Product Review - Taurus Groupware Appliance - Page 2

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Another area in which the limited security offered by the Taurus is highlighted is with file sharing. Access to the 40GB hard drive is achieved by creating folders which then become available to users. There is no file level security, though it is possible to limit access to folders to certain users, or to assign read-only access. Again, limited security like this will work in certain environments and not in others.

Connecting to the shares once created is as simple as mapping to the drive or printer from within the workstation OS. In our tests we had no issues connecting to the Taurus or accessing any of the resources. Although we didn't do any load testing, responsiveness of the device in our tests was excellent.

Configuration of the other features of the appliance is much along the same lines as the user and file serving configuration, so much so that describing the configuration process in detail would be redundant. In basic terms, you select the appropriate tab from the GUI, click a few buttons and fill out a few fields. It couldn't be simpler.

Groupware Software
The groupware software included with the Taurus appliance is accessed by connecting to the device and appending 'intranet' to the end of the URL. After logging in, all of the groupware features are accessible from a single front end, shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The front end of the groupware application.

Certain features, like the browser based email application, are straightforward and much like you would find in other application suites. Other features, such as the Project application and web forms, are imaginative in their approach and likely to appeal to people who had not considered using tools like this before. It's no substitute for a stand-alone full-blown project planning application, but then again it doesn't pretend to be.

Options allow the user to tweak content in the front end interface where relevant to produce a more relevant interface for them. As the name implies, collaboration is the thinking behind the software and it's easy to find how one part of the suite links to another to create a rounded, co-ordinated feel. In particular, the discussion forums, projects and web forms are particularly useful. It could be argued that some of the features (email, calendaring etc) are offered in other applications just as well, but there is a sense of continuity and co-ordination to the suite which makes the applications feel tightly integrated and easy to learn.

Simplified Administration
Perhaps the single most beneficial thing about the Taurus, and other appliances like it, is that it doesn't take a genius (or even an expensive server administrator) to get the appliance up an running. The administrative interface, in the case of the Taurus, is simple enough that anyone who understands the basic principles of the services being configured can get through it. A good example of this is the DHCP server configuration which consists of just three boxes. Such a simple configuration system could mean that a small business can have all the network features of a fully featured OS without the need for understanding underlying hardware, dozens of configuration utilities and any of the associated paraphernalia or knowledge.

It's not all wine and roses.......
Impressive though it is, like any other appliance, the same thing that make products like the Taurus attractive to some users are also it's downfall to others. For example, the box does what it does, and although it may be possible to download and install new applications, it will not be as simple as it might be for a 'standard' server. Also, hardware modifications such as the addition of second drives, setting up a fault tolerant disk configuration, or adding some other hardware device is out of the question. Sure, there are ways around this, be they all negate the point of the single box solution.

The Question of Money
The one thing we haven't discussed so far is just how much all this functionality is going to cost you. Well, the news on that front is better than you might think. A Taurus appliance with 10 user licenses will run you $2,499, with that rising to $5,499 for 100 users. The viability of running more than 100 users on a single appliance can only really be determined by performing load and use estimation, but if you wanted to do so, a Taurus with an unlimited user license is available for a cool $10K.

Summary
Overall the Taurus did nothing but impress. It's small form factor, simple administration, wide array of features and faultless operation all lead you to believe that you are dealing with a quality product. Provided that certain limitations, such as expandability and configurability, won't become an issue, the Taurus is quite capable of providing the complete computing resources for a small business, workgroup or even a moderately sized organization.

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