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Question

Setting up small business network

Jan 15, 2015 2:33PM PST

Hello

I have been approached by someone to help out with his small business network. It has already been setup but it would seem the previous IT guy made a bit of a mess of it.

Anyway, I have only experience with adminitering networks and little to no experience with setting up or troubleshooting them to any large degree. I know what needs to be done but unsure how to go about it. I have told him this and he is happy for me to learn on the job and understands that it may be a much longer process than normal. Hes needs arent that great and I think he just needs someone he knows he can trust to administer the network every once in a while who knows the network once its running as it should.

So im basically on a reasearch mission at the moment to find out what I need to focus on and how to configure certain apects of the network, so any advise/helpfull resources anyone can provide would be appreciated.

Now because of the issues he had with the previous "professional" he employed (and he was a proffessional) I dont think theres much of a budget to speak of. At the moment he has a 10/12 computer network and VOIP. The computers only have windows XP installed and I have advised he needs to upgrade them as there is no way they will be able to handle windows 7. I beleive he has one pc capable of running windows 7 which is the one I will be working with for now. The server has exchange installed on it and is also used for file sharing. WSUS is also setup on the server but is currently not working so i guess I will have to do that from scratch. The switch/router is made by zyxel, im not that familiar with network hardware but im pretty sure this is a budget brand?

Theres probably plenty of information I have missed so any questions please ask. Im pretty sure I know enough to manage this but having not done anything like this before Im just worried im going to misconfigure somthing and wreck the network due to my in inexperience. So any guides/resources you can advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your time

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Setting up small business
Jan 15, 2015 5:38PM PST
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Answer
I'll disagree.
Jan 16, 2015 12:36AM PST

The prior IT person was likely trying to make do with all the gear and XP they had. The result could be they were victims of trying too hard to make do. Makeshift is fine but some expect miracles with dated gear.

Today I forget Windows 7 and prior as we always have Classic Shell to give us back the start menu. I guess those that sell Windows 7 machines and such love to read folk that want to stick with that OS so over the years you learn to move to the current version (Vista, well, that was worth skipping.)

I'd ditch WSUS until you have time for the Microsoft Server Training. I don't know if you are seeing folk that think that such training can be had in a reply to one question or on a sheet of paper. That is, yes, I'm running into folk that think everything can be answered in a smart phone text message (140 characters!)

--> What needs changing? What's not working?
Bob