Small-Business-Forum.net - View Single Post

billbenson · 09-06-2008, 07:05 AM

I'm not going to go as far as to go with apple as that seems to be the choice of graphics people for the most part. I'm not saying its not a good product, just that I'm not sure its necessary for testing web pages. I don't have many apple site visitors.

Today, I have two similar clone computers Jan 2003 vintage. My strategy has been to maintain them as mirror computers for hot standby. If I don't have a computer running with email during the week I'm out of business. I also live in what is supposed to be the lightning capital of the world. That's not good for electronics. I'm not as good about backing up as I should be, but they are always within a week of each other. I have a monitor switch, so I have one monitor / keyboard / mouse that talks to either computer.

When I get my next computer I'm thinking of doing something like this:

Set up one computer as primarily web design. That would probably be the new more powerful computer. Some of the design programs are resource intensive. Zend, DW, FTP, and a bunch of browser windows.

Use one of my older computers as my sales computer. I still can get a lot of windows open on the sales computer and some I don't want to close so I don't reboot unless I have to.

I want to get another BIG monitor as well. They are getting cheaper so I want a 24" monitor for the design computer.

I think I'll cut over to an external HD for backup.

If I keep my email program open on both computers, but set the sales computer to get emails say every 31 minutes and delete the emails from the server; and the web design computer to get emails every 10 minutes but not delete from server, I will have close to a real time email on the web design computer.

This might sound extreme to some, but I effectively have two jobs. Web design and sales. If the sales computer is down I could loose a sale that is worth more than the computer. If I can't do web design, I'm not moving forward. If I don't have good backups, I could loose weeks of work.

I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to structure things yet. I do know I want hot standby, backup, and I think I want to use separate computers for design and sales.

09-06-2008, 07:05 AM	#26 (permalink)
billbenson Member Needs New Keyboard Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 507 Reputation: 15	I'm not going to go as far as to go with apple as that seems to be the choice of graphics people for the most part. I'm not saying its not a good product, just that I'm not sure its necessary for testing web pages. I don't have many apple site visitors. Today, I have two similar clone computers Jan 2003 vintage. My strategy has been to maintain them as mirror computers for hot standby. If I don't have a computer running with email during the week I'm out of business. I also live in what is supposed to be the lightning capital of the world. That's not good for electronics. I'm not as good about backing up as I should be, but they are always within a week of each other. I have a monitor switch, so I have one monitor / keyboard / mouse that talks to either computer. When I get my next computer I'm thinking of doing something like this: Set up one computer as primarily web design. That would probably be the new more powerful computer. Some of the design programs are resource intensive. Zend, DW, FTP, and a bunch of browser windows. Use one of my older computers as my sales computer. I still can get a lot of windows open on the sales computer and some I don't want to close so I don't reboot unless I have to. I want to get another BIG monitor as well. They are getting cheaper so I want a 24" monitor for the design computer. I think I'll cut over to an external HD for backup. If I keep my email program open on both computers, but set the sales computer to get emails say every 31 minutes and delete the emails from the server; and the web design computer to get emails every 10 minutes but not delete from server, I will have close to a real time email on the web design computer. This might sound extreme to some, but I effectively have two jobs. Web design and sales. If the sales computer is down I could loose a sale that is worth more than the computer. If I can't do web design, I'm not moving forward. If I don't have good backups, I could loose weeks of work. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to structure things yet. I do know I want hot standby, backup, and I think I want to use separate computers for design and sales.