NAS Box Vs Server

[Penny Smith]

Hi I currently have 6 people working in my office and I need something to get us all sharing the same information. I have put a quote out to a couple of IT companies and some have come back offering to quote for a server (which I am familiar with from previous employment) but someone has offered me a NAS box which according to them is all I will need. It is cheaper than a server and as a start up I am looking to keep costs down.
I am looking for something we can all connect to and share the same Office based files, Excel etc, and do a daily back up. Not looking to introduce any MRP software etc.
Looking for your experiences using a NAS box as I dont have any personal experience of them myself.
Any comments appreciated.

 

[Jim2k]

It all depends on your needs now and in the short/medium term. A good nas box will certainly work for sharing data (both internally and externally) and backup. If you wanted things like centrally managed user accounts for PCs or use Sage etc internally etc then a traditional server may be the better route to take. We implement both for clients, it all depends on their needs, plans for the future, budget etc.

 

[ffox]

I am looking for something we can all connect to and share the same Office based files, Excel etc, and do a daily back up.

Take a look at cloud services. Office 365 and G-Suite will both achieve what you want and both have high levels of security.
As you mention that you already use Office, the integration with O365 may be better.
Either will cost less than a server.

 

[Penny Smith]

It all depends on your needs now and in the short/medium term. A good nas box will certainly work for sharing data (both internally and externally) and backup. If you wanted things like centrally managed user accounts for PCs or use Sage etc internally etc then a traditional server may be the better route to take. We implement both for clients, it all depends on their needs, plans for the future, budget etc.

Thanks for your reply - I do intend to start using sage very soon but dont want that on a shared network - it will be downloaded purely on my PC

 

[ryedale]

We use a NAS box for a team of 8. It works brilliantly and as fast as a local drive.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Have you written a brief of exactly what you want the system to do? If simple file file shainf is what you want, so be it (you could do that via one of your PC's).

Either or neither may be best but without knowing your full needs, no one can really give a proper answer!!

 

[ServWise]

A NAS box IS a server just specialised for serving files, most NAS boxes are linux variants so can run web servers, media servers, databases etc In our office we run a local QNAP NAS box primarily for sharing and storing files but it also operates an apache web server for site development, mysql etc. If windows is your preference then there are quite a few NAS boxes out there running Windows Storage Server.

 

[Penny Smith]

We use a NAS box for a team of 8. It works brilliantly and as fast as a local drive.

Thanks was hoping for this kind of reply

 

[DavidWH]

Our team of 3 runs a Ubuntu server, hardware sourced from the Dell outlet, running a Raid configuration, with removable SATA hot bay for back ups Hourly/Daily/Weekly we just switch the drives about. It mainly serves as a file server, although it's also used as a VPN server enabling us to work from home.

Probably overkill for us, but it was project with a purpose for me.

 

[Barry O'Neill]

We use a Synology NAS drive that we backup weekly oursevles and store backups out of office - it does the job ad I'm confident of its durability