Technologies we use

Jason just did a post about various things he's doing, including a mention of a conversation he had with me a few days ago.  When he mentioned some technologies he's using or investigating, well, I could tell that Granger and Perimeter had even more in common.  For whatever it may be worth to anybody, here's a quick list of some of the technologies we use at Perimeter Church

HP Switches
A pair of 5372XLs, trunked together, make up our core.  Each of our servers gets a gigabit port, then we have gigabit connections to quite a few 2650 switches that serve the various nodes throughout the building.

Linksys WAPS and Routers
We've implemented two wireless networks around our campus -- one for public access (wide open from the user perspective), and one for staff only access -- secured with a WEP key that the users don't know.  Aside: router/WAPs are cheaper that pure WAPs.  There is some firmware that will make a Router/WAP behave a bit more like a pure WAP, so you can save money AND get the slightly improved functionality.

Dell Servers now, IBM in the future
We've been a Dell shop for quite a few years.  However, our next server will almost for sure be IBM.  IBM has been offering some programs that apply to churches that provide great equipment at some impressive prices.

IBM SAN and Fiber Switches
Just a few months ago, we put in a dual-channel SAN, including dual fiber switches.  This was the enabler for virtualizing our servers.

VMWare ESX Server
For the past 3 months, we've had 3 ESX servers up and running.  We're still adjusting what logical servers are on real hardware and what's on virtual hardware, but basically we like ESX.  The ability to create a new server, in minutes, for testing, development, or whatever, is incredible.

Astaro Firewall (replacing SonicWall, which we'd used for the past 6+ years)

Barracuda Networks Spam Firewall

Two Google Mini appliances
One for internal, one for our public web site.

Windows Server 2003
We're just about a pure Windows shop.  Server 2003 is the core.

Exchange 2003

SQL 2000
2005 will probably happen within the next few months.

Citrix Presentation Server
Update 12/22/2005: We are pretty happy with Citrix, but the price is on the high side.  We're starting to look at a possible alternative, Provision Networks.

Dell and IBM desktops and Notebooks
Dell is our past, IBM (Lenovo) is our future

Neoware WinTerms, plus an assortment of others.
In the future, we'll probably choose CTI Winterms -- easier to manage, and less expensive.

APC upses on just about everything

Computer Associates E-Trust anti-virus

Webroot Spy-Sweeper

Desktop Authority from ScriptLogic Corporation

Microsoft Office 2003 Pro

EMS Pro from Dean Evans and Associates

Avaya Definity Phone system + Avaya Audix voice mail
Including about 40 Avaya IP phones that run across our standard network, without QOS!

ListServ Maestro, hosted by Higher Ground Technologies

Miscellaneous
We're using Exchange Public folders as our helpdesk and project management solution, but considering Track-IT or similar.  I can hardly wait to hear more of Jason's results.

That's a quick and incomplete list.  I'm sure I'll be updating this post over the next few days.

Comments

[Dave Davis]

Tony -- I have been reading your blog for sometime now...you and Jason both do a great job. I was wondering (you too Jason, if you are reading) if you guys use any type of facility maint. software? Something to help us keep up with scheduled maint. etc.

Love to hear...

Dave

[Jason Powell]

Great rundown Tony. I'll try to get a similar list up shortly.
Oddly enough we're looking at IBM/Lenovo as well for desktops/laptops and we're been investigating Desktop Authority too.

Dave - I'm hoping Track-It will be able to be used for our facility maint guys. Presently they do everything via paper.

[Tony Dye]

Hi Dave,

Our facilities people have been playing with a product called Mechanics Mate http://www.mechanicsmate.com/. We have not deployed it yet -- it's an experiment. It's rather old fashioned technology (Access, Win16, etc.) that bothers me a bit, but it does seem to have the basics. I'm not quite ready to put this on our list of things we use until they get a lot happier with it.

I'm interested in what Jason learns from Track-IT. I believe it could be configured for maintenance reminders.

Personally, we use an Exchange public task folder to track stuff that has future and recurring due dates. It's not very fancy, but it gets the job done.

- Tony

[Stephen]

Did you wind up moving to IBM servers? If so what kind of programs are they offering to churches? Currently we are a Dell shop and server upgrades are coming up, interested in what you guys did.

[Tony Dye]

Yes, we have gone to IBM servers. We shopped around and ended up purchasing from Zones. We price shopped from IBM, CDW, and others, and found the pricing to be pretty competitive. BTW, you can get Dell from Zones too!