Adventures In Novell

elcid1390

I'm doing some IT work for a neighbor's business. They store all their customer information and work orders on an old computer running Novell Small Business Suite v 5.00.6. They also have about a half dozen computers running Windows XP Pro with the Novell client installed on it. They want to set up off site back up (probably at the owners home though probably not on their home/personal computer). I'm not a 100% sure, but it seems like it would make sense to just back up all the data on the server now then migrate the data to a new computer, maybe one running Windows 7 Pro. This is my first time attempting anything this involved (and my first original thread!) and I just wanted to see if anyone had any advice/thoughts/etc. I'm not really familiar with Novell but I would categorize myself as more than proficient with Windows and I'm taking my first faltering steps with Ubuntu. Thanks in advance for any help.

Zeon

Novell business suite is an operating system, so a new computer running Windows 7 isnt really a comparable replacement.

What exactly are they using the current server for? Just file storage? If so, you can just get a NAS that will do remote backups to whatever other machine you want. Otherwise, if theyre using all the functions of business suite, youre going to have to invest in a lot of software or find a suite of tools that replicates the functionality but that will run on a more modern system.

This is really something you need to sit down and talk with them about and find out exactly what they need, and what they want. Then you can decide which is the best way to go. Since you dont work at the company and you dont know about the workflow, you cant make the decision by yourself. Or, if you do, everyone who works at that company is going to think youre shit at what youre doing because they cant do their jobs anymore because none of the software works.

Oh and its not going to be cheap, so if they dont have a lot of money to do this youre probably best to talk them out of it until they can afford to invest the money. Otherwise youre gonna end up with bottom of the barrel unsupported software which doesnt work anywhere near as well as their 15 year old system...

elcid1390

That was my concern. Months of work and lots of money for a system that's more "up to date" but works worse than the way things are now is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. File storage and back up are the only things they're really concerned about, so the NAS actually sounds like it would be ideal. It seems like it would definitely be the solution least disruptive to the status quo. My concern is finding one that would actually work with the software currently they have.

Zeon

What software do they use right now, aside from the novell stuff? Because most NAS stuff these days just looks like a network drive (which you can map to local drive letters), so you can set up programs to save there by default, and then use the NAS management software to set the backups to wherever you want (offsite server, onsite server, cloud storage, whatever). Infact, you can probably set the novell stuff up to save by default to the NAS instead of the internal drives. If theyre happy with the way the novell suite works, that would probably be your best bet.

A commercial NAS isnt cheap though, but you could also build one for them if theyre looking to save a bit of money. I think theres a version of BSD thats made specifically for running a NAS, so all youd be looking at is a cheap box and some hard drives. You could probably set up something with 3 or 4 terabytes for under 500 bucks in hardware, plus your time ontop of that.

elcid1390

They use Office, ServiceWorks by ADK (old software, couldn't find a manufacturer's website for it) and RightSuite by Wrightsoft. All three save to the network drives now, so if I configure the NAS to act as a networked hard drive I don't imagine they'd have any problems there. As for building the NAS, I found this guide, which is well within my ability to follow.

I'll have to bounce the prices off of my employer when I see him but, after looking at NewEgg, $500-$750 seems like something they could live with. I'll keep you posted, and if you have any other thoughts feel free to post or PM me.

pacbowl

NAS is ubiquitous nowadays. If all you need is a drive letter , maybe "net use", and storage space, hell you can pick up a 2TB USB drive for under $200 now and they almost always come with some sort of backup solution. The trick is figuring out what to backup and how to restore it IMO. If you know how to do that then storage is cakewalk.

Zeon

pacbowl wrote: »

NAS is ubiquitous nowadays. If all you need is a drive letter , maybe "net use", and storage space, hell you can pick up a 2TB USB drive for under $200 now and they almost always come with some sort of backup solution. The trick is figuring out what to backup and how to restore it IMO. If you know how to do that then storage is cakewalk.

The problem is a consumer grade USB hard drive isnt going to really have all the options youd be looking for in an enterprise level NAS solution. Yes, it will do backups and possibly be accessible over the internet, the problem in this particular situation is where do you attach it? To one machine on the network? To a server thats sitting around? And the backup software will be more in the realm of backing up something on the machine its attached to, rather than backing itself up to another location.

If you get an actual NAS box on your network, you'll have way more options both in regards to accessing it and backup, plus you dont have to make sure the guy with the USB drive doesnt turn his computer off before he goes home, or someone unplugging it because they need to plug something else in, etc. The best way would be have a nightly task scheduled to back up any changed files that day to 2 remote sources, maybe one computer that you own off site and to some sort of cloud storage solution. Then worst case scenario, the drives in the NAS die or the building burns down and the NAS is destroyed, you have full backups in 2 places off site that are as easy to restore as simply transfering everything back over to the new NAS. Even easier if you can physically access one of the backup drives because you can just slap that in your new NAS, and buy new drives to replace the backup drives.

Thats what I would do anyway, because for 500 bucks you have something rock solid and really dont need to worry about the data at all. Plus not trying to shoe-horn consumer products into an enterprise solution is always good, saves hassle. No one will ever remember the extra 200 bucks they spent, but they will always remember that time they lost 5 years worth of work orders and other business documents and files.

*edit* i just checked that link and the only thing id say about that is id advise against using a USB drive for the OS in this case for the exact reason they list (if it craps out, youre screwed). For a home box it would probably be ok, but for a business solution thats going to be run 24/7 youd probably be best to stick with a traditional hard drive even though it will cost a fraction more in power consumption. You can get a small one for what, 30-40 bucks? It will be a lot bigger than you need, but chances are it will last 10x longer than the USB drive and I wouldnt want to take any chances when it comes to business data that you cant afford to lose.