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- Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.misc
- Path: sparky!uunet!destroyer!gatech!gsusgi1.gsu.edu!gsusgi1.gsu.edu!matwesx
- From: matwesx@gsusgi2.gsu.edu (William E. Sadler)
- Subject: Re: Need help on LAN choice
- Message-ID: <matwesx.720984562@gsusgi1.gsu.edu>
- Organization: Georgia State University
- References: <1992Nov5.141146.4304@tamsun.tamu.edu>
- Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 17:29:22 GMT
- Lines: 47
-
- charath@cs.tamu.edu (R. Charath Ram) writes:
-
- >I'm posting this message for a friend of mine who does not have access to the
- >net. Please post all replies to *MY* address and I will make sure he gets them.
-
- Ok, here goes...
-
- >We anticipate having to increase our system to at most 8 terminals within the
- >next 1 year and then not have much change in requirement for about 2-3 years.
-
- >1. What are the benefits of going in for a peer-to-peer network (LANtastic, etc)
- >as against a dedicated file-server type network (Novell)?
- The LANtastic setup will be much cheaper, probably. I've worked w/ both, and
- either would serve. If you expect much expansion over what you mentioned, you
- might as well go for the novell solution. If not, then LANtastic would be
- fine.
-
- >2. Does a peer -to-peer network necessarily require that all machines have
- >identical capabilities? We are not very keen in investing a lot of money to
- >upgrade our terminals to 386 ATs (or 286 ATs). However, our vendor has assured
- >us that it will not cost us much to upgrade our terminals to diskless Novell
- >workstations (based on 286s)
- No, the stations on the LANtastic system do not have to be the same. I've done
- an installation for a company about the size you're talking about, and all you
- need is a mahine that can take the network card. When setting up LANtastic
- you do not have to make all of the machines available to every other one. You
- can set up only 1 machine as a server, and then you have essentially a novell
- type setup, with the exception that the server is not dedicated, and can be
- used as a workstation as well. Setting up novell, unless you're talking about
- novell lite, will requre a dedicated file server. While its popular these days
- to try and get the biggest fastest machine available for a server, it really
- isn't needed for a network of your size, no matter what they tell you. You
- could get by w/ novell 2.x for a 286 machine as the server, and performance
- would probably be adequate for your # of users.
-
- Drop me a line if you need any more info.
-
-
- --
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