New network - All cloud based - Suggestions?

[aicrd]

Hey everyone.

 

I've been contracted to setup a new network that is going to be mostly Chromebooks with a few MacBooks for the more intensive multimedia stuff.

 

Here's what I've got so far:

 

- School will be added to our Senso Cloud subscription for classroom management - will be deployed on all devices.

- Will be using Chrome Device Management - School uses Office 365 - Any way to integrate Office 365 with the Chromebooks (IE: Can we do some sort of Azure AD SSO onto the ChromeBooks?)

- School will be given a new Azure AD Setup (No servers onsite, SIMS will be hosted by us in Azure).

- Looking into Jamf for macOS management - May use Mosyle since it is cheaper and has SSO.

 

Only thing I'm missing from this config is web filtering. Something cheap or free would be nice. It would also have to support non-schools as we'd be looking to use the same software across all our clients - can anyone recommend anything? Some devices will be going offsite so it needs to be cloud based.

 

Also is it possible to have Staff/Students authenticate to Chrome OS using Azure AD? This would make it much easier to manage passwords as everything we use is going to be built up around Azure AD.

[Ditto]

Hey everyone.

 

I've been contracted to setup a new network that is going to be mostly Chromebooks with a few MacBooks for the more intensive multimedia stuff.

 

Here's what I've got so far:

 

- School will be added to our Senso Cloud subscription for classroom management - will be deployed on all devices.

- Will be using Chrome Device Management - School uses Office 365 - Any way to integrate Office 365 with the Chromebooks (IE: Can we do some sort of Azure AD SSO onto the ChromeBooks?)

- School will be given a new Azure AD Setup (No servers onsite, SIMS will be hosted by us in Azure).

- Looking into Jamf for macOS management - May use Mosyle since it is cheaper and has SSO.

 

Only thing I'm missing from this config is web filtering. Something cheap or free would be nice. It would also have to support non-schools as we'd be looking to use the same software across all our clients - can anyone recommend anything? Some devices will be going offsite so it needs to be cloud based.

 

Also is it possible to have Staff/Students authenticate to Chrome OS using Azure AD? This would make it much easier to manage passwords as everything we use is going to be built up around Azure AD.

Mainly because of the Chromebooks, have a look at https://www.securly.com. There are some Edugeekers using it plus there is a UK company contact on here too.

[aicrd]

Mainly because of the Chromebooks, have a look at https://www.securly.com. There are some Edugeekers using it plus there is a UK company contact on here too.

 

This looks interesting and it appears to be free for Chromebooks!

 

Signed up and going to have a play tonight,

[Wubbalubbadub]

Not to be that guy. But this seems poorly thought out!

 

Chromebooks, with office 365? Why wouldn't you use GSuite?

 

Jamf is AMAZING but also VERY expensive if you want to self managed, due to the jumpstart training they force you to have.

 

You want web filtering, which deploying on all them devices, will be simple enough, but the Mac's don't seem to play well with inline filters, and agents.

 

Senso doesn't support Mac or iOS (yet)

 

Why host Sims in azure, why not use cloud SIMS, from capita. Or even better use any other MIS?

 

Have you thought about printing?

 

Just seems like someone grabbed the "How to cloud" book and is buying everything?

Edited October 28, 2019 by Wubbalubbadub

[aicrd]

Not to be that guy. But this seems poorly thought out!

 

Chromebooks, with office 365? Why wouldn't you use GSuite?

 

Jamf is AMAZING but also VERY expensive if you want to self managed, due to the jumpstart training they force you to have.

 

You want web filtering, which deploying on all them devices, will be simple enough, but the Mac's don't seem to play well with inline filters, and agents.

 

Senso doesn't support Mac or iOS (yet)

 

Why host Sims in azure, why not use cloud SIMS, from capita. Or even better use any other MIS?

 

Have you thought about printing?

 

Just seems like someone grabbed the "How to cloud" book and is buying everything?

 

We could switch over to G Suite (I mean, it's free) but the school apparently like Outlook and Sharepoint and at the end of the day I've got to make it work unfortunately.

