Fennimore Associates office layout

Last updated: Friday, 22-Aug-2003 10:12:02 EST

Layout

The basic design will be a server running samba that houses as many of the programs as possible (and reasonable) and all of the data. I am initially thinking that the best way to set this up will be two separate directories (or drive partitions or whatever). One for installed software and one for just data. These will both be on the scsi drive mounted as /fenn. We can then make it so the software directory is backed up once after all the software is installed (and after any changes are made) but that it would not be neccessary to back up this regularly since it will not change. The data directory will then be on a regular backup cycle (I think we said daily). The script for the tape backup is /root/scripts/backup.pl

Some Questions

What Samba version to use? 2.x is stable but has a security flaw while 3.0beta is still fresh.
Use a stable version, Security should not be an issue.
Is an upgraded version of BSD waranted? Could this account for the slow load that was experienced earlier?
Install latest BSD version, Get CDs from campus.
How does the server get it's IP and does it need to be static? The dial-up & share setup in Win 98 I am familiar with does not provide a static IP.
The box should have a static IP and should run ISC's dhcp to serve (static) IPs to the Windows boxes. You will need to disable dhcp on the Linksys. If making the box do the dial up part too is possible that would be good but not necessary.

Software List

Pro Series 95-2002 - 2002 makes earlier versions not work correctly?? I have found a pdf Net install guide on there support site for this and it may apply to ACCT as well. The pdf only lists windows compatabilities but has server install instructions. This is already installed on a net drive.
Easy ACCT Business System for Windows - Lacerte Software Corp. (both dos and win ver.) email from site, no reply
PPT+Indiana past -2003
look at web page for fix if the network install is not working. http://www.dis1.com/ppt/faq/faqall.htm#lockupnw5
CFS Tax tools (taxtools.com) No real support untill you have a specific problem to report.
e-Form 2000-02 (RIA/Thompson) Some stuff on site but nothing helpful http://www.riahome.com/support/eform_faq.asp
Peachtree Complete Accounting (peachtree.com || 1800-247-3224) requires setup membership before any help can be provided.
Information Return System 95-2002 Goes somewhat with Pro Series & ACCT
Quickbooks Pro, Solutions Marketplace Also Intuit, No Support
Outlook & Outlook Express mostly individual setup will be required
Microsoft Office No real support without pay
Phone Slips (licensed for only 5 machines??)only a 18003018698, faq not any help, it is more user level stuff
QuickBase (quickbase.com/gb2002i) support only on case by case basis, also Intuit
Forms tax Library 1999 Could not find
Norton Antivirus 2002 Semantic.com mostly pay for support

Journal

07/02/02 Looked up some of software companies and most require special codes or pay for service. I will keep looking and see what all I can find about getting around this.

07/03/03 Made this page to document work.

07/27/03 Updated the questions section after some searching around. Also read some about the various software packages and Samba. I will get the stuff (BSD disks) needed from campus tomorrow and then I will reinstall the machine and start from scratch. I need to find how to make the drives mirror one another. Samba looks pretty straight forward but it will take a little playing with to work out the details neccessary.

07/28/03 I am making some copies of the 4.8 FreeBSD disks and looking for all the info I will need to rebuild the system. Most of the things I need (Samba, etc.) are in /urs/ports and just require the make command to get downloaded and installed. For the network setup I need to use /stand/sysinstall.

07/29/03 For making the DCHP server work compare the dhcpd.conf file from hopper with the one on the new machine. Also look at bookmarked site for instructions. For setting up RAID-1 here is some drive info the seagate drive is 9.11 GB & Ultra SCSI, the Western Digital is 4.3 GB & EIDE. It seems that there are possibly a fwe options for RAID. I am assuming that we will only make the partition for the data a mirrored partition. Vinum is the way to go for setting up the RAID and the bookmarked tutorial will help. This will take some planning to get the partitions laid out correctly.

07/31/03 Worked on getting more specific documentation for installing the software packages on a server.

08/01/03 More working to get software instructions/specs. Have found all that I can untill specific problems come up. It will mostly be a try to install it and deal with it if it does not work kind of scenario.

08/07/03 Talked with Alan and have a decent idea of what to do. I will set up a copy of the data we care about to disk rather than actual RAID which makes things much easier. The partitioning stuff I will talk with charlie about tonight to see if I should have any preference. Look on the router there to find the DHCP info to use and all should eb well from there.

08/13/03 Much has happened since the last log entry. The data will take too much space to be disk backed up and so it will just be written to tape once or twice a day. I will have samba workign and exporting that drive very soon. Then it is just a matter on the DHCP setup wich will be copied from the router. I still need to get access to the router and to find a monitor to take to fennimore to use for final setup on the server. I will talk to alan soon about these things.

08/14/03 Samba is now working with the guest user and so once DHCP is working I will be able to move the machine to the office.

08/18/03 Samba is now working fine and should start on startup. DHCP is also working soon.

08/21/03 Talked to alan about where it all stands and about passing things to someone else. Everything should be up to date and all that needs to happen now is to copy stuff from einstein, first one program to test for a week or so and then the rest provided all is working correctly. The desktop icons should be changed on all machines. We should look to see if we can do this by making all the icons needed and then placing them on a floppy to move from machine to machine, this may or may not work since they are shortcuts but they will be to the same drive that is mapped the same on all machines so it is worth trying.