Figment

We have a small workgroup of PCs running peer to peer. This consists of a number of Win 98/ME PCs, 4 XP Pro PCs, an old (233MHz CPU!) IBM RISC 6000 running AIX (this runs bespoke software (accounts etc) accessed by all PCs using terminal emulation), a Linux box used as a DVR for CCTV and 5 printers. All have static IP addresses (192.168.x.x) There is no server. They are connected to a 24 port hub which in turn is connected to an ADSL router for internet access.

We have just purchased some new XP Pro PCs which are going to replace (most of) the 98/ME ones, and as I am aware that we are already running more PCs than M$ recommend as the maximum on a peer-to-peer network, I feel this is an ideal opportunity to change the way the network is configured. Having only ever worked with peer-to-peer (the network started as 2 PCs and has grown from there) I don't have a clue where to start.

What is the best way to go? At the moment each PC has its own software installed, all documents etc are stored locally on the PC (which makes back ups a PITA). Shared resources (a couple of spreadsheets and one access database) are scattered around the office, and Sophos antivirus central libraries are set up on three of the XP boxes.

Also, the PCs came pre-loaded with the usual bundled software 99% of which is not required, so I intend reformatting and re-installing XP Pro and just the software we need. As the installs need to be identical up to a point, could I set up one machine with the software, user accounts etc and then clone it onto the other hard drives using Drivecopy/Ghost or similar and then add any other stuff on individual PCs?

What else do I need to consider?

Apologies for the length of the post!

Tony_W

You could set one machine as the working document area and the rest as individual PC's but linked peer-peer.

Build the working docs PC, making a Shared Docs folder on it. Inside this you can add all individual peoples docs folders, and one individual PC. Set up the individual PC accounts, although it will take a while, and when you have both PCs via the hub, use XP powertoys TweakUI on the Individual PC and set the favourites link to the shared Pc...to the docs folder.
Open Excel, word e.t.c. and set via tools, the default folder to be on the shared Pc, pointing at the appropriate docs folder for the user name.account. Do this for each user account.
Once you've finished whichever user logs on, they should automatically be pointed to their folder on the shared PC.

Doddle to back up then .

You can then ghost each PC from the original one, but should then use SYSPREP (for XP) to reset the software ids.
Its a bit of a pain if the hardware is all different though.

Hope that helps. I set a school up like this and it works a treat with 35 PCs and a server holding the central docs folders for each pupil in the school.

Tony