 

Jamf is super expensive as I've already deployed it for one of our clients. Mosyle is probably the better choice here.

 

As for Senso, I don't know if you follow any of their development team on LinkedIn but they recently teased a new iOS/Mac client which should be releasing early next year (I'm assuming).

 

The school already own a SIMS licence. We're redoing their network which is currently a Server 2003 DC and a Server 2008 machine which hosts SIMS, File Server, Print Server, Exchange 2010 (Yeah, that bad). We may go the hosted SIMS route but it's up to the school on that one.

 

As for printing, that's something I had not anticipated! I'm still drawing up the plan as we're not going ahead with everything till Feb 2020. Lots to work out still!

[Wubbalubbadub]

We could switch over to G Suite (I mean, it's free) but the school apparently like Outlook and Sharepoint and at the end of the day I've got to make it work unfortunately.

 

Jamf is super expensive as I've already deployed it for one of our clients. Mosyle is probably the better choice here.

 

As for Senso, I don't know if you follow any of their development team on LinkedIn but they recently teased a new iOS/Mac client which should be releasing early next year (I'm assuming).

 

The school already own a SIMS licence. We're redoing their network which is currently a Server 2003 DC and a Server 2008 machine which hosts SIMS, File Server, Print Server, Exchange 2010 (Yeah, that bad). We may go the hosted SIMS route but it's up to the school on that one.

 

As for printing, that's something I had not anticipated! I'm still drawing up the plan as we're not going ahead with everything till Feb 2020. Lots to work out still!

 

Outlook can be used with Gmail, if you mean the client? Surprised they actually like Sharepoint!

 

I've not used Mosyle, but you could look into InTune? Its really cheap and very good! May aswell utilise the office 365 instance if you have it!

 

I'm one of the BETA testers for SENSO, so i'm aware. I send the team at Senso about 3 GIFS a week, begging for the MAC / IOS Client, i haven't been made aware of any date for it yet! They are really good, so i'm hoping your early next year guess, is correct.

 

I really wouldn't bother hosting a cloud SIMS server. Is it even supported by Capita / %GENERICSUPPORTCOMPANY%?

 

I've heard a few good things about Printix in regards to a cloud print server.

 

Looks like an ambitious project! With a tight timescale! Keep us updated, as to how it goes!

[Ditto]

Outlook can be used with Gmail....

I've seen this go very, VERY badly wrong - best avoided.

[Securly_Marc]

Hi All,

 

If you need any further info on Securly, give me a shout.

 

We also have an iOS MDM too!

 

Thanks,

 

Marc

[TechMonkey]

Mainly because of the Chromebooks, have a look at https://www.securly.com. There are some Edugeekers using it plus there is a UK company contact on here too.

 

Careful with Securly as when I've looked at it it seemed very simplistic. URL filtering only, and although the suggestion is to use wildcards last I saw they don't deal properly. Categories are too generic, things like games does not differentiate educational games. Also no page modifications so removing youtube comments or suggestions isn't possible.

 

DISCLAIMER: This is after the last time I looked and from talks with other schools who have used it, I am not a current user so these issues may have been fixed, just be aware.

[msi_school]

I've seen this go very, VERY badly wrong - best avoided.

 

I can feel myself making a classic mistake here but apparently there are no stupid questions.

 

How does using Outlook as a client for Gmail cause any problems, surely it is just an IMAP connection?

[Securly_Chris]

This looks interesting and it appears to be free for Chromebooks!

 

Signed up and going to have a play tonight,

 

Hey Aicrd,

 

I'm one of the techies at Securly, give me a shout if you have any questions or need any help getting it up and running.

 

As well as Chromebooks we can also filter/monitor your Macs too through the same platform! We also work with Office365 as well as GSuite.

 

Cheers

Chris

[Securly_Chris]

Careful with Securly as when I've looked at it it seemed very simplistic. URL filtering only, and although the suggestion is to use wildcards last I saw they don't deal properly. Categories are too generic, things like games does not differentiate educational games. Also no page modifications so removing youtube comments or suggestions isn't possible.

