Introducing Disk Quotas to Staff

[Gardinho]

Hi Guys,

 

I wonder if any of you can help me. I'm looking to implement disk quotas at my school, but I know it will be met with some resistance from some members of staff. When you carried this out on your network, how did you communicate this with the users? Do you have an 'introduction to disk quotas' type document that I can amend to show how users will be effected by the change and the reasons behind it?

 

Many thanks,

[jamesfed]

As with all good projects there must first be a reason why you want to change, at my last place we had very flexible limits for students (up to 32GB) and potentially unlimited for the staff (well as much as the offline files cache on their notebook would take) simply because we had the capacity to backup that kind of data.

 

Having a reason makes justifying the change to the staff a whole lot easier

[Greenbeast]

you could also start phasing it in for new staff, so all new staff get a limit

[Gardinho]

Hi James,

 

Thanks for your comments. I am fully aware of the benefits to it, but it's just how to go about communicating it. I implemented it at my last school, and it was excellent.

 

Some of my users have over 50gb in their folder, and despite several requests (even from the HT!) they only manage to trim a few hundred mb off! I want to force the issue, but a simple document that can be shared and reused will hopefully inform them of the benefits at user level.

 

Many thanks,

Edited April 23, 2013 by Gardinho

[SovietRussia]

We give students 512 by default, if they need more they just ask. Teachers and Staff get 6GB

[X-13]

Some of my users have over 50gb in their folder, and despite several requests (even from the HT!) they only manage to trim a few hundred mb! I want to force the issue, but a simple document that can be shared and reused will hopefully inform them of the benefits at user level.

 

You should do what I do... Just force it.

 

We had issues with users having a lot of files in their documents that weren't needed [many years old and untouched], were also in a common shared drive or that were simply huge files.

 

When the limit came in, it was less than the space they had actually used, so they were unable to save anything unless they deleted/moved a lot of stuff.

 

 

I also gave the option of creating backups of old, but still relevent, work to a disk if it was really needed [Which wasn't my decision, if the HT/DHT says it's needed, then it's needed] and resizing photos to a more reasonable size. [Plus compressing images in word documents... People need to learn how to do that.]

[clockend25]

flexible limits for students (up to 32GB)

 

Holy shingles.

[elsiegee40]

As with all 'controversial' issues, such as Print Management quotas, I get this sort thing introduced by the HT at a staff meeting as a fait accompli.

 

"It's happening. I'm in charge. Tough!"

 

Without the full suport of your HT/SLT this will be unsuccessful.

[X-13]

As with all 'controversial' issues, such as Print Management quotas, I get this sort thing introduced by the HT at a staff meeting as a fait accompli.

 

"It's happening. I'm in charge. Tough!"

 

Thanks... I'm now getting visions of a HT in a staff meeting announcing this, when someone behind them with a fishing rod lowers a pair of sunglasses in the style of the "deal with it" meme.

[Gardinho]

I do have full support from SLT, but as with all of these type of changes, there are a percentage of people who think we are doing this to be awkward. Staff here often fail to look at the big picture, which is why I wanted to share some information with them to show them of the impacts it has.

 

I can quickly produce something, just being lazy! I'll just bring it in from September and give them a full half term to cipher through their data.

[LiamH]

Price up the cost of increasing the storage of your servers/backup solution and put that forward to SLT with a note saying "or we could introduce quota's..." you will soon get their backing.

 

We had issue's with staff saving camcorder footage on their user area's the compression was horrible so we tend to convert it to a more suitable file size, and encourage them to put shared resources onto the shared drive to stop duplication.

 

Do find it can be a double edged sword though, if you give them a strict quota they will start saving everything to removable media without a backup, and its you they come to when it gets put in the washing machine (the day before it is urgently required).

[X-13]

encourage them to put shared resources onto the shared drive to stop duplication.

 

Slightly off-topic, but did you have teachers responding to that with "I made it, why should I share it?"

 

I've had that with a few staff, where each class in a year group have similar resources for certain subjects, but they refuse to pool their resources to ensure they're using the best stuff available.

 

I.E: User A has the clearest/most relevant images, but User B has the more cohesive/easy to read layout.

[LiamH]

Slightly off-topic, but did you have teachers responding to that with "I made it, why should I share it?"

 

I've had that with a few staff, where each class in a year group have similar resources for certain subjects, but they refuse to pool their resources to ensure they're using the best stuff available.

 

I.E: User A has the clearest/most relevant images, but User B has the more cohesive/easy to read layout.

 

not really encountered that, most of the "lesson plans" tend to be bought in or passed from teacher to teacher.

 

In-fact we often get asked to copy whole chunks of shared resources onto memory sticks just before staff leave, normally we decline due to the mess of copy write issues. Even NQT's here on placement want to do it.

