I'm thinking about a new server for my business. We have 40+
employees. What do you recommend? You
might be shocked. I would use Mac OSX. Here's why: I assume that you
will be buying new hardware for this. If you buy a Dual-Xeon blade
server from Dell, with 3 - 300G Ultra320 drives, 4GRAM, 3-yr on-site
warranty, 2003 server with 50 client licenses, and Exchange Mail
server, then you're looking at about $20,000 ($19,736 + tax to be
precise). Similar hardware/warranty in an Apple Xserve, with bigger
hard-drives (3 - 500G Ultra320's), with Unlimited client licenses for
your server and Mail server, costs less than $8,000 ($7,899 + tax).
Both offer free shipping. Both are easy (for me) to setup. If you have
a mixed environment, with PC's, Mac's, and Linux/UNIX machines, the
Xserve is much faster and more versatile. Both types of hardware have
great track records. HP has similar hardware and software (to the Dell)
for about $1,000-less (around $19,000). If you go with Windows, Dell or
HP are my only hardware recommendations.
Should I run an Anti-virus program on my Mac? I have never (and I've been working on computers since
1979), personally, seen a Mac computer with a virus that affected it. I have seen a few that had
virus-embedded files, which could infect a Windows PC when shared; but,
it did not affect the Mac at all. That said, I use ClamAV (download
link = http://www.markallan.co.uk/clamXav/index.php?page=dl)
on all
critical Mac workstations and servers (it now comes with the default
Tiger server install), if nothing else, as a courtesy
to Windows machines on the same network.
What do you think of Windows XP?
Which one? Windows XP Pro is OK and will be fine in a few more months,
when they get the patches completed. I especially like the Remote
Desktop feature for servicing clients and the way it uses MSMsg
encryption. HOWEVER, XP Home seems to be the next generation of ME.
Boo! Hiss! If you are at a college and need to log into a Windows
domain, YOU'RE OUT OF LUCK. XP Home does not work with domains BY
DESIGN. And guess what almost all new computers come out with - XP
Home. And where do a lot of those machines go - to college where
interaction with NT domains may be required. Ergo - MAJOR MESS! The
only alternative may be to upgrade to XP Pro (not a cheap option) or
dual boot with a Linux OS like Mandrake or RedHat (not a simple
option).
What is all the hype about viruses and worms here lately?
How can I protect my machine?
There are many damaging viruses and worms
out there, at present. Some of them are insidious and ingenious.
See www.antivirus.com
or www.mcafeeb2b.com for some
of
the most common.The simplest way to
protect your computer
is to run an operating system that isn't Windows.
Almost all viruses and worms seem to attack
Windows security vulnerabilities. Mandriva, Suse, and Mac
OSX are fine; BUT, NONE OF YOUR
FAMILIAR
WINDOWS SOFTWARE PACKAGES WILL WORK.
Mac
OSX only runs on an Apple-brand computer (actually, now there is
something similar, called
Darwin),
which is fine, but not what you're used to.
You can buy Microsoft Software (like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, but not
Access) for the Mac that is close, but doesn't run
exactly the same as the PC version.
* The
more complex way is to battle-harden your Windows system. Get ALL of
the
Windows
Update Security patches; AND, the most-commonly-overlooked, ALL of
the Microsoft
Office
Security updates, especially for Outlook. You will need your
original
install CD's to re-install Office on top of the patches. So many
viruses
and worms target Outlook, you might want to consider an alternate
e-mail
client like Mozilla
Thunderbird or Eudora. If you
want to miss a lot of the Microsoft Security boo-boo's of Internet
Explorer, try out the new Mozilla browser,
which has built-in POP-UP & COOKIE MANAGEMENT!
Be sure to
run a real-time antivirus like PC-cillin, F-prot, or EZ Antivirus, with
daily updates. Then, if you really
want to sleep good at night, install a Firewall. My favorite is Zone
Alarm, but ISS
(formerly Black
Ice) is OK, too.
These are not
easy to set up and use.
