Half Term

[broc]

Half term next week, Easy week for a change. Upgrade Pcontrol, run network audit, get DELL to replace a defunct DLT1 tape drive in our main file server. Re-image 100 identical workstations with Ghost, that's about it, yawn......Oops forgot... Jimmy the electrician is coming in to install a new power circuit for the servers!

 

I wonder how many teachers have organised revision classes without letting me know, assuming that the network and all the servers will be alive & kicking? Am I the only one who suffers from that I wonder?

 

Brian

[ChrisH]

Working here too, finally beginning to transfer from physical to virtual.

 

That reminds me too much of the movie the Lawnmower man 8O

[CheeseDog]

XP SP2 to install, RM SR5 to install, workstations to rebuild & test for update/application compatability, rebuild whole site (~250 machines), begin installing the dreaded KS3 ICT Pilot, arrange contractor for rewiring an office.

 

And move house the weekend before

 

Let me know how you get on with SR5. Doing it in a half term seems brave to me.

 

I'm waiting for a bit until all the bugs have been ironed out of it. (Probably the first half term after next September) The team I was in updated 6 schools in 2004.

 

4 were passable and had minor problems.

 

One had a few really annoying issues ended up running the update 3 times before it worked including some components manually. Probably seemed more annoying than it actually was as I was forced to do it on a Saturday (so no RM support) due to a Sasser outbreak and a DFES visit on Tuesday. Finished the rebuilds Monday afternoon as Saturday was spent fixing SR4.

 

As for the last one, none of the machines would rebuild afterwards. Not sure what exactly what the fix was as my collegue dealt with the RM visit to sort it out.

 

Also had another friend have SR4 fail on him another RM visit followed.

 

(Got a feeling this was slightly of his own making by updating a member server first?)

[webman]

I will do CheeseDog.. might not have to do it after all, but we shall see

[Rozzer]

I am in work all week and wishing i took it off. It is soooo boring in here at the moment its annoying. I am tempted to just take tomorrow off and divert all the calls. By the way its mainly boring because i am on my own. Plus i am done all my job list Don't fancy doing all the little crap jobs.

 

Ross

[pinemarten]

In for most of next week-full ict inventory, IWB boards, laptops to set up + dozens of small jobs etc......

[pshuttle]

Yep, Mo and I are in all week during half term....

 

Pete

[SteveT]

In all next week.......two major jobs:

 

1. Sort KS3 ICT test software.

 

2. Wash the dirty coffee cups lying around the cupboard (AKA server room). Can see 15 from here but probably several hidden away. Discovered why the rack door didn`t close properly yesterday.........I`d wondered where that donut had gone!!!

[webman]

Mmmmmmm... do-nuts... is there anything they can't do?

 

[SteveT]

Washed the coffee cups.........apart from 3 which I`ve passed onto the Biology teacher.........some interesting growths (the origins of life???) Could this be the answer to the question that humans have struggled with? God was a school tekie who was too busy to wash his cups???!!!!

 

Also re-imaged 20 machines in IT room and run latest SIMS upgrade, imported reports etc.

 

It`s amazing how much you can get done when no teachers about. Even had time for a ciggie on the steps with the librarian!!!

 

Now for the KS3 test software.........gulp <

[ChrisH]

Im nearly at the end of my first and only day in . I have just found that trying to RIS 30 machines at once is not a good idea as 50% were not joined to the domain properly at the end so I had to do a few things manually . Oh well 2 more months and we will get our fiber installed and I will stick in all the new Procurve switches hopefully that should prevent such problems.

[DMcCoy]

I spent the whole of last week doing things for other people and sorting stuff that couldn't wait. Didn't get much done of what I wanted to

 

Also discovered that I now hate robocopy after it failed to copy all the user data to a new server over the weekend. Came in to work at 6:55! to discover than rather than just changing the users home directory location in active directory, that the files had stopped copying after about 10%!

 

I wonder who decided that the default time to wait for a retry should be 30 seconds, even better is the default number of attempts to copy - ONE MILLION

[ChrisH]

been there done that got the T-shirt . I always make sure now those two switches are set :? im sure you will now as well .

[paul]

Not much to do this half term, apart from stick in my new Dell PowerEdge 2850, AX100 SAN and Auto tape loader. SAN gives me a whopping 3TB of storage back in 1996 thought 9GB was big!

[MkII]

Half term has arrived in Wales!!!

 

A week late but...

[john]

Half term - so far collected 4 PCs for reimaging, and then spent the rest of the day, preparing a display for the main school library for next week.

[Norphy]

So Half Term is upon us once again.

 

Monday, bank holiday so obviously school is shut. Tuesday is a stat day so again the school is shut. In from Wed to Fri though, planning to upgrade at least 43 PCs, probably more. Solid days work there for two people probably.

[russdev]

mon - hols

tues visiting local tech at another school

wed - sorting admin networking out with big stick

thurs - meeting a naace

Fri - conference in london

 

Russ

[ANiceEnglishman]

Mon - Bank Hol. Working for charity open day http://www.fontb.org.uk and doing tax return

 

Tues - school closed. Working from home am. Dentist pm

 

Weds - Was to have been day off but LEA IT guys coming in to finish the job they should have done last week

 

Thurs - Install new DC and tape autoloader

 

Fri - build / install 2 new PC's and move 2 more installed recently where people have changed their minds (sigh)

 

Sat/ Sun - worry about whether the new electronic registration system will go belly up when 70 users simultaneously log in for the first time at 9.05 on Monday!

[indiegirl]

Mon: revise for job interview Weds.

 

Tues: Empty ICT suite out of old machines as 6th form are taking over the room as a common room. Must remember to organise the collection of old equipment.

 

Weds: Job Interview (eeeek)

 

Thurs & Fri: Hopefully start building the new Art & Music PCs (if the stuff turns up on time...). Clear out cupboards, organise toner delivery (just sat in IT room at the mo...)

 

Not a very exciting half term, and probably not very productive....

[ChrisH]

I have 2 suites of equipment to sort out. I have to move one lot accross the building and unbox 30 new ones. I then have to dispose of about 50 PCs and 30 monitors.

Then I shall watch in horror during the term as the machines I have moved get methodically ripped apart like their predecessors. :violent1:

[Gatt]

Sorting out Staff PC's as some are on the wrong Domain (Salford LEA have 3 domains1)

Checking SIMS on all staff PC

Working on Whitelist & making sure that the kiddies can access curriculum websites, but nothing else...

Get copy of ICT Tech job ad and posting it on here

Miscellanious stuff here and there...

[MkII]

Install 30 new PCs & configure new s/w on them.

 

Cable 2 new offices with 4 points each

 

Sort out failed UPS/ Circuit

[Gatt]

also need to sort out my Pupil File-server as it keeps falling over - not suprised since it stores the Pupil Shared Area, Pupil Home Drives, Dyslexia Screener (Network Install, SQL-Server), Software Admin install Points/Repository, ICT Staff Shares& Home drives

 

It's a complete bottleneck of resources, but i dont think i'm gonna get the needed £2,500 to get a new server i need - gonna do a mini cluster on the file server so it evens the load out

[webman]

Network Manager is back now, and on our CC3 network we have 4 days to:

 

* Upgrade Symantec Antivirus 9 => 10

* Install RM Service Release 5

* Install XP SP2

* Rebuild every workstation in the school (~200)

* Test applications to see if they work

* Install stand alone software manually (ACTIVstudio et al)

* Build new software packages

 

If we had a budget, we would have had new hard disks and memory sticks for 30 of our oldest machines, but as it happens - we don't.

 

Should be fun. Good luck to the rest of you with a lot on your plate this week as well