Small office setup

[Theldron]

Hi all,

 

I have been asked to setup a small network for a local business. I will be doing this in my spare time. Here is what they are asking:

 

"we have a small office with 5 desktops . one on win 7 the other 4 running win 10 . Require all on one network , using the win 7 as a server , to allow us all to access some common customer files."

 

I was thinking setting all the PCs using a workgroup rather going down the route of a domain and just setting up a shared drive on the file server?

 

Just making sure I am on the right lines, before going down and making a fool out of myself. Sorry to ask such a simple question, but want to double check a couple of things first.

 

Cheers

[RobD]

Makes sense to me, if they can stretch to a 2 or 4 bay NAS then I'd recommend that and backup to the Win7 machine.

[Oaktech]

Bear in mind that 'homegroup' as you know it is going away in windows 10. It's either standalone or domain. https://www.ghacks.net/2017/12/20/windows-10-microsoft-retires-homegroup/

 

I'd be pushing them in the direction of Azure/Office365.

 

This might help you. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/10064/set-up-your-small-business-network

[Davit2005]

+1 for a NAS for shared storage, something like a synology that has Hybrid raid and you have some control over the updates, shutdowns, restarts etc. Edited April 23, 2018 by Davit2005

[southhamster]

That's what I've done for 3 small businesses I supported.

QNAP NAS with remote access so I can often fix problems remotely.

Touch wood very little trouble in 5 years so far. Rubbish internet so they backup to external USB drives in a fireproof safe.

Malwarebytes has also been a godsend to catch all the dodgy links they were always trying to open!

[Theldron]

Thanks all. Might leave with standalone then if HomeGroup being removed soon, just setting up network discovery and file sharing. Would it be worth leaving them with dynamic IPs or giving them static?