[WinMac] Re: Do we need AppleShare

Ralph Wessel, Walker Co-partnership Architects(Ralph_Wessel[at]walker.co.nz)
Tue, 12 Jan 1999 14:19:50 +1300

On Mon, 11 Jan 1999, 1:00:01 AM GMT Rick Kent wrote:

>Is there any big advantage to buying Appleshare IP, or can we just turn on
>file sharing on the machine we designate as our file server?

Rick,

We use AppleShare IP with a mixed 10/100BaseT network of about 30 machines. Using AppleShare IP enables you to:
- Go beyond the 10-user limit imposed by the standard OS (may not affect you)
- Provide better data delivery rates, especially under heavy use
- Share volumes via TCP rather than AppleTalk, which virtually doubles network performance
- Host a web/ftp site and will handle your email and print spooling.

>Also, is this setup likely to be fast enough so we can keep the main copies
>of our application programs on the file server and run them from there,
>thus avoiding multiple machine updates?

You may find that many applications won't work in this way, or they may only allow one person to launch it. Even if they work, I don't see this as beneficial for a small network. Certainly put the installers on the server and run the installation process across the network - saves having to run around with disks.

If you're really serious about this sort of thing, check out Apples latest server offering: MacOS X Server. It's due for release in February (just demoed at MacWorld Jan 5th) and the full hardware/software bundle will cost US$4999. This not only facilitates running apps from the server, but also booting off the server (for G3's). Take a look at:
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/>

Look at what it offers:

  * Scalable File Services that allow over 1,000 concurrent users
    to open and share thousands of documents.
   
  * NetBoot, a service that allows you to store the Mac OS on the
    network volume and lets connected Macintosh computers start up
    from that common version of the OS. That simplifies network
    administration and improves network stability.
   
  * With Mac OS X Server, you get Apache, the most popular web
    server on the market. Apache allows you to set up an Intranet or
    Internet site capable of supporting millions of hits per day.
   
  * WebObjects, the premier solution for serving applications on
     the Internet.

Regards,

Ralph.

  ________________________________
Ralph Wessel (Architectural CAD Manager)
Walker Co-partnership Architects
P.O. Box 5319 Wellesley St, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: 64 9 373 3828
Fax: 64 9 307 0255
Email: Ralph_Wessel@walker.co.nz

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Mon Jan 11 1999 - 17:23:00 PST