MAT IT Setup if you were starting again

[SpaceInvader83]

Hi all,

 

I know many of you have already been down this route, serverless with a central school, point to point Ethernet etc etc.

 

I'm curious if you could start again from now how would you do it? What would you centralise? Phones, Wireless, Servers, Filtering etc? Or is now the time to start looking into more cloud hosted services, I'm thinking Azure AD, Google Credential Provider, MDM management like Intune etc.

 

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

 

Thanks

[Jcx500]

Central Server Infrastructure, With Services in the Cloud Such as , Office 365, Maybe A Domain Controller on sites with a large user base , Or A Backup DC In the Cloud, No On Prem File Servers all cloud storage, Cloud Filtering , Maybe On premises impero or there hybrid Solution ,Point to Point Ethernet, Cloud Based Unifi Controller For AP'S

[paulkerton]

Completely cloud for me, whichever route you decided to take on that.

Dedicated connectivity for each site. Multiple connections for fallback should net fail. IP phones hosted in the cloud (again whichever route)

Nothing on premise unless there was absolutely no other way to do so.

[localzuk]

Would be totally cloud based for me too these days. Though, would probably have PTP ethernet between sites still and a central internet breakout as it works out cheaper.

[slugshead]

I would have a hybrid, with all the bells and whistles in terms of integration and seamlessness setup.

 

Infrastructure on prem (DC, AD etc...)

 

services in cloud (VOIP, email, collab tools)

 

Auth hybrid - onprem AD sync to azure AD, SSO enabled, G-Suite connectors enabled to Azure. No need to put a DC in the cloud when there's technologies such as always on vpn and direct access.

 

Storage a mixture. This is the tricky part.

 

Students primarily Google drive/OneDrive for basic day to day and general work.

 

Infrastructure would run on SAN, backup to NAS (in the same server room). With backup job replicating to an alternate location on campus. Then a third backup task to an offsite NAS in a collocate data centre.

 

Dedicated NAS for those who need a lot of space, think art students who are learning to edit video... Second NAS in a different location on campus backing up that data.

[DrBeaker]

One thing many might have overlooked is the human quality of work factor - would definitely be proper offices, with air con, access to IT staff only with card access, no-one else. One meeting room for IT and projects room/staging room for deliveries, builds etc.

 

This is overlooked. Some places have had a dedicated floor for IT personnel only and no-one else could get in. I agree with that. I've been some places there's a "management" floor. Make of that what you will.