Networks

Problems with intermittent connection to shared drive

cyberfish — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:53:09 GMT

I recently changed out the router on a SBS 2003 network for a non-profit I work for. I ended up needing to remap the shared drive on the server. Ever since then, there has been intermittent loss of connectivity to the drive from all or a couple of the computers on the network. Sometimes this loss of connectivity lasts a few minutes and somtimes a couple of hours. There is no rhyme or reason to it. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Looking for Advice

ahavelind — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:41:14 GMT

I am looking to revamp our Network set up at our Gym. I was wondering if anyone had advice on how we should go about it? I can list what we have/want and what I thought would be a good setup. If you have a better idea, please let me know.

Gymnastics environment in a open warehouse. Size 250ftx100ft

2 office areas with deck on top.

18 computers and 1 server

2 Guest (Internet Only) PCs

Need Guest and Private Wireless for the entire building.

General Plan:

1 Linux or Cisco Router (need recoomendation on Router)-rack mount

1 Intel based / Gigabit File/DC server comuter. -rack mount

Comcast Cable based Internet

1 Cisco 3524 Switch -24 100based ports and 2 Gigbit ports

1 Secondary switch for 2nd office to link to primary switch. Hopefuly Gigabit.

2 Cisco 1200 Series wireless G Access Points, (POE hopefully)

I need the Guest wireless to only have Internet access. I was told the Cisco APs can do both a private (secure) and a Guest SSID on the same AP. If this is true, then we should be able to mount 2 APs in the 30ft ceiling to cover the entire building. Does that seem feasable?

Also - does anyone have experience with the Linux based Routers (PC based)? It looks to give me good segragation of private, and guest type connctions. It also can do Spam filtering and website tracking, etc... I've tried IPCop at home and like it. Is it good for a business? There are no Business License issues with this SW as per the website.

-Apollo

OGA - Beaverton, Or.

Network options for small nonprofit

ScottEsposito — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:31:54 GMT

I'm a member of a 10-person nonprofit in San Francisco. We're considering implementing a network, mostly to share common documents and keep commonly used resources in one central location.

We'd like to do something relatively inexpensive. What would our options be, and would TechSoup be able to help us implement the network?

Need recommendation for support vendor for Cisco in San Diego

eeskam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:10:51 GMT

I need a recommendation for a vendor or support organization that can provide technical support for a Cisco Catalyst 4006 switch that is having issues. We need someone who can come in, evaluate the switch, provide a report of any issues and recommendations on how to proceed. If anyone knows of a good support vendor in the San Diego area that has Cisco expertise, please let me know.

Thanks!

Oopsie...

cyberfish — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:49:11 GMT

Based on some really good advice I got here I changed out a bunch of the hardware on a network that I run. This was due , in part, to the fact that the person who installed a firewall/router on the network did not leave behind a password to access it. I managed to get everything set up again without too much trouble but in my exhaustion I made a minor error. When enabling DHCP on the router, I inadvertently chose an address range different from the old one. For all of the machines and devices it was fine, they were simply assigned new ones in the current range. However, the server is another issue. It's ipaddress and dns settings were manually configured. Now none of the devices can see networked drives on the server. I manually assigned the server a new ipaddress in the new range, and even changed the range in DHCP settings on the router. Neither of those seemed to work. Can anyone point me in the right direction on the best and quickest way to realign the server and the rest of the network? Thanks!

help! google apps, luddites, and other stuff

cyberfish — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:27:43 GMT

Just to reiterate my situation. I have the certs for SBS2003 etc. but I have never been an in the trenches guy (the quals were a req for a govt contract some years ago). So I have been working with this NGO for the last year and doing the best I can with their limited resources. The problem I am having now is the new director has arrived and knows even less than I do. She has concocted a cockamamy plan to migrate all of the mail and webiste functions off-site to google apps. I have made my case to the top execs, but they are star struck by short term and limited savings. I have 2 question:

1) Any pros and cons would be appreciated on this one. (so far I have only come up with cons, but I want to shore up my argument)

2)i havent the faintest idea how to re-direct dns from exchange server to an external mail server(i.e. one provided by the host)

Thanks for you input.

Odd Network Connectivity

cyberfish — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:55:31 GMT

Recently two of the machines on my network went down, more or less at the same time. I checked the packet rate which seems to be fine (slight disparity which should be normal). The LAN icon in the tray says connected at 100Mbps. In the "view network connections" it shows the same and the profile shows IP address, subnet mask, default gateway etc, fine. They are all set to obtain addresses automatically. Did IPconfig, all settings appear to be fine. I pinged other machines in the network and sent and recieved al packets. I pinged and address outside the network and it timed out. The loss of connectivity on these machines appears to have happened rather suddenly. Some more relevant information: I swept both machines and found viruses. I also cleaned both machines of all viruses. I connected my MAC to the end of one of the cables and also got no connection, so I am not completely convinced that it is the client machine. I also was sure to use a cable that is known to be working (i took it off of a connected machine). Both machines indicate that they are connected. Though I am sure that is deceptive since they are probably only connected the the switch.

