Afternoon all

 

As some know we have been having a few IT issues of late and we have decided to go for a NAS box and cloud storage, here is a quote from my IT crowd, what I'm asking is will it really take that long to set up?

 

 

Following on from our conversation, please find quote to supply/install NAS box & Hosted Exchange as discussed.

I have also quoted for a new PC as advised by Greg.

 

Synology DiskStation DS214 6TB (2 x 3TB WD RED) 2 Bay Desktop NAS - €540.00

Microsoft Exchange Online Plan 1 - €42.00 per user per annum (hosted mail)

HP DeskPro 400 SFF PC, Intel Core i3, Win 7 or Win 8, 1TB SATA HDD, 4GB RAM - €480.00

 

It will take approx. 2 days to install the above, NAS, migrate mail from existing server to hosted platform for 2 users, setup & install PC to include transfer of data, etc.

 

Install cost - €900.00

 

Availability: 3/4 days

Prices quoted are ex. VAT.

 

Note: I want to wait until the NAS box is installed & mail is migrated before I quote for offsite online backup as this cost will depend on how much data needs to be backed up,

I want to get the best rate possible for you as this is a recurring cost.

 

 

The prices for the hardware seem to be the going rate here in Ireland.

 

Cheers

 

Kit

Bumpty bump

I have a 2 bay Synology DS213+, which I purchased a couple if years ago. Fantastic bit of kit.

I installed it my myself, and I was a complete noob to NAS & only understand basic IT stuff.

If I'm honest it's difficult to say how long it took to install as I took a piecemeal approach to it and interspersed it with a lot of reading manuals & forums. All in all I cracked it in a couple of weeks, doing a 2-3 hours a night.

I reckon for someone who knows what they are doing, it should take a couple of hours to unbox & plug together. 4-6 hours to install software, set up accounts and get running. I guess you may put in another couple of hours in case of any technical hitches.

I think 2 days is covering his backside, so he doesn't have to break his back to get finished. For me it's the actual cost of €900 that seems expensive, I'm sure someone would quote a lot cheaper than that.

Have you got a breakdown of what the install costs involve? Will they install all the DS apps on your phone & link these to your DiskStation? Does it include tuition regarding setup / using the DS?

I would have loved someone to show me all the intricacies of the system, as I still find new things now that are hidden in the control panel, but not at that price.

BTW, If you have an IP camera you can link that to the DS Cam app aswell, very useful

The 2 days is there really for the migration to the new mail server and transfer of data from old to new PC.

Personally, I'd say 2 days might be a bit ambitious as it's not really allowing for any issues encountered....

Edited 25 November, 201411 yr by djswivel

Cheers guys thought two days was a bit excessive myself!!!

The Synology NAS is probably the best consumer NAS you can get. The software is intuitive and there's great product support from Synology, even on their old models.

I work in a corporate IT environment and I think the setup time / price, which seemingly includes mail migration, is fair.

I would rather see a 4 disk NAS unit, even if with smaller disks (they are cheaper).  You will either end up with 6TB (stripe), or 3TB (mirror), but if you had 4 x 2TB, you could have 8TB (stripe), 4TB (stripe+mirror), 6TB (raid 5).  Obviously the 4TB and 6TB give you a bit more chance of data recovery if you suffer a disk fault (assuming someone spots there is an issue.....)

 

core i3, push the boat out and get an i5

 

Also do you really need Exchange if there are only 2 users? (based on 'migrate 2 users')

I would rather see a 4 disk NAS unit, even if with smaller disks (they are cheaper).  You will either end up with 6TB (stripe), or 3TB (mirror), but if you had 4 x 2TB, you could have 8TB (stripe), 4TB (stripe+mirror), 6TB (raid 5).  Obviously the 4TB and 6TB give you a bit more chance of data recovery if you suffer a disk fault (assuming someone spots there is an issue.....)

 

core i3, push the boat out and get an i5

 

Also do you really need Exchange if there are only 2 users? (based on 'migrate 2 users')

Ok all that first stuff...right over my head!!! Spotted the i3 and have told them I want what i've already got so to spec an i5. As for Exchange again i'm out of my depth, we have an email address each and share an "info" address that's linked from our website. What would you recommend?

