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Any idea where I could find some resources for Planning IT for a new firm ? Preferably with Case Scenarios so that it is easier for me to understand.

This would be for a new Company of around 20 users (currently working with gmail and personal Laptops) which will expand to around 800 as soon as we start operations. Spanned across multiple countries.

Stuff that i need help is with Domain Planning, Messaging and Communication, Security, Global Network Planning and other IT Infrastructure stuff, Mobile Devices, IT Policy Development.

I have an idea of what I want from all this but I really don’t know where to go for help and assistance.

Domain - Windows Active Directory of course !

Messaging and Communication - Exchange, LYNC !

Security - I really don’t know what is expected when it comes to Security. I would love to look at some cases and understand. I know Security has levels and levels of existance.

Global Network - At this point in time, All I need is my Offices in multiple countries be able to communicate with each other (VPN/MPLS option to be discussed)

Mobile - Maybe this has more to do with Messaging and Communication ?

Policy - Maybe not a big issue for me now but eventually the board will want to see Governance and some practices in place.

If you have been instrumental in setting up, Managing and Delivering IT for an Organization (Big/Small) depending on needs. It would be of great help to me if you could share some of your experices and let me know where and how i need to start. Feel free to mix Techincal and Management aspects of IT in your replies. I could really use all the help.

Right now - The only IT guy I can see in this Company is me.

I asked the Board if I could bring a consultant in to get all this done so that i can take over and leave the Development part to the Consulting guy. Answer was a NO and that i needed to figure all this out. I would really love to take this opportuinity up but help is what i need and where to go to for that is what I dont really know.

Thanks,

Kay

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Kay, I’m not trying to be rude but typically CCNA, MCITP, MCP (XP), MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, VCP 's don’t ask these kinds of questions.

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Your management is setting you up for failure if they refuse to allow you to bring in a consultant. You are also not doing them any favors by blindly trying to go alone on a new setup. I strongly suggest that you explain this to the management.

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I find it really hard to believe that a company will expand immediately from 20 to 800 users. Also its highly unrealistic that someone will support multiple countries alone without additional onsite support at those facilities. Also an infrastructure that will support 800 users to be developed by a single guy is also a bit unrealistic without some consulting.

Lastly, I’m with Bill on this one - with those certifications you should have a solid foundation of what will be needed.

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No Offense taken Bill but here’s something i can add.

I previously worked for an organization where i was taken care of very well. My role was purely Regional support.

Even though I may have certifications and i may be able to understand and develop almost everything that’s in those technologies. i have no experience in IT Management.

For example. My roles were Window Server Admin (Supporting an OU), Desktop Support IT, Networks Support and I had an excellent Support team who would simply tell me what needs to be done.

I will be frank … i have no clue how things happen at Higher level. At an Operational Support level. i would

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Kay -

I’ve setup and managed quite a few IT shops over the last dozen or so years as a consultant and director, and while you are in the right place and asking the right questions - if you really are starting up a global company with 20 users expanding “to 800 as soon as [you] start operations”, I’ll be blunt: you need to hire a dedicated IT resource or a consultant to help you with this; anything less would be irresponsible if that scope is a realistic expectation.

That out of the way, I guess we could help point you in a better direction if you had a few more specifics about how your company will be organized operationally - will you have actual physical office locations globally? Or will you have a predominantly mobile workforce? Will it be all FTE’s or will you make use of a lot of contractors? Is it a manufacturing business or an online retailer, etc. (what industry)?

Also - don’t short-change policy and security. If you are truly starting from scratch, these things should be built into the decisions and processes from the start (it’s much easier to take the time from the start with policies and security than to try and improve on them a year or two down the road after you don’t have a backup or have a breach!).

That’s all high-level…maybe start by looking at people’s PROJECTS on this site? Maybe you can find someone who has done something similar to you (and I’m still a slacker on Spiceworks - haven’t setup any of my projects/skills yet!?). I did a quick Amazon search on IT Infrastructure Case Books too…but that was a fruitless attempt…

Any more details and the folks here can point you in the right place for sure though.

