Server Help

[Face]

So i need to spec out, pitch, and potentially build a server for my office at work. Basically it will be used for storing and sharing files with people that work out of office. Is it possible to set up like a vpn or something to have a server located off of your local networt act like say an x: drive.

Does any one have any knowledge in something like this or could point me in any kind of direction? Also if you guys know what kind of hardware it would require like cpu ram and shit like that it would also be helpful.

Also its a small office and at most only 10 people would need access to the server.

[Terox]

what type of files are they?
How many?
and what size are these files ?
What is the maximum size the file could be ?
(No. of files * max size = minimum storage space you need

Do these files need to be synced across the users ? (So when one person edits them, the others see the changes immediately if they are logged in or synchronise when they log in next)
Do you need versioning ? (eg can roll back changes to these files)

If the data size isn't too large and the amount of bandwidth used isnt very much, you should be able to find a free or relatively cheap service out there to rent.
I very much doubt you need your own dedicated server for this. (Thats a lot of work, a lot of backend management, updating the software, operating system etc and is much more expensive. You will then need to network that server, configure the switches, router and the network firewall)
Sounds to me like you just need to rent some cloud space

Example site offering that service.
https://www.smartfile.com/pricing/

There will be much cheaper alternatives and most likely you would be able to get away with a free service

If your company has a website, it will most likely have storage space on that and if you wanted a cheap way of doing that, just set up FTP accounts to a folder on the website to access the files you want to host.
If you want some form of versioning system, where you need to keep track of changes, sign documents in or out then you'll need to look at a much more commercial offering


This is worth a read....
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/s ... -smbs.html

[Face]

what type of files are they?
How many?
and what size are these files ?
What is the maximum size the file could be ?
(No. of files * max size = minimum storage space you need

Do these files need to be synced across the users ? (So when one person edits them, the others see the changes immediately if they are logged in or synchronise when they log in next)
Do you need versioning ? (eg can roll back changes to these files)

If the data size isn't too large and the amount of bandwidth used isnt very much, you should be able to find a free or relatively cheap service out there to rent.
I very much doubt you need your own dedicated server for this. (Thats a lot of work, a lot of backend management, updating the software, operating system etc and is much more expensive. You will then need to network that server, configure the switches, router and the network firewall)
Sounds to me like you just need to rent some cloud space

Example site offering that service.
https://www.smartfile.com/pricing/

There will be much cheaper alternatives and most likely you would be able to get away with a free service

If your company has a website, it will most likely have storage space on that and if you wanted a cheap way of doing that, just set up FTP accounts to a folder on the website to access the files you want to host.
If you want some form of versioning system, where you need to keep track of changes, sign documents in or out then you'll need to look at a much more commercial offering


This is worth a read....
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/s ... -smbs.html

So what we primarily need is a drive to sync to across users which makes dropbox not an option. Ill have a close look at those links you've provided to see if any other cloud solution would better suit our needs. But services we were initially pointed towards to costed at least $70 (50 pounds) per user per month which the owners will not likely agree to.

As for file types and sizes, other than standard pdfs, excel sheets, ect., we use pretty heavy CAD (.dwg) and Revit (.rvt) files that regularly exceed 100 MB and tend to reference one another. Not knowing the exact number, we probably have around 20 projects going on at that reference about 5 files each. I would say our ideal amount of storage would be between 2 and 5 tb.

Concerning versioning I do not believe that would be necessary.

Now my hope was to be able to build a cheapish PC with and get some software (like LogMeIn Hamachi) so that people could access that that storage over the internet via a VPN or something. I'm only looking for a way to create centralized storage for my office so that my department can make use of work sharing feature that the program we use offers. I'm just not sure what kind of bandwith and upload and download speeds would be required to have file transfers to not be mind numbingly slow.

And also thanks for your input