telling them they got a virus, reboots, etc. I know like any OS MS stuff is as reliable as they come with competent admins running them, but they just seem like more of a struggle to keep that way. I also remember thinking that them seeing me more or having to call me more could actually be bad for me in long run as it reflects on ability. So I kept looking. Novell had its Netware SBS product and I was highly regarded of it because all the Netware stuff left impressions of being very stable. BUT it WAS still Netware (arcane and dying at the time) and Groupwise client was embarrasing compared to even Outlook 2000. I know Outlook worked with groupwise at the time but it was not as seemless and read a few things were flaky plus I didn't want to force them on a platform that they might have a hard time getting support for if I got hit by a truck. Good decision to not go with Netware at the time despite it being cheaper than SBS stuff as we all know where they went and Netware would have been embarrasing choice in hindsight. Next I started to look for some Exchange "replacement" to just put on my Slackware boxes already inplace, working without complaint for two years. "This would be perfect" I thought. Cheaper than moving to SBS and will have reliability to boot. Boy was that an endeaver. All that was really available that was MAYBE close to exchange was OpenMail (HP) and Suse had their Exchange distro. Suse's required a install as it wasn't installable and HP's Openmail actually got trial testing by me at my home mock setup. Was actually pretty good replacement for exchange and one could evn use Outlook with it, but again it felt duct taped. Had to use connectors and meeting requests didn't work, etc. Same story with any exchange alternative I found. Or it was web-based and fugly (Gmail has changed this). I even came close going with Oracle's Exchange competitor (can't remember name) as it was linux based and from the presentations it looked exactly like the prayers for MS alternative were answered. But it was seriously slow in development, support boards were dead from actual help and seemed it seemed dying already as I remember how howd it was just to even find it at Oracles site. So after weighing everything through testing and tons of research, SBS2003 was announced and released soon after and this is what they all are currently running. A BIG part of the issue was that most of the in-charge at my client sites were accustomed to Outlook. They were open to change but none of the alternative clients that I had them try even compared. This was actually most of the barrier to entry of a possible alternative to SBS. As a 'groupware' focused email client, Outlook is still light years ahead of its closest competitor despite others catching up. This and the fact that other solutions just don't have the *integration* SBS has. From being in the trenches over the years, this I beleive, is the key that others may not get of why I eventually settled on MS SBS. It is also what those who never have used it don't know what they are missing. I honestly thought back then in '03 that RH/Suse/someother pioneering startup would eventually SEE that the integrated part is what needs to be focused on and by now that the world would have a pretty awesome choice of SBS and the alternative. But still all we really have are hodgepodged attemtps that don't have the resources to take off OR trying to duplicate it on your own in feable attempts with what is available in the FOSS community and it still not working right. With SBS once can install it and within a few wizard screens have collaborated email/shared contacts/IM/notes/meeting send requests/shared callendar with the most familiar client (Outlook). The wow factor of just what this Outlook can now do, that my clients were used to only for email over the years, was worth it alone. They now live in outlook. Also, after those wizards and creating users, you can then show them their URL to access a familiar looking Outlook webmail interface from anywhere in the world and ALSO their desktops. No multi-step sing-in with VPN, remember this IP address, put in login info multiple times, etc. For the AVERAGE user (includes people who write checks don't forget) the old saying of they just want to work and be simple in process, MS knows this. It would have taken me 5x+ longer to get this much seemless integration with any alternative. To be able to have the mom of the CEO be home sick one day and goto a website on her home PC, login with same credentials that she uses at work and then have her familiar Outlook appear AND be able to actually goto her desktop like she was at sitting there if she needs to print something for receptionist at office or read a doc on the shared drive is an awesome accomplishment from MS IMHO. With all this said, I would LOVE to be able to have this with Solaris as the foundation (let alone even Linux). These SBS2003 servers, while awesome from the users perspective and functionality, are still a bitch for admin'ing. They surely have not been without their problems. One of my clients SBS server lost its Sharepoint start homepage after a update and I CANNOT get it to work depsite articles at MS pertaining to exact issue (I have written this one of to haivng to be a reinstall eventually). Server works fine without it but the area for company news and posts just doesn't appear. Client didn't even use it but *I* know it is there. Also, another clients SBS had a suspicious uftp thing running on it one day. Despite only ports needed being open to outside world and being very good with updates, someone got in and installed this. A search of the exe on google was scary. I ran manual virus scan and sure enough it was infected. I was able to disable the process and 'clean' the virus but this will evntually be another wipe/reinstall I will have to do. At the third client I had a tape backup overnight hard lockup. I got call early in morning and I couldn't even access server remotely. A power down fixed it but again, ridiculous. Just a few of the examples. (One thing I am actually altruistically grateful for is that MS has boosted my billable hours..). Anyway, that is my story. I am open to further discussion as I have a lot of field experience with this not only from knowing what the masses of office users want/desire but also from a business perspective of making decisions based on the fine line of my ideas of the bests (Postifix on Solaris kills Exchange for basic email needs, BeOS was the best desktop OS ever, etc) with vs what the people who write my checks are brainwashed by media/marketing into believing are best. -- Scott N. This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
