SBS2000

[bakersdozen]

Anyone has experience of small business server? I'm looking at a company less than 10 workers so it fit's in terms of size and budget. I can't help but think it's a bad idea to have exchange, firewall, SQL, DC and file server on one box. Hacking? DR? Full functionality or not? etc etc..

[AtW]

use free software to save money - no need to pay MSFT tax at all. I've got SBS 2000 -- you don't need to run all stuff on one box (or so I believe), info: www.microsoft.com/sbserve...efault.asp

Security wise you always taking rish with MSFT, btw, beware that this product may be discontinued soon -- you might get no support.

[RobAnt]

Consider Novell's Small Business Suite 6 - ideal for small businesses with less than 50 employees. Cheaper than MS SBS, more flexible & includes 2 server licences, so you can run Border Manager firewall (included) on a separate PC if you wish.

[AtW]

yeah but there is no database there and Novell is prime candidate to die very shortly -- unless you already deep into it, there is no point to link yourself to failing company. If you want cheap stuff then use Open Source software.

[RobAnt]

Sorry, no database? Wrong - Pervasive SQL is included with Netware 6 & this is included with SBS6.

Product Description for NetWare 6

Ooo & look, Apache & Tomcat are included too. With SQL that makes it a great web development platform too.

Quick Look at Novell Small Business Suite 6 Which includes links to its embedded products.

There are still more NetWare corporate sites than Microsoft, and that won't change for many years, if it ever does. The product is simply too strong.

Active directory simply cannot compete with NDS in my view.

But I don't want to get into a "this is better than that type argument", it isn't productive. It's a matter of horses for courses, and I believe the Novell product is a more than worthy contender.

Misguided, poorly informed people have been announcing the death of Novell since version 1984. Personally, I think Microsoft is more likely to implode - and if you don't think that can happen - just take a look at what's happening to MacDonald's.

Certainly Linux and other unix based NOS's offer another alternative.

[AtW]

> Sorry, no database? Wrong - Pervasive SQL is included
> with Netware 6 & this is included with SBS6.

I said no _database_ how many people you know support and develop for it? this is marginal database that 0.01% of market is using if that. I dont like MSFT SQL server that much, but support wise and market share wise they are a much better bet. If you want to save money then use MySQL or Posgres SQL.

> Ooo & look, Apache & Tomcat are included too. With SQL
> that makes it a great web development platform too.

oh great, but why would yuo want to pay for something you can get for free directly?

> Quick Look at Novell Small Business Suite 6 Which
> includes links to its embedded products.

> There are still more NetWare corporate sites than
> Microsoft, and that won't change for many years, if it ever
> does. The product is simply too strong.

product is hard to get rid of once you invested heaving in it. Novell is slowly and surely dieing. I used Novell 3.11 and it was great for its time, but now WinNT works just fine with less hassle and less risk.

> Active directory simply cannot compete with NDS in my
> view.

Sure, but Active directory is under development, and Novell firing people right and left - long term they will lose due to lack of development.

> But I don't want to get into a "this is better than that type
> argument", it isn't productive.

well, market shares are pretty much hard facts

>Misguided, poorly informed people have been announcing
> the death of Novell since version 1984.

I never predicted its death back then, and I've been using Novell Netware since very early 90s. Now I can clearly see that there is no point to bet on Novell because its a dead end. They have no unique selling point anymore.

> Personally, I think
>Microsoft is more likely to implode - and if you don't think >that can happen - just take a look at what's happening to
>MacDonald's.

Macdonalds has competition - its a matter of minutes to make a burger, but it takes $1bln to write operating system , yet alone maintain backwards compatibility.

[DimPrawn]

see www.microsoft.com/sbserver/evaluation/overview/faq.asp

Note that you can only install SBS on one server, which means your whole business infrastructure (mail, database, web server, etc) is on one box.

That would put me off a bit.

Sounds like a great deal though in terms of pricing.

[AtW]

small businesses do not need real-time failover -- good backup will do just fine, so i wont say its a big problem.

[RobAnt]

Active directory is under development

This statement would seem to indicate that NDS wasn't under further development. Not true.

NDS is, of course, a more mature, tried and trusted system.

All companies go through changes from time to time, and comparing Microsoft with Novell on the basis of staffing levels and share prices simply isn't realistic. MS have many more products, and many more customers, so more people are aware of them.

Familiarity with a brand name means that many people make choices based on what they think they would be most comfortable with.

I used Novell 3.11

:lol Perhaps you would change your mind if you had more recent experience of Novell's products.

[RobAnt]

small businesses do not need real-time failover -- good backup will do just fine, so i wont say its a big problem.

Try telling that to a business with 10-50 people sitting round doing nothing for one or two days on full pay unable to much, if any, work.

Of course, that's not really applicable in this case of less than 10 users, but in a more general sense....