[H-GEN] AN OFFBEAT QUESTION

[Gary Price (ICT)]

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From: "Rick Phillips" <rickp at universal.net.au>
To: <general at lists.humbug.org.au>
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: [H-GEN] AN OFFBEAT QUESTION


> >Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of Windows 2000 Pro
>     >clients which can be connected to a Win2000 Pro machine being used as
a
>     >file server?  I have heard that 10 is the limit.
>
> The server in question here is Win2kpro (workstation version) not a
> server version.  The Win2k pro "server" is a simple file server in a
> supermarket situation which has just exploded in size from 8 to 18
> machines including checkouts which all now sit on the network live.  The
> checkouts used to stand alone and data was dumped at the close of
> business.  Their grocery manager program runs software clients on each
> machine which access common database files on the server.  There is a
> Linux (Mandrake) box on the network which drives their satellite
> internet connection.

Rick
from your description the installation would be in breach of  licence.
They would need to install W2k Server. This costs some thousands of dollars,
and you need to buy sufficient client licences (they come in batches of 5).
Also a UPS, a different antivirus protection, backup etc etc.
Whether you can replace the function of the W2K machine with Linux depends,
among other things, on whether the
database app you mentioned has a server that runs on the machine holding the
database files. If so, that server
would need to be portable to Linux. This situation is probably a common one,
eg, among small growing organisations -
mediacl centres, real estate agents etc. Usually they are not prepared for
how much it will cost to
expand their network to cope with growth. Good luck.

Gary Price


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