Finally need to replace Ranger (Don't judge! :) )

[Nimon]

Wasn't entirely sure which was the best sub forum to stick this in but here goes...

 

To set the scene - I am the sole ICT Tech in a fairly large Welsh secondary school with about 500 workstations (between 4 and 10 year old hardware) running 32bit Windows 7. I have never had formal microsoft training and pretty much everything I know comes from guesswork, google and forums like this.

 

We have for many years been using Ranger Suite and I've been very happy with it. Sadly though, with 64b being required for pretty much everything and the looming end of Windows 7, it has to go and frankly, I am not looking forward to it.

 

So, here's my plea for aid... is there something out there that can do for Windows 10 what Ranger did for Windows 7 and does not cost the earth. Our IT budget is not fabulous and a fair chunk of that is going to have to go on hardware replacement as more and more of our kit reaches a point when it needs sending to the digital glue factory.

 

Yeah, I want the moon on a stick for thruppence ha'penny...

 

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Things about Ranger I REALLY will miss:

 

TL:DR = Ranger pretty much allowed the Group Policy / Reg Hacks you needed to do to be done through a basic GUI on the fly. No editing GPOs and testing. If a kid could fiddle with it, Ranger could pretty much lock that down.

 

A GUI / drag and drop based way to do start menus and desktop based on Group membership

Limit user concurrent logons

Title Check on program windows "Hardcore"? I don't think so -log and close-

"Ranger React Tasks" : If X happens on Y computer and/or Z user logon THEN do 'THIS' e.g. Shut down all machines at 1830

Limit drives

Turn off R-click

Turn the ability to lock a workstation off and on based on group membership (Yes for staff, no for kids)

Disable things like task manager, command prompt, control panel.

Set actual programs that users aren't allowed to run based on group.

Searchable log of who did what and when on which PC.

Periodic screenshots for pupils on the 'naughty list'.

 

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We do also currently use Lanschool for classroom monitoring at the teacher PC level and that works very nicely. A one-stop-shop option for the above and classroom monitoring might be an option if it really did tick all the boxes.

 

Thanks EduGeek.

 

 

N

[fiza]

We are a Ranger School and are transitioning to a mixture of Group Policy and NetSupport DNA. DNA now restricts concurrent logins and I have asked @Al_NetSupport for the Title Check to be implemented in a future release. Edited December 5, 2018 by fiza

[strawberry]

Heres the good news... you'll soon be shot of ranger.

Heres the bad news. You will need to redeploy every single machine. To do this you will need to build some sort of deployment system ( MDT, SCCM, WDS) and you will need to spend time working on your group policy. Most of what ranger does can be achieved elsewhere.

 

Everytthing apart from 3 and 4 can be done natively. 3 will need to be done by classroom management and 4 will need to be an array of individual tasks.

[Nimon]

I can see this is looking to be a bit painful

 

Ranger did a great job of allowing my minimal level of training to go a long way and also speed up a lot of stuff which was handy because there's just me on site.

 

I can see a 'recommend me some books' thread coming up at this rate...

[PotNoodleTech]

I have never had formal microsoft training and pretty much everything I know comes from guesswork, google and forums like this.

 

Well, that's the same as pretty much every other School IT support staff member in Wales as far as I know, YouTube is the new training centre in Wales.

 

It's a tough one, Ranger has made your life easier but there is no real replacement for it, Win Server and GPO etc has moved forward so much that there is really little need for ranger, especially if supplemented with a good IT management software suite such as Impero or Netsupport School. There is however going to be a lot of work in order to transition to your new system. I advise getting a separate server infrastructure if you can and setting up and testing the new system alongside the old one. That way you can get to a stage where you are happy that your new test PCs are building successfully and then bite the bullet and move the whole lot over in a summer holidays for example.

 

I tell you one thing though - once you've done it, you will love it. It's like being released out of a cage and your IT skills will come along leaps and bounds as you have to get everything working yourself.

[synaesthesia]

I'd say it's a good opportunity to improve yourself as well as the system; put forward to the powers that be, that things have moved on so much, but at the same time you could effectively save some money. Training would likely do you a world of good if you're willing, and it would of course help the school no-end. Certainly worth a chat with your line manager/SLT and see if they have any scope for that.

[LeMarchand]

The school I first started at was a Ranger school, and my IT knowledge/skill set at the time was "enthusiast amateur" (with no network/server/professional experience). When the server was replaced without Ranger a couple of years later, I can honestly say I never missed it. Admittedly it wasn't used to the degree that it sounds as if yours is but, judging by your join date, your skills will be well past what mine were at the time so I'd just say: Don't Panic!

 

You can get most of that done with GP (might not always be as straight forward!) though you may need to spring for a different package for some of the management type tasks.

[LukeRowberry]

Where in Wales are you?

[DrBeaker]

I worked in business for years, before joining educational IT Support. I've had full domain access to things in previous roles, so with RM you can understand how things are "dumbed-down" to a point to allow teaching staff who manage the network part-time to administer things, as they might not have them IT knowledge other techs do. However for a lot of stuff that I know e.g. group policy could easily it, doing things the RM way does seem to be bit frustrating and restricted by comparison.

[LanSchoolUK_Adam]

We do also currently use Lanschool for classroom monitoring at the teacher PC level and that works very nicely. A one-stop-shop option for the above and classroom monitoring might be an option if it really did tick all the boxes.

N

 

Hi Nimon,

 

Out of interest, do you use the LanSchool Tech Console or LanSchool Report Server in your deployment? Both are included with every purchase/renewal of LanSchool.

 

Although, being completely honest, we don't hit every point you listed there, there could be a decent chunk of functionality in the network admin sphere that sounds like it could be of use to you (for free!)

 

I've dropped you a PM with my details, let me know if we can help you get things up and running for you