IT Support Services London

When setting up a network we have two choices available top us, domain or workgroup. Obviously a domain requires a domain controller (server) whereas a workgroup requires nothing. If a network has no more than 10 users all connected to the same LAN, network, for simplicity’s sake I would deploy a workgroup, because no-one ever manages a server in the office, unless you get it outsourced. However for me Workgroups tend to be huge security holes, because you simply don’t have any control over the computer. Whereas at least in a domain controller you can apply Group Polices and lock user accounts, in a workgroup you don’t have all that.

However, I recently came across a client who runs a small law firm in Finchley. He told me that the number employees weren’t going to increase and his team were going to be there for good. You would of thought I’d deploy Windows network infrastructure, instead going the Windows Server way, I bought 5 PC’s and configured a workgroup. But I also configured a pre-defined policy template which I then deployed on all the PC’s. Now that was group polices taken care of, next was to secure user accounts. Obviously I disabled the Guest user account on every Pc and renamed the Administrator account to something else. Next was to make sure we have a solid Firewall in place which would protect everyone’s PC from the internet. I deployed a Sonicwall VPN/Firewall, it simply worked and the VPN was handy for the users who worked from home. The Sonciwall also required me to install client software to further secure any connections. All in all, it was a perfect workgroup solution. Best of all we didn’t spend any money on Windows Server licenses or server hardware, this saved my client a big chunk of money.

I did do a cost comparison on how much I saved him and did show him at the end, he was very impressed. The moral of the story is Workgroups are cost effective, so if your looking to setup a small office network on a budget, choose the workgroup method.