Recipe for a real small business server that will provide basic file and printer services for up to ten workstations.

1. Obtain hardware by repurposing a relatively up-to-date workstation or buy an inexpensive server from Dell or HP (or a refurbished small server).
2. Install standard copy of Microsoft Windows XP Professional
3. Create a Data folder Share it.
4. Install printer(s) Share it/them.
5. At each workstation, map a drive letter to the shared folder.
   MAP G: \\server\data
6. At each workstation go into the printers folder, select “Add new printer” and select the server printer.

Don’t use this machine as a workstation. Put it off in a corner somewhere.
Replace in two years.

Ok…so it is mid-afternoon on Monday, and I have spent parts of the past three days transfering our five workstations to Small Business Server 2003. And my overriding conclusion, is…this would be a very cool solution for a small business creating a new office, or a larger business establishing a new office. In other words, it is great if you can start from scratch. Otherwise, if you have to move things over from another combination of server/router/IP connection, it gets ugly.

I think the ideal would be to purchase a new server from Dell or HP with SBS installed. Be sure that this server has two network connections, thereby allowing the machine to serve as the office firewall. Set up the server and then set up the workstations, and I hope that they are new workstations, because the migration to a new domain will cause headaches, as the File and Transfer Settings Wizard is highly unreliable when dealing with important things, like…oh…your OutLook rules, and your OutLook eMail.

Finally, give up on centralized virus management, if using Symantec Anti-Virus, and just install the workstations as unmanaged. SBS’s default for the Windows XP Firewall, is to nail it down in the group policy, so you can’t turn it off at the workstation. And you have to be a local administrator on the workstation, (thereby eliminating a lot of the advantage of ratcheded down security policy) to be able to take advantage of things like the automated client installation of programs from the server to the workstations.
Also, while there may be some advantage to using Exchange as an eMail server, it seems to add another layer into chain of eMail, when you have existing POP accounts.

SBS wants it all. It has to be the first server in the domain. You must have DNS installed, and the server has to be the default DNS server listed in the IP settings for the workstations. (This DNS issue is the same with any Windows 2003 server using Active Directory as far as I can tell). Your life will be easier, if you are not attempting to integrate an external router, as SBS 2003 would prefer also, to be the router, the firewall, and DHCP server.

So what do you get with SBS 2003?

• A very nice server management interface
• A SharePoint server which looks very good for managing all kinds of internal business, such as document management with versions, a help desk application, and form repository. This is essentially an “internal” web site.
• Exchange, if you want it, for eMail, and also for group scheduling
• Microsoft OutLook 2003, (same as included in Office).
• 5 client (workstation) licenses
• A shared fax server, if you have a modem in the server, and a spare phone line. (who needs this? ) You can allocate faxes to eMail boxes.
• Windows 2003 server
• Terminal Services (in Management Mode)
• VPN and Remote Access

Like all server software, the more users and workstations that are spread out over the installation, the more cost-effective the installation will be. The basic list price for SBS is somewhere between $450 – $700. The basic server comes with 5 user access licenses.

On top of this, you need to have an Anti-Virus program. Most sites will have an external router, from Linksys or DLink.

At TFNP world headquarters, we’re not out of the woods yet. The UPS is still beeping, and the USB connection to the new server from the UPS doesn’t appear to be working. The Windows Update service is perpetually saying that we need to install updates, but they are always the same updates. I haven’t figured out how to use the VPN connections yet. But we do have a nice new (old…repurposed workstation), as our server which is running quietly, has working on/off switches, and a case which is completely enclosed.

I admit, I was a little surprised. I was thinking that the SBS setup would be considerably less involved than a Linux server with SAMBA, which has also got a lot of bits and pieces to get right.

I don’t know if anyone remembers what it used to be like when you installed a program on your computer. The steps were:
1. Unzip program into a folder
2. Start using program.

And from an old article in Network World:

First, where did the registry come from? Microsoft introduced it in Windows 95 to get away from INI file hell. Back in Windows 3.X days, system settings were stored in dozens of separate INI files, and figuring out which setting was stored where could be difficult. Thus it was that Microsoft, in its wisdom, invented something even more complicated: the registry.

I know it is churlish to ask…but what is wrong with editing an ASCII file to find out how a particular program works, or to change a parameter?

Anyway, I find it particularly irritating to have to create a new desktop profile (in effect…a whole new user registry) for the same person, on the same machine, if they are going to move that machine to a new domain.

And so it is this weekend. Given a rainy Saturday and an unexplained beeping on my old server, I decided that this really is the time to change to our new Windows 2003 Small Business Server. So, I’m running the “Files and Settings Transfer Wizard” on all four attached machines to see to it that as many files and settings are indeed transferred.

With all the hype about the successor version of Windows XP: Windows Vista, the Operation System You’ll Never Need, with Features You Never Asked For one hopes that some of the insane effort required to manage desktop machines in a networked setting will be addressed. Please Bill….we’re asking for it. A new toolbar and 3D views may be nice, but managing desktops and occasionally attached laptops should be Job 1.

The following requirements are paraphrased/modified from a feature comparison of eBase, a free non-profit management database application that is written using FileMaker Pro . These strike me as a good start for determining what information needs to be managed when dealing with donors and volunteers. A couple of additional thoughts:

• The requirements are very broad, and to handle everything in one system is probably unusual. For example, a good event-management system is itself an ambitious stand-alone program.
• This set of requirements has nothing to do with service delivery. Depending on clients, activities, and reporting requirements to regulators and funders, you may have a separate system that handles that aspect of your business.

Contact Mangement

• Multiple locations with address, eMail and URL
• Links between contacts
• Action scheduling and assignment to staff
• Demographics
• Special roll, as board member, volunteer, donor, etc.

Donation management

• Date, amount, deductible
• Gift acknowledgement, batches and individual
• Association of gifts to campaigns, solicitations, or events
• Income summary by campaign, solicitation or event
• Online donation processing

Pledge management

• Current outstanding pledge balance
• Automatic and customized pledge payment scheduling
• Transactions related to a particular pledge

Membership management

• Find lapsed members
• Calculate member status: expired, grace, current

Volunteer and Activist management

• Volunteer interests, action and availability
• Association of actions to solications and events

Event management

• Create events or conferences
• Allow registration to events
• Manage seating and room assignments
• On-line registrations
• Printing of name tags
• Create event packages: single-day, multi-day, with or without meals/receptions
• Interface to hotel system
• Manage speakers, staff, VIPs
• Managing pricing, “early-bird” registrations

Data entry and import

• Keyboard shortcuts for common tasks
• Import basic gift and donor data from other systems

Mail and Email

• Personalize bulk eMail
• Automatically mange eMail and subscription lists
• Track eMail correspondance with database contacts
• Target mailings to subset of database
• Mail-merge letters and labels
• Analyze effectiveness of mailings

Reporting and search features

• A variety of standard reports
• Ability to create custom reports
• Export ability to Excel or data formats
• Store custom search criteria (queries)
• Store custom search results

1. Surveymonkey surveys doesn’t work in FireFox. I was about to take a survey, and couldn’t check the checkboxes.

2. Turns out that the FEMA web site doesn’t work correctly, with non-IE web browsers. Here is a funny discussion about the problem, FEMA to Mac, Linux Users: drop dead. Hurricane victims who attempted to register with FEMA were unable to do so, unless they were running a Windows computer, using Internet Explorer.

3. Our local library (whose staff, work, and contents I cherish, and will therefore not further identify or embarrass) has a web site that only works in IE. When I asked the director why this was the case, she said, “the site is maintained by a staff member who received training in a particular piece of software.” (probably FrontPage). Anyone using a non-Windows computer, will have difficulty with this web site.

Where there is a problem, there is are also solutions. Two examples from Macromedia:

1. Macromedia Contribute is a web site builder which does not require knowledge of html code. Works on Macs, and Windows computers. FrontPage users that have run into compatibility problems should take a look at this product.

2. Macromedia Dreamweaver is a sophisticated web site builder that creates web sites compatible with multiple browsers.

Especially for academic and non-profit sites, browser agnosticism is a positive.

Other web/internet tool ideas:

Build your own mail-in web forms with the Form Assembly Project.

Article from Ars Technica describing a self-booting CD which can be used for creating a public computer lab stations.

Discussion of Public Web Stations set up for Katrina.

Allnetic Time Tracker allows you to break down time into projects, tasks and subtasks, and then rolls up the time into totals.

I’ve been using TraxTime for years. My only beef was that there was no way to effectively separate billable time from non-billable time and still keep accurate running totals. But it has a totally butt-simple interface.

Updates 10/7/2005
TraxTime is now in version 4.x and now can deal with billable and non-billable time, at the time segment level. For example, if you put in 1 hour for a project, and then enter a second hour, but only want to bill for one hour, you can flag one of the entries as non-billable. This was the main reason for me looking elsewhere for a time tracking program. Upgrade cost from version 3.x to 4.x is $20.00.

Allnetic has crashed repeatedly on my Windows XP machine. I don’t know if it is conflicting with other desktop programs (like Konfabulator). I received a note back from their tech support, saying they know about the problems and are working on it.

Article from Linux Journal.

I finally decided that I can’t stand the bouncy keyboard on my Dell Inspiron laptop 8500. Especially after the unit has been on a while, the keyboard will jump all over the place. After going through diagnostics from the Dell web site, and finding out that the laptop was a year out of warranty, I called the tech support people, and they gave me two choices: 1. Send the unit back to Dell, for repair of the keyboard, for $199.00 or 2. order a keyboard from the spare parts department for $19.95. I went with #2. We’ll see how it goes when the keyboard arrives.

The machine is two years old. Just about the “average” life of a laptop.

The Online Guide to Mediation includes referrals to audio podcats of mediation tips, and alternative dispute resolution and mediation resources.