[orrock]

i work for an organisation which has about 200 network users. the network is mainly used for word processing, web browsing and email.

because of server crashes (a couple of times a week), difficulties in printing and slow performance, users are very frustrated. this has been going on for a year.

while the tech guys are trying to stabilise the network i have thought of running computer training sessions to skill up the users who most have basic computer skills.

do you think training sessions are a good idea? can you suggest something that could help frustrated computer users to enjoy using computers again?

[KnowItAll]

What sort of servers are you running?

If setup properly, on proper hardware there is no reason for any server (even Windows based) to be crashing.

By slow performance .. do you mean you have some applications that are not responsive? What sort of applications?

The goal is to make systems user-proof .. well designed software and hardware (networks etc) ..

[Monde]

I agree with KIA we are a Microsoft only environment and we have pretty good uptime.

There is also a problem when things go wrong that the users DECIDE that things are broken even when they are not. There is no getting around that either.

[justsomebody]

Fire the IT person and hire a competent one? I recommend one with expierience and not some MCSE holding "insert uni/comm college name here" of Technology jock.

Seriously, there should be no reason that a server should be crashing twice a week for a year.. there is no excuse for that, unless the company is too cheap to buy a new server and the old one is out of warranty, but still... I can think of a few simple ways around that.

[orrock]

the servers are unix based mac xserves with xsan file storage. true, if setup properly and maintained there is no reason for them to be crashing.

along with server crashes there has been random switches going faulty and many motherboard failures on client machines (factory recall issued).

sadly it does seem that windows runs better.

the goal to make systems user proof especially in education institutions where they are used and abused by students and by staff who are very average computer users.

[orrock]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

By slow performance .. do you mean you have some applications that are not responsive? What sort of applications?

slowness is random and is with user access to their files on the xsan even if it is with small files.

applications frequently crash with the usual "application unexpectedly quit". probably the build of the network image is corrupt since standalone machines work ok.

[KnowItAll]

Students? Educational Institute?

Look for a student whose dad / mom works for Cisco and get a plan together to bring them in and redo your network architecture. Same might apply if you can find someone who works for IBM for your storage / servers.

Many of these companies can write of donations for educational institutes / charities etc, if approached correctly.

If you're a company .. then I'd say, the option is to look at a year or two long upgrade cycle which will involve starting with the network (cables might not be an option) layer like switches .. then moving onto servers and finally the clients and then looking at the software.

Are the clients Windows XP based? Figure out how to lock them down with system policies .. i mean *really* lock them down to prevent malware / random apps being installed etc...

Or are the clients also mac based? (No clue .. but from what I'd gather they're *nix based and should be rock solid stable).

[orrock]

Originally Posted by Monde

There is also a problem when things go wrong that the users DECIDE that things are broken even when they are not. There is no getting around that either.

that is a challenge!

[Monde]

Originally Posted by orrock

that is a challenge!

I have that problem all the time. 9 times out of 10 it is the users that are the problem.

[orrock]

Originally Posted by justsomebody

Fire the IT person and hire a competent one? I recommend one with expierience and not some MCSE holding "insert uni/comm college name here" of Technology jock.

Seriously, there should be no reason that a server should be crashing twice a week for a year.. there is no excuse for that, unless the company is too cheap to buy a new server and the old one is out of warranty, but still... I can think of a few simple ways around that.

maybe it is hard to find a manager who has sound experience in mac network or they command a salary too high.

the organisation has spent its budget on the latest apple hardware servers and san software. it was on backorder from usa for nearly 6 months and maybe the technology too new so there are bugs in it.