Today I authorised our suppliers to provide a nice new network server (and to configure it and to do the migration from the old one), software, new computer for myself (for work) and some posh printers, I am just praying that we come in within my budget or I will have a problem. On top of that I have told them to change us to broadband and to give Internet access to people such as my manager, fellow assistant manager etc - I wonder how long it will be before they let in a virus!

If it all goes horribly wrong I might just have to take another holiday.

The first question the technical director of our suppliers asked is how we got on with the last one they supplied and installed for us, that would be about five years ago. Hand on heart, the down-time in the five years was less than 2 hours and most of that was last month when I got them to fit a new hard drive as we had a strange noise which sounded unhealthy, I asked for a new hard drive 'just in case'. The network did not crash once in five years, is this a record for a network? We are using Windows NT.

Oh yes, the firewall will be installed and anti-virus, no problem. We don't switch the server off so it doesn't get booted but it will continuously updated, I am fanatical about safety. So far I have kept the Internet to myself but I am finding it tiresome to continuously type e-mails for my boss, it was fine when we first had e-mail as he never used it but now he sends numerous each day and I am not his secretary so he will be able to type his own. Even with the best protection you cannot guard against human error and if they click on something they ought not, well it will happen and if it does they will know it!

Sue. who administers your server? They should be in a position to set the constraints for each user If I can give you an example I have access rights to any part of the Internet for research but there are certain sites that I can only get a reference to - the settings on the Firewall refuses to let me access them even if they are innocent, eg Lottery winning numbers cannot be accessed and any site which refes to the Lottery are barred.
E-mails are scanned twice before we get them and outgoing mails checked for virus' etc. (It even tells you you have referred to an attachment but haven't attached anything did you mean to add an attachment!)

The engineers from our suppliers will configure everything, then I administer the network, a job that I have been doing for five years or more. I haven't messed it up so far.

I don't have any experience of network systems but I expect the usual risks still apply.

My worry these days is the way viruses/trojans (and hijacking agents) can get onto the computer via script embedded in a web page. A firewall won't do much to stop that sort of infection since the Browser has been given permission access the Internet by the user. The same situation exists for the e-mail application. E-mail is easy to make safe though. Just make sure that those using the system are switched to reading messages in plain text. With HTML disabled, embedded nasty script that might harm a computer cannot run.

Regarding the Browser, it is very important check with Windows Update regularly to see if any vulnerabilities need patching.

Internet Explorer seems to comes under attack so much that I prefer not to use it anymore. If IE is being used, it's best to actively look into ways of keeping it safe. (I've never heard of Firefox suffering from Browser hijacking or trojan trouble).

Anyway Sue, I know you are aware of all the problems that can arise regarding security ...and being aware is half the battle.

Agree entirely TW. Sue if you need any advise on Networks I can put No1 Son in touch (He's a network technician at the Council with special responsibilitiy for e-mail and internet connections (If he doesn't know! - he will know a man who does )

Thanks but I wasn't actually asking for assistance, I have not had any problems in the past five or more years that I have managed the network and I have the very best back-up from the people who installed our network, they obviously know our system and would be the first port of call should there be a problem.

Sue, Scary thought! you think you know better than the experts when it comes to computers! Good Luck with yourr new system, you'll need it!

Have no fear, as I said, if I need help then I would immediately contact the people who installed the system, they know it backwards and when I contact them they normally have an engineer with me in about 10 minutes (on a bad day), that is what we pay them for. I don't think that I know better than experts, being a woman, I don't have a problem in asking for directions if lost. What I said was I was not asking for assistance in this thread.

No one has answered the question.

Quote:

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The network did not crash once in five years, is this a record for a network? We are using Windows NT.

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What could the question be if you ARE NOT asking for assistance or looking for an an answe to itr !!! ?

If It's the fact that your system has not suffered any failures for 5 years then I doubt it is true, are you saying that the network hasn't had any computer failures in that 5 years!

I'd think the most reliable system would be the library but even theirs goes down every now and then!

Yes, I am sure it must be some sort of record. Everyone says networks go down, our network doesn't - now it will go down on Monday!

Hmmm, running 5 years without significant down time. Yeah, I bet that's a record. How many systems was this?

It is only a small LAN, the server and 14 work stations. The server was built by a local company using generic parts, they bench tested it for a couple of weeks before installation. I just looked at some blurb and it was installed in 1998. Windows NT just seems very stable, I hope the Windows 2003 is as good. My manager wonders why we pay our maintenance contract, we could have saved a fortune if we paid by the hour.

It is an age since I started this thread, all being well it will all be over by next week, it should have been over by the end of last month, then by the end of this week but first the server hadn't arrived then it was being configured last week and the engineer doing the work has gone sick so I will need to wait until he is back. I did get them to drop my new printer off as I needed a new toner and didn't think it worth paying out on for the sake of a few days - new one is lovely, duplex which is very time/paper saving since I have lots of double-sided printing to do each day.

Watch this space and cross your fingers, I have already discovered that the physical size of the new server is much larger than the old one, I am not sure how I will manage to find space for all my bits in future. I can't wait for my new backup, apparently it will take minutes instead of over two hours.

Yeah! I got the ten minute warning today, the phone call asking if we could take delivery in ten minutes - is the Pope catholic? Oooooh, it looks big compared to our old server, that was just a normal PC with Windows NT, this is a proper server. I don't know how long it will take to do the migration and setting up of the various computers, I am just letting the engineer get on with it and once it is up and running I will take over. Then the fun starts, the boss will have access to the outside world, he will be happy so long as I bookmark his golf club's website so that he can check his tee off time.