Need help setting up 'private' server!

Not for games!
It's actually like this,

I'm working on this project for the company.
They want everything to be 'real-time'

Now the 'unprofessional' way of doing it for me is to setup PUNBB
server and just have everyone join where they can upload files and such
but note that we're dealing with sensitive stuff so I don't want anyone to just
register and just download these 'datas'

I was thinking FTP server?
But I need help with this, like what do I need?
Or perhaps my very own www.company.com forum websites? (Where only selected people can register and that only a few are able to go into these 'data' section?) (Something like how only senior members can go to the senior section)

Or perhaps I can buy one HUGE hard drive and
have everyone in the company use that instead?
(Is that even possible?)

At the moment all we have is a HUB
We have about 40+ computers and they're all linked to this HUB
So yeah, really want to know what can be done to make all the data shareable~

Please note that I am fairly new to this and I really have no idea where to begin. I really would like someone experienced in this! Any method will do, preferably something which isn't so complicated

 

This should probably not be in the hardware thread, probably networking

Do you need this to be local only, as in only those 40+ computers and only when connected to the network or do you need the files to be able to be accessed say when they work from home and cannot connect to the company network?

 

With 40 users, sounds like you need some real IT infrastructure, and equally important, someone who is competent and trustworthy at administering it all.

Lots of quality sysadmins are out of work right now, and I'm sure you could hire an expert to set something up for you that meets your needs for not much money. You'll have to budget for the actual server hardware, space for it, appropriate levels of backup, and, of course, end-user training.

Personally, I'd suggest that you hire someone proficient with Unix and Linux (with some Windows knowledge), rather than a Microsoft certificate-monkey, even if you are mostly a pure Microsoft Windows-using environment. Linux+Samba running on a server can be amazingly economical, and much easier to work with in the long run than Microsoft products.

 

However if he does want to do it himself an FTP server would be ok

you can learn more about setting permissions/the server up here

http://lifehacker.com/software/home-server/how-to-set-up-a-home-ftp-server-130806.php

But yes depending on how big this project is, someone with more experience might be a bit better.

 

Yep I don't really want to hire anyone at the moment
as it's really expensive (We've tried MySAP but even they couldn't
integrate our system FULLY)

So if possible, I would like to keep it simple actually.

At the moment, what we have is a broadband connection connected to a HUB which is connected to the whole lots of PC entirely in the factory.

What I want is perhaps for ONE computer to be able to ACCESS
the rest of the computers! (Just through the hub preferrably and I do not want any outsiders to be logging in and such which is why i don;t want to create a www.whatever.com to do it)

Is it possible to just use the hub?
Or I know that I can get like one super big HDD size (X2 for Raid1 backup purpose) and have every computer that's connected to that hub be able to access at whatever is in that HDD file?

And yes, most of these PC uses WINDOWS

 

Wouldn't a SVN system work here, if it was remotely located it could be accessed no matter where the 40 users were. While a FTP system would be simple would there not be a problem with 40 user using it in real time if someone was to upload and overwrite some data that maybe shouldn't have been changed. No offense Stalvros, but if this is truly "sensitive" data it seems that you might not have the correct qualifications to make sure it is protected in the correct way, put it this way if my online banking info was going to be hosted by someone I wouldn't want them doing it on what equates to a public forum for all to see. I would take pitz advice and hire someone more qualified.

 

you could just remote access the computer with something like logmein lol

a FTP with proper permissions set probably would work

an SVN would also work based on the OP's vague description of what he needs

 

Well I just want the method~
I don't want the security~

Also, I did consult some specialist with regards to this.
The reason why I want to know how to set up as well is also because just so that I have a 'bit of knowledge' instead of depending fully on them. (Like how do I know they're not cheating me XD)

But yeah, I know that most of what's recommended is SVN server.
Actually what I had in mind is just offline server that people can connect
using the HUB connection, can the SVN server do that?

I need a good website recommendation as well that will teach me how to if possible? I've googled but most give me instruction which is done using Linux and not Windows

 

One other thing~
Is there some sort of program I can download to monitor
which computer downloads what?

At the moment the hub splits the connection to 40 different computers.
I guess what I want is a program that monitors what each of the 40 PC
do with the internet~

 

if you have a windows machine and want an svn server on it, go to www.visualsvn.com and download visual svn server, it's for free and easy to configure. i use it on my windows home server, works well.