What OS is the best to use if you have more than 15 computers?

Question

Hi, our company currently have more than 15 computer running, and right now they are all connected through a so called "Server" but it uses Windows Professional as it's operating system. As you know Windows Professional has a limit of 10 simultaneous connections when it comes to sharing its resources, i.e. hard disks, and printers. Now, we are having problems in connecting more than that 10 computer limits, its will say: "No more connections can be made to this computer. There are as many connections the computer can handle". Do you guys have any thoughts about this?. should we buy a windows server 2003?, and how many computer can it handle??.. We are planning on adding more computers, and the server should handle the simultaneous use of it's hard disk, and printers among the network workgroup.. thanks

Answer 1

I administer a small Windows network (25 XP Pro PCs) at my place of business. I have been using CentOS (derived from RedHat Enterprise Linux) with Samba (server app for Windows shares) for a few years now with essentially no problems.



If you're adventurous you can even use Samba to host an NT domain and do authentication through the single box.



Linux in general will run on pretty much any hardware which will probably be the limiting factor as to how many clients it can handle. (The software has no limit, though it's also possible your network connection would be the bottleneck.) I am running a dual Opteron system with 600gb SATA RAID5 array and I imagine I could handle 10-20x the number of clients that it currently does.

Answer 2

Hey, Sounds like Windows Server 2003 would be the ideal operating system in your situation.



When calculating the amount of connections the computer can handle there are a few limiting factors

1) The hardware inside the server (Memory, CPU, Disk Speed)

2) How many roles the server is holding (Domain Controller, Exchange Email, File Server, Print Server, DHCP, DNS, Etc would require more power)

3) Licensing. Microsoft server products are licensed either per user or per concurrent connection.





I would recommend Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Small Business Edition, just make sure you buy enough licenses to allow 15 computers to connect to it.



Your other option would be to buy or download a free copy of a Linux operating system, it would be compatible with your windows professional computers and would require less hardware resources. If all you are doing is hosting files in a central location, this would probably be the ideal. Remember linux can be a little trickier than windows, especially the initial installation. You may want to consider hiring an expert if it doesn't outweigh the cost of just purchasing a windows server.



I would not recommend installing the new operating system on the existing server. Convince your company to spend a couple thousand dollars and buy the server preloaded from Dell or another vendor. They may even offer an affordable service for them to come out and help you configure it.



Hope this was of assistance.

Answer 3

15 Pounds. Yes certainly. It is likely one of the such a lot stablest Operating System. No have got to even turn on it. Very Stable and good valued at 15 kilos. It has been one of the most rather well Operating Systems in Microsoft's latest beyond. It has been good proven through Users / Abusers / Developers and so on and all of the Service Pack required are already there. Most Drivers required for it are already there as are the more than a few methods that can be utilized with it.

Answer 4

You should definitely check out Linux. As far as a server goes, Samba is the best, and most major businesses use Linux for all of their computer needs, plus, everything that has to do with Linux can rival if not out do anything Windows or Mac have to offer, and its all for FREE. You should browse google or go to this site http://distrowatch.com/ to find a version of Linux that works for you and your business.



Viva La Open Source!

Answer 5

use your existing xp proffesional, instead install a server software on your master xp ----check this out--->http://www.ezbluesoftware.com/ --> cheap alternative.



But i recommend a windows 2003 server os as they are designed together.(almost same gui) should you expand further.

Answer 6

does not seem to be linked to the OS type, but a simple license issue.

Increase your license and it should be OK.