nmX.Memnoch

That's mounting partition to a folder...not a network drive. I'd recommend looking at Winbolic Link. If you look at the example on the Winbolic Link site they're showing a link being created to a mapped network drive. I don't know how well it'll work and you'll obviously get an error if the drive isn't mapped...but apparently it is possible.

Just making sure because using more than 4GB will do you no good on a 32-bit OS. The other thing I'm wondering is if you really need 8GB of RAM? How many VPC's do you plan to run at once and what will you be using them for?

What OS are you planning on running?

Since the price difference is negligible (should be at most $5US more) get DDR2 800 (PC2-6400).

The workstations should be sync'ing time with the domain controller (the PDC Operations Master specifically) automatically. I was under the impression that the sync would take the time zone into account...so you wouldn't have to do anything extra/special. Granted, I've never done a geographically seperated setup so I may be wrong. Also, the only way the time function of your logon script is working would be one of the following scenarios: 1. The user is an Admin on the workstation 2. The user is a Power User on the workstation 3. You've given them the "Change the system time" user right You may want to give this Knowledge Base article a look as well. cluberti can probably answer this better...I know I've seen Time Server questions on the forum before (couldn't find the particular thread I was looking for though).

Not enough storage? I think 900GB is plenty for what they use it for. I believe they are only using about 300GB which span from 5 years ago. I wasn't saying that RAID5 wouldn't provide enough storage. Quite the contrary actually. RAID10 will provide less storage space so I didn't know if you made your decision based on the amount of data that was going to be put on the array. If they're "only" using 300GB I still have to recommend a RAID10 configuration, which will give you 600GB of space. My only concern is that if they're doing a lot of file writes that RAID5 would hurt performance. RAID5 is really only good if you're doing a lot of file reads. While RAID10 is fast for both reads and writes.

See this thread for that problem.

When you boot the server, the RAID controller should say something like "Press Ctrl+X to enter setup". "X" varies depending on the controller manufacture ("A" for Adaptec, "M" for older AMI controllers and some newer LSI controllers (since they bought AMI), etc). Once in the controller BIOS you can configure everything you need for the array. Most controller manufacturers also make a Windows based management utility so you can configure, monitor and manage from within Windows as well (of course, this does not good until you configure at least one array and install Windows).I've still gotta give a strong recommendation for RAID10 over RAID5...but that's your decision and we can only make recommendations. I'm also not privy to the amount of data you're talking about either.

We have this problem at work sometimes...because we always have to guess how the port is setup on the switch. Most of our ports are forced to 100/Full. If the NIC is configured for Auto, then a duplex mismatch will occur and the NIC will negotiate at 100/Half. This is by design. I've been arguing this with the guys who manage our switches because: 1. I hate having to figure out which way the port is configured 2. I hate having to manually configure the NIC if the port is 100/Full 3. No way to script the speed/duplex settings on most NICs* 4. Some printers don't allow you to configure the speed/duplex (Dell 5210's and 5310's don't) I actually had one of the guys tell me that 100/Half was better than 100/Full!! He said "oh yeah, we configure other people for 100/Half and they say that it's soooo much better". To which my response was "yeah, because now the NIC and switch aren't fighting over the duplex mode". But what do I know? Anyway...my point was that it's one more thing for you to check. Once our machines are configured correctly for the switch port, they're generally pingable shortly after the Windows GUI appears during the boot process. *Intel is one of the few NIC manufacturers to provide a utility, but it doesn't work on all of their NICs

Why quadrouple (or even double for that matter) up on a channel when he can just get a 6-channel controller? Besides...how many fans do you really need? 1 x case front 1 x case rear 1 x CPU 1 x video card (which have their own built in controllers now days) That's the four "necessary" ones (don't count the power supply...they're built in). If you have a good case that uses 120mm front and rear fans that's all you need. The six channel one that Zxian recommended would even allow for side and top fans without doubling up on channels. Excluding the video card that would still leave one channel open.

