pooley Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 After a few conversations at Bett ive been thinking about what I could and should be moving to the cloud. We currently have a file server, dc, exchange server and remote desktop server. I'm 80% of the way to convincing myself that I should move from exchange to hosted 365(helps its free) Do I look at mirroring my file server to one drive? Or even moving it all there? Who's done what? Any caveats? Cheers Si
dastrix Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 365 will only be free until 2018 by the looks of it
pooley Posted January 31, 2016 Author Posted January 31, 2016 As we are a welsh school we get 365 as part of HWB+ I'm hoping the welsh gov will foot the bill. But cheers for the heads up as I'll try and find out before I bother migrating.
FN-GM Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 365 will only be free until 2018 by the looks of it I assume you are talking about this document? - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/buying-for-schools-microsoft-memorandum-of-understanding?utm_source=EFA%20e-bulletin&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=e-bulletin&mxmroi=2305-1651-39448-0 There is nothing to suggest it will start to cost after 2018.
dastrix Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 Last page says Microsoft Office 365 Under the Microsoft cloud computing service, the Microsoft Office 365 Education programme is free to schools. As part of the new agreement, Microsoft has committed to keeping this service free to schools for the full term of the MoU.
timbo343 Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 After a few conversations at Bett ive been thinking about what I could and should be moving to the cloud. We currently have a file server, dc, exchange server and remote desktop server. I'm 80% of the way to convincing myself that I should move from exchange to hosted 365(helps its free) Do I look at mirroring my file server to one drive? Or even moving it all there? Who's done what? Any caveats? Cheers Si Ive got student emails on O365. It means i dont have to look after their accounts. We have staff in an OnPrem exchange server and at times ive thought about moving things over to O365 for them but there's something that's still niggling away telling me not to do it. One of them being if the net dies staff can still communicate internally.
Wubbalubbadub Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 Ive got student emails on O365. It means i dont have to look after their accounts. We have staff in an OnPrem exchange server and at times ive thought about moving things over to O365 for them but there's something that's still niggling away telling me not to do it. One of them being if the net dies staff can still communicate internally. "if the net dies' as in the whole internet dies? - If this event happens then internal emails are the least of anyones problems! Joking aside, surely the benefit of free exchange & the features O365 gives outweigh the .1% chance of your feed going down?
timbo343 Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 "if the net dies' as in the whole internet dies? - If this event happens then internal emails are the least of anyones problems! Joking aside, surely the benefit of free exchange & the features O365 gives outweigh the .1% chance of your feed going down? Hokay, lol, our connection dies. We havent had it much lately but there have been times in the past where we have waited hours for our isp to fix.
FN-GM Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 Last page says Microsoft Office 365 Under the Microsoft cloud computing service, the Microsoft Office 365 Education programme is free to schools. As part of the new agreement, Microsoft has committed to keeping this service free to schools for the full term of the MoU. That does not mean it will start to cost after 2018. It means its guaranteed to be free for the period of the agreement.
FN-GM Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 Hokay, lol, our connection dies. We havent had it much lately but there have been times in the past where we have waited hours for our isp to fix. Do you not have a backup connection? Im assuming you have servers with 2 x PSU, RAID etc. I would assume the internet is also redundant?
CamelMan Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 We've gone O365 a bit concerned about being charged but we'll wait and see - there is always Google. One of them being if the net dies staff can still communicate internally. Can you not use Sims in this case (we have Intouch which might be why we can do it)?
timbo343 Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 Do you not have a backup connection? Im assuming you have servers with 2 x PSU, RAID etc. I would assume the internet is also redundant? Yup we do but no backup redunant line. Its another cost. If we move over to O365 then i would request one.
timbo343 Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 We've gone O365 a bit concerned about being charged but we'll wait and see - there is always Google. Can you not use Sims in this case (we have Intouch which might be why we can do it)? Good idea, that would be worst case or setup an onsite lunc server for only this purpose.
Achandler Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 Slightly off topic I know but the way the new MoU reads thoguh does imply that from 2018 there will be a cost for Office 365 though which if you look at the current per user costs offered is a worryingly high cost.
PotNoodleTech Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 Main systems in the cloud are email (office 365 and google classroom) and Website/VLE (Moodle&Google Classroom) The rest is in house. No real plans to change as we're running on 100% uptime in house, Office365 on the other hand has not had 100% uptime.
TechMonkey Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 That does not mean it will start to cost after 2018. It means its guaranteed to be free for the period of the agreement. But doesn't guarantee it will be free after 2018 so something to take into consideration.
