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Setting up a server for a friend
Grundlterror
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my friend wants a server set up for his small business (he bought a dell power edge 840) and I've volunteered to help him do it. What he wants seems fairly simple:
* Employees to have user accounts
* Employees to have access to only their folders
* Creation of folders to be limited to the administrator only
I've never done anything like this before, but I am really interested in learning and I think it would be important for me to learn it. He understands that this is going to be a learning experience for me as well. Can someone point me in the right direction on how to do things like this for him?
* Employees to have user accounts
* Employees to have access to only their folders
* Creation of folders to be limited to the administrator only
I've never done anything like this before, but I am really interested in learning and I think it would be important for me to learn it. He understands that this is going to be a learning experience for me as well. Can someone point me in the right direction on how to do things like this for him?
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What OS is the server?
I prefer Linux, however the preferred OS is usually Windows. Both can accomplish the same thing, and are both relatively easy to set up (Windows being much easier though).
Being a Dell isn't much help, most of their servers come with Both Linux or Windows. With web management features you really can do it Linux really freaking easy now. Since it's a simple file share type system, I'd recommend this. I hate managing a Windows A/D system in comparison to a Linux SAMBA system.
Rant aside, what's your preference? Do you have any Linux skills? Would you prefer Windows? Let us know, as we can detail what you need for it.
Thanks for the help in advance you guys, this is gonna make him really happy
Unfortunately, you're going to need a server OS. Windows XP can't do this kind of thing. Well, it can, but trust me on this, you don't want to.
Apparently he didn't know what he was talking about
edit - I suppose the first step is going to be installing the OS
As I'm going through the "To Do List" do I have to complete everything on this list? Right now I'm on the Web Server Certificate thing... and never having configured a server or SSL before I wonder if this is neccesary since all thats going to be happening are people logging into this server and doing things with their personal folders.
Can I just use the company website as the "Web server name"? Or do I have to do something different like contact the ISP?
Yeah a lot of that junk you can just skip, there's no real need to a lot of it. It's basically walking you through how to set up a routing server, a web server, and all that jazz in one easy to follow process for small companies that don't have an IT department.
At any time, feel free to cancel out of it. If you've gotten the DC set up, just hit cancel and exit out of the whole "set up all the servers we can!" schpeel.
Where do I set up the Domain Controller? Is that in the initial setup?
It was when I did it. It should be on that check list, just look for it and it should either have a green check (?) or a yellow arrow(??).
For SBS it should be in the initial setup, but if you accidently cancelled out of it hit the start button and go to run and type in dcpromo and it will get you to setting up active directory. Setting up DHCP on the server is SUPER easy and if you want help with it post in here and I will get you where you need to be.
I'm going back to finish up my work tomorrow so I'll let you know if I run into any snags. Is there any advantage in my case to setting up DHCP on the server as opposed to the router?
I could never find a real reason for it when I was doing it other than, maybe, DNS servers.
More robust options, you can configure it to hand out things like custom DNS settings, extra DNS suffix search items, IP reservations, etc.
Also, I don't think it's been said yet (maybe it's too obvious:)), but each Windows XP client will need to be added to the domain, once the domain is built. Once that's done, you can manage each user and computer easily. You can also do group policy settings for managing settings globally, which is one of the best benefits of a domain environment.
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
Oh yeah, that's true. Micro-managing DHCP might be a bit much for them though.
Good point. If you start using an internal DNS server (esp. a Windows DNS), it can be a God-sent. Having it automatically update DNS for you when leases expire, etc, is very helpful. However, if the network isn't going to have more than a handful of workstations, it's probably overkill.
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
Definitely, it also alleviates some headaches when some god damned company decides they want a VPN with you and their website through the VPN should point to a different location. By the way, I hate those people.
DHCP is simple to manage, nearly set it and forget it. And I'm fairly certain AD has to have an AD-complaint DNS server, so yeah, run DNS on the box.
Yes, it will be much easier to manage the GUI vs command line. wait.. by router do you mean a little linksys or something?
Yeah if they're dealing with some command line, spawn of Satan type of router device, for everyone's sake, use Windows.
