Newbie question: We have got two offices in different cities and want to replace our old file servers with one modern NAS box on each site. Local users work on their local drive. However, remote users need to have access to the other site’s drive. Total 30 users, Internet speed 100 mbit on both ends.
Can anybody share some advice on how to best set up such scenario? Is there such thing as NAS-to-NAS syncronization so that all folders exist on both sites? WD support told me the DL series can do that. Any good/bad experience? Or should remote users access remote folders remotely? In the context of sync, what about file conflicts, e.g. an open Word doc opened by n users?
Very interesting, thanks for the hint. RDC sounds very promising. So I would need 2 server licenses (do you know which one is the “smallest” Windows Server edition to support DFSR roles?) and 30 client access licenses? That sounds much more expensive than a NAS-based solution I was hoping for.
Boy, if you could have said less than 25 users you could have saved a ton LOL
I am not saying there is not a cheaper *nix NAS out there that would do it, I just do not have any recommendations. Other than I do not feel the current WD products would do it.
I actually played with it before I posted above just to see and If I opened a Word Doc on one box and then opened the same doc on another box Word said it was open by me, open read only, make a copy etc. I simply do not have two nix boxes to test how they behave.
IMHO the only way to do windows is with a windows server.
The bad news is yes, it will cost a lot more. Server 2012R2 standard about 1k a pop. Comes with 5 cals so you need 25 more about $800 Couple HP ProLiant ML10 v2 Tower Server another 800 bucks
so that’s almost 3600 smackers. Or go to dell.com and spend 2.5k OEM software is tons cheaper
BTW, the Word doc showed open by someone else. Notepad did not. Just saying, not sur3e what kind of files you are actually sharing may behave differently. You can download trial versions of server. Does not really take a ton of hardware to load it. You could even purchase a couple 500gb hard drives for cheap and swap them in desktops just for testing
I have now seen some NAS boxes running Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 including support for DFSR roles, Office 365 user admin etc. Looks good and apparently no extra cost for the server or CALs:
Like I said if you had less than 25 users you would be golden. I can buy a Thecus W2000 on ebay NIB for less than 200 bucks. That is hardware AND 2012R2 Essentials software for up to 25 users. Well actually you need to purchase another hard drive whatever size you think you need as the included 60gb ssd is just for the OS
