[Pc_Support] All my father needs (I wish I wasn't 1, 100 miles away)

[Bryan J. Smith]

Here's the deal guys, my father doesn't need "pet projects."
It's just:  
1.  Office:  himself with maybe 1-2 others
2.   Field:  survey crews getting their tasks at start of day, and
uploading their work at the end of the day (they never come to the
office)
3. Clients:  accessing their completed files (they never come to the
office)
4.     Web:  so new clients can find him and place orders

He has a domain (x).  I see it as simple as follows ...

A)  www.x.com  static web site with simple (5-10 item) ordering

He doesn't need anything fancy.  He's going to sell land surveys (by
acreage/type) and options and that's it.  Doesn't need "other people who
bought Y also bought Z" type logic.  Just a tie-in to Visa/MC for
billing.

The static content has already been created.  I really want to find
someone who has used a hosting provider before that has a "canned"
solution who can set this up in 4-8 hours _max_ (including DNS).

B)  orlando.x.com  remote crew access to his office

His crews, unlike his web site, may need to access several MBs at the
start of the day (from a total of several GBs) and then upload the same
at the end of the day.  I don't need document management or other
non-sense right now -- just a simple way to access the files.  E.g.,
SFTP using a GUI client like SSH.COM's, web-based file access in a
"canned" appliance solution, whatever.

I would like to start with a low-cost Linux-based all-in-one appliance.
It would be the firewall, file server and remotely accessed file server.
It could be a VPN or a hardened (I'd rather not use HTTPS, but SFTP
instead) interface to the server.

Yes, if I was running the company -- I'd put in IPCop, a dedicated file
server, a DMZ server for the remote access, etc...  But he's not an IT
person and he doesn't have time.  I've seen countless, sub-$500
Internet/LAN combinational appliances that do this.

His LAN PCs would then be named (name).orlando.x.com and connect to the
LAN port on it.

C)  clients.x.com  client access to files

After surveys are completed, clients will want a way to get access to
their files (likely PDF format).  I think we don't need anything but a
canned appliance for this either.  Again, since the files could easily
total 100s of MBs, possibly 1+ GB, within months, this should also be on
a local system.  I suggested he get a 2nd Internet connection to the
office (e.g., SDSL) for this if and when the number of clients hitting
his server starts going up.

With that said ...

I'm at the point that the responses I have received leave me no choice
but to do it myself.  Again, no "pet projects" here.  This stuff should
be so simple that I could do it in a weekend (and I'm seriously
considering spending the next 2 doing it).

Please be considerate of what I'm asking.  It's fine if you think I'm a
jerk for responding this way, but this is really just a simple solution
that would take me no time over 2 weekends -- I'm just 1,100 miles away
right now.

But I'm starting to look at various hosting providers (his registrar is
GoDaddy.COM) as well as little, sub-$500 appliances.  The $250 Itian
he's looking at doesn't look half-bad, but there are virtually no
reviews on it so I don't know about its security.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith          Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org    http://thebs413.blogspot.com
---------------------------------------------------------
The world is in need of solutions.  Unfortunately, people
seem to be more interested in blindly aligning themselves
with one of only two viewponts -- an "us v. them" debate
that has nothing to do with finding an actual solution.