Well...there's two things I absolutely HATE doing with servers (the first is actually something I don't like doing on any computer): 1. Partition a drive or array 2. Share files from the operating system drive or array That's why I mentioned to get a pair of small drives dedicated just to the operating system and applications. Not only do you provide the OS with it's own redundant array, but you split up drive I/O (input/output) activity across two arrays, thereby increasing performance. Oh...and this: Should've been this: I corrected it in the above post.

Why not get rid of the older ones that have been superseded? Generally, the cumulative IE updates supersede all previous updates...meaning you only have to install the latest one, much like service packs. That's not always the case...but such is life with patch management...

If you're running an Active Directory domain you have to be running your own DNS...no way around it. You should, at least for now, be running WINS as well for older apps. It's not strictly a requirement like DNS is though.

[quote name='glennbo80' post='158607' date='Aug 2 2004, 10:09 AM']Can I "pin" a program for all users? I know I can do it per user, but that is not something I would wish to do.[/quote] No, you can't. But you can setup the default pinned items in the Default User profile so that any new user logging on will get whatever you specified. The problem is...the pinned items are a looooooong hex value stored in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartPage. There are two values; FavoritesResolve and Favorites. Here's an example from a script I use to add IE, the default mail client and Remote Assistance to the default pinned items. BTW, the values are all on a single line...the forum is wrapping them (my script editor doesn't). Exporting them into a .reg file would have them broken into seperate lines automatically for you as well. [codebox][font="Lucida Console"][size="1"][color="#696969"] $CUWCV = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion" $X = WriteValue("$CUWCV\Explorer\StartPage","FavoritesResolve","0000000000000000d60300004c000000011402000 0000000c000000000000046830000002000000048a730635ffbc50 af4403363fbc501daf4403363fbc501510600000000000001000000000000000000000000000000790214001f50e04fd020a a6910a2d808002b30309d19002f433a5c000000000000000000000000000000000000005c0031000000000087334d9810044 f43554d457e310000440003000400efbe8733a36587334d981400000044006f00630075006d0065006e00740073002000100 e0064002000530065007400740069006e006700730000001800420031000000000087334d981000414c4c5553457e310002a 003000400efbe8733a36587334f981400000041006c006c00200055007300650072007300000018005800310000000008733 097110053544152544d7e310000400003000400efbe8733bb658733509714002a005300740061007200740020004d065006e 075000000407368656c6c33322e646c6c2c2d3231373836001800540031000000000087335097110050726f677261d730000 c0003000400efbe8733bb658733509714002600500072006f006700720061006d0073000000407368656c6c33322646c6c2c d3231373832001800460031000000000087332a9611004143434553537e3100002e0003000400efbe87330a968732a961400 0004100630063006500730073006f007200690065007300000018005c0031000000000087332d9811005359535454d7e3100 0440003000400efbe87332a9687332d9814002e00530079007300740065006d00200054006f006f006c00730000040736865 c6c33322e646c6c2c2d32313738380018005e0032003f06000087339296200052454d4f54457e312e4c4e4b0004200030004 0efbe873392968733319714000000520065006d006f0074006500200041007300730069007300740061006e0630065002e00 c006e006b0000001c0000009b0000001c000000010000001c00000033000000000000009a000000170000003000000e04cb1 c1000000053797374656d00433a5c446f63756d656e747320616e642053657474696e67735c416c6c205536572735c537461 274204d656e755c50726f6772616d735c4163636573736f726965735c53797374656d20546f6f6c735c5656d6f7465204173 3697374616e63652e6c6e6b000010000000050000a0160000002301000060000000030000a0580000000000000726e646370 473776b31737a30330000aa9892f6a617274595e43f2e9dcf2315a3aacab65467da11aa910013d395fa3aa9892f6a6172745 5e43f2e9dcf2315a3aacab65467d1a1aa910013d395f6a300000000",REG_BINARY) $X = WriteValue("$CUWCV\Explorer\StartPage","Favorites","001600000014001f80f4a15925d721d411bdaf00c04f60b9f00 000001600000014001f80f5a15925d721d411bdaf00c f60b9f000001702010000460031000000000087332a9611004143434553537e3100002e0003000400efbe87330a9687332a6 40000004100630063006500730073006f007200690065007300000018005c0031000000000087332d981100535953544547e 10000440003000400efbe87332a9687332d9814002e00530079007300740065006d00200054006f006f006c0073000000073 8656c6c33322e646c6c2c2d32313738380018005e0032003f06000087339296200052454d4f54457e312e4c4e4b000040003 00400efbe873392968733319714000000520065006d006f0074006500200041007300730069007300740061006e006306500 e006c006e006b0000001c000000ff",REG_BINARY)[/codebox]

