Hi,
I am seeking some advice on the benefits of moving from a peer-to-peer network to a domain setup for my current situation.
Currently I oversee 2 branches for my company and I am finding the administration of both locations (not connected over WAN…yet…) very time consuming. Both locations have a peer-to-peer network setup but I am considering going for a domain configuration.
Here are some details of what we are operating with at each branch:
Branch #1
1 store server – win server 2003
1 host server – win server 2003
1 accounting server – win server 2003
20 workstation users – win xp pro
17 sale terminals
Branch #2
1 store server – win server 2003
1 accounting server – win server 2003
13 workstation users – win xp pro
11 sale terminals
Recently I have noticed a lot of network congestion at both branches and suspected it was partly due to the peer-to-peer configuration.
Data security is pretty important and I perform nightly backups on all data, plus weekly backups to an off-site location. I am proposing to invest in another server to act as a file/backup server because at the moment data is scattered on various workstations.
Costing is not a huge issue but if I could use existing hardware to supplement my needs that would be great too.
Thanks in advance.