maa@ssc-vax.UUCP (Mark A Allyn) (08/26/90)
My father is the MIS manager of a medium size accounting firm. This firm
does payroll, audits, accounts receivable, taxes, and such for a variety
of cliants. These cliants include retail, manufacturing, and financial
services.
The firm has about 60 employees in two locations. About 50 employees are
at the main office in Boston, Mass and about 10 employees are at a satelite
office in Newton, Mass.
The firm currently has an IBM model 36 mini which they do their computing
work on. The software is written primarly in RPG. My father is the only
'computer literate' person in the place; he has spent his
life with IBM system 3 then IBM system 36/38 world programming
in RPG.
The firm has purchased a number of pc's and clones in the meantime, mostly
for secretarial use in correspondence. At the current time, they are not
networked together and nothing is networked to the IBM/36. Now the firm
has asked my father, along with someone else who knows a little about the
pc's, to investigate the possibility of networking the PC's together, along
with getting some heavy duty (486 variety) servers, and maybee migrate their
software from the 36 to the PC's. They want to have 2 servers in Boston and
1 Server in Needham and somehow link the two of them together. They also want
to keep all of the files on the servers and have only minimal stuff on the
pc's such as interoffice correspondence and mail.
What I would like to ask the net is this:
If you were in my father's place, and you were given management's carte
blance to spend (but be responsible - dont buy a CRAY Y-MP); what would you
do? Keep these things in mind:
1. Currently the PC's are running ms dos. Would you replace that with
os/2 or xenix? Keep dos on the individual pc's but run something better
on the servers?
2. What database would you use for the account receivable and payroll stuff?
Ingress, Rbase, what? They handle payroll for a cumulate total of about
1000 employees and account receivables for about 1000 cumulative customers
(primarily clothing retail and heating oil).
3. What to get for servers? They are thinking of 386 or 486. They are looking
at about 300 meg for each server.
4. What networking? Ethernet? Ring? TCP/IP Novell? What have you guys used
and how well has it worked??
Thanks for any comments you may have!
Mark A. Allyn phone 206-773-8308 (day) 206-526-8852 (nite)
206-773-3576
206-773-4393 if all fails:
206-773-9110 digital pager 206-986-5553
US Mail Boeing Company
Mail Stop 8Y-03
P.O. Box 3999
Seattle Wa. 98124
Email uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ssc-bee!maa
Ham WA1SEY
Radiolouie@cellar.bae.bellcore.com (Paul Louie) (08/28/90)
>From: maa@ssc-vax.UUCP (Mark A Allyn) >Keywords: pc lan databases accounting >Message-ID: <3472@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP> Mr. Allyn writes: >My father is the MIS manager of a medium size accounting firm. This firm >does payroll, audits, accounts receivable, taxes, and such for a variety >of cliants. These cliants include retail, manufacturing, and financial >services. >The firm currently has an IBM model 36 mini which they do their computing >work on. The software is written primarly in RPG. My father is the only >has asked my father, along with someone else who knows a little about the >pc's, to investigate the possibility of networking the PC's together, along >with getting some heavy duty (486 variety) servers, and maybee migrate their >software from the 36 to the PC's. They want to have 2 servers in Boston and >1 Server in Needham and somehow link the two of them together. They also want >to keep all of the files on the servers and have only minimal stuff on the >pc's such as interoffice correspondence and mail. Another platform port, huh?? Well, this ain't going to be easy, but I can share some of my experiences. I did the same thing a few years back and got burnt pretty badly in the beginning. Mainly, it was a lack of experience in project management of a new platform and dishonest (or lack of candor) with some of the LAN vendors. Luckily, I got a referal from an old buddy of a system integrator group ,and an understanding boss, together saved my hide. I will give you the system intergrator info at the end of this posting. >What I would like to ask the net is this: > >If you were in my father's place, and you were given management's carte >blance to spend (but be responsible - dont buy a CRAY Y-MP); what would you >do? Keep these things in mind: >1. Currently the PC's are running ms dos. Would you replace that with > os/2 or xenix? Keep dos on the individual pc's but run something better > on the servers? MS-DOS has two main advantages over the other OS's. It has more applications available (at lease 10 folds) and usually doesn't need memory upgrades (4 megs is recommended as an minimum configuration for Xenix and OS/2). For the Server I would consider Novell Netware SFT 2.15 or Netware 386. Although 2.15 can handle 100 concurrently users, I would go with the 386 version if money is not a factor (around $2500 vs. $4000). It is simply more robust - 250 users, easier maintenance, and more concurrent resource accesses, and is getting more enhancements in the future. >2. What database would you use for the account receivable and payroll stuff? > Ingress, Rbase, what? They handle payroll for a cumulate total of about > 1000 employees and account receivables for about 1000 cumulative customers > (primarily clothing retail and heating oil). Well, I wouldn't look at this problem that way. I would choose an accounting package that would satisfy my needs. Then, whatever D/B this package requires I would then purchase. The beauty of a PC LAN environment is that there are thousands of off-the-shelf software you can rely on. Unless your father is very advanturous and insisting on writing his own stuff I would go this route. Remember, there are no program conversion package for going from an S/36 RPG environment to a LAN world, no matter which PC/LAN OS you choose. So therefore,it is not a conversion of code your father will do, but a migration of functionsfrom a S/36 to a LAN. >3. What to get for servers? They are thinking of 386 or 486. They are looking > at about 300 meg for each server. As of today, there are no LAN OS's that can take advantage of the 486 platform. You have to understand what a 486 really is. It is an integration of existing available functions/components on a single chip (mainly a cache and a math co-processor). On all the LAN OS's, a cache is beneficial, but not the math co-processor. So, if you get a 386 running 25 Mz or faster it should have a 32K or 64K cache on the motherboard. For a server, it is more important to have a pair of fast disks (a pair, because disk duplexing not only provide fault tolerance, but also higher i/o performance. Of course, this is only available on a Novell Netware LAN OS) than a fast machine. In 9 out of 10 times i/o is always the bottle neck. But, by next year there will be 486 running at 50 Mz. Then the picture changes drastically. In that scenerio, I would......... [Stop dreaming! You can't wait forever. There are always something new on the horizon] >4. What networking? Ethernet? Ring? TCP/IP Novell? What have you guys used > and how well has it worked?? I've built and managed a mixed-medium network before (with some help, of course). It consisted of Token-Ring, Ethernet, Arcnet, and a WAN of X.25 and SNA lines. Ethernet was the easiest to install, maintain, and debugged. If the office envirnoment is right, I would definition install a Synoptic UTP (unshielded twisted pair, ie-phone wire) network and connect the two offices with a X.25 remote bridge. >Thanks for any comments you may have! > >Mark A. Allyn phone 206-773-8308 (day) 206-526-8852 (nite) > Email uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ssc-bee!maa Well, I said my two cents worth. Here are the info related to the system integrator: Located in Secaucus, NJ, but does work for many major clients around the country. PROVEN DATA SOLUTIONS (201) 866-4898; fax: (201) 902-0967. What made them different and better is that they are a small outfit consisted of experienced consultants. You never get a salesman to BS you on getting additional hardware and software. They don't do any marketing, but rely on word-of- mouth. I am totally happy with them and still use their services occasionally. Their worst problem is that they are always busy at a client site and don't even have a secretary to answer the calls. The same old answering machine message greets my call for the last two years. They return a call in about two hours. I suggest your father to give them a call. They don't charge for initial consulation fees, and heck, who know what lights they can shine on the project.