So my work got a server for free, i think they got it from some office dumping them since they are upgrading gears.. server is located in the back, and linked running microsoft server 2008 r2.. so the front desk computer is basically running quickbooks, but we want to make a process where the quickbooks is backed up, and a private folder for some downloaded documents,etc, but the rest of the computer, if anything goes wrong i want to make it like the program "deepfreeze" where it reverts all.. is there an easy way to do this? i asked around and they said i need to make an "active directory?" which i have no idea of the server went from an XP with file sharing enabled, and we just moved all the files to the server and enabled file sharing on that, and were trying to use full functionality of the server
*facepalm*... brains already mush =[ edit~ watched some vids and read some stuff on group policies and stuff.. holy crap its amazing!
I dont think you need active directory for a small office environment like this, i would figure out how quickbooks saves its files (what file format and where) and back up that location, if it is like any other program itll probably be in the my documents folder in windows then just back that up to your server i'd recommend setting up your server with some sort of raid cause if you have a hard drive go bad your fucked unless you have another way of backing up on top of your server
^thats easy enough, but is there a way to the server back up just a single folder? and i talked to the other guys who work in the back with me, they said an active directory is needed so the computer in front keeps getting fucked but yeah the hds, already taken care of, i have an os drive, and the drives holding all our stuff thats shared with the network is in a raid-1 mirroring setup
AD would only be good if you want to restrict users to certain things on the desktop so thats probably why they mentioned AD
^the windows home server? the maximum amount of users is 10 which is why were not using it, and 2008rc2 seems to be pretty fast compared to 2003
If you don't need AD (you probably don't), keep the server in the same workgroup as the other computers. Set up a shared folder on the server and map a drive on the client computer. Put the QB company file in that shared folder. Use a USB external drive (or several) to use for backups and/or use an online service for backups. It's best if you use AD for security/policies/pushing software/general management but it's a PITA if you haven't done it before because you have to configure the server and clients. Most people hate having to use a new profile and you'll have to create a profile for each user.
I thought windows had a built in function that allowed you to sync certain folders, in the XP days it wad called "mybriefcase".