 

DISCLAIMER: This is after the last time I looked and from talks with other schools who have used it, I am not a current user so these issues may have been fixed, just be aware.

Hey TechMonkey,

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

We aim to keep the cloud dashboard interface simple by design - I've worked with much more complex solutions in the past and know even simple tasks would be very time consuming to carry out.

 

That said we do much more behind the scenes;

 

HTTPS Decryption

Domain and URL along dynamic content analysis. Wildcards are supported too.

Youtube restricted mode enforcement which can remove comments.

Built in safeguarding monitoring with AI Sentiment Analysis

Agentless configuration and Active Directory SSO

 

We're always adding new features based on our schools feedback so give me a shout if you ever want to test out our latest platform!

 

Kind regards,

Chris

[dmj]

- Will be using Chrome Device Management - School uses Office 365 - Any way to integrate Office 365 with the Chromebooks (IE: Can we do some sort of Azure AD SSO onto the ChromeBooks?)

Yes it should work ok, but you'll find gsuite a better platform for schools if you are not using a local MSoffice install.

 

- School will be given a new Azure AD Setup (No servers onsite, SIMS will be hosted by us in Azure).

 

Hybrid cloud is a nice idea, but the firewalling and cross cloud ingress/egress will get expensive. You might find GCE a better option if you are using chromebooks,

 

- Looking into Jamf for macOS management - May use Mosyle since it is cheaper and has SSO.

Also check out Munki, there is a basic MDM for gsuite but I don't think it has macos support yet.

Also is it possible to have Staff/Students authenticate to Chrome OS using Azure AD? This would make it much easier to manage passwords as everything we use is going to be built up around Azure AD.

 

Yes, you can do this via SAML with ADFS or Shibboleth, but I don't really see why you need AzureAD - can you not just authenticate the macos against google ldaps ?

 

BTW who came up with this architecture? I think someone is trying to take you for a ride with all the Azure stuff because I don't really see you need any of it if you are going chromebook.

[Ditto]

I can feel myself making a classic mistake here but apparently there are no stupid questions.

How does using Outlook as a client for Gmail cause any problems, surely it is just an IMAP connection?

Head of Senior school, after 2 separate pieces of advice against it, decide to unilaterally install an app to try to synchronise. He screwed his folders, couldn't see incoming emails and asked three other staff to sort it out - none could. We were a 'Google' school, so it went deeper than just the gmail client - like calendar, G Suite audit log, Vault/e-discovery etc. To be fair, it's probably mostly user error, and sure as a purely IMAP connection to another client, it should be workable, but in this school it made absolutely no sense and was out of line with every other user. Fortunately we had an Executive head who backed us and told the head to follow policy. We locked outlook out to ensure compliance in the end.

[aicrd]

Outlook can be used with Gmail, if you mean the client? Surprised they actually like Sharepoint!

 

I've not used Mosyle, but you could look into InTune? Its really cheap and very good! May aswell utilise the office 365 instance if you have it!

 

I'm one of the BETA testers for SENSO, so i'm aware. I send the team at Senso about 3 GIFS a week, begging for the MAC / IOS Client, i haven't been made aware of any date for it yet! They are really good, so i'm hoping your early next year guess, is correct.

 

I really wouldn't bother hosting a cloud SIMS server. Is it even supported by Capita / %GENERICSUPPORTCOMPANY%?

 

I've heard a few good things about Printix in regards to a cloud print server.

 

Looks like an ambitious project! With a tight timescale! Keep us updated, as to how it goes!

 

I'm talking about Outlook 365 and the OWA Web Client - Teachers are actually going to be using Windows desktops that we already have onsite but they are going to be managed by intune instead of AD. May use Gmail for students and Outlook for staff.

 

We have InTune deployed for some of our clients but the macOS management is seriously lacking. It works fine for iOS / Windows but not as much for mac.

Also, how did you become a beta tester for Senso? That's something I'd be interested in if they are open to new people .

[aicrd]

Yes it should work ok, but you'll find gsuite a better platform for schools if you are not using a local MSoffice install.

