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From: 00mjderry@bsu-ucs.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Me and my labs are searching for hope
Keywords: lab management
Message-ID: <1991Jun20.014803.1069@bsu-ucs.uucp>
Date: 20 Jun 91 06:48:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: bsu-ucs.1991Jun20.014803.1069
Reply-To: mikey@bsu-cs.bsu.edu
Lines: 53

Within the last month, my life has become completely changed from a normal day
to day life to week long bouts of kaos.  I have just taken the job as lab
manager/system tech in the department of journalism of my school.  This means
that I have to maintain and sustain well over 60 various Macintosh computers
and an assorted array of software and other devices as well.  I went into the
job with a small knowledge of the Macs, but I know other systems backwards and
forwards ... but sometimes it doesn't seem to help.  

Presently I am in charge of 3 labs and several departmental computers.  Each
individual lab is connected together with bus connectors serving one to three
printers depending on the lab.  The most extensive "network" we have is Public
Folder, which if you have ever used it, is both useful and also a joke.

I read the letters concerning Lab Management and had some questions about a few
things.  First, the plans are that everything in the department will be
networked.  I am not sure how I feel about this, nor do I know the exact
details of the plans.  Our main problem is that all the Macs have HDs of
different sizes.  What I would like to do is to have everything hooked up to a
server but I have some problems with that.

1.  With 60+ computers, it is bound to be slow.  We are thinking about
upgrading to system 7 soon, so using that plus the network, we are going to
have to come in an hour early just to get an application going.

2.  This is a Graphics/journalism class.  We are licensed for all our software
including PageMaker, Illustrator, Persuation, FreeHand, QuarkExpress as well as
the big graphics and wordprocessing software.  To network something like
PageMaker, we would have to have 60 copies of it on the network if sixty people
were to use it at once.  PageMaker alone takes up a heck of a lot of space. 
Thoughts are going through my mind about sixty people using one server over
basically one wire to all run the same system draining application.

Having a server, however, would help us in security and file maintenence. 
Security reasons, basically for theft and file abuse (deleting/modifying, etc.)
and maintenence, it would be easier to install and maintain the files at one
computer rather than running around doing it on 60 different ones.

But, alas, a server and a network may be a few months down the road and I would
appreciate any suggestions for the present situation ... if there are any.

Reading the letters, I came across someone mentioning FILEGUARD and someone
else mentioning DIGICARD.  Could anyone enlighten me on ether or both of these
in respects to my problems at hand?

Any help would be appreciated ...


Reply messages to the account above or to mikey@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (quicker) ...

Thanks!


								Mikey.