About us

• We use Linux to provide a standardized, low-cost network server for small businesses that is designed to be remotely supported by traditional Windows technicians.

• You do not need to know ANYTHING about Linux to setup this server. We offer a simple web interface for managing users and other server features (DHCP reservations, firewall rules, etc.)

• We include "Technical Support Support" with our servers, a software system designed to make you look good to your clients.
  
  • Your end users can click on a brandable "Ask for Support" taskbar icon that emails you the request with the following automatically appended: full contact information, CPU/RAM/Storage/IP/OS with network test results (ping gateway, resolve DNS, ping internet address)
  • Using our web interface, you can manage individual users and jump between PC's effortlessly.
  • Automatically gathers hardware/software inventory - no more out of date spreadsheets!

• As the official Support person, you will:
  
  • Get all technical support help requests
  • Receive daily offsite backup reports
  • Your contact info is displayed on each end user "Ask for Support" screen
  • Custom taskbar icon & logo helps reinforce your brand/logo to your customers
  • Get your own login to TSS for supporting this (and possibly your other) customers

How our servers fit in to a network

• We are generally (but not always) the main file server, running DHCP and providing DNS.
• The server should be setup as the primary firewall (WAN/LAN labelled on server)
• There are pre-built shares and security groups included, managed through our web interface
• We can optionally act as a proxy server for filtering web content/restricting access to the web.

Some key features:

• We store the last 30 days of backups locally (accessible via a share) as well as offsite.  Simple self-serve file restore using copy/paste lets customers restore data easily themselves if needed.
  
  • Other local servers usually back up to us, then benefit from simple file restores and fast local recovery of large files.
  • The Admin share on the server is not backed up offsite, and can be used as network archive storage.
  • You can back anything up to us using SFTP or RSYNC/SSH.

• We often run critical Windows business applications in a Virtual Machine.
  
  • This is a great way to leverage remote access for common applications like Quickbooks, Simply, proprietary applications, etc.
  • We take a "snapshot" of every VM weekly, and store it locally (doesn't go offsite).  Please notify us if you would like VM images to go offsite.

Server installation

• Servers tower dimensions are approx. 20" H x 10" W x 27" D, up to 120lbs.
• Should be placed in a physically secure area.
• Good ventilation/air circulation is very important.
• Recommend having a separate, dedicated >700va APC UPS for the server.  Ensure UPS USB is connected. The servers sport ~900w power supplies.
• Options (must be specified at time of order): rackmount (4U), redundant power supply, Dell Remote Access Card
• If an optional DRAC is ordered, recommend connecting directly to WAN and setting to static IP.

• Workstation gets 10.0.50.xxx IP address from DHCP
• Workstation can surf the web
• You can resolve and ping accountname.remotelyyours.com

First steps after verifying connectivity:

• You will need to create all the users on the server using Webmin

IMPORTANT note about creating users!

• Most users use their PC "out of the box" so their underlying username is often "Administrator" or "Valued Customer" even though they may have changed their Welcome Screen profile name to say something different.
  • The windows profile name for the currently logged in user (listed under C:\Documents & Settings\profilename, you can check this by going to a command prompt and seeing where its default path is) is what is actually passed on the network for authentication.
  • Ideally, the user has a unique profile name (IE. john.doe) that you would then match as the user ID when creating users in Webmin.
  • We strongly recommend matching the same username/password from the Windows profile to what is created on the server. This will avoid unnecessary prompting for the end user.
    • You can use the "connect as a different user" when mapping drives, however we have found this to be sometimes problematic.  Regardless of how you proceed, this is something to be conscious about in case users cannot access shares on the network.

Internet

• Customer MUST have high speed internet!
• We require a static WAN IP if the customer will be hosting their own email (optional upgrade).  Externally hosted is included in their server plan.
• We should be the primary firewall, otherwise the following ports must be forwarded:
  
  • 80 - web server
  • 22 - Secure shell for remote maintenance and backups
  • 21  - FTP access to server
  • 1723 - PPTP VPN  (router must be able to handle GRE routing for this to work, not all Linksys/Dlink's properly support it)

Web/Email hosting

• We provide web/email hosting as part of the customers' server subscription.  We also provide outside DNS hosting, email backup (buffer).
• If the customer already has a custom domain, we recommend changing their domain name registration to point to our nameservers. We cannot provide email backup without being the primary NS.
• We strongly recommend documenting all domain info in the TSS system.

Please advise us if

• There are other servers in the environment (firewall, DHCP, DNS, etc.)
• The customer is running a local VoIP system