Small office network set up

[Andy - a15cro]

Im taking on a secretary/admin in the next couple of weeks and will be adding an additional computer to my own in the office.

 

Ideally I want to hold the files in a central location so both of us can access the same documents, I bought a WD CyCloud, but it only acts as a wireless storage device at the minute plus it won't let me save document easily, so Ive stopped using to for the minute. Im sure that it can be utilised in some way  but Im not sure how to do this.

 

The hardware I will be using is:-

 

Bt Hub 5 with Infinity broadband

iMac 27" (mine)

iMac 21.5" Admin - not purchased yet and didn't know if I should go mini mac instead.

Canon wireless laser printer

 

Macbook Pro for remote working and reading this forum!

 

Wd Mycloud hardrive 

Knowhow cloud back up

 

Im looking for any advise on 

[John Williams (Panda) - Joint Manchester AO]

office 365 for emails.

synology box for file share and time machine for mac; enable dropbox for offsite backup

add portable usb to synolgy for time back-up

fancy a chat call me

cheers john

[Blatman]

Hmmm... If (IF) the MyCloud has filesharing options then why not do that? IE map the MyCloud to both Mac's and there you go.

I agree the Synology may be a better choice feature wise but there is hardware already in place and we don't know if the OP has the budget for more hardware plus set up time. 

 

I'm not sure how good the switch part of the BT Homehub is but I would add a switch to interconnect all the local hardware with a single link from there to the BT hub (yes I know two links would be better for redundancy but I don't how the BT hub would deal with the physical loop. I hope it runs spanning-tree but I have never tested it), something like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cisco-SG100D-08-UK-Business-Unmanaged-Switch/dp/B007XCD4TW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1451823142&sr=8-2&keywords=cisco+8+port+switch Plug the PC's,printers and MyCloud in to this then connect this to the BT Hub.

 

I'd go for Google Mail as it includes Google Drive/Docs etc and even the free version of all that stuff is excellent. We use it to share docs when we have engineers deployed to sites for longer than a few days and it has been flawless for nearly 2 years now.

[Andy - a15cro]

I've a dedicated email address I use in outlook. @crowpropertyservices.co.uk and it's on all of my stationary plus I use a signature file/banner at the bottom so does that mean a web based email is out of the question??

I'm trying to digest the two reply above while sitting in tesco so I'm going to come back on those later

[John Williams (Panda) - Joint Manchester AO]

365 is for use with your own domain name so i'm john.williams@manchesterit.com; i can then access the email from http://outlook.office365.com or via an email client

 

call me tommorrow if you fancy a chat 0161 491 1000

 

cheers

 

john

[Blatman]

You can use Googlemail in the same way

https://support.google.com/domains/answer/3251241?hl=en

 

When you say you use Outlook do you mean the email client application of the website Outlook.com?

 

If you are using the email client then I don't think there is any need to change unless you are looking for an enhancement to your current set up.

Options for sharing a central file system are as John and I have suggested.

 

I'm a network guy so whilst I can't offer lots of detail on the ins and outs of Synology Vs WD, the issue I raise with the speed of the BT hub could do with more explanation.

I have suggested a switch to interconnect the office equipment as the switch will *definitely* move data/files between the office devices faster than if you connect them all to the BT hub.

HTH...