 

Cheers for the input

 

Kit

Also do you really need Exchange if there are only 2 users? (based on 'migrate 2 users')

 

 

 As for Exchange again i'm out of my depth, we have an email address each and share an "info" address that's linked from our website. What would you recommend?

 

Cheers for the input

 

Kit

 

 

It's a hosted Exchange so no  EXchange  is going to be on NAS or PC (except mail client) . What's the PC going to be used for as for most business use more ram would be better? 

Another vote for Synology NAS.

Great interface, and apps mean you can use it for other things like recording IP cameras etc.

 

Hosted exchange (assuming Office 365) is dead easy to administer and depending on the package you go for is really quite competitively priced.

 

What mail server are you migrating from?

 

I did a migration for 65 users to Office 365 and it took 2 of us about 5 hours in total. Depending on the size of your mailboxes, the biggest bottleneck to hosted email migration is your internet upload speed if going from an onsite server.

What's the difference bewtween office 365 and Exchange online? I am really a bit out of my depth with IT stuff...I just want something that's cost effective and easy to use and reliable!!...Not much to ask I know!!

 

We have a PC each so that we can access the server as that's where we keep our work files and our email is on there also, we both need to have access to the tinterweb for searching online databases.

 

cheers

 

Kit

What's the difference bewtween office 365 and Exchange online? I am really a bit out of my depth with IT stuff...I just want something that's cost effective and easy to use and reliable!!...Not much to ask I know!!

 

We have a PC each so that we can access the server as that's where we keep our work files and our email is on there also, we both need to have access to the tinterweb for searching online databases.

 

cheers

 

Kit

 

Office 365 is the name of the service offered by Microsoft, which has different tiered packages available. The lower of these is essentially a hosted exchange service. More expensive plans include access to Office desktop software and have compliance management for data loss prevention etc.

 

Other companies can offer their own hosted exchange with their own pricing and tiers so it's worth finding out who it's through.

 

http://office.microsoft.com/en-ie/business/compare-all-office-365-for-business-plans-FX104051403.aspx

The point I was getting at, is that exhange (be it a local server, or hosted), is that unless your making good use of calendars, etc then surely a couple of normal mailboxes which are accessed via imap/pop3 would be cheaper / easier.

 

Live account for outlook sync-able calendar, address book/contacts to desktop PC running Outlook, and a most mobile phones.  Hard to really make a suggestion when we don;t know your business needs.  All we can do is throw various ideas out there for discussion.

 

4GB of ram should be fine for general "office" duties.

I'm sure all you techy folk just hang your heads when you deal with folk like me!!

 

What me and my bro need is to be able to have files on some kind of storage unit (server/NAS or the like) so we can work on them independently and save any changes, have physical backups and have access to the internet (mine would have to be wireless as no cable to my office) and be able to open email wherever we are. Really that's about it. Its not a massive IT undertaking but its enough to confuse me!!!

 

Cheers folks for all your help on this

 

Kit

How much storage do you actually require?

How much storage do you actually require?

Not a huge amount, about 50G in total, the files on the server at the mo take up 30G.

 

K:)

A 6TB NAS is possibly overkill, but that obviously depends on how much and how quickly that data will grow.

 

The Synology NAS devices have the ability to upload data to Amazon Glacier pretty much out of the box, which offers a low cost offsite backup solution.

 

Office 365 will give you email access wherever you are, and the NAS can be made to do the same with your files if setup right too

A 6TB NAS is possibly overkill, but that obviously depends on how much and how quickly that data will grow.

 

The Synology NAS devices have the ability to upload data to Amazon Glacier pretty much out of the box, which offers a low cost offsite backup solution.

 

Office 365 will give you email access wherever you are, and the NAS can be made to do the same with your files if setup right too

Right, so what your saying is that what my IT crowd have recommended is OK to go with?

 

Cheers

 

Kit

I'd clarify what hosted exchange service they're offering but yes it will meet your needs.

The Synology NAS devices have the ability to upload data to Amazon Glacier pretty much out of the box, which offers a low cost offsite backup solution.

 

 

I believe while they are quite cheap to backup to, the sting in the tail comes when you need to retrieve any files?  Worth checking this out, as if the need arose to recover a lot of data, this could be quite costly.