Transcript How to set up a home office - Patricia Egen Consulting, LLC

How to set up a home office
Pat Berastegui Egen
Session 7214
SHARE 92 San Francisco
February 1999
[email protected]
Topics to be Covered
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What was our goal
Description of our equipment
Telecommunications Adventures
Joys of ISDN
To Fax or not to Fax; two phone lines or three?
Power, protection and backups
Space, furniture challenges and “is the room warm
or is it just me?”
• Some lessons learned
• Addendum - some web sites to check out
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What were our goals
• Connect all our computers to a network
– share printers, phone lines, modems etc
• Be as economical as possible (translation:cheap)
• Use technology to make copies, send and receive
faxes - limit the amount of equipment to do this
• Make sure equipment fits in our allotted space
• Keep it to two phone lines
• Have our server on line 24x7 to the Internet
• Backup everything, often, to one device
• Access our LAN remotely, but protect it from
intrusion
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Our LAN setup
CDC Internet Provider
NetGear ISDN
router with 4 ports
ISD
N
con
nec
Netgear Ethernet
hub with 8 ports
tion
"Pat's PC"
NT and Win 95
Router
Hub
"Don's PC"
NT and Win 95
Scanner
10 Base T Ethernet LAN
Scanner does
double duty as
copier
Data Transfer switch connects one monitor, one
mouse and one keyboard to two
computers
IBM PC Server 315
"www.egenconsulting.com
running Domino and NT
"Frankenclone"
OS2/NT/W95/W98/
LINUX
Laser printer
U.P.S.
Laptop computer
Color printer
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The server
Our hardware
– IBM PC Server 315, 20 GB hard drive, 56 KB modem (currently not being
used)
• runs Lotus Domino and NT Server
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My machine - used predominately for my work as a consultant
– Compaq Presario 9564, 200 MHz,7 GB HD, 33KB modem,scanner
• Windows 95 and NT workstation
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Don’s computer - used half for helping with the company and half to dial
into mainframe for late night systems programming support
– Dell XPS-D333, 333 MHz, 13 GB HD, 56 KB modem,CD burner,Magnetooptical
• shares keyboard and monitor with server (using a data transfer switch)
• Windows 95 and NT workstation
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“Frankenclone”, home built, 200 MHz, 24 GB HD, parallel port zip drive,
5 1/4” floppy drive
• Windows 95, Windows 98, OS2, NT Workstation, NT server, Linux (and a partridge
in a pear tree...)
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Every machine has a CDROM drive and they are all peer-shared on the
LAN - from all operating systems
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Why this setup?
• Most of it we already had
• New are: scanner for copying,zip drive,CD burner, color printer for
brochures, data transfer device to share a keyboard, mouse and monitor
(to save space) and an upgrade to our existing LAN to add the ISDN
router and hub.
• A lot of the different types of hardware peripherals are to
support requests that come in from my customers
• Example: one of my customers brought a zip disk with his data - guess
what, we did not have a zip drive; we do now.
• You may not have these same requirements.
• However, have you ever used some piece of hardware at an adjoining
office or cubicle or used something off a server that would not be
available if you were now working from home?
• If so, you need to make sure it’s either available in the home office or
can be reached in some other manner
• Some of you may ask why we did not set up the server as a
domain controller?
• We figured it would be a Pain and we don’t need the security at this time
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Telecommunications Adventures
• One of our key goals was to not add another telephone line
or change out our existing telephone equipment
• We knew we needed to be able to do the following:
• Have a server connected 24x7 to the internet that would need to
send out information as well as receive, meaning lots of two way
traffic
• We wanted fast connectivity to the Internet for research and
problem resolution
• We would need to be able to dial into a mainframe
• We needed to be able to dial back into our own LAN
• We needed voicemail, message waiting, conference calling
• We did not want a separate phone line for a fax machine
– this has turned out to be our most challenging problem
• We don’t want to raid Ft. Knox to afford this connection
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What are our options?
Living in a small town means our options are limited; however, we
researched the top choices - ADSL, ISDN, Cable, Really fast modem
ADSL (Asymmetric digital subscriber line)
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ISDN (Integrated services digital network)
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digital line for both voice and data transmission, widely available; permits fax, data, voice on same line
top speed of only 128Kbps both directions and often difficult to set up
expensive phone-company and ISP charges. A reasonable upgrade for many analog modem users, but
not smart if you have access to satellite or cable.
Cable
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moves Internet data more quickly downstream than it does upstream.
achieves download speeds of up to 9Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1.5Mbps
Requires a special ADSL modem, but it connects to a standard analog telephone line
Exploits unused frequencies on existing phone lines allowing you to use same line for telephone calls
Service restricted to within 2 miles, just getting ramped up and not available in many large cities
supposed to be cheaper than ISDN
uses the existing cable TV infrastructure and a special modem to let you surf the Net at speeds of up
to 30Mbps. Actual speeds reach only around 1.5Mbps downstream and 300Kbps upstream
potentially available wherever cable TV is and provides high-speed downloads and uploads
inexpensive but you share bandwidth with others in your area
difficult to get in many older, urban buildings. A long-term choice for homes but not if we want to run
a server that is accessed from outside
Really fast modem - still only 56KB but getting better
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The Joys of ISDN
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Based on our requirements of needing good two way traffic, and the fact
that ADSL and Cable are not available, we went with ISDN
– Note, Tennessee is the cheapest state for residential ISDN
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Now, for the setup. It turns out the press is right. Setting up ISDN is
not really easy; but it’s not as hard as they say
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If you are not comfortable with IP addressing, sub-nets and the basic idea of routing,
you need to find someone who is - usually your ISP
The Bell person is your friend. If they understand what they are doing, they can make all
the difference in the world. If they don’t, and that seems to be the greatest trouble
with ISDN setup, then you’re toast. We lucked out with ours. He turned out to be one of
the top experts in the Southeast
Once we figured out SPIDS (service profile ID’s) it was all downhill
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Note: our ISP had not yet defined our domain name, so we were on the Internet long before we
even knew it because we did not know how to find ourselves.
