Is it Time To Buy a Server? April 5, 2011
Posted by charitysolutions in charity computers, charity IT, General, Servers, Uncategorized.Tags: charity computers, charity IT, charity software
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We are often asked to help small UK charities who feel (or have been told) that it is time to invest in their first server.
Though there are huge advantages in having a server, there are significant time and cost implications, so it isn’t a decision to be taken lightly or rushed into – in some cases a server isn’t even really what is needed. So we thought is was high time we updated our (sadly recently neglected!) blog with a few posts to help you make the decision and, if you decide it is right for your charity, implement it.
Firstly, let’s start with the basics. What is a server?
A server is basically just another computer, designed to provide a number of centralised control and storage features – more details below.
You could use a “normal” workstation PC or laptop as a server, but it is better if at all possible to buy a machine designed for the task. Unlike “standard” PCs and laptops, server hardware is especially designed to be left on 24/7 and often includes extra options to help keep things running if a fault develops – spare power supplies, fans, network cards etc. The more expensive servers also often have better hard disks (faster and/or with a better warranty), though sadly this is no longer always the case … more on that in a later post.
Another significant difference between servers and PCs/laptops is that servers don’t normally by default come with any operating system software – so when budgeting you need to make sure you include this extra cost. (And when you do, make sure you get the software with the biggest charity discount possible!)
Servers can be used for a variety of tasks including (depending on their capabilities) any number of the following:
- Central control of users – login names and passwords, access rights etc
- Central storage of files
- Databases
- Remote access capabilities and control
- Website hosting
- Printer management
- Central management of antivirus and antispam programs
- … and lots more
But it’s unlikely (and not advised) that you get one server to do all of the above. You would need pretty a pretty “high-spec” server to do it all effectively – and by putting all your “computing eggs in one basket” you would be risking major issues for your charity if the server ever went down.
In our next post we will look at whether a server is the right option for you or whether there could be a better/easier/cheaper solution for your specific needs. And in later posts we will cover more about how to choose the right server for your particular needs and budget.
But if you can’t wait that long just contact us (details on the About Us page) and we will be more than happy to go through the options with you and help you find the best solution for your particular organisation.
The Single Most Important Check You Can Make to Stop Your Email Self-Destructing August 11, 2009
Posted by charitysolutions in charity computers, charity IT, Email.Tags: charity IT, charity software, Email
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A large number of the support calls we receive relate to problems with over-sized Outlook personal folders – which if left unfixed can lead to major problems using Outlook and loss of stored messages.
Logging in to your Outlook to be either confronted with warning messages or, worse still, corrupted data files or missing emails, is something that can strike terror into anyone.
In this post we look at the single most important check you can make to help avoid this happening to you – and (in our next post) what to do if the warnings are already there. It is based on Microsoft Outlook, but a lot of the information holds true for other email clients too – though the ways of doing things will of course we different.
Also, the information below applies only if you download your email messages into local files rather than keeping them all on the mail server. If you don’t know which applies in your case, then please ask whoever deals with your IT internally. Or us!
First of all, let’s identify the number one cause of these problems – and how to check if you might be affected.
Outlook can only cope with Data Files (Personal Folders and Archive files) up to a certain size.
…. if they are bigger, then it is a case of when (not if) disaster will occur
- If the files have been created in the newer format (not 97-2002 compatible) using the most recent version of Outlook (2007) or the most recent Service Packed version of Outlook 2003 (SP3 or above) then you can have files up to 20GB
- If any of the files were created in an earlier version, even if you are using the most recent version now, the absolute maximum size of any file is 2GB. In practice any file over 1.8GB is highly likely to cause problems soon (if it hasn’t already) so you should take steps now to reduce it.
If you are not 100% sure which version of Outlook you have, then the easiest way to find out is to click on Help -> About Microsoft Outlook. The window that pops up will tell you the version (and Service Pack) you are running.
But unless you have only recently created your Outlook profile and files from scratch, there is a fair chance that you may be working with files created with the older restrictions – so unless you are 100% sure, stick to the 1.8GB limit.
To find out what size your Outlook data files are:
- Look at the file size by browsing to the area(s) where they are stored in My Computer
or
- Right-Click on the top level of the folder in the left-hand Outlook pane
Choose Properties
Click on the Folder Size button and wait for your machine to count up the total
If you are not used to checking computer file sizes, the number of digits can get a bit confusing – let alone working out how many KB or MB in a GB!
Normally the results are displayed in KB. If your file size is less than 1 800 000 KB (add another 0 to this if you are sure you are using files created in the latest version) then you should be ok for now. But if it is close to or more than that, you need to take action immediately if you are to avoid huge problems later.
And remember, if you have more than one data file (including archive files) you will need to check each one separately.
And if any of your files are to big, what do you do next?
First of all make sure that you have deleted anything in your Deleted Items folder – unless your Outlook is set up to do this automatically on exit (which by default it isn’t) then there may be hundreds of files in there.
But there are other more long-term ways of re-arranging how your email files are stored to keep the folder sizes down. We will cover some of the most common options next time.
Any comments or queries … or suggestions for follow up topics that you would like us to cover? Just leave a comment or contact us (details on the About Us page) and we will do our best to help.
New Report – Choosing Your Charity Database – available free to our blog readers January 23, 2009
Posted by charitysolutions in charity computers, charity database, databases, General.Tags: charity database, charity software, databases
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Just a short note to let you know that we have combined all the information in our previous blog entries about Choosing Your Charity Database (with lots of updates and additions) into a brand new 18 page report.
This is available to all our Blog readers totally free of charge from http://www.charitysolutions.co.uk/db_rep_blog.html
Hope you find the report useful. Any comments (good or bad!) are very welcome.
