Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy Cable
| How to connect two offices together Here is my situation. I have taken over as GM for my company. We have three offices, our main one and the one I work out of is in Toronto, and we have a store in Ottawa. I want to setup a camera network and a server in Ottawa that I can access in Toronto. As well as setting up a inventory control system so i know what they sold and what they have in stock.
Does anyone know if there is a well priced POS inventory software that will combine physical inventory with our website and our physical store.
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 donoreoPremium
join:2002-05-30
North York, ON | I thought you were asking for VPN solutions. You really want POS software that integrates with a web store as well, correct? |
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| reply to eweazel
Business Vision will do what you want. But its not real time inventory tracking it only updates once a day. |
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| reply to eweazel
I guess I am looking at VPN as well. I want to setup a camera network there too, so I can watch what goes on from Toronto. There is very little supervision at the moment. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to OHSrob
Updating once a day works, its better then manually updating when ever we can as is the norm right now with the Microsof product we are using, unless of course they have been using it the wrong way all these years. This has been a business that setup up these things 6-10 years ago and never changed a thing since then. |
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donoreoPremium
join:2002-05-30
North York, ON | reply to eweazel
said by eweazel:I guess I am looking at VPN as well. I want to setup a camera network there too, so I can watch what goes on from Toronto. There is very little supervision at the moment.
The VPN is the easy part. Site to site with firewalls. You may need to replace hardware if the one end does not support it.
The only catch is if both offices are using the same network. If you have 192.168.1.x in both offices, one will have to change or else your routing will not work. |
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 NeTwOrKDawgNetworking is a lifestyle
join:2005-04-25
Brantford, ON | reply to eweazel
Yeah the vpn is the easy part. There are so many solutions out there from free, cheap and then expensive. I have experience with tons of solutions ranging from free for 10 locations, up to a 3000+ location vpn using moderately priced firewalls with a central hub.
The camera's are easy to do too, if you are going to use IP cameras. Very very easy. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| said by NeTwOrKDawg:Yeah the vpn is the easy part. There are so many solutions out there from free, cheap and then expensive. I have experience with tons of solutions ranging from free for 10 locations, up to a 3000+ location vpn using moderately priced firewalls with a central hub.
The camera's are easy to do too, if you are going to use IP cameras. Very very easy.
I know next to nothing VPN, I will admit that much. I am ok the basic networking in one location, but when it comes to VPN'ing I would be lying if I said it didnt frigthen me a bit. I am looking at an IP based camera setup. I am assuming that once I setup a VPN and have access to everything from then on adding other elements to the system will be easier. |
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NeTwOrKDawgNetworking is a lifestyle
join:2005-04-25
Brantford, ON | reply to eweazel
Well, for the vpn, what did you have in mind to use for the endpoint at each location? You could setup a pfsense firewall, which the software is free and you just need to provide a system to run it on. I run my pfsense box on an old HP Thin client.
VPN is very, very easy depending on the gui on the firewall.
The easiest solution for vpn is if you have a static IP on each end's Internet connection, but it is not needed. Dynamic IPs just complicate it a little bit. |
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| reply to NeTwOrKDawg
if u simply just purchase a vpn router, connect it at your ottawa store, their internet goes thru the vpn, its like theyre on the same network as ur toronto network, so if u put a ip camera, u can access it in real time from toronto, as for pos, they are connected by RJ45 so the ones in toronto and ottawa are technically linked so who ever does the closing in toronto has to wait for all the pos in ottawa to shut down before it will poll, hoep this helps |
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| reply to NeTwOrKDawg
I have a static IP in toronto, and will get one for Ottawa. Now the rest of it is where I am totally lost on, I guess once I see the infrastructure everyting will make more sense to me. |
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NeTwOrKDawgNetworking is a lifestyle
join:2005-04-25
Brantford, ON | reply to eweazel
eweazel , if you use an IM program such as Skype, MSN, google, etc, you can feel free to add me and we can chat more. Glad to offer my help if you want it. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| said by NeTwOrKDawg:eweazel , if you use an IM program such as Skype, MSN, google, etc, you can feel free to add me and we can chat more. Glad to offer my help if you want it.
Thank you will do. This project is one for the new year, but I am preparing the costs analysis for the owner. This is going to be a difficult transition as most people here are 60+ and this is going to scare them. |
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| Just 'splain it as a set of private strings & tin cans between the offices  That way they'll understand. |
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| reply to eweazel
Seriously, this it not much different than having a LAN at a complex of buildings (eg. a factory with admin, production, & warehouse buildings). The VPN is just the secure 'glue' that allows one building to talk to another, and all the computers/printers/cameras/etc... in each of the buildings. |
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| reply to eweazel
What speeds do you have at each office? If you have slow upload in Ottawa trying to view the camera's remotely will not go very well. |
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| Good point.
A 25/7 DSL connection at each location would be a good starting point for 60 people. |
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| reply to eweazel
No idea how good this may be
»www.moneris.com/en/Solutions/POS···ail.aspx |
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| reply to MaynardKrebs
said by MaynardKrebs:Good point.
A 25/7 DSL connection at each location would be a good starting point for 60 people.
Should be yes if he can get those speeds (distance issue?), depends on how much file transfers they will have between the offices. Doesnt sound like he will have 500gb of replication or anything so they probably dont have a need for fiber/ethernet services yet.
If you are doing your own vpn route, i would try to have the same provider at each location, so your routing and latency should be very good. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
| said by cooldude9919:said by MaynardKrebs:Good point.
A 25/7 DSL connection at each location would be a good starting point for 60 people.
Should be yes if he can get those speeds (distance issue?), depends on how much file transfers they will have between the offices. Doesnt sound like he will have 500gb of replication or anything so they probably dont have a need for fiber/ethernet services yet. If you are doing your own vpn route, i would try to have the same provider at each location, so your routing and latency should be very good. At the moment we have Teksavvy which I finally was allowed to upgrade after 3 years of bitching and we are now at 16/1. I will upgrade the ottawa store to the same.
We dont do anything close to 500gb, this is just more purely files (excel/word) that I want to have in a server in Toronto, rather then them having access only on their computers which again to me is a waste of resources and security, especially as in the past year I have seen money being wasted on data recovery for each computer because no one backs up, when these old computers crash.
I could be going about this the wrong way, if there is an easier way I am also open to it. This is me just scratching my head and how this place has been operated and thinkign there has to be a better way. |
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