6111231@PUCC.BITNET (Peter Wisnovsky) (01/06/87)
Has anyone had any experience with fileservers for the Mac, especially the 3Com file server? We are trying to set up a network with about 17 users with the following capabilities: * Mail between users (mail and file transfer) * Private and shared partitions * File backup onto tape, with the ability to back up a selected group of files (say, all letters from march) * Spooling to Laserwriter from PageMaker and other programs * Compatibility with IBM PCs will not be needed, although it is always better to have it than not, I suppose. This would probably require a hard disk with about 100 meg +, which I would think rules out HyperNet, and it also has a lot of users for MacServe, which is why I have been thinking about the 3Server: I would prefer a dedicated hardware device anyway (just on principal: dedicating a mac to operate as the network administrator seems wasteful to me.) This is a publishing office where we will be using Word for the editorial department and PageMaker for production: any information on Word 3.0 and PM 2.0 (especially whether PM 2.0 will read Word 3.0 files) would be appreciated. Peter Wisnovsky Virtual Address: UUCP: ...ihnp4!psuvax1!6111231@pucc.bitnet
6111231@PUCC.BITNET (Peter Wisnovsky) (01/18/87)
I made a posting requesting information about file servers for the Mac,
especially hardware servers like the 3com 3server. I got the following
response which I thought others might be interested in seeing:
)In my spare time I work for Milwaukee County and this summer we obtained
)a 3Server, 10 Mac Pluses, a Laserwriter and lots of other stuff. The 3Server
)came with a 74 Meg hard disk and a 60 Meg tape backup. The next few months were
)hell. Currently 3Com does not support maintenance of the server from a Mac.
)You need an IBM PC with an Ethernet card to do any of the normal system
)maintenance. We have also had a lot of system crashes and currently
)10 Meg of the 3Server are taken up by unmountable volumes that cannot be
)recovered, backed-up, restored or anything. 3Com has plans for an upgrade
)and promised it by September, then December, now it looks like March. They
)say that this will fix most of the problems but I doubt it. They also will
)not talk to the end user, only an authorized dealer, so there is no support
)directly from the company and you depend on your dealer for every thing.
)
)Apple has stopped working actively with 3Com (a dealer told me this) and is
)consentrating on their own fileserver due out this month. (rumors again)
)
)
)I would wait and look into the many other alternatinves out there before
)sinking $20,000 into a 3Server.
)
)Good Luck,
)
)Michael Radovancevich
)
)Univ. of WI Academic Computing Center
)Milwaukee County Department of Parks Administration
)
)ARPA: miker@unix.macc.wisc.edu
)
)--
)Michael P. Radovancevich Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison C.S. Dept.
)Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison Academic Computing Center (MACC) Micro Consultant
)UUCP : ...{allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!miker
)ARPA : miker@unix.macc.wisc.edu
) m radovancevich 6111231@PUCC.BITNET 01/16/87*Fileservers for the Mac
Peter Wisnovsky
Virtual Address: UUCP: ...ihnp4!psuvax1!6111231@pucc.bitnet