Installing SIMS

[localzuk]

Im going to wade in with my size 10s on this issue now - after staying quiet for a while. I think the biggest issue is we forget that software evolves, and the recommendations for installation of it will change as well. A lot of the documentation to which people have referred is pre Solus 3 as @matt40k and others have said. Also, a number of the installs that people are checking and seeing are not as "currently" recommended need to remember when they were installed. Just because they were installed one way once, doesn't mean they wont change as a product evolves and processes change. Also true is that Capita aren't the only people who complete installs - there are many support units who also do this.

 

Consider how many SIMS installations there are, and how many different ways people set up their networks. The software is on your network, it is to a certain extent, your responsibility to set up the network and its security how you want it to be. I remember when I had the second SIMS instance set up at a former School - Capita came in and did it as part of a managed process. The first instance had been moved from server to server by me, and my predecessor before that. I think the point is, look over your setup and make sure you understand it, and how it works. If you aren't sure, or want advice - then ask Capita or your Support Unit. I believe @PhilNeal was raising how important the security of SIMS installations are, rather than pointing the finger at anyone in particular

 

I totally agree that things change. The issue is keeping us customers up to date with what the current best practice is. As I said in an earlier post, I was somewhat surprised when I received a guide advising locking down the S: drive in a certain set of ways from our local support unit. There had never before been any hint to us, either at this school or at my last school, that the S: drive should be anything but "all staff who use SIMS .Net should have full rights". That's in 8 years. It appears that the advice hasn't changed recently regarding this idea of locking things down, so why has it taken 8 years for this to appear as an issue on my radar? Is this a failing of the 2 different support units I have dealt with (both of which have some superb staff who really know their stuff) or is it a failure at Capita in keeping everyone notified?

 

I agree people should use SupportNet too, but as others have said variously in the past, it isn't the easiest site to use. Also, some authorities do not like school IT staff having access to it (or at least they didn't used to like it), and are quite dictatorial with their commands to schools.

 

One idea for the guys at Capita - maybe it would be possible to have an "Administrator's documentation" section in SOLUS 3, that has all the latest best practice guides regarding permissions etc...? That way we admins don't have to go searching for the stuff.

[Paul_Featherstone]

The new customer portal, from what I have been involved with in testing, should be an easier and better place for locating documentation and resources. We have to be very careful in posting documents all over the place, ideally we want to have one point of resource, that way maintaining and managing all the resources should be easier. There are plenty of technical documents ranging from SOLUS3 installing and configuration to managing the CTF matching screen all available from the SIMS Documentation Centre under the ‘Technical’ role.

 

As mentioned before, we are going to review in the next release of the SIMS Installation Guidance note some advice on which applications use the S Drive as default to enable Network Managers to make decisions on how to manage their network resources.

[PhilNeal]

We haven't published guidance on virtualised environments as this is a specialism that we don't have in Bedford.

[jinnantonnixx]

I know many use VMWare, so this would be an excellent place to start.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/solutions/SQL_Server_on_VMware-Best_Practices_Guide.pdf

Pay particular attention to the recommendations concerning CPU and memory. Configure your SQL VM to 'Tier 1' settings.

 

Keep your OS drive, data drive, log drive and tempdb drive on separate LUNs. Putting everything on one disk creates an unnecessary bottleneck.

 

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.5.pdf

Take a look at page 36 here (especially "Designate specific virtual machines as highly latency sensitive"). Setting the Latency Sensitivity of your SQL VM to 'High' could bring significant performance improvements.

 

Also, on page 51, read the suggestions about setting minimum reservations for CPU and memory for a VM. Don't get greedy and set the reservations too high, but a reasonable reservation strategy can improve the VM's performance.

Edited December 19, 2014 by jinnantonnixx

[SHimmer45]

just to divert the thread slightly, is the latest installation guide and install media available through supportnet?

as i have been looking for a little while and have not found anything.

[Paul_Featherstone]

When a release is made, we always place a news item on Support .net, this news item will include links to the ISO images for the software and relevant documentation. For Autumn 2, the news item ID is 23639, to locate this, log into Support .net, click on the Capita News button on the right hand side and then search for resource number 23639. Hope this helps.

[achedgy]

interesting... article doesn't exist when I search for it.

[sparkeh]

interesting... article doesn't exist when I search for it.

Agreed

[SHimmer45]

@Paul_Featherstone

searching for those resource numbers doesnt yield any results

 

from your wording would the .iso images and documentation be relating to just installing that release or for a complete fresh install using autumn 2?

 

thanks

[Paul_Featherstone]

Hmm....

Appreciate I may have got the wrong end of the stick in your question, upon re-reading it I realise you are asking about the media for setting up a new site, sorry. This is available upon request from distribution for support teams or direct schools.

 

The resource ID mentioned above should be available to Support Teams and Single Site Schools (i.e. directly licensed with Capita). If you are a school who take their licence from a Local Authority or Similar Support team, then this new item will not be available to you, but to your support team.

[achedgy]

I would imagine that's probably a rather large percentage of users then.. So essentially the freely available up to date information for the proper deployment of sims/fms isn't actually available to those who need it...

[achedgy]

I'm sorry if that comes across as harsh... But it is just a little frustrating...

[localzuk]

I would imagine that's probably a rather large percentage of users then.. So essentially the freely available up to date information for the proper deployment of sims/fms isn't actually available to those who need it...

 

It is available though, via the organisation you actually get SIMS support from - your local authority. Your school is free to buy its own direct license of SIMS, and get support from Capita direct, but you've chosen to get it via the LA, so your support and the media/documentation comes from them also.

 

Contact your support provider.

[achedgy]

Well all the schools I look after (across 3x county's) buy the licence through the LA, but the support is provided directly from Capita... So it means every time I want a technical document I have to ring Capita to get it.