TwistedHelixis Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Just seen this Airhead 360 which allows you to run full Windows applications within a web browser with accounts provisioned from MIS. They have some schools (I think primaries at the minute) which have eliminated on site servers. I presume the applications are still running in Windows (Azure) servers, but not managed or hosted by the schools, so maybe the best of both worlds... Will we even have a job in a few years?????
mavhc Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Will we even have a job in a few years????? Yes, because users will still know nothing.
TwistedHelixis Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Yes, because users will still know nothing. Phew, forgot to add the end user in to my forward thinking plan.
jmak Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Yes, because users will still know nothing. ∆ This Will we even have a job in a few years????? The thing will be to do more with the same amount of resource. If you look at how much kit you have on school and how many hours it's used for compared to 15 or 20 years ago, the job of onsite IT support has changed, but not disappeared. 1
zag Posted September 13, 2017 Posted September 13, 2017 We are about 50% there, moving more stuff all the time and I couldn't be happier. I'd love to move more of my job towards helping teachers do exciting things with IT rather than fixing desktop clients!
ROYH Posted March 1, 2019 Posted March 1, 2019 We are about 50% there, moving more stuff all the time and I couldn't be happier. I'd love to move more of my job towards helping teachers do exciting things with IT rather than fixing desktop clients! It’s the forward thinking way! Brilliant
Danp Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 Bumping this... Anyone got anything to add to this? We're down to a single Windows server but it's due for replacement and I'm trying to think if I should replace it or if there is an alternative.
Danp Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 What's it used for? DC (handful of users who have windows) Print server - PaperCut Errr, that's about it now.
Danp Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 Could get azure ad for those users Could, but I'm not sure if it's worth it when we are 95% Google. Thinking about it, I only have 5 Windows machines
willtech Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 (edited) Could, but I'm not sure if it's worth it when we are 95% Google. Thinking about it, I only have 5 Windows machines Google Sign into to a windows device: https://support.google.com/a/answer/9250996?hl=en Edited May 10, 2022 by willtech 1
dmj Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 Could, but I'm not sure if it's worth it when we are 95% Google. Thinking about it, I only have 5 Windows machines samba server would cost next to nothing resource wise for that.
mavhc Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 Only reason to buy an expensive server to run Windows Server is because you have 1000s of users and it's critical, otherwise just keep the old one/install it on a random PC. The cost is human time for 5 machines, do you even need a server for those? Local logins and save to google drive.
dmj Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 DC (handful of users who have windows) Print server - PaperCut Errr, that's about it now. e2-standard-2 (2core 8GB) with an SSD on GCP would cost £31 per month to run that if you could move it to linux. (with committed use discounts). The azure calculator put it at £122 so not sure if their calculator is busted?
dmj Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 Only reason to buy an expensive server to run Windows Server is because you have 1000s of users and it's critical, otherwise just keep the old one/install it on a random PC. What nonsence. I work with 10's of thousands of users on Linux. The only reason to run an expensive windows server is if you have Windows only apps and don't know how to manage linux servers.
mavhc Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 What nonsence. I work with 10's of thousands of users on Linux. The only reason to run an expensive windows server is if you have Windows only apps and don't know how to manage linux servers. If he didn't have Windows only apps why would he still have Windows clients? Don't you mean OR, not AND?
dmj Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 If he didn't have Windows only apps why would he still have Windows clients? Don't you mean OR, not AND? You don't need a windows server to run papercut, or to serve windows clients.
mavhc Posted May 10, 2022 Posted May 10, 2022 I think the point is to have 0 physical servers, rather than just 0 Windows server VMs. Of course then you need to define what a server is. Your router is now serving dhcp and dns queries perhaps. Your photocopier is now a printer server. A cloud only school still has many servers on prem.
Danp Posted May 11, 2022 Posted May 11, 2022 Thanks for the info and thoughts. The reason we still have a few Windows devices is because of specific software. Next step for me is to move the current machines to non-domain. Given who is using them I'm happy to manually set them up and give the user limited rights. I'll get the router or sophos firewall to handle dns and dhcp. PaperCut won't run on our copiers (only have 2) and 4 other small printers. Might look at giving @ICTDirect_Dave a shout and get a small machine with raid just to run that. Running a smaller, less powerful device would be much more eco friendly plus I could prob sell the current server and rack too. 1
mavhc Posted May 11, 2022 Posted May 11, 2022 PaperCut would probably run a on raspberry pi. How do the Chromebooks print?
Danp Posted May 11, 2022 Posted May 11, 2022 PaperCut would probably run a on raspberry pi. True, will look at that, although getting 4s at the moment is tricky, I have some on back order. How do the Chromebooks print? PaperCut
mavhc Posted May 11, 2022 Posted May 11, 2022 Seems like it would be simpler just to get some printers that support direct printing by all your OSes. RPi, or any random laptop, anything with an ethernet port and a couple of GB ram. Fun side note: I changed the printers here to connect directly, no print server, using dns names. Then someone broke a printer, so I just changed dns to point to a different one, and as they're all type 4, so xps, it just works.
Danp Posted May 11, 2022 Posted May 11, 2022 Seems like it would be simpler just to get some printers that support direct printing by all your OSes. Yes, but we have logging / restrictions in place. Basic PaperCut gives me the controls needed.
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