CC4 Server Upgrade

[AmyBM]

Hello all,

 

I'm not a Network Manager, just the Business Manager. We are looking at needing to replace our CC4 server later this year as it runs out of warranty. I'm hoping to get some feedback on if CC4 is the best option for us, and if what we should be looking at.

 

We are a 280 pupil primary school with 9 classrooms and a small IT Suite. We currently have the CC4 server and a SIMS server.

 

We buy into the LA IT Support who manage the SIMS server etc remotely and also provide a technician 3 hours a week who is the only one who really touches the CC4 server. It also currently uses tape backups which I'd like to change so we aren't changing tapes every day.

 

Many Thanks,

[synaesthesia]

The changing tapes everyday (tapes or cartridges?) is something you shouldn't really change unless you are backing up off site, that's for your security and data protection. To be frank, the best person to be asking these questions to is the person supporting you guys with it as he/she will know the server and the school's requirements better than anyone. I don't often recommend CC4 these days, or any other managed system for that matter however for schools with little or no support from technical staff it can often be a blessing.

[dry]

Indeed, as much as I like to suggest ripping out CC4 at the first available opportunity, for schools without a full time techie it is generally easier for non-technical staff to manage.

 

You could approach either the council or a local firm in regards to migrating to a vanilla network but generally such a major piece of work is saved for the summer holidays (or at least Easter) where there is time to do sufficient testing and troubleshooting. I'd first make a list of the pros and cons of your current CC4 network, list any issues and then see whether a vanilla network will overcome these.

[VeryPC_Anthony_L]

Hi @AmyBM

 

Will send you a PM, we (VeryPC) are more than happy to help look at your needs and requirements.

As mentioned above the best time to do this type of work is generally in the summer although depending on what you need it could be achieved over an Easter break.

 

Anthony

[AmyBM]

We don't have a full time techie, but also anything that requires CC4 has to wait for the weekly IT visit as no-one has any experience or knowledge of it at the moment. CC4 feels very locked down to me (possibly not a bad thing, but can't use chrome extensions etc) and appears hard to manage/maintain.

 

My concern is that the LA guys know CC4 and not much experience with anything else so will recommend CC4 whether it's right or not. I'm wondering if for classrooms a Google Education/Chromebook approach is worth looking into as the basic complaint about the IT is that it doesn't work and is too slow to logon etc (This is curriculum as well as staff). We have a trolley of laptops but they don't seem reliable. I've got a teacher going to BETT, hoping he will come back with useful info. Not sure how this would work with CC4.

 

Thanks,

[Edu-IT]

We don't have a full time techie, but also anything that requires CC4 has to wait for the weekly IT visit as no-one has any experience or knowledge of it at the moment. CC4 feels very locked down to me (possibly not a bad thing, but can't use chrome extensions etc) and appears hard to manage/maintain.

 

My concern is that the LA guys know CC4 and not much experience with anything else so will recommend CC4 whether it's right or not. I'm wondering if for classrooms a Google Education/Chromebook approach is worth looking into as the basic complaint about the IT is that it doesn't work and is too slow to logon etc (This is curriculum as well as staff). We have a trolley of laptops but they don't seem reliable. I've got a teacher going to BETT, hoping he will come back with useful info. Not sure how this would work with CC4.

 

Thanks,

CC4 is a 'front end' to Active Directory as such, so will perhaps be the simplest way - assuming it all works - you'll have of managing the network as it's on the whole a graphically driven interface. There's no reason why with a bit of training you (or whoever else) couldn't learn the basics of creating users, changing passwords, assigning software and such like. By the very nature it's meant to be simple on that side of things. When it doesn't work, well, that's another matter. In what ways is it hard to manage/maintain at the moment as this will need to be factored in to whatever decision you make. Of course you could have a vanilla network with some frontend tools to manage processes.

 

There's plenty of other companies out there you could have to support you, who have knowledge of networks aside from CC4, so do the LA need to be your provider?

 

Too slow etc will perhaps be down to your hardware or networking infrastructure and not necessarily CC4. Do you know what you currently have in place on that side of things? As for it not working, again, is that down to the current support you have in place? What parts don't work? Unreliable in what way?

 

3 hours isn't a huge amount of time. Are you tracking the jobs the technician is working on? Are jobs being left outstanding for too long? Is there anything that can be done to improve on that side of things.

 

I think you really need to do a full review of everything before assuming it's just the CC4 side of things that are the issue.

Edited January 12, 2016 by Edu-IT

[Boredguy]

CC4 is a 'front end' to Active Directory as such, so will be the perhaps simplest way - assuming it all works - you'll have of managing the network as it's on the whole a graphically driven interface. There's no reason why with a bit of training you (or whoever else) couldn't learn the basics. In what ways is it hard to manage/maintain at the moment as this will need to be factored in to whatever decision you make.

 

There's plenty of other companies out there you could have to support you, who have knowledge of networks aside from CC4, so do the LA need to be your provider?

 

Too slow etc will perhaps be down to your hardware or networking infrastructure and not necessarily CC4. Do you know what you currently have in place on that side of things? As for it not working, again, is that down to the current support you have in place? What parts don't work?

 

I think you really need to do a full review of everything before assuming it's just the CC4 side of things that are the issue.

 

I agree, CC4 is not a bad platform. Slow laptop logons could also be a factor of your wireless network, or the laptops themselves more than just it being a CC4 client.

[AmyBM]

Thanks for the help, I agree a full audit/review needs doing. I'm new at the school so trying to catch up with the way they do things, just didn't want to agree a new CC4 server (quoted £10k for hardware and commisioning) without seeing if there was a better option - what 'better' means I'm not sure either, more reliable, easier to use, faster etc. At the moment no-one in school knows anything about it all really so need to change that and make sure we can be more efficient in terms of resolving issues in between the weekly 3hr visits. The LA don't need to be our provider so looking at other options across the board, hardware, software and support...... not a small project

 

Thanks for all the help - at least I know that CC4 isn't the ONLY option, it may well be that after reviewing it's still the best option for us for the next 5 years.

[Edu-IT]

I definitely would not be placing an order for the 10k without looking at your whole network. It won't improve the end user experience if your cabling and switching infrastructure is not up to a good standard, or your hardware is ageing. You should look at it all as a bigger picture and involve a third party if you have the money to spend on some sort of audit. By all means try and find out what you have, post here, there's loads of people ready to help advise or explain where what you have could be improved.

 

Your LA support provider should be able to tell you what switching gear you have in place, what wireless access points you have and the spec of your hardware.

 

Perhaps use their 3 hours to pull this information together as it'll really benefit you going forward in developing what you have.