Small Office Network

[Biggus Dickus]

Hi guys. I'm in a very small company, and we hope to have a small database within our company. There are only 3 of us, and we are not so IT literate.

We hope to have a small database so we can collate what each other is doing. Basically when we send quotations, or invoices, we hope to have somewhere where everything is stored. For example, when I send a quotation to a customer, I will also put a copy into this place.

I have suggested using cloud storage, but my boss doesn't seem too keen on that.

Can you guys help me out? Do I need a separate server? Or do I just need an NAS?

 

[ondooy]

you just need a shared network folder...

 

[avsquare]

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330#Tab3

 

[haodede]

Do you need to access those file outside office premises? If yes, cloud storage might be better.

Do you have anyone with IT knowledge? If not, get user friendly NAS e.g. Synology.

Do you need data redundancy?

 

[MoxLotus]

The cheapest solution is just use any old computer and install linux on it.

 

[Biggus Dickus]

you just need a shared network folder...

Thanks. I just did some reading on it. Our computers have to be connected to each other with LAN cables right? I don't really understand how this works. If all our computers are using the Ethernet cable for our internet access, are we connected via LAN already? Or do the cables have to be connected directly to each computer?

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1330#Tab3

Thanks for this! This should be good for us. Do you think it is possible to connect another HDD to it to mirror it?

Do you need to access those file outside office premises? If yes, cloud storage might be better.

Do you have anyone with IT knowledge? If not, get user friendly NAS e.g. Synology.

Do you need data redundancy?

Hi there. We do not need to access them outside of office premises. Our IT knowledge is not so good, so yes, idiotproof solutions are better. Thanks for the recommendation. Will check out some of the Synology products. I wonder if they'll be there at the CEE show this weekend.

Data redundancy means a backup right? It's not essential, but would be nice to have.

 

[Piezoq]

Several for dummies solution:

1. Get a NAS (2-bay or 4-bay) with appropriate HDDs (for NAS) and set it to Raid 1. Connect it up and you're ready to go. Synology has the best interface imho.

2. Buy another computer/laptop and set it up as a server. If you're savvy, install Ubuntu or Mint. If not, get Windows. With just a couple of computers, you can get away with Windows Home edition, although certain higher level user settings aren't available. The spare computer can double up as a spare workstation (not recommended).

 

[alifffresto]

imho rfq,itq,po and invoice are small in size. then maybe just use google drive loh... free and easy.

 

[localITguy]

Hi, you can consider using an old PC and install Linux OS and install Owncloud on it ( its like dropbox/ its easy to manage and you can create users and assign permissions as needed

 

[avsquare]

Thanks for this! This should be good for us. Do you think it is possible to connect another HDD to it to mirror it?

No. If you want redundancy then your options will start to get more expensive.

Alternatively you can buy another same or another non WiFi external HDD of the same size and you manually back it up yourself but then I won't call that redundancy because it isn't real time.

 

[haodede]

You can try out Synology user interface here - https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/live_demo.

 

[lobo76]

From your 'needs', sounds like you need a CRM software. If you just use any cloud or NAS solution, your stuff will still be all over the place.

e.g salesforce (US$25 a month/user), slightly cheaper ZOHO-CRM (US$20 a month/user), etc. You can 'record' your interactions (email integration) with customer so that everyone knows what is happening pertaining to that specific customer. Invoices, quotations, all can attach.