Yeah, a little linksys
When I was setting up the server, it told me to disable the DHCP settings on the router... so I did... and apparently it set up DHCP on the server.
Anyway, thats correct. Now if you want, you can change its scope and have a secondary DHCP server on your network. You almost certainly don't need to, but I highly recommend you at least play around with DHCP a bit to get familiar with the interface. Make a reservation or something, add an NTP source, whatever.
And that good advice for everything you're doing. The more you check stuff out, the more you get those "holy shit i get it now" moments. Also - learn to google site search technet.microsoft.com. MS still has one of the best on-line support sites out of every tech company I've ever dealt with.
How exactly are the accounts I set up going to access this server remotely? How do I set this up?
When I tried to add Connection Manager to the user accounts I was creating, it told me I had to run Remote Access Wizard.. which I hadn't done yet. When I started running the wizard, I got to VPN Server Name prompt... what do I put here?
Also, just a way to verify if DHCP has been set up on the server would be awesome. Not sure if it's good to go or not (the server isn't connected to the internet though). Would using the linksys router still be a horrible idea?
Well, no. He can setup remote desktop and give people his IP address. However, if you have a DHCP given address from your ISP, you'll want a dynamic domain redirector from like www.dyndns.org. At this point you can configure the server to serve whatever protocols you want to a visitor (if you set up the firewall properly).
Bowen has a good idea. Be careful about the security.
Are you running a VPN solution? Microsoft server right? Control panel - services - look for "DHPC server" and see if it's started.
If you want VPN, I think you'd probably want a better router. You could update a linksys with the free IOS (dd-wrt), but i'd be cautious about recommending it to a newbie. Checkpoint makes a really nice small biz router/firewall/WAP device that supports VPN clients - safeoffice 500w - and it's not bad to manage. The cost is around $1500 I think.
Yeah, go with a pre-made solution and don't skimp out. I personally like some of the newer Netgear home-office VPN/firewall combos. But if you want security, go with the big wigs like Cisco and such. Not that the same can't be done with a good routing/firewall server, either. But that's probably a bit past the topic and too much time and effort on anyone's part.
His router is the one connected to the internet. However when I join the workgroup that the server is on, I can only connect locally... no internet. So I have to switch back to a different workgroup (or maybe it was shutting down the server) in order to connect. Regardless, I believe the problem is that the "Connection Specific DNS" becomes server.local. Anyway to fix this?
Also, is the only solution for connecting to the server remotely (through VPN or otherwise) an unsecured PC Anywhere type solution or a very expensive router? Because I don't think he wants to spend that much money on a router but still wants his server reasonably secure.
Thanks a lot for any help
A VPN router can be had for as little as $50 (depending on the kind you get). If you want small business, I'd recommend some Linksys. As for the other issue, it seems like a DNS issue in regards to your LAN. Is this set up in a Domain Controller/Active Directory situation?
Yes it is (DC/AD)
You will need to join the domain properly to resolve some issues, however if you're getting the proper DHCP you shouldn't be having any issues. Is your DHCP giving your server as the gateway? Chances are that's your problem. Your gateway should be pointing to your router.
For example:
The gateway should be 192.168.0.1 and not 192.168.0.254. I believe SBS does this automatically so that's probably what messed up.
In Windows DHCP, it's settable in several places, but the common place to set the suffix is under the "server options" node (or folder, if you like) of the DHCP server in the DHCP snap-in.
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
I've disengaged the DHCP and I've set up the VPN router... was kind of a pain but it's done now, woot! For some reason, I'm able to connect to the internet and to the server for about 20 minutes but after that I get disconnected again. This has happened once since I properly deactivated the DHCP and I couldn't reconnect until I restarted the router. Not sure if this is the routers fault or the servers fault since when I checked the DNS it was the proper one it should be from the ISP.
Second issue, this one may or may not be easier to take care of. My friend wants there to only be two folders accessible when the user logs in to the server, however right now there are a bunch of folders available that really have no obvious purpose and then there is the users folder where each person has a folder with their name on it. Is there anyway to grant access to ONLY this folder, so they can't go messing in any of the other ambiguous folders?
Thanks again for all the help this has been a long process but I think I'm closing in on a proper solution!