Setting up branch office need professional ITs

[xxdanielxx]

Hey I am helping a family member setup a network and need help.

the setup is as follows

Store "A"
Store "B"
"Main office"

He wants to let Store A & B use the main sale software which is located in the Main Office. How can we do this, should I just setup a VPN for both stores so that they can login to the main office or would I need a back-end server. Thanks

 

[raybay]

And they are in the same building or contiguous?

I would to with the VPN... unless there are a lot of computers, meaning more than 8

 

[xxdanielxx]

Well it is 2 restaurants in 2 different cities then the main office in another city

Store A <-- City 1
Store B <-- City 2
Main Office <-- City 3

Store A & B will have 1 computer each then they will add one more to each latter also the main office will have 3 computers connected to the server. Will VPN still work or should I tell him to get a server in store A & B then have the server connect to the main office

 

[NetCablesPlus]

You don't need to get a server for the stores. A router should do it (in fact, you could probably get by with just a switch) when it is time to add more computers. I also vote for the VPN, by the way.

 

[xxdanielxx]

Thanks for all the help I got a poweredge 840 for the main office and I am setting up the vpn from the stores to the office.

 

[tipstir]

Secured VPN, you can use OpenVPN more here: http://openvpn.net/ or just two routers one at each location should do.

 

[xxdanielxx]

I will look at the open VPN but I was just going to get a cisco VPN router for the main office and for the stores I was going to go with a cisco router along with a firewall app

 

[tipstir]

I will look at the open VPN but I was just going to get a cisco VPN router for the main office and for the stores I was going to go with a cisco router along with a firewall app

Better off going that route with the hardware from Cisco then to use software base OpenVPN. Do you have if need to be if the client needs to connect to the business from home using Cisco VPN client I prefer using that. I do like using Nortel Connectivity Extranet VPN Client.

 

[xxdanielxx]

ah will look into that. Quick question I am installing SBS 2003 on a side project for my self but I am asked for the outlook 2003 files I put my office 2003 cd in but it does not find that files are there some that I need which I can take out of the cd

 

[tipstir]

You are installing SBS with Exchange Server correct? You know Outlook 2003 with Web Outlook Extranet comes with SBS 2003.

 

[tipstir]

Also make sure the system date matches the same date SBS 2003 Server is reporting, if they're not the same you'll have issues. There is a fix for that. Though. http://www.intelliadmin.com/Downloads.htm Should you get an error under SBS saying "Enter a valid date"

 

[xxdanielxx]

ok so should I click cancel when it ask me for the files

 

[tipstir]

Which SBS do you have? Do you have all 4-5 CD's or just the 2 CD's? What does the prompt actually say?

 

[tipstir]

Is this already setup through Active Directory? Did you create profile accounts for Exchange users on Outlook?

 

[tipstir]

If you run into issues with the PST files locations this should help you:
PST file default "C:\documents and settings\<user>\local settings\application data\MS\Outlook"

http://www.411-registry-repair.com/change-the-location-of-outlooks-pst-and-ost-folders

 

[xxdanielxx]

Ok this is a fresh install regarding my other thread I am using a compaq proliant 1600 for this thing I want to try.

https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic109659.html

I just finish installing sbs 2003 next I ran the the setup sbs tool it takes me threw the process of installing the tools and exchange server.

You know when you get the options of what to install on the server like monitoring, internet, exchage server and outlook. Well after it sets up exchange it gots to server tools then it will ask to put in the outlook 2003 cd or put the path to where the files are located

 

[xxdanielxx]

Lol ok I think I got it I had 3 disc I was missing my Microsoft Office Outlook Standard 2003 cd

 

[tipstir]

Wow! You got a Prolant Server now you're cooking with true server, Now are you all set with everything.. I had to crash to zzz land earlier..

 

[xxdanielxx]

yes, Yup I know and i got 3 for free lol. Yes I got eveything setup I had a little trouble with setting up the shared contacts and the calendar but everything is up and running and it is running real good not slow at all. Thanks but do you have any info on getting OWA setup using dyndns.

 

[xxdanielxx]

Also this I am not sure of I do not want to buy another domain but I do have att DSL and I do get a smtp can I set the exchange server to get the mail from ther and give it to the 5 computers

EX:

I will setup 5 different emails and let exchange manage the incoming emails.

I did set the smtp and the login information but I did not see the emails come in.

 

[tipstir]

A buddy of mine was suppose to give me what you had PIII 800Mhz Prolant for free. His company were getting rid of them beige and black cases servers.Although they're heavy and use up a lot of electric was a considering factor. One domain should do it, but DSL from AT&T former SBC Yahoo DSL oh boy good luck with them I them for years from dial-up to DSL and had left them in 2006 which wasn't easy to do. They had tried to charge me $200 bucks for cutting out of the DSL contract. Anyway now with Cable much better. Dyndns you shouldn't really need them since you have a domain account already. OWA should be easy once you got the accounts profiles setup. I had some problems setting up the SMTP Server to Outlook 2003 then to 2007 to pull down my ISP email. Too sometime but I got it to work. What I did is use there *.isp.com as another domain. I don't know if you wanted to do it that way. But that's the only way it was going to work. Alot of the ISP won't let you do it the right way with your own domain. I was able to have intranet mail accounts and extranet accounts setup.

 

[tipstir]

You can use this link if you don't know about to setup the OWA if you need help with it...
http://www.howtonetworking.com/email/oma1.htm

 

[xxdanielxx]

I had some problems setting up the SMTP Server to Outlook 2003 then to 2007 to pull down my ISP email. Too sometime but I got it to work. What I did is use there *.isp.com as another domain. I don't know if you wanted to do it that way. But that's the only way it was going to work. Alot of the ISP won't let you do it the right way with your own domain. I was able to have intranet mail accounts and extranet accounts setup.

Hey can you explain in a little more detail the part in bold. I have a domain but I do not want to use it with this one I would rather have it so that I am pulling the email from my ISP if I can do that. Also I will not being using the domain and since I wont be using that just because it is already in use, can I use dyndns to setup OWA. Thanks

 

[xxdanielxx]

Hey I had a question

I have a speed stream connected to a linksys which is connected to sbs2003 the one I told you

above now I setup dyndns and I have already created the account and set it up on the server

it is updating fine. Now I logged into the server and set port forwarding to 1723 and I also

setup a box that had dyndns.org which wanted me to enter the host, username and password when I did that red text came up saying updated fine. Also I went to a section on the router that had pptp and others which had check on them.

I tried to connect from another location because I know it would not work on the same location but it times out. error 721 could not reach server or does not exists.

 

[xxdanielxx]

Does anyone know how to get exchange to get the email from sbc or now att