Branch Office Application

[Guest Darryl]

I have a new custom app that will rolling out soon and have a question

regarding the best way to offer up the software. We have 8 sites total

(corporate and 7 remote offices). None cuurently have servers installed at

their locations. What is the best way (not necessarily cost effective but

best performance way) to accomplish this? Example: install a server at each

location along with the application and replicate the data at predetermined

intervals? The custom app is written in .NET, VB, and backended by SQL 2005.

All workstations are Win XP Pro. All locations are connected to corporate via

dedicated PTP T1's with all Cisco hardware. I have read a lot of stuff online

and I keep seeing DFS and all of it's related pcs. I guess confusion is my

greatest hurdle right now. I'm not sure which direction to go.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

DL

[Guest Jabez Gan [MVP]]

Re: Branch Office Application

 

For the machines in the remote offices, are they connected to an AD? if no,

then usually the deploying means instructing the users to run the setup file

manually instead of automating the entire installation.

 

And since it's a remote office, the best practice is to have a DC in each

office. DC = domain controller = windows server.

 

DFS is part of Windows Server R2. DFS = Distributed File System

 

--

Jabez Gan

Microsoft MVP: Windows Server - File Storage

"Darryl" <Darryl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:768FB058-C5F6-4E2F-9109-E1B700E6F5DA@microsoft.com...

>I have a new custom app that will rolling out soon and have a question

> regarding the best way to offer up the software. We have 8 sites total

> (corporate and 7 remote offices). None cuurently have servers installed at

> their locations. What is the best way (not necessarily cost effective but

> best performance way) to accomplish this? Example: install a server at

> each

> location along with the application and replicate the data at

> predetermined

> intervals? The custom app is written in .NET, VB, and backended by SQL

> 2005.

> All workstations are Win XP Pro. All locations are connected to corporate

> via

> dedicated PTP T1's with all Cisco hardware. I have read a lot of stuff

> online

> and I keep seeing DFS and all of it's related pcs. I guess confusion is my

> greatest hurdle right now. I'm not sure which direction to go.

>

> Any help would be greatly appreciated.

>

> DL

[Guest Anthony]

Re: Branch Office Application

 

Darryl,

You have two main choices: distributed application, or terminal services.

Distributed application will probably give you the best out and out

performance; TS will give you more reliability, more coherent data, and

lower maintenance costs. It depends a lot on the exact circumstances of the

case.

For distributed app you would need a DC and a server locally. Its best not

to run anything on the DC, as it means giving access to it. DFS is a way of

replicating files but not databases. You would need to figure out in your

application architecture how you want to get the data from place to place.

I would start by assuming TS, and then examine any arguments why that won't

work,

Hope that helps,

Anthony, http://www.airdesk.co.uk

 

 

"Darryl" <Darryl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:768FB058-C5F6-4E2F-9109-E1B700E6F5DA@microsoft.com...

>I have a new custom app that will rolling out soon and have a question

> regarding the best way to offer up the software. We have 8 sites total

> (corporate and 7 remote offices). None cuurently have servers installed at

> their locations. What is the best way (not necessarily cost effective but

> best performance way) to accomplish this? Example: install a server at

> each

> location along with the application and replicate the data at

> predetermined

> intervals? The custom app is written in .NET, VB, and backended by SQL

> 2005.

> All workstations are Win XP Pro. All locations are connected to corporate

> via

> dedicated PTP T1's with all Cisco hardware. I have read a lot of stuff

> online

> and I keep seeing DFS and all of it's related pcs. I guess confusion is my

> greatest hurdle right now. I'm not sure which direction to go.

>

> Any help would be greatly appreciated.

>

> DL

[Guest Darryl]

Re: Branch Office Application

 

Thanks to both of you for responding so quickly. Would TS require a server at

each location? (I am currently researching TS but anything extra helps)

Obviously one of the benefits to having a local server would allow for faster

processing of the app right? We don't want to be a one of those companies

that if we have a power outage at corporate then all sites are down, etc.

Disaster recovery is also a consideration. I can put servers at each location

without a problem. DC and all that. I do know that the application "will"

check that you have the latest and install it if necessary. When you say

distributed application would this require an Application Server at each

site? What is the best way to sync data in the event of a server at each

site?

 

Again thank you for the information provided and anything else you might

offer.

 

"Anthony" wrote:

> Darryl,

> You have two main choices: distributed application, or terminal services.

