Trust Infrastructure - Looking for advice and a possible visit?

[CyBeRkId2002]

Hi all,

 

As more of our trust primary schools are joining us for IT Support (not mandated at present) I am beginning to think about the best structure to further support these in the future. I was hoping to get some detailed advice from schools who are currently doing this in order to better position ourselves both now, and for any potential expansion in the future

 

My big questions are:

 

• Single AD vs Forest Trust - who has opted for what and why? I can't see us having a hugely mobile workforce so a single sign-on for multiple sites is likely to bring huge advantages but I am happy to be convinced otherwise
  
• If using a centralised AD, what does this infrastructure look like - datacenter/cloud? What hardware is actually on-site at satellite sites and how do you account for connectivity failure (RODC?)? Where are your user files stored?
  
• What connectivity do you have between your sites? At present most of our schools are on FttC, with speeds in the 60-80mb region, all with a single provider (I think leased lines would financially be out of the question at the present time). We are currently trialing a VPN between the central site and one of the primaries and it seems to work great, but just wanted to quickly check whether people with more experience on the matter thought I am likely to need more capacity when scaling.
  
• Finally, would anyone who has been through this process, or is currently going through this process, be kind enough for us to visit so we can talk in-depth about it and see what it really looks like in action.
  

 

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[djm968]

PM sent.

[sippo]

Where are you based?

[CyBeRkId2002]

Midlands (Leicester)

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

But generally willing to travel when we have some time!