[3s-gtech]

Slightly off-topic, but did you have teachers responding to that with "I made it, why should I share it?"

 

Dump it on the shares anyway

 

We introduced quotas stealthily - found the users with the most space used, did a duplicate file check on their areas to get them down a bit, then stuck the quota just above that. That gave us 6GB for staff which appears to be plenty (and gives us enough provision) - there is sufficient storage for shared resources, videos etc elsewhere.

[X-13]

Dump it on the shares anyway

 

I don't move people's files.

 

It's up to the user to ensure they have space available and that files are stored in the correct location.

 

Although, I have a SMT-backed policy of kill-on-sight if I find SparkleBox stuff. [if I get told a user has no space, I pop in to their files and make a few suggestions of what to delete/move.]

[featured_spectre]

Set the quota at something unreasonably low (3GB for example). Ask for all resources for a department to go onto that departments shared drive, and personal documents (eg student reports for teachers class, or individual lesson plans etc) can be kept on their share. Videos and music, unless they are properly licenced, they can go.

 

Soon as I mention staff being liable for the fine that can be levied, you would be surprised how fast they removed the music and videos from their machines and shares! This on my old school cleared up close to 60GB over night!

[X-13]

Set the quota at something unreasonably low (3GB for example).

 

If 3GB is "unreasonably low", what is 100mb?

 

Have I become BOFH? [seriously, our quota is 100mb. And only a few people have more than that due to the type/amount of fles they have.]

[featured_spectre]

Only reason I say 3GB is unreasonably low, is because most staff at that establishment had 3GB or more of music and videos. Once everything was cleared off, I lowered it further, but increased the share sizes.

[Gibson335]

I would love to enforce a disk quota for staff. We have a 750Mb basic quota for students, which for most is ample. Others are being given more, and I suspect we will soon raise the baseline to 1Gb. But with 1250 students we're eating up around 1.2Tb. Staff, on the other hand, are almost at 3Tb!! There is a huge number of old files, tens of thousands of 'personal' image files and video files, and the clutter is ridiculous in shared areas. But IMO, this is not a decision for the NM to take. For years now I have been banging my head against a brick wall over this, constantly reminding SLT that we're using up more and more storage space, that this is reflected not only in the size of SAN required but also makes a big hit on backups - to no avail. There is no way I can force this issue, and I wouldn't wish to do so. For me, it has to come from the top.

[X-13]

Only reason I say 3GB is unreasonably low, is because most staff at that establishment had 3GB or more of music and videos. Once everything was cleared off, I lowered it further, but increased the share sizes.

 

TBF, the quota is more flexible than I admit to staff.

 

Also, all this talk of quotas reminded me to have a look at out staff drive.

 

Lots of 4000x3000 images and word/powerpoint documents running at many thousands of KB due to uncompressed pictures...

[featured_spectre]

Gibson...simple answer, force fail a backup due to volume of files.

 

Advise there are too many pictures/videos/music etc of a personal nature which have no issue being there, and if they signed an AUP, check to see if it breaks the terms, if no AUP is in place, make one.

[Gibson335]

Gibson...simple answer, force fail a backup due to volume of files.

 

Advise there are too many pictures/videos/music etc of a personal nature which have no issue being there, and if they signed an AUP, check to see if it breaks the terms, if no AUP is in place, make one.

 

If only life were really that simple. An AUP is in place, it expressly forbids them to store personal files on the network, yet when I remind SLT that this is not only still going on but increasing, I pretty much just get shrugs of resignation. Previously, when I have, perhaps, slightly exaggerated the issue, I've just been told to provide more disk space and whatever is needed to ensure backups...better that than confront staff it would seem!

 

650+Gb gobbled up since October!!

[featured_spectre]

In that instance, if the AUP is there and it is being broken, send an email to all staff informing them of the breaches, and you will take steps to remove said files from the network, with no chance of them being backed up. Inform the HT of this first though.

[witch]

In that instance, if the AUP is there and it is being broken, send an email to all staff informing them of the breaches, and you will take steps to remove said files from the network, with no chance of them being backed up. Inform the HT of this first though.

 

But he can't if he has already informed SLT and they have made it clear that they are OK with it

[Gibson335]

In that instance, if the AUP is there and it is being broken, send an email to all staff informing them of the breaches, and you will take steps to remove said files from the network, with no chance of them being backed up. Inform the HT of this first though.

 

Again, if only life were that easy.

 

I do not have the authority to unilaterally remove files, and I have been given no such authority by my SLT. I send out reminders and warnings by the dozen, but they are ignored because they know nothing will really be done about it.

 

If you have such powers or are supported that well by SLT then more power to your elbow - sadly, our teaching staff are pretty much untouchable. This is the same, by the way, when it comes to potentially (probably) illegal music files!!