I want to add SCSI CDRW to my Acer AX59 Pro
motherboard,
but don't know if I can. I only see IDE connectors.
The AX59Pro motherboard only has IDE
connections;
however, you can add a SCSI controller board like an Adaptec 39320 or
an older type (depending on which kind of SCSI drive you have), which
would plug into one of your PCI slots.
What operating system or systems do you
recommend?
That depends on what you want to do: For a
serious server, we recommend Mac OSX, Sun
or Suse Pro, Mandriva
Corporate, or Windows
2003 server.
For advanced users, for desktop or server,
we recommend Mandriva 10
or
Suse 10
For Windows users, the best to come out of
Washington state ever is Windows
2000 Professional (NT5).
The worst is Windows ME. (See our comments
above about the XP's) In our experience,
Win98 is unstable, 98SE is good (the best choice other than NT5 for
internet
connection sharing), 95B is the most stable of the 9x's, but has some
limited
features, especially for newer equipment like USB, Firewire, and the
like.
And Windows 95 is more difficult to install and repair than 98SE.
What kind of machine do you use? What software,
operating
system, etc.?
We currently are running one machine with an
AMD-64 on an ASUS motherboard, with 512M RAM, Seagate 80 gig SATA
hard drive, LG54-32-54 CDR, Via Gb NIC, Fedora 5 x64 (Linux);
one machine with another AMD-64 on an MSI
motherboard, with 1 G RAM, WD 300G eSATAII hard drive, Phillips combo
drive, Mandriva 2006 x64 (Linux); a MacBook Pro with Tiger, 2G RAM, 80G SATA hard
drive, SuperDrive, Gb NIC, Parallels, XPpro, Adobe CS2, etc.;
and a Mac (Apple) 10.4 server with VPN and some advanced app' services. At
one of our work sites, we're using a new custom-built Tyan motherboard
with dual AMD MP2000 processors w/ 1G of DDR-400 RAM,
dual WD Pro 40-gig ATA133 hard drives, Windows 2003 Enterprise server,
MS CRM, SUS, Virtual PC 2004, etc. We also boot it into Mandrake
10Secure with F-prot for a second opinion on its security,
daily; at another site we manage some Dell 2850's in
a Windows 2003 cluster, 4G RAM each, 2 RAIDs each, attached to an EMC
SANS, running Oracle 10g server, JBoss server, and some integrated
app's.
At another, we have a Mac w/ dual 533
processors,
1G PC133 SDRAM, 4-10/100 ports and a gigaport,
running OS 10.2 UnLtd server, FileMaker Pro
UnLtd 6, and File services for Apple and Windows clients.
At another, we have a new Mac Xserve G5, running Panther Unltd server,
Radmind 1.4.1 (which remotely manages disk images on ~ 40
clients),
Secure File server, Netboot server, etc.
Our other managed clients run
Mac Tiger, Mandriva Linux, or Windows
XP Pro.
I have a TX Pro motherboard and I just purchased
a
new 10 gig hard-drive. When I start to format it, only 8 gig is
recognized.
Any suggestions?
A Bios upgrade is more trouble and expense
than its worth unless the motherboard is very new, because most TX
boards
won't go beyond 233MMX. I suggest a new motherboard, such as the Acer
AX59Pro+,
which can be upgraded to 550MMX down the road; or, use a disk mapping
utility
like Seagate's Disk Wizard. Some newer OS's can't recognize over 32G
hard drives. There are some Intel links for a few Bios
upgrades
and a great article about this dilemma at http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ref/common_os_limits.html
What can be done about the horde of bicycles
that hog
the road, taking up more space than a giant John Deere combine,
especially on Courtney-Huntsville Road?
Here's the response from the Yadkin County
Sheriff, "...The truth to the matter is bike riders have
the same rights on our streets and highways that any other vehicles do.
There is no law against them riding in groups
or riding single. They have to obey all traffic laws like cars, except
the speed limit (but they can be charged for speeding, stop signs
etc.).
I know they are sometimes dangerous, but we still have to share the road with them.
Thanks for writing", Sheriff Mike Cain
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