Asgard Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 We have our Finance system (Symmetry Financials) hosted in the cloud...... Well an instance on their oracle DB... It's painful. Saying that I know people who run it onsite and it's equally as painful. Java needs to hurry up and be consigned to the bin. Our sponsored academy has PSFinancials in the cloud and it's great, essentially it appears to be an Azure instance.
karldenton Posted February 3, 2016 Posted February 3, 2016 Moved on-prem Exchange and on-prem Lync server to Office 365 exchange and Skype for business. Never looked back - as long as internet works it works. Have 2 virgin lines in and also a backup plus net line. Starting to use the O365 groups feature so the intranet is going to the cloud after half term. If only @Bromcom-PR would quote something similar to what we are paying for on-prem MIS for there cloud version I would move to that tomorrow but can't justify the £1,500 a year extra !
timbo343 Posted February 3, 2016 Posted February 3, 2016 Moved on-prem Exchange and on-prem Lync server to Office 365 exchange and Skype for business. Never looked back - as long as internet works it works. Have 2 virgin lines in and also a backup plus net line. Starting to use the O365 groups feature so the intranet is going to the cloud after half term. If only @Bromcom-PR would quote something similar to what we are paying for on-prem MIS for there cloud version I would move to that tomorrow but can't justify the £1,500 a year extra ! Would you really want your MIS to be cloud based? I'm still for having MIS OnPrem. I know users can work from home but the MIS is possibly "the" backbone of the school - just my thought that's all.
Steve21 Posted February 4, 2016 Posted February 4, 2016 (edited) Just from my point of view though when looking at Cloud alternatives, all that you listed above is already paid for to keep the other 30 odd servers running. It's not linked to the MIS individually. Steve Edited March 18, 2016 by elsiegee40
Bromcom-PR Posted February 4, 2016 Posted February 4, 2016 Just from my point of view though when looking at Cloud alternatives, all that you listed above is already paid for to keep the other 30 odd servers running. It's not linked to the MIS individually. Steve I agree- however over the time and ultimately, one by one, as you move more and more to cloud (in the year 2020?), hopefully you will have more than 30 x £1,500 pa to save! The MIS can the first step. After all the Government mandate for 'Cloud First' for public sector will start to bite into schools and academies! Please see - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-adopts-cloud-first-policy-for-public-sector-it Still please drop me a PM - we should be able to help!
Achandler Posted February 4, 2016 Posted February 4, 2016 A server doesn't cost £1500 a year to run, so if every service cost £1500 then your saying Schools pay yearly £45k on servers (including power et al) Ignoring that fact though more moving to the cloud also costs extras with regards to Internet connections which cloud providers never mention in their "costs". Especially if an MIS is so improtant you have backup lines. Then moving on to all MIS providers, the amoutn of botched updates that come regularly from MIS providers is shocking. Yet these same providers who can't make the updates decent to start with want us to let them install the updates and maintain the software, its like you are becoming the guinea pig for updates and paying for the privilege! It annoys me anough that some updates from providers are only the 3rd or 4th revision after they have only been out a month! That's a little off-topic though.
Steve21 Posted February 4, 2016 Posted February 4, 2016 I agree- however over the time and ultimately, one by one, as you move more and more to cloud (in the year 2020?), hopefully you will have more than 30 x £1,500 pa to save! The MIS can the first step. Think you misunderstood what I mean. As in lets say you pay £500 on backup software, I pay £500 with a cloud MIS or £500 with a virtual server If I pay £6000 on a HOST, I pay £6000 even with a cloud MIS etc etc. It's not "replacing" those costs as it's still being paid for all the other services we run. Obviously a total cloud based school would be different, but paying £1500 per service extra will sting Steve
Bromcom-PR Posted February 4, 2016 Posted February 4, 2016 A server doesn't cost £1500 a year to run, so if every service cost £1500 then your saying Schools pay yearly £45k on servers (including power et al) Ignoring that fact though more moving to the cloud also costs extras with regards to Internet connections which cloud providers never mention in their "costs". Especially if an MIS is so improtant you have backup lines. Then moving on to all MIS providers, the amoutn of botched updates that come regularly from MIS providers is shocking. Yet these same providers who can't make the updates decent to start with want us to let them install the updates and maintain the software, its like you are becoming the guinea pig for updates and paying for the privilege! It annoys me anough that some updates from providers are only the 3rd or 4th revision after they have only been out a month! That's a little off-topic though. Your concerns are valid and fundamentally applies equally for locally deployed MIS. You need to check the track record /references of the suppliers you are considering. I agree this is a little off-topic. On cost - it is more than the hardware and power. From IT Technician to Management time and even space. Cost model will not be linear but best to try to put estimate against each item in the list below for 30 server set up! Server Hardware (Technology Refresh) Server Maintenance Cost + Time Energy (Power and Cooling) Hardware Redundancy Security Maintenance Remote Access Services Additional Software Licenses Backup Management and Storage Space
themightymrp Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 Would you really want your MIS to be cloud based? Not really - this is why we've avoided switching to Progresso just yet. Stick with CMIS onsite
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