SUMMARY: PC backup on Tru64 Solutions; Xterminals VS PC's

From: Tru64 User <tru64user_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 05:53:03 -0700 (PDT)

Most people argued that PC's make administration
another complete nightmare.
Several people suggested installing Linux instead.

What I didn't say was the increased need for people to
use things like power point, word and excel, which are
currently served from a single NT Server, Terminal
Server Edition running Citrix. With increased users,
it is not a workable solution anymore, and instead
people lineup to use the NT machine!! So it was
suggested, why not get them PC's, since we already
have the monitors? Then software like Exceed can be
used for X purpose.

I am currently trying out Sun's starOffice, to see if
it is workable, and will probably try win4lin too. But
it seems so far other minds have been made up on the
PC's issue, so I might as well concentrate on how I
will support them, in terms of backups.

Thanks to many who gave their suggestions, and here
are some clips. Will try to see what is going to be
workable in our case, again, thanks for all the nice
tips.

TWO HEADS, (or more) ARE BETTER than ONE


GOT SOME NICE SUGGESTIONS, here are a few:

With a (free) product called Sharity,
you can map NT share on Unix (Tru64 included)...That
way, you could create some kind of script to backup
windows files----

Samba is of course a great choice, that though is a
bit different in that the original files exist on the
unix server, not the windows--

Thanks,
Ashok
***********************************
I think using the PCs would be a good thing, mostly
because so much of
the computing world from software vendors to e-mail
senders assumes
one has immediate, if not exclusive, access to a PC.
Regarding backups, I recently spoke with a rep for a
product called
"Backup Express", IIRC. We are not big enough or with
a large enough
budget for it to really be worthwhile, but it looks
like a good
product, and we may go with it after all. It looks
realtively cheap
and flexible. The rep said it could backup all our
PCs and Alphas in
an easy to manage way, and could even back up the Macs
by jumping
through some kind of hoop.

For what it's worth, if it were me I'd go for the PCs.

-- 
John Jeffrey Venier, M.Stat.
**********************************
Your support costs will /far/ outweigh the cheaper
price of the PC. 
If you /are/ going to go with PC's, consider running
Linux rather than
Win2K.
The difference in software licensing costs (remember,
MS will force you 
to 
upgrade the OS if you want fixes for their bugs and
security holes) 
will
offset
the support costs on Linux. Since you already have
UNIX expertise 
in-house
the
time to learn how to do the Linux support is greatly
reduced. Linux 
also 
presents advantages in being easier to network with
the Tru64 systems.
-Davis
***********************************
What about installing Linux on PCs and use those as
terminals.  
Advantages are:
    lower cost
    lower admin overheads
    reduces the load on the servers
If you need Windows applications you could install
VMWare or Win4Lin.
Your circumstances may be different from ours but in
our case
it was the perfect solution because the Linux boxes
can also be 
used as a computational cluster which wouldn't be
possible with
Windows (at least not with free software).
Ian
***************************************
It might make sense for you go to with an Enterprise
worthy solution 
for
your backups such as Legato NetWorker which can run as
a server on a 
Tru64
system and back up Tru64, lots of other Unix versions,
PCs with any
Windows OS, and a bunch more. The down side is its not
cheap.
See http://www.legato.com/ for details.
--Stan Howitz
***************************************
--- Tru64 User <tru64user_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Maybe I should ask the whole question I had in mind:
> What advantages/disadvantages are there for shifting
> from using NCD Xterminals to Windows 2000 PCs,
> running
> Exceed X software? Reason for considering this is
> that
> while NCD's are getting more expensive, PC's are
> getting cheaper. Ofcourse, administration will be
> greater on PC's. Currently about 40users log
> directly
> into tru64 servers, using xdmcp on Xterminals.
> _Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> --- Tru64 User <tru64user_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Looking for ways to implement PC backup
> > (daily/weekly/full) on Tru64 servers.
> > All info welcomed, free products and fee based.
> > If u have step by step methods for Samba bckups, I
> > would appreciate that too.
> > 
> > _Thanks in advance.
> > 
> > Richard
> > 
> > =====
> > 
> > 
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute
> > with Yahoo! Messenger
> > http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
> 
> 
> =====
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute
> with Yahoo! Messenger
> http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
=====
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

Received on Fri Aug 24 2001 - 12:53:47 NZST