We saved over $150 setting it up ourselves instead of letting the ISP do it
Our router is from Netgear, cost around $350 and very easy to set up
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Another good user-friendly ISDN modem is Motorola's BitSURFR Pro modem (800-894-ISDN,
www.mot.com/isdn; $495) - comes with a user's guide that has extensive setup specifications to help
you place the right order and an easy setup program
Note: if you go the ISDN route, find out what your ISP recommends - they will end up having to support
it anyway so go with what they know.
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To fax or NOT to fax
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Ok, we have our ISDN line that turns out to be really two phone lines
• one for regular phone usage (my business line) and one that is connected full time to
the ISP for our server; the business line has voicemail through our telephone carrier
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Also, we still have our regular analog line that acts as our home phone
• Switched it to using a simple, handy dandy answering machine with a tape
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In order to receive faxes on my machine, it needs to come in through the
analog modem, attached to our original analog line
• we could have bought an isdn modem, but since we’re trying to be frugal, this was not
an option, as it may not be for you either (they are not cheap)
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We installed MS Personal Fax on NT and guess what - it’s not supported
• it’s not smart enough to sense that the phone call coming in is a person, not a fax and
route it to the carrier voicemail. Turns out few programs do
• I have to answer the phone, hear the screech and turn on the manual answer mostly cool unless I’m not home. That, by the way, is what the manual says to do
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Side note: finally get my mom to start leaving voicemail and the first time she tries she gets
a funny screech - try to explain that one
• tried running WinFax for NT but it’s having some “technology moments”
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Status: I’m researching a box that allows you to plug in three devices to
one phone line and it senses which is what, including routing to a
telephone service like AT&T for voicemail
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Power, Protection and Backup
(or the “almost” three P’s)
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When you start bringing in additional equipment to set up your home
office, you need to be careful about power
• Lot’s of home “daisy chain” their power circuits
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this means the power to your office may share power with another room
• Look at the amperage and wattage of all your devices, especially laser printers
and photo copiers
• Check your power outlet - you may be able to tell if it is daisy chained, but
probably not
• Do the math and if your equipment is more than the circuit, you may need to
isolate or dedicate some of the power to your office
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If you are going to want to dial into your home office computer, you
will want to keep it up and running.
• To protect any data and to ensure it has time to reboot during a power flicker,
you may want to invest in a small UPS. Our American Power Conversion unit ran
around $200 for a 500 volt-amp UPS.
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You will now have more data and possibly more equipment with data,
so you will really need to make sure you do backups.
• The larger hard drives are making backups a lot more challenging
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We bought a Sony SDT 9000 that backs up 24 gig per tape
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Space, furniture and heat
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When you start adding desks, filing cabinets, small conference tables,
equipment, printers, scanners, copiers, etc you run out of space quickly.
You need to be creative in how you arrange your furniture setup
I’m still looking for the perfect setup
• Currently, our desk is a door over two small, oak filing cabinets
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I thought this was pretty unique until I logged onto a web site that talked about furniture
for a home office - their advertisement said “living with a door over two filing
cabinets?....”
It turned out I was used to working at an L shape desk.
• Since my desk is not set up that way, I miss it. So, when you are planning your
office, look at how you work today and what is most comfortable for you. It’s
more important than one would think
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After putting all this equipment up in our office, it became immediately
apparent that the room does not need any heating in the winter.
• Be prepared for an additional heat factor - we had to install a fan.
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The photos on the next page are of a creative corner unit my son
designed and built to house our printers, the server, the routers, the
stereo and the TV
• No, the last two don’t have IP addresses…yet.
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Creative furniture solutions
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Lessons Learned
You keep discovering things you don’t have
• paper cutters, rulers, large envelopes, manila file folders, pencil sharpeners, heavy
duty staplers, binders, index tabs, etc, etc.
• filing cabinets and cabinets for the supplies (the ones you had to buy above)
• Oh, gosh, the manual for that is back in the other place....
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The guy at the ISDN department at our telephone carrier was wrong you can’t use regular phones connected to an ISDN line. Oh well.
Faxing turned out to be a huge issue.
• I talked to some friends who are members of a small business organization and
they echoed the same thing about faxing - so it’s not unique to me
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You make a surprising amount of copies
• when you use a scanner, you really pay attention to that fact
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The idea of “gee, you work at home now, you have all that spare time”
• Well, since your office is so close, you tend to stay in it more. Really!
• I learned I needed to get up, get dressed, and “go to work”. That discipline has
helped a lot
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Devices that do more than one thing are the way to go
• All in one printer/fax/copier/scanner. Note; the ones we looked at didn’t work on
NT (sounds like OS2 doesn’t it)
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Our prior planning kept us on budget - so Plan, Plan, Plan
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Web sites of interest
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You may find the following web sites of help
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http://www.smalloffice.com/
http://www.hoc.com/
http://www.whoc.com/
http://hocmag.com
http://hsoc.com
http://soho-lounge.com/
http://tr2.freeshop.com/pg00983.htm
http://www.4homeoffice.com
http://www.homeofficedirect.com/
http://www.homeofficefurniture.net/index.htm
http://www.businessknowhow.com/
http://www.bankofamerica.com/p-finance/athome/ho_home.html
http://wwwsprint.commerce.com/homeoffice/
http://www.goinsoho.com/
http://www.vertical-hold.com/
http://sohosolutions.home.mindspring.com/index.htm
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