Locality Switch

If you’re a not for profit group in Australia (such as Community Radio), and can’t quite afford to buy the software you need, then this is for you! DonorTech is a organisation which provides software and hardware to not for profit groups for a tiny sum of money:

DonorTec provides donated software and hardware from companies such as Microsoft and Cisco to eligible Australian non profit groups with Income Tax Exempt Status (ITE). Via this program you can get the latest products each year e.g. Microsoft Windows Vista

If you’re strapped for cash, then this is just what you need. No more *cough* illegal software. No more borrowing that copy of XP from a friend. This is the real deal!

Their catalog of software is extensive: from Windows XP and Vista through to Windows Server 2008, Office 2007, Expression Web, etc. The list goes on. There is also a great list of hardware from Cisco, but at the time of writing, they don’t have any readily avaliable.

However, there are certain rules, particularly in regards to the Microsoft products. You can only order once a year, and but within a 24 month period, you can not order more than six software titles, and you can not order more than fifty licenses for each title.

There’s also a couple of other gotchas, but overall it is a very nice program. Did I mention how much they charge for their products? Windows XP costs $11 per licence, and Windows Server 2008 only costs $48. CALs also sell for around $3.

How can they do this? All of the software and hardware is donated by the suppliers.

The key to this is: planning. You need to plan not only how many licenses for each product you will need now, but also in the next 24 months. Develop a long-term strategic plan. But remember, plans are only guesses; I think it is best to over-order slightly, to cover all bases.

Finally, you need to ensure you have an ATO recognised Income Tax Exemption (ITE). Luckily, our government makes it very easy to check out your accreditation status through the web.

Yesterday I briefly outlined the benefits of using an Active Directory, and explained some advantages of the features such as Group Policy and DFS Replication.

This is all very well and good, but by now I’m sure you’re wondering how you can get started with all of this. You have two options:

1. Hire someone with knowledge on the platform (like me!)
2. Start learning it all yourself

Option one is for anyone who really wants a top class network without too much hassle. I would recommend this option if you don’t want to spend hours upon hours of learning Windows Server, practicing, throwing it away and starting again, etc. It is the sensible option.

Option two is for people like me who love to learn something new, and can really commit themselves to learning all there is to learn about Windows Server. It’s not for the faint hearted, nor for those who don’t have the time. I also must say that you don’t want to learn about Windows Server if you don’t have any knowledge of computer networking concepts, etc.

How do you start learning Windows Server?

The first thing to do would to download the evaluation copy of Windows Server 2008, and install it on a spare PC, or a virtual machine. Have a play and fiddle around. It can be run for up to 120 days, and after that you can reinstall to keep playing with it.

Then, you really need to start going through a set of structured lessons which covers the platform, concepts, technologies, jargon, and so on. There’s heaps of people who will sell you video lessons on the subject matter. However, I suggest you take a look at the offerings from Train Signals. Train Signal offer an eight video set on Windows Server 2008, which takes you through all the basics, and then some of the more advanced stuff. It is all downloadable, and costs nothing!

After you have completed their series, you will then have the knowledge to go through all of the other roles in Windows Server, and learn it yourself, with the aid of the internet.

If you want other some website to read with articles on Windows Server, I suggest you look at Windows Networking, Windows IT Pro and Techrepublic. They’re all usually a great read.

I wish you well with your quest to learn about Windows Server. Remember, don’t apply anything to a real live network until you are confident you know what you are doing. If in doubt, consult someone with some experience in the matter.

In computers, centralised management is great. Centralised management of all your users and computers can save you both time and sanity. If you’re running more than a few computers, then you really need to start thinking about ways to centralise everything. You need a directory.

A directory is where details are stored about objects. One example of an object could be a user. Another could be a computer. You get the picture?

Each operating system has a different flavour of directory. On Mac, you have Open Directory (through OS X Server). On Linux, there is Samba. Windows has Active Directory. Each one of these really shares a common protocol, which is LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol).

Thing is, a directory by itself is very boring – all it does is store objects. How dull.

A directory gets exciting when you add in extra features which make managing these objects much more easier. Today I’m going to explain the advantages of using Active Directory technologies. I’m focusing on AD rather than other platforms because it is what I am farmiliar with, and I know how well it can work and how much potential it has to make your life easier.

Starting from the top: Active Directory is a directory service built into the Windows Server platform (e.g. Windows Server 2008). It is the fundamental way Windows server-client networks are structured – if at work you log on to a domain, then you are really logging on to an Active Directory (99% of the time).

A domain allows anyone to logon to any computer, and have all their settings and preferences come with them. This is one of the key advantages to installing an Active Directory network. If you have more than a few computers on your network, you should seriously be considering an Active Directory.

Active Directory is great because it has extra functinality designed specifically to manage Windows clients. Such functionality includes Group Policy, NTFS domain security, Windows Server Update Services, software deployment and Domain File Services. Each one plays a very specific role, and all of them can be useful to you.

Group Policy would have to be my favourite management tools. In a nutshell, it allows you to configure settings (policies) to groups of people. Want to define one set of settings for every Internet Explorer browser in the building? Group Policy can do that. Want to define a common desktop background? Group Policy can do that. Want to have a set of mapped drives for just your office staff? Group policy can do that.

Group Policy is great for security because you control every aspect of every computer. I would go so far to say there are no limits to the power of Group Policy – if a certain restriction isn’t built into Group Policy, you can write it yourself!

Active Directory also allows you to deploy software to groups of computers. Have you just bought a site licence for some office-productivity package, and need to install it on 15 computers? Set it up on your Active Directory, and the software will install automatically on the next restart of each computer.

Another great thing about Active Directory is that you can setup distributed file storage between multiple servers, using Domain File Services Replication (DFS Replication). This is great if you have more than one server, because you can set up it to automatically sync files so if one server goes down, the other one will take over. This is awesome in radio, because you don’t have to go off air of one computer crashes!

Six hundred words about Active Directory, and I haven’t scratched the surface! All of this is great, if you know how to install and configure it all properly. That’s why I’ve decided to share some tips with you tomorrow about how to start learning about the Windows Server platform. Then, next week I hope to share with you some tips on how to get all of this software really cheap, assuming that you are a non-profit organisation, of course.

Make sure you check back tomorrow!