1. Running A Sound IT Shop
Best Practices From
The Spiceworks IT Network
October 2008

2. Allow rogue laptops How do I justify a raise? Best Wireless
on my network? Testing Tools
How long
should I retain
What’s the optimum backup tapes?
staff to user ratio? How do I stop user
account lock-outs?
How do you handle
Should I start my own employee terminations?
IT business?
What do you do with
old computers?
What’s the best way to do IT?
2

3. Who’s Asking These Questions?
and 500,000 other SMB IT Pros like you...

4. Common Questions
 What do others like me do?
 How can I learn from others’ mistakes?
 Will it work in my industry?
 How do I convince my boss?
 What if I don’t have the budget?

5. Best Practices For SMB IT
 Options not prescriptions
 Distilled from:
 Discussions
 Ratings and Reviews
 SpiceLists
 See for yourself and join the conversation
community.spiceworks.com/education/projects/Best_Practices

6. Best Practices For SMB IT
 Network Access
 Internet, Wireless, VPN, Remote Offices
 Computing
 Workstations, Servers, Printers, Virtualization, Security
 Communication
 Email, Mobile, Telephony
 User Services
 Setup, Training, Compliance, Support
 General
 Purchasing, Budgets, Strategy, IT Career

7. Sound SMB IT Shop
I. Setting Up Your Network
II. Setting Up Messaging
III. Maintaining Your Shop
IV. Supporting Your Users
V. Documentation

8. Part I: Setting Up Your Network
 Design Your Network
 Select a topology
 Select an addressing scheme
 Select a machine naming convention
 Server Rooms and Closets
 Power / HVAC / Fire Suppression / Running Cable
 Connecting To The Internet
 Security
Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

9. Part I: Naming Your PCs
 Department-port number
 Roomname-number
 Asset Number
 Username + model
 Site-Device-OS-asset tag
 Airport Code - OS Type
 School type-teacher-room-id
 User Initials
 Department - Job Title

10. Part I: Setting Up Your Network
 Design Your Network
 Select a topology
 Select an addressing scheme
 Select a machine naming convention
 Server Rooms and Closets
 Power / HVAC / Fire Suppression / Running Cable
 Connecting To The Internet
 Security
 Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

11. Part I: Network Closets
How does your
network closet look?

12. Part I: Network Closets
We asked....

13. Part I: Running Cable
 Label both ends
 Number (jack #)
 Purpose (WAN / Router / AD Server, etc)
 Color code cables
 (Servers - blue, etc)
 Label Voice and Data separately

14. Part I: Designing A Server Room
 Raised Floor
 Proper Grounding
 Fire suppression
 Physical Security
 Check door size
 Cooling
 Temperature
 Monitoring

15. Part I: Setting Up Your Network
 Design Your Network
 Select a topology
 Select an addressing scheme
 Select a machine naming convention
 Server Rooms and Closets
 Power / HVAC / Fire Supression / Running Cable
 Connecting To The Internet
 Security
 Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

16. Part I: Connecting To The Internet
 Determining Capacity Needs
 Selecting an ISP
 Price / Performance / Reputation
 Service Level Agreements
 Document outages

17. Part I: Setting Up Your Network
 Design Your Network
 Select a topology
 Select an addressing scheme
 Select a machine naming convention
 Server Rooms and Closets
 Power / HVAC / Fire Supression / Running Cable
 Connecting To The Internet
 Security
 Firewalls / VPN / User Access Control

18. Part I: User Access Control
 Authentication
 Active Directory
 OpenLDAP
 User Name / Password schemes
 Policies

19. Part I: User Name Schemes
Plan For Growth. Avoid Problems Later
First Initial Last Name jsmith
First Initial, Middle Initial, First 5 characters of last
jhsmith
name
First 5 chars of last name, 2 chars of first name smithjo
First Name.Last Name John.Smith
First char of First Name First 2 chars of Last Name JSM / JS2 / JS3
Department, machine type, initials, computer # DeLaJS01

20. Sound SMB IT Shop
I. Setting Up Your Network
II. Setting Up Email
III. Maintaining Your Shop
IV. Supporting Your Users
V. Documentation

21. Part II: Setting Up Email
 Hosted vs Internal
 Email Server Software
 Anti-Spam
 Hosted vs Internal

22. Part II: Hosted vs Internal
 Why?
 Features
 Cost
 Why Not?
 Privacy
 Bandwidth
Buying Guide / Reviews

23. Part II: Setting Up Email
 Hosted vs Internal
 Email Server Software
 Anti-Spam
 Hosted vs Internal

24. Part II: Email Server Software
Popular Email Servers
 Exchange Other
26%
 MDaemon
 Lotus Notes Exchange
52%
Kerio
5%
 Zimbra Zimbra
5%
 Kerio Lotus Notes
5%
MDaemon
 and 25 others... 8%

25. Part II: Setting Up Email
 Hosted vs Internal
 Email Server Software
 Anti-Spam
 Hosted vs Internal

26. Part II: Anti-Spam Solutions
SpiceList
Buying Guide / Reviews

27. Sound SMB IT Shop
I. Setting Up Your Network
II. Setting Up Messaging
III. Maintaining Your Shop
IV. Supporting Your Users
V. Documentation

28. Part III: Maintaining Your Shop
 Backup
 Hosted vs internal backup
 Backup software
 Monitoring your network

29. Part II: Online Storage
Cable Contest Submission
Product Pages / Comparisons

30. Part III: Maintaining Your Shop
 Hosted vs internal backup
 Backup software
 Monitoring your network

31. Part II: Backup Software
Favorite Backup Software
Acronis True Image
Enterprise Server
Others
28%
“Best investment we ever made, easiest and
most reliable way to backup and restore BackupExec
44%
servers or even migrate to VMware... “
JB
SyncBack SE
7%
“Awesome for recovery and can be used for Mozy
incrementals to mount image to pull just one 3%
file.Easier than ghost! “ Acronis NT Backup
13% 5%
adamroof

32. Sound SMB IT Shop
I. Setting Up Your Network
II. Setting Up Messaging
III. Maintaining Your Shop
IV. Supporting Your Users
V. Documentation

33. Part IV: Supporting Your Users
 Why Use A Help Desk?
 Centralized
 Communication
 Reporting
 How Do You Get Your Users To Use A Help Desk!

34. Part IV: Help Desk Adoption
 Create shortcuts and bookmarks
 Priority for help desk tickets
 New user orientation
 Management support
 Tough Love

35. User Avoidance Techniques

36. Sound SMB IT Shop
I. Setting Up Your Network
II. Setting Up Messaging
III. Maintaining Your Shop
IV. Supporting Your Users
V. Documentation

37. Part V: Documentation
 Developing a Runbook
 How everything works on your network
 Keep it up to date
 Version control
 Keep it secure

38. Join The Conversation
community.spiceworks.com