Mine is all broken down, but it took me a whiiiiile to figure out how I wanted it. I probably map more drives than some small business do... -Files ----> Maps to F: on clients --Applications ----Adobe ----Benchmarking Tools ----CD & DVD Tools ----Compression Tools ----Image Apps ----Installer Tools ----Microsoft ----Scripting Tools ----Symantec ----System Tools --Documentation --Drivers ----CD & DVD Burners ----Keyboards & Mice ----Motherboards ----Network Equipment ----Printers ----Sound Cards ----Video Cards --Games --Operating Systems --Patches ----Applications ----Games ----Operating Systems --Wallpapers --Web Graphics -Multimedia ---> Maps to M: on clients --Mini-Series --Movies --Music ----Broken down in directories by artist name --Sound Effects --TV Shows ----Broken down in directories by show name -Netlogon ---> Logon scripts, maps as N: for Domain Admin(s) -Outlook ---> Maps as O: for clients ----broken down by user name, each directory is restricted I use this share for Outlook PSTs. I'm thinking about changing it from "Outlook" to "Office" and moving the MyDocs for each user there as well. Everyone maps directly to their directory (i.e. O: maps to \\COLOSSUS\Outlook$\Curtis for me). BTW, don't try putting your PST on your server unless you have a GigE network. It'll work on 100Mbit, but it's not ideal. -Pictures ---> Digital camera pics, maps as P: on clients --Broken down in directories by picture series date and event -Software ---> Maps as S:, but only for me --I work on stuff out of this share (extracted ISOs, etc) -Unattended ---> Maps as U:, but only for me --I use this for Unattended CDs/DVDs

Post got moved while I was replying.... You need a hardware RAID controller. If the server has removable/swappable drives then it probably already has a hardware RAID controller. You need at least 3 drives to configure RAID5. How many drives can the server hold and how many do you have? Typically when I setup a server like this I use two drives mirrored (RAID1) for the operating system, and another array for the data. The size and type of array depends on on how many the server will hold, how many drives I have and how much space is needed. For the OS you shouldn't need anything more than a pair of 36GB or 73GB drives. For the data, again it depends on how many drives you have and how much space you need. If you only have two drives then obviously you want to mirror them (RAID1) for redundancy. I you have three or more drives and space is your primary concern then go with a striping with parity (RAID5) setup. If you have four or more drives (and it has to be an even number) and want a good mixture of redundancy and speed then go for a striped mirror (RAID10) setup. For example, if I had three 300GB drives and configured them in RAID5, that's 600GB of space. With a RAID5 set you always "lose" the space of one drive from the total count for the parity information...no matter how many drives you have. So four 300GB drives in RAID5 would be 1200GB - 300 = 900GB. Five 300GB drives would be 1500 - 300 = 1200GB. And so on. However, if I had four 300GB drives I would probably configure that in a RAID10 array. That'll give you about 600GB of space. With RAID10 arrays you "lose" half the total space for parity information (the same as RAID1). RAID10 arrays use multiple RAID1 arrays striped together. This allows for some really good read/write speeds (the parity information for RAID5 doesn't have to be calculated for starters) and the ability to sustain mulitple drive failures. Each "sub" RAID1 array can lose a single drive and the array will still be operational. So if you had six drives in a RAID10 configuration that would be three RAID1 arrays striped (RAID0) together. Each of the three RAID1 arrays can lose a single drive at the same time and the array will still be operational. So you can in theory lose up to three drives at once and still have an operational array. However, if a single RAID1 sub-array loses both drives then you lose everything. BUT, with RAID5 if you lose more than one drive you automatically lose everything so RAID10, in my opinion, is the better choice for redundancy. Most hardware RAID controllers will also allow you to configure a hot spare. This is a drive that does nothing unless another drive in an array files. The controller would then automatically assign it to an array in place of the failed drive and begin a rebuild operation to keep the array redunandant. These are mostly beneficial for RAID1 and RAID5 arrays. Woah...that was probably too much information at once...hehe...