> Distributed application will probably give you the best out and out

> performance; TS will give you more reliability, more coherent data, and

> lower maintenance costs. It depends a lot on the exact circumstances of the

> case.

> For distributed app you would need a DC and a server locally. Its best not

> to run anything on the DC, as it means giving access to it. DFS is a way of

> replicating files but not databases. You would need to figure out in your

> application architecture how you want to get the data from place to place.

> I would start by assuming TS, and then examine any arguments why that won't

> work,

> Hope that helps,

> Anthony, http://www.airdesk.co.uk

>

>

> "Darryl" <Darryl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:768FB058-C5F6-4E2F-9109-E1B700E6F5DA@microsoft.com...

> >I have a new custom app that will rolling out soon and have a question

> > regarding the best way to offer up the software. We have 8 sites total

> > (corporate and 7 remote offices). None cuurently have servers installed at

> > their locations. What is the best way (not necessarily cost effective but

> > best performance way) to accomplish this? Example: install a server at

> > each

> > location along with the application and replicate the data at

> > predetermined

> > intervals? The custom app is written in .NET, VB, and backended by SQL

> > 2005.

> > All workstations are Win XP Pro. All locations are connected to corporate

> > via

> > dedicated PTP T1's with all Cisco hardware. I have read a lot of stuff

> > online

> > and I keep seeing DFS and all of it's related pcs. I guess confusion is my

> > greatest hurdle right now. I'm not sure which direction to go.

> >

> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.

> >

> > DL

>

>

>

[Guest Anthony]

Re: Branch Office Application

 

Daryl,

TS is generally centralised. If you really are worried about a failure at

the main site, you can create a second TS site for resilience. Then both

would have to be down for that to be a problem.

You would really have to know a lot about the app to know whether it works

best distributed or centralised. I don't think its possible to give any

general rule. Just think about where the data is, how up to date it is, and

how it gets to where its needed. If you google on Distributed Application

you might get some ideas,

Anthony, http://www.airdesk.com

 

 

"Darryl" <Darryl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:43316763-49B5-49EB-AC70-EEFFE4D6F419@microsoft.com...

> Thanks to both of you for responding so quickly. Would TS require a server

> at

> each location? (I am currently researching TS but anything extra helps)

> Obviously one of the benefits to having a local server would allow for

> faster

> processing of the app right? We don't want to be a one of those companies

> that if we have a power outage at corporate then all sites are down, etc.

> Disaster recovery is also a consideration. I can put servers at each

> location

> without a problem. DC and all that. I do know that the application "will"

> check that you have the latest and install it if necessary. When you say

> distributed application would this require an Application Server at each

> site? What is the best way to sync data in the event of a server at each

> site?

>

> Again thank you for the information provided and anything else you might

> offer.

>

> "Anthony" wrote:

>

>> Darryl,

>> You have two main choices: distributed application, or terminal services.

>> Distributed application will probably give you the best out and out

>> performance; TS will give you more reliability, more coherent data, and

>> lower maintenance costs. It depends a lot on the exact circumstances of

>> the

>> case.

>> For distributed app you would need a DC and a server locally. Its best

>> not

>> to run anything on the DC, as it means giving access to it. DFS is a way

>> of

>> replicating files but not databases. You would need to figure out in your

>> application architecture how you want to get the data from place to

>> place.

>> I would start by assuming TS, and then examine any arguments why that

>> won't

>> work,

>> Hope that helps,

>> Anthony, http://www.airdesk.co.uk

>>

>>

>> "Darryl" <Darryl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> news:768FB058-C5F6-4E2F-9109-E1B700E6F5DA@microsoft.com...

>> >I have a new custom app that will rolling out soon and have a question

>> > regarding the best way to offer up the software. We have 8 sites total

>> > (corporate and 7 remote offices). None cuurently have servers installed

>> > at

>> > their locations. What is the best way (not necessarily cost effective

>> > but

>> > best performance way) to accomplish this? Example: install a server at

>> > each

>> > location along with the application and replicate the data at

>> > predetermined

>> > intervals? The custom app is written in .NET, VB, and backended by SQL

>> > 2005.

>> > All workstations are Win XP Pro. All locations are connected to

>> > corporate

>> > via

>> > dedicated PTP T1's with all Cisco hardware. I have read a lot of stuff

>> > online

>> > and I keep seeing DFS and all of it's related pcs. I guess confusion is

>> > my

>> > greatest hurdle right now. I'm not sure which direction to go.

>> >

>> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.

>> >

>> > DL

>>

>>

>>