Hello all;

I run a small professional service business (a legal practice) in County Meath; we have a requirement for IT support. We have a fairly decent Server which runs SBS 2003 R2. We have six client computers (actually five and one to be set up) all on XP. Although my technical knowledge is very limited, I have read just enough to know that I should be unhappy with the level of expertise from the guy who set up the network for us. I have no idea how to get someone who has the requisite expertise, so I am posting here in the hope of getting some ongoing support from someone who will do things by the book. Basic requirements are as follows:

1. ON SITE:

1.1 Approx. half a day (I guess) to audit existing system, and make recommendations. Maybe a half day to implement any recommended changes too.

1.2 I am embarrassed to admit it, but this will also include setting up my backups. I have been doing some backup to a portable hard drive, but I have not set up a proper backup system. I have Yosemite 8.1 software (as yet unused - it is beyond my ability to understand it) which I bought with the server and I have an Iomega REV 35GB USB drive. I envisage a situation where I would insert a disk each day and bring home a disk each day, on whatever rotation is recommended.

1.3 When I bought the server, I ordered a dual network card, because I read that SBS was optimised for this (I can't remember why - I think something to do with setting up a firewall). The guy who installed it simply disabled one of the connections, blithely assuring me that two network cards 'always gives trouble'. This was when my confidence began to ebb a little. I guess maybe I need something done with this, but I am not sure what.

If I could summarise my situation, I am one of those people who - perhaps naively - believes that my dialogue with IT support should consist solely of me asking 'what is best practice?' followed by a request to please go ahead and do just that.

2. ONGOING WORK
2.1 I would happily pay a reasonable retainer (I envisage a monthly payment) to someone to log on remotely and check the health of our system perhaps once a week. Our needs are simple and I guess that this would take no more than an hour per week.

2.2 I would like some feedback on what I should expect to pay for this support, as well as an actual offer of support.

This is, I think, a relatively easy gig; Emergency\on call support is not going to be necessary, or if it is it would be paid as an extra. I do have expertise available to me in an emergency - I have an interest in a software company; IT support on MS systems is not what they do, but I can call them in a pinch. I just can't be imposing on them on a daily\weekly basis.

Basically, I think there is a fairly handy job here for somebody, as long as they know what they are doing. We are happily ticking along for the past three months without any technical support at all, so I think it is reasonable to assume that the ongoing demands will be very light. But I do need the comfort of knowing that all systems are properly run, and I am happy to pay for this comfort.

Any takers?

Hi Michael,
There are a couple of companies that I can recommend to you, one myself Dame Computers, but we are based in Co. Wicklow, so i am not sure if that will be a deciding factor for yourselves.
Alex Hoare IT Consulting - Contact Alex Hoare, email alex@alexhoare.net they are based closer to yourself in Co. Dublin.
CC Consulting - Contact John Gunning, email john@ccconsulting.ie he are based in Co. Meath.

With regards to your point 1.3, SBS does require 2 network cards to be able to use either the RRAS firewall that is part of SBS Std or ISA that is part of SBS Premium.

With regards your backup situation, you could use the built in backup that is part of SBS to backup all your data. Depending on which version of Yosemite that you have purchased it may not fully support Exchange, SQL or Open Files, which are done by the SBS Backup utility, which is also full integrated into the SBS daily reports, Yosemite and other backup applications do not intgrate in this way with the SBS Reports, but do provide alternative methods of alerting to errors or issues with backups.
I would be happy to answer any other questions that you may have, my mobile number is 087 6810844 and my email is david@damecomputers.com
Kind regards,
David

Very much obliged David. I will give you a call next week.

Hi Michael,
I look forward to hearing from you,
David

Michael
I would love to have a chat with you. We are based in North County Dublin, in Baldoyle. This sounds like an interesting job and while you might already have spoken to some of the lads I am sure I can at least get you to make Alex give you a discount! ;)
Give me a call when it suits: 0860530626 or mail: jan@edge-technology.net

so much for looking at the dates. please disregard!!!! (sigh)