Networking Your Office Computers

Whether you are a startup business or a small to midsized business, if you have two or more computers, you need to consider networking. The timesaving advantages of being able to instantly share your documents with each other far outweighs the small investment to put your office on intranet (not to mention Internet). There are many networking schemes and Programs, each with a little different approach, however, because of the shear numbers, we will not discuss them here. I will keep to basics and try to help you understand the differences between the two main models, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the Client-Server model. How your company operates and what security you require will decide which model is right for you.

P2P
The Peer-to-Peer model, more well known as a LAN or Local Area Network, is the easiest to install and maintain. Unlike the Server-Client model, it does not require daily maintenance, so there is no need for a trained specialist, commonly referred to as a CNE. A small or start-up business can set up a LAN and take advantage of a networking environment with very little investment. The P2P allows file sharing between computers with a limited ability to provide security.

The positive side to P2P networks are their low investment and low maintenance. The downside to this model is that each user stores their work on their computer. As others need to review the work, add or make changes, versions may get spread across several computers, making it hard to consolidate the changes. With the P2P, a process has to be designed to insure the work passes from user to user in a way that keeps it intact. The speed of the P2P network can often times be faster than the Server-Client because the Server client can experience a slowdown as more people are requesting things from it at the same moment.

In the last P2P network I worked with, the boss's computer and the bookkeeper's computer were password protected so that the employees could not gain access, while the other nine computers were, in general, available to all the employees.

Client-Server
The Client-Server model affords a strong Intranet security with file and record locking. While the P2P allows the administrator to decide who has access to each computer and to each directory within a computer, the Server-Client allows the administrator to control not only who can have access to each directory, but can set individual file and record locking with access to each file determined by the administrator. The positive reasons a company may elect to go with the more complicated Server-client network is not only the security issues pertaining to the "need-to-know" basis, but the fact that all the documents are stored on the server. This allows the server to control traffic, locking the document when an employee is working on it to prevent others from making changes over top of the author.

Conclusion
If you are still not sure which network is right for your business, have one of out Network Consultants work with you to figure it out. A visit to your business by a consultant will help you decide on the right model.

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