One more side note: I recently daisy chained a "dumb" switch in to increase the number of computers in one room. I did that a couple of weeks ago. But only one of the machines is in that room.

I am completely baffled at this point. I ran the netshell utility also. One other thing, when the computer boots up the command line window opens and says "A connection could not be found"

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

VPN speed issues

bigbuddy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:04:34 GMT

Hi - we have been using VPN to conect our branch offices to our server and while it works ok and is fairly transparent the big issue we are facing is speed, its just really slow when uploading documents. Hence my team are reluctant to use it that much.

I am no tech head but are there ways to improve transfer speeds over VPN?

We have the best possible broadband at all offices ( well best we can get in New Zealand) 200- 1000 KBs up and 4-10 Mbs down.

Richard

Live video Streaming Solution

techcoor — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:22:25 GMT

Looking for a live video streaming solution that would allow being able to broadcast from web camera and microphone into multiple classrooms over the Internet. Not looking for a broadcast to the whole world solution such as Justin.tv so that the channel could be used internal communication.

There are a number of video conferencing solutions such as Adobe Connect but they require a subscription per month whether or not the service is used.

Readytalk does not have the video streaming capability.

Help with Sosfware Selection

pastorlmarshall — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:03:37 GMT

We are a small congregation of 225, that just bought a "Dell PowerEdge 860Duel Core 3 GHz 1U server. The group working with the Pastor are all challenged when it comes to Technology.

We have high speed Internet, and would like to set up the server for the five computers in our org. Please help us with selection of a server platform, to handle the office, small video& audio we are attempting to do, e-mail, and hopefully outlook to handle mailing and contacts. We do our budget in Excel, the pastor does power point lessons for bible study.

I doubt if we'll exceed more than 10 people anytime soon in the system.

Please help us with what to request, we are 501(c) 3, and have been approved.

Thank you,

Suggestions for T1 Router for VOIP traffic.

dwelp — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:31:00 GMT

I'm considering putting VOIP cards in my PBX at two sites and creating a virtual TIE line between the units. This will be carrying 8-16 VOIP channels plus upgrade my WAN speed from 256k to a full T1.

Any suggestions for a Router with integrated T1 DSU/CSU and quality of service ability for my voice traffic.

We may not have the time or qualify for the donated Cisco, and I don't want to overkill for this point to point solution.

Dave

Server

hopeh — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:28:41 GMT

Hi,
My name is Peter and i am the exec. Dir. Of a small nonprofit. We have a server that is outdated. We need a new server that has these features according to our tech. Consultants--intel® xeon® processor e5520 (2.26 ghz, 8mb l3 cache, 80w, ddr3-1066, ht, turbo 1/1/2/2). Our old server is hp proliant ml350. Can you suggest to me a good server that is cost effective?

Peter

Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller

bmichelon — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:14:27 GMT

Recently from the domain controller I cannot ping by name any device at our other location. I can ping by name any device at the location the domain controller is at, however, can only ping by ip address at our other facility. I am getting KCC error messages and replication errors. Any ideas

Putting windows Vista on a Network

Usef — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:53:00 GMT

Is there or how easy it putting a Vista pc on a Windows 2000 server network. I have some shared documents on the server....all other PCs can connect or is mapped to that shared file.

Note:
All other PCs are Windows 2000/XP
The Vista is a home Version don't know if that has anything to do with it.

Vista is new to me too

Windows Small Business Server vs Windows Server

Randylaw — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:04:53 GMT

Trying to decide which of these products to go with.

We are a non-profit with 90 employees, 29 of which are networked to our server through PCs. We are currently running Small Business Server and SharePoint Services 3.0. I really like SharePoint, but we are experiencing problems with credentialing, search, etc. I am told that these problems originate from the fact that we are using SBS rather that Windows Server. That SharePoint was written for Windows Server and not SBS.

Since I want to continue and further expand our use of SharePoint does it make sense to change to the server product? I'm open to any and all ideas.

Thanks,

Randy

Do you use TLS/SSL at your organization?

BeckyW — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:03:50 GMT

If you work for an organization that deals with a lot of e-commerce (online storefront, Internet donations, etc) or houses a lot of sensitive client or user data (maybe a healthcare org, social benefit direct service agency, etc), you may already be using TLS/SSL encryption and security protocols on your site and through your email.

Not sure what all this means? Check out our soon-to-be-released article on the topic. It'll give you definitions of what each of these things mean, whether or not you need to start using them, and how to implement them at your organization. I'll post the link here once it's live.

Have any of you already adopted using TLS or SSL at your organization? How has it worked for you?

information on a low price high speed internet provider

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:12:39 GMT

Hello,

we are a small non -profit organizatio looking for low fees for a internet provider as well as a net work card for our note books as well as a telepnone provider with low rates We look forward to the information.