I'll have to give that some thought. It took me several days just to find enough time in my schedule to put together a recommended configuration. Between family and work I'm stretched pretty thin right now... For the initial install you may be better off just letting Dell come in an do the initial install/configuration. You'll probably want someone who can be a little more hands on in the beginning...especially if this is the first network you're setting up. Some things can be difficult to troubleshoot remotely. We had them do a SAN install for us and they're very thorough. Also, you need to figure out if the switches I suggested are going to provide enough connectivity. The two servers (with aggregated connections) will take four ports right away. 96 ports may sound like a lot, but when you start adding computers, network printers, NAS devices, a port or five for working on/installing computers, it all adds up quick. You mentioned growing to about 50 users in the first year. Let's suppose that you have 50 users, two servers (with dual links each), 10 network printers and 2 NAS devices and 5 ports reserved for a computer repair/install area. That's already 71 ports...73 if the NAS devices have dual connections.

That's some very good information to know. I noticed a while back that Disk Management has a "Convert to GPT Disk" option when you right click a disk (not partition). I forgot to lookup what that was...and now I know. I guess you have to do that before you format the paritition. This is my favorite line in that article you linked: I've been telling people that for years (although not in those exact words)!

I've got two...a son who turns 6 in a few days and another son who turned 1 in June. Three words (ok, technically a letter, a number and two words): K9 Web Protection I have a domain so I have several options available to me...one of which is specifying logon hours. I'm also going to be standing up ISA Server at some point. Overkill? Maybe...but at least I'm trying and if nothing else I can use it when they're in trouble. Right now though, since my oldest boy is still so young I'm not so worried about him going to look for stuff...I'm more worried about him finding it accidentally.

Yeah, I've been really happy with their controllers. I'm glad you're happy with the card as well... Also, make sure you see my edit above about the SMART data. You posted about the same time did the edit. BTW, I also found this in regards to the conversations about 2TB arrays. It turns out it is a limitation of Windows... That's the only place I've ever seen is spelled out like that though...and unfortunately I don't have anything to really test that with.

Wow...that's odd Intel ended Server 2003 support. Of course, the XP drivers probably would've worked...but what you got is probably better now anyway. You know...I saw that a while back and didn't even think anything about it. But I'm ticked off at the moment because when I looked at mine my drives are running at 1.5Gbps instead of 3.0Gbps for some reason. I'll get that sorted out.Edit: I was doing some searching on my issue and came across this: Will the drives SMART values ever be passed through the controller so a standard SMART reading program will be able to read their values? Do you have the system on a UPS? I have write-caching enabled on mine without a BBU...but I have the system on a UPS and it's managed (shuts the server down before the UPS battery runs out).You can run without it, you just take a chance that whatever's in the cache will be lost. The BBU stores the cache information in the event of a power outtage. When the system is powered back up it dumps that information to the drives. If you have a UPS that's managed then you can get away without the BBU (but I wouldn't leave it that way permanently...I need to get one for mine as well).

Windows XP and 2003 allow the same characters in file names as Windows 2000. The only characters you can't use in a file name are \ / | < > : ? * and ". If your backup software doesn't backup files with any other characters then it's time to look for another backup solution because those are allowed characters in files. Or see if the software manufacturer has a patch for the issue.

Actually, I'd recommend the exact opposite. Some routers, especially cheaper ones for small networks, don't allow configuration of the DHCP server other than specifying the IP range.

Sure. Errr...Well, while it will technically work, they'll be able to reconfigure their accounts (and any other account). Want to really keep that from happening? Don't give the kids admin access.

You'll lose support for the features mentioned by Zxian. I'm waiting for the X38 before I upgrade...and hopefully Asus will have it right by then. I need ICH9R anyway though...