Server for mixed Windows and Macintosh environment.

[ncg]

Looking to put together a server for a small office with 4 Macs, 3PCs, and a couple network printers. Operating systems are Windows XP Pro, OSX, and OS9. T1 line.

Main needs are:

Files services with 300gb+ capacity.

Group calendar that functions with Outlook and Entourage in as automated a fashion as possible.

Security, of course.

Windows 2003 Server Small Business Edition seems to make the most sense, especially since it includes Exchange.

However, though I am familiar with Windows Server, I'm really not completely sure if this is the best route for a mixed PC/Mac environment that utilizes Exchange services... and I've heard conflicting things...

Anyone with experiences they can share?

I'm open to suggestions to use different Server OS ~ Linux is an option, but please stay to the needs of the applications I mention... don't want this to turn into a "Windows or Linux s*cks" thread.

Also interested in any calendar suggestions, if you have them.

And since you've read this far, I'll take hardware/software firewall suggestions as well...

Thanks!

 

[hopejr]

I don't know a lot, but I do know that your OS 9 machine will be an absolute pain. Any server will do with the others IMHO.

 

[wallsfd949]

I've had a problem with OSX machines storing/sharing files on Windows 2000. They seem to loose their association/MIME Type when going from machine to machine. The original machine that put the file there sees the association/MIME Type but others don't. We just put a new machine into production last night - Server 2003. I'm working on migrating all the data from the old server to the new server so I can't comment as of yet if the MIME Type issue remains, but we'll know soon enough.

 

[LBmtb]

You can do most of that minus the non-osx mac's with samba (linux) and the calender features will be a bit harder. Although there are a few projects that do exchange type stuff that I havent looked too much into.
Samba would be completely free compared to MS's high server costs for the server + licences.

 

[MrChad]

Entourage should allow you to connect to your Exchange server, but it will only work on your OSX machines AFAIK.

 

[ncg]

Thanks for the responses.

Seems everyone thinks XP and OSX will be no problem, but that straggling OS9 machine might be a pain. It works with 2000 Server, so I am expecting it to work with 2003 Server. Now, I'm wondering if I might need to have a FAT32 partition....

If it were straight files serving, I would go for a Linux variant just to not deal with licenses as the organization grows... but the calendar function seems locked to Exchange...

Btw, maybe this should be in the networking section? Think I will post it there instead...