Some Choices In Building A Small Business Network
Posted by Art Misita on Wed, Mar 03, 2010
Almost two-thirds of our Practice Resource customer base have our multi-user network version installed. That means that they are running our system on multiple computers concurrently. The receptionist might keep the system open to the appointment schedule, therapists might open the system when it is time to enter their clinical notes, and the office manager/administrator might use it to do the day's billing and electronic claims submission or to produce reports.
What all of these practices have in common is the need for a networked solution. But their specific network needs might be very different.
The simplest network configuration is a peer-to-peer network. That involves the installation of an Internet gateway router (wired or wireless) which allows all of your computers to share your Internet connection and also concidentally allows those computers to access a shared Practice Resource database installed on one of those computers (which we usually refer to as the server/workstation). There is no network operating system, just Windows XP (Home/Pro), Windows Vista (Home/Pro/Ultimate) or Windows 7 (Home/Pro/Ultimate) installed on each of the workstations. You need to configure the Windows firewall to allow the request for database access to pass through the firewall on the server/workstation. This configuration works well for a network of up to 4 or 5 computers, and works best when the server/workstation is set up as a dedicated station and not used any more than is absolutely necessary for processing tasks other than serving the remaining workstations as a database server.
The next level of complexity involves the installation of what we usually refer to as a "true" network with a network operating system such as Microsoft Windows 2008 Small Business Server or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard. In this configuration there is a dedicated server that runs the network operating system and can handle a much larger number of attached workstations (perhaps as many as 20-25 workstations might be common in a therapy practice using this configuration). The dedicated network model usually also includes the implementation of shared disks, a higher-volume version of the Microsoft SQL Server database manager, shared devices such as printers and scanners, and an intranet messaging/communication product such as Microsoft Exchange allowing email between and among internal users as well as outside parties.
In both of the first two configurations, the Practice Resource application is installed on each workstation and the database is installed on the server/workstation or the network server. As a result there is a lot of network traffic generated by database queries and updates. Both of those configurations can also be set up to allow remote access to The Practice Resource database from remote workstation computers which have The Practice Resource installed on them such as your computer at home or the laptop computer you carry around with you. The Practice Resource "finds" the database through a connection over the Internet. The remote access is much slower than local access within the office, but it works and gives you access to your system from anywhere that you have a high-speed Internet connection (like your hotel on a vacation or business trip).
And then there is an option that few of you might have heard about - a terminal server configuration using Windows Server 2008 Remote Desktop Services. On a terminal server network all of the processing is done for all concurrent users on a dedicated terminal server computer. The Practice Resource application is not installed on any of the workstations. Instead those workstations (remote and local) attach to the application running on the terminal server using the Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop client application that is included with Windows. There is no database traffic sent to/from the terminal server and the workstations. Only screens and keystrokes are transmitted back and forth. Remote access is virtually just as fast as local access. The cost of a terminal server network is the cost of the terminal server computer (which needs to be selected and sized to provide the speed and capacity of the application load that it will be expected to service) and its operating system (which can be Windows 2008 Server Standard plus terminal services access licenses in a sufficient quantity to cover the maximum number of expected concurrent users).
We have several terminal servers running The Practice Resource in our customer base and all have reported total satisfaction with the environment. Some profiles of those customers: (1) a practice in Illinois whose bookkeeping and claims processing is done by a family member in Florida; (2) a practice in California with users accessing the system from their offices as well as from their homes; (3) a practice in Florida with several therapists providing home health care to patients and updating the system at the end of the day from their home computers; and (4) a practice in New Hampshire with dozens of therapists around the state providing therapy to local schools and updating the system at the end of the day with their therapy activity and clinical notes. The terminal server is the perfect configuration for a mixed local and remote access network with a significant amount of remote traffic. And the best news - workstation computers do not have to be big and powerful - they are not where the real work is being done. Your older workstations will work quite well on a terminal server network.
Whatever your network requirements, Tech 2 Go certified network specialists are happy to work with your local IT consultants to help you to build the right environment for your practice.