 

 

 

Hybrid cloud is a nice idea, but the firewalling and cross cloud ingress/egress will get expensive. You might find GCE a better option if you are using chromebooks,

 

 

Also check out Munki, there is a basic MDM for gsuite but I don't think it has macos support yet.

 

 

Yes, you can do this via SAML with ADFS or Shibboleth, but I don't really see why you need AzureAD - can you not just authenticate the macos against google ldaps ?

 

BTW who came up with this architecture? I think someone is trying to take you for a ride with all the Azure stuff because I don't really see you need any of it if you are going chromebook.

I should have mentioned in my original post. Staff are going to be using the existing Windows workstations we have with Win10 loaded on them. Students will be using Chromebooks and MacBooks are going to be used for the multimedia courses.

 

Our company offers hosted Citrix to all our customers so lots of Windows apps will be going through that (With the exception of SIMS due to Capita's weird licencing policy).

 

We're using Azure AD since all the staff are going to be logging in with it and I'd rather have an integrated solution.

 

Plan is to have the SIMS server sync user accounts to Azure AD (Not sure how yet - Probably Salamander) then GSuite pulls accounts from Azure AD which allows the Staff/Students to access ChromeOS devices. All course work / Staff storage is to be on SharePoint with Word Online (yuck!). I personally don't mind SharePoint and we use it for internal storage here but I don't understand how someone can like Word Online!

[Brimstone]

- Looking into Jamf for macOS management - May use Mosyle since it is cheaper and has SSO.

If you are looking at macOS only steer clear of Mosyle. You will have to host the Pkg's in the Cloud and you should not be using the usual suspects for this such as One Drive, Google Drive etc. Mosyle have limits on the size of files and point you to AWS to host them on, which is not cheap. You don't get SSO for macOS out of the box with Mosyle it's a premium feature you have to pay more for.

 

Jamf on the other hand lets you host the installers on any smb share, no file size limits. Oh it does SSO as well and can integrate with Azure

Edited October 29, 2019 by Brimstone

[Brimstone]

Yes it should work ok, but you'll find gsuite a better platform for schools if you are not using a local MSoffice install.

 

 

 

Hybrid cloud is a nice idea, but the firewalling and cross cloud ingress/egress will get expensive. You might find GCE a better option if you are using chromebooks,

 

 

Also check out Munki, there is a basic MDM for gsuite but I don't think it has macos support yet.

 

Munki is NOT an MDM... it's a software packaging and managemernt suite of tools for macOS?

[dmj]

Munki is NOT an MDM... it's a software packaging and managemernt suite of tools for macOS?

 

Correct, Gsuite has an MDM.

[Wubbalubbadub]

I can feel myself making a classic mistake here but apparently there are no stupid questions.

 

How does using Outlook as a client for Gmail cause any problems, surely it is just an IMAP connection?

 

Never heard of Outlook accessing a gmail client to cause problems?

 

Outlook is just a client, GMail doesn't care what connects to it. I have accessed my personal GMail through outlook for years.

[Ditto]

In spite of my name, I won't repeat my reply @ 10:34am

[mrbios]

- Will be using Chrome Device Management - School uses Office 365 - Any way to integrate Office 365 with the Chromebooks (IE: Can we do some sort of Azure AD SSO onto the ChromeBooks?)

-

 

Azure AD SSO does indeed work perfectly with Chromebooks, it's exactly how mine are setup to work. Login with Office 365 credentials and SSO straight into the portal (which i have set as the devices homepage, along with foldr for onsite storage integration).

[JamesFish2020]

Hi Chris,

 

I know this is an old post but we are looking into the prospect of having to filter student home laptops (school supplied) to ensure they are compliant with online safety requirements. At the moment just for laptops, these are supplied under the DfE program, but potentially more due to lockdown and online learning.

 

Would like to know more about your product and how easy it is to deploy/manage.

 

Kind regards,

Alvis

[Securly_Chris]

Hi James,

 

We're working on a number of the DfE home laptop roll-outs at the moment. Good news is we can get these deployments going in less than an hour and since we're cloud based filtering works at home or wherever the device is located!

 

I'll drop you a PM to sync up and I can run through how our solution works in more detail.

 

Regards,

Chris