Ed,

Wow! Great post. That one goes into my permanent reference file.

Dave

>I'm not comfortable peer-to-peer IAC, especially with Win9x in the mix. I would absolutely insist on no Win95 under any conditions; the risks of a Win95 box acquiring the status of browse master for the peer-to-peer network is nasty. I'd certainly want my primary station hosting the data to be running Win2K of some flavor or XP Pro, and do it on an NTFS volume; with light app loading and a reliable disk system and a few registry hacks, and UPSes on each and every PC and network hub/router. I'd push hard for the primary box running Win2K Server, even as a member server in a Workgroup environment, just to get the disk fault tolerance, as well as Quality of Service monitoring on the LAN. the option of AD, and the greater reliability of Win2K Server in hybrid situations providing WINS server services to pre-Win2K systems.
>
>No "Windows Printers" like the HP 1100/2100. Period. Solid NICs - you don't need to spend a lot - NetGear, Intel and a number of other vendors sell 10/100 NICs for under $30 each. I want a name brand model with a solid history. Spares on hand - a couple of NICs, a spare hub, some spare patch cords, a servicable PS/2 style keybaord and rodent on handa grubby old 14" or 15" MultiSync (not MultiSpeed) monitor. Extra laser printer drum/toner or inkjet cartridges on-hand for each printer. If you have software that must use a modem to connect (some bank/credit card processing packages mult go through dial-up, at least one other PC in-house with a modem you already tested to make sure it works. More than 3 gnerations of tape - I have most clients with a 5 day wotk week, a 21 tape backup set - a daily tape Monday thrgh Thursday, 5 Friday tapes, one for each possible Friday in the current month, and 12 end-of-month tapes - you can go back a week to end of day, a month to each previous end
>of week, and a year to the last end of month tape. If there's no local office supply or computer warehouse store nearby, other spares - a spare video card, a 20-30GB IDE drive already set up with the basic "server" OS installed on it ready to go - plug and chug; replace the drive, grab last night's backup tape, boot, run the restore program and go. Cheap insurance to have a $100 drive all ready to go with the 'server' OS and tape backup/restore software already on it.
>
>All the original CDs for the software are locked in a desk somewhere, and if someone 'borrows' a CD to install the software, they ckeck it out, like a library card
>
>I'd disable optimistic locking, increase the base number of serviced simultaneous sessions at once, and disable delayed writes (write caching) on the dritical volumes. I'd also make sure NOONE enabled hibernation/standby modes, and completely disable power management governed disk spindown after a period of inactivity unless it's a laptop operating only on battery power. An automated backup schedule, using tape media capable of backing up the whole 'server' including registry data and Windows configuration is a must. Everything runs on a UPS = no printers connect to the UPSes, though. I'm a big fan of Trend Micro's TVCS solution for antivirus - ServerProtect run at the server and Trend's OfficeScan set up to use the server to manage the acquisition of virus pattern and program updates every couple of hours with both push and pull synchronization. A Firewall - not just a router with NAT - is a good idea for managing the network hub/internet router tasks; both NetGear (Bay Networks)
>and LinkSys offer solid product for this role.
>
>I hate Norton AV - I like Trend and Panda, with Trend being my first choice. I check for updates at least every 4 hours - at home, it's every two.
>
>I point out that they can spend the extra money now and not have the worries, or they can spend it later and shell over a fair chunk to a consultant
>
>Enven paranoids have enemies!