Help with long-term project: installing an intranet

[shant93]

So a friend of mine is an IT guy at a small car dealership, and for now they just have 20 separate computers (PCs). They want to install an intranet system and probably boot from a main server. I do not have many details for the moment, so do not ask too many questions. All I need to know is:

What do I need to know?
Do the computer have to run a linux OS (to minimize costs)?
If yes, which one?
Can I make the interface PHP? (I do not have any GUI programming knowledge, so PHP is my best bet)
What sort of internet service do they need?

Thanks in advance.

[Smith6612]

Just as a heads up, I can interpret "Intranet" as simply a network with servers on it in which client machines will gather information from each other and from the servers. To put it in better words, clients accessing content on local servers instead of the Internet.

As to what you'll need to know, what you're looking for is something called a Thin Client most likely. These remove dependencies on individual PCs for the user and instead uses a central server, similar to "The Cloud" but not to such an extent to deliver a user the user interface and programs they need to get the job done. It packs all of the resources they may need to get the job done. If you've ever seen something such as Citrix, that is basically what you're looking for. All the user needs is a simple device that allows them to attach a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and maybe speakers and any other devices they may need to use to a small box, which delivers data via an Ethernet (or wireless) network to the central server where the heavy lifting is done and then delivered back to the user.

The thin client environment can run on any operating system, Linux or Windows. It's really a matter of what works for you, what your needs are and how you set it up, not so much with the cost.

The Interface in the sense of a thin client will be the same GUI everyone is used to using on their regular PCs, along with the same programs that you all are probably using now unless you switch anything.

Internet connection? Depends on your needs. Most network traffic to a thin client setup will be to a local server in which case a good network inside of the building is needed. IF it is to a remote server that is probably co-located elsewhere, you obviously need a good connection capable of handing 20 different sessions going on at once. Obviously, to do it right the connection will be business class, and it must be reliable none the less and fast enough to handle the needs of the location. Generally, many businesses have T1 lines which provide enough bandwidth to get the job done in most cases, despite the dated speeds of 1.5Mbps/1.5Mbps.

[shant93]

That sounds like a great idea, but they do not have that kind of budget for the hardware purchases required, which means the "dumb" terminals that are optional, and the main server which has to be more powerful.

Is there a way to make a traditional windows network, where anybody can access everybody's files, if they are shared, with restriction settings?

[bhupendra2895]

I recently set up my friends's college's computer lab.We used a 6 in 1 PCI card.We had a powerful system assembled for handling this.With core 2 duo processor, 4 gb ram and gigabyte motherboard.Special LG monitors were used for that purpose.These monitor have PS2 ports for keyboard, network cable port and audio port.
We connected all 5 monitors with one Server CPU and now we had 6 PCs.We installed windows xp and after booting we had 6 system running with 1 CPU and there was no issue of less performance.The task manager was showing 0% CPU usage, even after running microsoft office on all user accounts on 6 terminals there was no performance issue.The PCI card costs around 18000 /- and there is a 10 in 1 version too.
You can try this approach too.This will reduce maintainance cost.No time will be wasted on networking.

---------- Post added at 05:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:46 PM ----------

Edit:-18000/- means indian rupees and 1/- = 50US$.

[Smith6612]

That sounds like a great idea, but they do not have that kind of budget for the hardware purchases required, which means the "dumb" terminals that are optional, and the main server which has to be more powerful.

Is there a way to make a traditional windows network, where anybody can access everybody's files, if they are shared, with restriction settings?

Well, let's go down the list. First of all, I'm sure the cost would come more from the terminals initially than it would from the server. The server by the way doesn't need to be something extremely expensive or fast to manage general use. Unless the employees are honestly running games on the PCs or are all browsing YouTube or anything heavy, you can easily set up a Quad Core machine (Q6600?) stuffed with RAM and a fast hard drive to handle everything. Heck, in some places where public PCs are available, I've seen 4-6 terminals run just fine off of an old PC running a Pentium 4 CPU @2.6Ghz with 1GB of RAM with each terminal operating through a USB Interface. A bit sluggish whenever someone opened something really big, but definitely nothing painful especially when just casually browsing the Internet or editing documents. Of course with such a setup, you need to restrict things such as shut down or standby so that they do not bring down the entire box for everyone.

There is a way to do this through each computer. You right click the folders you wish to share, go to Properties, Sharing and from there, you can click Advanced Sharing and configure permissions from there. Honestly, this can become a headache for IT. File servers don't need to be anything high end. Heck, if money is really tight, just find a junk PC (Pentium II/Pentium III machines) and put a large enough hard drive on it. Patch up everything, secure it the way you want and set up a "Public" share on the junk PC. When people log into their PCs, you can set up the user's PC to automatically map the share as if it were a network drive and thus, make it a public share that anyone can edit, or individual people as needed.

[shant93]

Thanks for your replies everyone, the problem is that I have not even seen their setup yet, so I'll have to delay any decisions 'till then.

[Smith6612]

Alright. If you can describe their setup a bit more, that would be great.