Best cloud alternative to a Mac AFP onsite file system

Question

I have a publishing company as a client that has asked me to help them migrate an outdated Mac server to a cloud based model so they would be able to have a more resilient system, as well as easily accommodate some tasks that are currently not able to be done outside of the office.

After looking into different systems to help accommodate this the main hurdle I seem to be running into is the user authentication pieces as this is a security step that we are feeling is necessary since ultimately they will have their entire staff on this system and as they leave they would like some control over access.

My question is, since this is something I feel like a lot of organizations did a few years ago, what was the prefered path? Did you end up moving to a windows server, or just running a mac server in AWS, or did you use a different file system to accommodate the future growth you were projecting for the organization?

I did see this post on here, and it almost answers the questions, but we are wanting a solution that can lock files while they are being viewed if possible.

The team is currently about 15 people, and we are wanting to find the most cost effective solution while still utilizing something similar to the process they have now where they use the "Connect to Server" feature on the mac to mount the shared drive onto their desktop. I have found a few similar solutions, but ones like this feel a little outdated, and then you have a system that AWS manages that is a bit expensive for the amount of people utilizing it.

Is there even a happy median between old software and expensive enterprise level for something like this?

Thank you for all of your suggestions in advance!

Answer 1

If all they want is simple on-prem shared storage, then a couple NAS boxes could work. With that many people, they should have at least one dedicated person dedicated to managing things, ensuring backups are working, etc.... Configure one as the storage and use the other as a backup. Synology is a good place to start looking. Another economical backup option is Backblaze.

They are big enough that they really should be looking at something like Google Workspaces or Microsoft 365 which will support the security and management features that are necessary in a larger environment. I think they can afford the ~$200/mo. cost and will get a heck of a lot more for their money.