JM

EDIT: I missed all your certifications and wrongfully assumed you were not an IT resource; after seeing this, well, I too don’t mean to be rude, but - you are going to need someone else to help you out with this if your scope is reality. Please don’t try and do this yourself.

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That’s perfectly fine. But if you don’t know or don’t feel comfortable, you need to bring in a consultant. Maybe not for everything but you do need some sort of assistance. Management needs to know possible ramifications if they don’t allow you to have a consultant. The consultant doesn’t have to do the job for you, but they can guide you along the way.

Something to consider:

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/421576-if-you-have-to-ask-the-question

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Sounds like a start-up.

Some things not said is what is your industry. Different industries have different regs that are going to affect how you set stuff up.

Only one IT staff to start, go Cloud with email (Office 365), so you don’t have messaging headaches.

Spread across several countries, definitely secure VPN connections between sites. AD with DCs in each major site to allow for authentication if and when the VPN goes down. Start with your forest install and then domain for main site. Remember that domains are security boundaries, so one domain is fine if you don’t really need security boundaries within the company. Security includes delegation, but it can also be done with OUs if there is no other need for boundaries.

SANS has a lot of templates for various security polices, but make sure you run them through management to get their support or it is just some much scrap.

Wow, this is a lot.

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Gentlemen,

I have tried talking to my Management multiple times and they are all too busy setting up other fronts for the Company. Growing from 20 to 800 is not an all that unbelievable expansion in today’s world. With 4 major Contracts in the Oil and Gas Drillling / Down stream sector in 4 main Middle eastern countries and having 7 Arab “His Excellencies” out of the founder 20 makes it even more natural to evolve so.

The only so called road map I have with me now is the shape of IT that my past Company had. I can understand how it looked but to make something of that sort from pieces is something I really dont know.

I don’t mean to sound any stupid here but I would like to start looking at this as separate offices first and then later on when I have considerable resource. We could think about integrating these offices.

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Hi Kay,

The problem with joining many offices to one in the future is that you have more than one forests and then it is like merging companies rather that adding a office. That is why I suggest the main forest and the VPN connections should come first if possible. Start in the center and expand outward. Otherwise you will have all these different domains that have to be migrated into one forest (look at the doc about merging forest from MS) it is a lot easier the other way.

When I said that you need management backing, I meant the President or CEO not the board. The President or CEO is the guy/gal that has to Ok operational decision, so you need your policies blessed.

Sounds like an oil and gas operation, perhaps the oil and gas IT folks can chime in on what regs to follow. Also sound like your are outside of the US so you need the regs for whatever country or countries you will be dealing with. Maybe there aren’t any? Nice.

One of those “regs” although this may only be internal to company is do they want archiving on the email (another reason to outsource to MS, Rackspace, or other. They can back up stuff instead of you. That might change later, but to launch this it keeps it simple. You might also consider building your AD infrastructure in the cloud as well.

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Hi Jeff,

Your way sounds great !! Something very much in the lines i had thought initially.

One single Forest - Multiple Domains and a Business Class VPN binding it all together.

I really dont want to go to the cloud yet. Reason being - i may have crews behind a very low bandwidth VSAT line.

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Hi Kay, we can help with the Global MPLS network. Contact me and we can talk requirements. We are partnered with 100 MPLS providers, international is our sweet spot

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You may not even need multiple domains (Each domain should have two DCs) that can add up. But every company is different.

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When you say multiple places how many are we talking? Are these offices going to be operating under one name? e.g. mygas - this will help with planning such a large network. As your AD structure and design could be mygas.local as the main forset then have officeuk.mygas officeusa.mygass etc, ideally having a DC in each office incase links to main datacentre drop.

What sort of software are they going to be running? If it’s just Office and Email you may not need a big AD deployment, and just use Office365. If they need access to files and software/database at HO/Datacentre then this could get messy :slight_smile: