Network Overhaul
Hi experts.
I will soon have the opportunity to completely overhaul our biggest customer’s network and I was looking for some general advice and pointers. The network will be Microsoft based (Win 2003 Server, Exchange, ISA etc) No decisions have been made on the number or spec of servers yet. The network will consist of 400 Windows XP PCs with 1600 users in a school environment. All users will have an exchange mailbox, personal home folder and roaming profiles.
Obviously I’m not expecting a detailed spec from this info, I was just trying to get a general idea of how many servers I should have, and what services should run on which servers.
Thanks
I will soon have the opportunity to completely overhaul our biggest customer’s network and I was looking for some general advice and pointers. The network will be Microsoft based (Win 2003 Server, Exchange, ISA etc) No decisions have been made on the number or spec of servers yet. The network will consist of 400 Windows XP PCs with 1600 users in a school environment. All users will have an exchange mailbox, personal home folder and roaming profiles.
Obviously I’m not expecting a detailed spec from this info, I was just trying to get a general idea of how many servers I should have, and what services should run on which servers.
Thanks
Alternative solution.
1 DC/DNS (2003 R2)
2 DC/DNS (2003 R2)
3 File + Print Server (2003 R2)
4 Exchange (Back) (2003 R2)
5.Exchange (Front) (2003 R2)
6 Application Server (Internal) (2003 R2)
7 Application Server (External DMZ)(2003 R2)
8 Storage Server for Roaming Profiles (2003 R2)
9 Layer 3 Switch to break up the 400 users in to smaller broadcast domains? This could also server as your DHCP/DNS.
10 ASA Firewall for DMZ and VPN.
11 RADIUS server for VPN and Wireless.
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This is a big guess but i think its better to start big then cut and consolidate.
1 DC/DNS (2003 R2)
2 DC/DNS (2003 R2)
3 File + Print Server (2003 R2)
4 Exchange (Back) (2003 R2)
5.Exchange (Front) (2003 R2)
6 Application Server (Internal) (2003 R2)
7 Application Server (External DMZ)(2003 R2)
8 Storage Server for Roaming Profiles (2003 R2)
9 Layer 3 Switch to break up the 400 users in to smaller broadcast domains? This could also server as your DHCP/DNS.
10 ASA Firewall for DMZ and VPN.
11 RADIUS server for VPN and Wireless.
--------------------------
This is a big guess but i think its better to start big then cut and consolidate.
ASKER
Thanks for the info so far, looks like i was on the right track. Any ideas about specs for the DCs?
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ASKER
Thanks for the advise guys.
No probs, have fun with the project,.. thanks for the points
Wow... you want general advice and you leave the question open for an hour and close it after two responses? I'll post my thoughts next week (I'll be lucky to be home for more than sleep over the next 3 days - my background includes Windows Admin in a Biomedical research facility 2.5x the size of your organization but still with a number of similarities - and roaming profiles are not good!
Leew. "clap, clap" < that is for you.
Leew makes a very good point. I only had about 600 staff & students to worry about when I managed a school a couple years back, so you'll have even more data to consider and roaming profiles are a two-edged sword.
While they could do without them, in my case some of the students and just about all of the staff were hopeless with computers, so they needed it all EASY... roaming profiles let them have their settings follow them and they could individually customise it enough to be comfortable with finding things, but I'd suggest you look at policy-based folder redirections etc so they don't bloat their profiles with docs and such... one example - saving to 'my documents' always seems like such a good idea but if you don't point it to a network path then it'll stick in the profile and wanna save/load everywhere they go...
...that said, folder redirections can let you do fancy things without roaming profiles too, and there's a few ways to skin the cat... If leew's up to posting any more tips on it then keep it all in mind, eh?
Cheers,
Herb
While they could do without them, in my case some of the students and just about all of the staff were hopeless with computers, so they needed it all EASY... roaming profiles let them have their settings follow them and they could individually customise it enough to be comfortable with finding things, but I'd suggest you look at policy-based folder redirections etc so they don't bloat their profiles with docs and such... one example - saving to 'my documents' always seems like such a good idea but if you don't point it to a network path then it'll stick in the profile and wanna save/load everywhere they go...
...that said, folder redirections can let you do fancy things without roaming profiles too, and there's a few ways to skin the cat... If leew's up to posting any more tips on it then keep it all in mind, eh?
Cheers,
Herb
ASKER
Anymore advise is welcome,!
1. Domain Controller / DHCP / DNS / Backup Media Server
2. 2nd DC / DNS / IAS (RADIUS) Service for Secured Wireless Connections
3. File + Print server
4. Exchange server
5. AV + other administrative tools/consoles (could happily sit on another box... the proxy would be a fair one to use)
6. Proxy / Cache / Web Filter server
7. (optional) Exchange front-end server in DMZ for Webmail + Mobility services... this could run a proxy/cache service as well if you wanted to keep server numbers down
Capacity requirements you'll have to cater for, and if it's a school they always seem to end up with Dell stuff but not necessarily, just consider hardware/software pricing for academic will be better if it's offered...
Also consider virtualising some or all platforms/services if it's going to drive cost down (there'll be a sweet spot when you're better off buying a big vm box instead of x amount of little ones)...
Cheers,
Herb