Jim Lawrence
accessd at shaw.ca
Fri Mar 23 17:54:05 CDT 2007
Hi John: The reason that I am recommending a server solution as I have a client with a similar mixed group of PCs, with Windows and Linux. They have always had a server since I set one up and 8 years ago and it is easy to connect and mange boxes remotely, with Active directory. The server now has 4GB of RAM and we are planning on adding another 500GB hard drive and moving the old drive on to a LINUX box (ran out of space). To handle applications that are too big for the stations, a remote desktop connection is used. There is an open source 'rdesk' that allows the Linux people to access the Windows 2003 Server. We have even leveraged some of the older boxes by installing 'Ubuntu' Linux. The client's money has gone into keeping the main server 'state-of-art'. When the server hardware/software no longer 'cuts-its' it becomes another Server workstation. Jim -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 2:57 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] Zipcodes within a radius Hi Jim, Yes, in this case it is smaller business. about 30 PCs and Macs with various Unix/NT/W2K/W2k3 servers. And that is a good idea, using a server to do it with but they do not actually own a server (and we've been trying...). Most of the equipment the smaller printing/publishing services use now is leased and come with their own hosting servers/workstations. We still manage all of them for the client but other than security applications they can't install anything else on these machines. So they are basically a peer to peer shop with NAS. Believe me, its not the way I would have them do it. I stopped into this afternoon to check on things and per chance the office manager said to me "things sure are working good around here since you've come." Although its true, I never thought I'd hear out load. Nice to hear, now that we have their confidence maybe we can finally get them to install something a little more manageable! This is an ideal shop for SBS. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 1:57 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] Zipcodes within a radius Hi John: If your customer is a small clients and it sounds like it that is a huge upfront cost... Can not one server, setup do the same? Just a question. Jim -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 10:28 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] Zipcodes within a radius <war story> I'm working with one on a client site (a publishing who also does bulk mailings). They just sent a notice that the next upgrade will require that the user have a DVD reader (as it would take too many CDs to distribute this much information), Pentium 4 and minimum 512MB available RAM (highly recommended 3 GB for good performance). Apparently, according to this company, the USPS has changed it requirements for how programs designate their mailing codes and is now forcing them to use the USPS database directly. (I could get the details and post them if anyone is interested). Upon further investigation the USPS database is approx. 3 GB. So my conclusion is that the only way this company's application runs well with this new requirement is to load the entire USPS database into RAM. This requires a new XP workstation that will be the biggest, fastest computer this clients owns - all for doing bulk mailings via proprietary software and equipment. Previous to this upgrade they had been using the lowest end XP workstation. -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com