UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums General Off Topic Vista & XP Pro filesystems

I've just been landed with Vista business as opposed to the XP pro I asked for.

I have to network it with about 10 XP machines and a couple of ME's. The Vista box is just powering up as I type this.

Anyone had any problems with sharing files etc?
Isn't XP FAT? and Vista NTFS (or something?)

Yes, I know I could (and will) Google - but I'd like to hear personal experiences from you guys if possible

Thank yee one and all....

They all support FAT16, FAT32 but Windows NT,2000,XP,2003,VISTA all should be run using NTFS otherwise there is no file security.

In a Workgroup they will all share files/folders with each other no problem as long as you have Client For Microsoft Networks installed and you actually share a folder. Not great security but better than nothing.

What is the bigger picture here, ie. what do you want to do and accomplish in the long run. Can you share files? Yes very easily. Can you manage the other machines, NO, not easily like you can on a Domain Network. Still possible via some remote scripts and tools but again it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_systems

Thanks for that ntdoc.

File sharing is what I meant. Although, now you mention it... what do you mean by 'manage the machines'?

Determine who can login, when they can login, install software as a policy, modify registry settings remotely, shut down, restart, etc...

On a network you can manage a remote desktop computer almost as though you were sitting at the machine. A lot more work to do anything like it in a Workgroup.

Most small places with 10-15 machines and not a big budget try to make the Workgroup model work for them, but as it starts to get bigger it becomes more difficult to manage when not on a real network.

Yep - that's me



So when you say a 'domain network' - I take it, I would need a server of some sort?

Am I wrong in assuming that a regular pc will function as a server if it's not overtaxed? (ie that small 10-15 machine network.)

Yep most small places do start out using a normal desktop computer as their Server.

But Windows 9x (95,98,ME) Can not join a Windows Domain so you would need to have all 2000,XP,Vista machines. A Windows 95 machine can access resources on the Domain but it can not join like a Window NT class system can.

A starting price though to get into the Windows Server realm is about $1,000 US Dollars

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/howtobuy/licensing/pricing.mspx

But you should have someone on board with a pretty good knowledge of Windows networking otherwise it could be a bit rough.

Starting to make a lot more sense now

Can you suggest why I might need to move to a server/domain system rather than workgroup?

I know that we'd like to run a financial package on our own server but that's a Linux application. Could I use a Linux sever with a windows network? Or wouldn't that make sense?

Yes, do a search on Google for Samba

When or why you would need to be on a server would be up to you. Basically when you get to a point where it is becoming difficult to manage running applications independently and you want to run them from a central location or manage files and permissions from a central location. How many people have a copy of the same file on different PCs and you can't reach it because the PC is off?

Thanks ntdoc. The lightbulb over my head is glowing nicely now

I think that I will have to start looking into this.

Soooh many questions....

I <3 samba; it's how I do filesharing to my CentOS machine... Forgive me if i missed something, I didn't read any of this thread, and was heading to a new one when I saw Samba