Thank you,

Primary benefits using Cisco ASA 5505 vs. 5510

lzacharia — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:45:44 GMT

Our organization needs help understanding the potential benefits to going to 5510 vs. 5505.

client machine sending but not receiving packets

kamranp — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:59:56 GMT

I would call myself and intermediate admin at best (this not being my AoE). Nonetheless I find myself saddled with responsibility of managing a small sbs 2003 network for a small company. 9 total client machines and one of them has no connectivity. The icon in the systray says it is connected and it is sending packets, but it is not receiving any. I have scanned for viruses (mostly spywayre) and removed any thing that didn't belong. I checked ipconfig, nothing strange there. Ran winsock fix, didnt fix the problem. Ran nethsell which also didnt solve the problem. At this point I cannot figure out what else may be wrong. I read a couple of posts here of people with similar issues but nothing conclusive. I also noticed that the people here tend to be pretty helpful so I am trying my luck. If this happens to be relevant, all of my client machines are connected via netgear fs 116 ethernet switch.

ps. I also changed the network cable out. and ran diag on the nic.

Any suggestions. Thank you for your responses.

File storage/sharing without a server

kraleigh — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:42:16 GMT

I work for a small nonprofit (2 staff). We used to have access to a server in the office in which we rent space, but we do not have access anymore. What can we use in place of a server? There are many files my boss and I have in common and we currently have to email newer versions back and forth. We tried X-drive a year (or more) ago but my boss thought it was too slow. Are there any options out there that might work for us? We use less than 1GB in storage currently. The key factors for something to work for us would be: easy to use, cheap or free, good security.

Thanks!

What are your thoughts of Google Chrome

jasonblais — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:22:03 GMT

Has anyone downloaded Google Chrome and replaced their browsers with it? I was curious what people thought about it before I download it myself. I've seen someone else use it and it appears really fast, but don't really know much whether it's functional, reliable, etc.

VPN Vista

jakos — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:16:39 GMT

Hello out there i'm have been issues consistently setting up VPN connections on Vista based machines. I have no problem doing it on XP but when i do the PPT connection. the initial connection doesnt connect. any suggestions?

wireless vs. wired network for small nonprofit

Susan — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:24:18 GMT

Out nonprofit is getting ready to consolidate operations onto a single floor of our building. Currently we have a Cat-5 wired network spanning two floors with a server running SBS 2000 and Exchange 2000 (woefully short on hard drive space but that's another issue). When we move the server, along with the patch panel, dsl router and network switches, it will be relocated to the first floor. Our executive director has asked me to look into a wireless network instead of a wired configuration.

We already have a Linksys WAP11 2.4 Ghz 802.11b access point, which is only used sporadically. None of our desktops (Windows XP Pentium 2s or 3s) have wireless cards.

In the reconfigured space, the server will share space with our workroom/kitchen, which includes a microwave which is used frequently. Ten PCs and one Mac G4 will be connected to the server, plus a copier/fax which is used as a shared printer with heavy usage. Our DSL connection is also shared over the network. File use includes shared Access databases, Quick Books, desktop publishing and Giftmaker Pro, all of which have data files which reside on the server.

My question is, would a wired network better suit our needs? I wonder about the stability of a wireless-only network, especially with the server in the same room as the microwave. Laptops are seldom used with our system - the two that are have both LAN cards & wireless.

All of our desktop PCs have 10/100 network cards. We also have boxes of Cat 5 cable left over from the last rewiring. The first floor has easy access to the basement, and cable could be run under through the basement and up through the hardwood floor (which unfortunately will be carpeted to help reduce noise). If we are not able to move the patch panel, a new one would have to be purchased, along with new jacks (we do have some spares but may be shifting from a solid- plaster wall cubicle to a more mobile system with integrated channels)

I need to be able to present both sides to our executive director, and am open to suggestions in either direction... perhaps my wireless knowledge is also out of date (I do know my wireless access point at home must be power cycled every 3-4 months - it's about the same age as the work hardware).

Thanks for your thoughts.

Grants Oppurtunities

elvisalicea — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:51:24 GMT

I am inquiring about information on grants for upgrading our network system etc. We are a nonprofit residential treatment facility for adolescent females. We of course are on a very tight budget and constantly are experiencing problems with our network. We have been given a bid on what it would cost to upgrade and fix our issues but again we can not afford it with our tight budget. We have an on-site school and it is almost exclusively computer driven so when our server is down and they do not have access to the internet, they can not do any school work. I was told by our recent IT personnel that your organization maybe able to help or direct us to where we can apply for a grant for this purpose. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

God Bless,

Elvis Alicea, MSW, CSW

Clinical Director

Hope Hill Children’s Home

700 Hope Hill Rd

Hope, KY 40334

859-498-5230 ext. 228

www.hopehill.org

Security through a wireless connection

rzrbldekizz666 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:32:07 GMT

Hello! I'm in need of a bit of help, I come to a library in this small town sometimes to get away from home, and use the wifi on my laptop here... and there are some websites that i cant access because of a security pragram called 'Sonic Wall' I didnt even know that security through wireless connection was POSSIBLE! but anyways... I need some suggestions as to trying to disable this program so i can go to my websites without using them through proxy cuz proxy is annoying!

Thank you!