Serverless School

[Shadow_Walker]

Printing - we use Printix and this links in with our Papercut hosted in Azure

 

Authentication - Just use Azure. We use AD for authentication such as Papercut etc but all machines authenticated to AzureAD

 

So when user gets to a computer they use their login details and it logs them in using Azure rather than local DC?

[snagrat]

So when user gets to a computer they use their login details and it logs them in using Azure rather than local DC?

 

Yep. They login with the full Office 365 email although you can pre-populate the domain bit.

 

Intune then manages and deploys apps etc

[Edu-IT]

Papercut has a cloud-based bit, I can't remember what it's called but you can print from Chromebooks with it.

 

 

 

You can now authenticate Windows with your Google account, and GSuite offers Windows management facilities.

Mobility Print? Looks like it stills need an onsite server?

 

https://www.papercut.com/products/free-software/mobility-print/

[Shadow_Walker]

Yep. They login with the full Office 365 email although you can pre-populate the domain bit.

 

Intune then manages and deploys apps etc

 

So we need intune to manage the device to achieve this?

[snagrat]

You need Intune to be able to manage the device, yes.

 

We pay roughly £6 per staff per year to have Intune and we manage all Windows and iOS devices through it.

[FN-GM]

Mobility Print? Looks like it stills need an onsite server?

 

https://www.papercut.com/products/free-software/mobility-print/

 

You could host a VM in Azure. It is shoehorning it though.

[dmj]

You could host a VM in Azure. It is shoehorning it though.

 

Not best practice. Only host a VM when there are no other options: IAAS is the last resort with cloud strategy . If we can't buy the service in then we should containerise the app and run it in kubnernetes. It's far more cost effective and has additional advantages such as scalability, self healing and working with your CI/CD pipelines.

docker pull scjalliance/papercut-mf

[j224]

Directprint.io for printing. Doesn't need a server. Works with Chromebooks and there's a client to install for Windows and Mac.

[jblackburnHWGA]

We've started moving more serverless. We're at the very start off it moving files to onedrive etc. We're hoping to move completely servesless by next summer.

There isn't much guidance on it! Do any of you know some good places to learn a bit more on the process.

Like how do you move from a federated setup with an adfs to users logging in via azure?

[Shadow_Walker]

You need Intune to be able to manage the device, yes.

 

We pay roughly £6 per staff per year to have Intune and we manage all Windows and iOS devices through it.

 

Will P1 license cover us for this?

[snagrat]

No I don’t think P1 covers it.

[timbo343]

Will P1 license cover us for this?

A P1 license will not cover it. To manage devices you need the Intune license which is around the same price as the P1 license.

 

The intune license is user assigned rather than device assigned and for every 1 staff intune license you are able get 15 free student ones - same as the P1 license.

[dmj]

Like how do you move from a federated setup with an adfs to users logging in via azure?

 

I'm doing a project that involves doing just this.

AzureAD, Google Suite, ADFS, simpleSamlphp, Shibboleth, Okta, etc essentially fulfil the same function as SAML identity providers (obviously some have advantages over others).

Specifically with AzureAD and bilateral federations: If you go to your Azure portal > AzureAD > Enterprise Applications you will able to add a new application. These will mirror the application that you added in ADFS, so upload the applications metadata and set them up to release the same attributes that your ADFS releases. Download the certificate and upload it to the application and that's pretty much it.

[Shadow_Walker]

A P1 license will not cover it. To manage devices you need the Intune license which is around the same price as the P1 license.

 

The intune license is user assigned rather than device assigned and for every 1 staff intune license you are able get 15 free student ones - same as the P1 license.

 

So would need A3 License.

[EdTech-Tom]

So would need A3 License.

 

Can confirm the A3 is needed. Whenever we discuss/provide a serverless solution we utilise the A3.

[jblackburnHWGA]

I'm doing a project that involves doing just this.

AzureAD, Google Suite, ADFS, simpleSamlphp, Shibboleth, Okta, etc essentially fulfil the same function as SAML identity providers (obviously some have advantages over others).

Specifically with AzureAD and bilateral federations: If you go to your Azure portal > AzureAD > Enterprise Applications you will able to add a new application. These will mirror the application that you added in ADFS, so upload the applications metadata and set them up to release the same attributes that your ADFS releases. Download the certificate and upload it to the application and that's pretty much it.

 

When I try to edit records in the o365 admin console it says I can't as its a federated account and will only let me edit details throigh AD. If I'm cutting ad out completely at some point what happens with those accounts that are linked to AD?

I'm guessing there's a switch?

[Norphy]

You can convert a federated account to an in cloud one by refining its immutable ID, which can be done with the AzureAD PowerShell module.

 

Also, when you disassociate your tenant with an AzureAD Connect instance, your accounts are converted to In Cloud accounts but they’re immutable IDs remain so it may be a good idea to remove them anyway.

[jblackburnHWGA]

Ah makes sense! Thanks. Feels to me very much like a "not sure where to start situation" but its slowly coming together. By April we'll have our mis, printing and files in the cloud so I shouldn't be far off. I have a lot more to go through for endpoint and Windows 10 but I already use it for ipads and android tablets so I should catch on quickly Edited September 17, 2020 by jblackburnHWGA

[dsmith8]

For those who have moved their storage to cloud how have you gone about doing this?

 

I knows SIMS like to have a Documents area to store things etc.

 

We have tried using a drive mapping solution but as it relies on WebDav it's just unreliable and causing drops outs etc. We are a O365 Windows based schools. We are looking into Azure etc but pricing is difficult.

 

Cheers

 

Dan

[jblackburnHWGA]

Dan we've moved files using the sharepoint migration tool.

works off a CSV. There are some OneDrive conversations in the cloud forum detailing how to install oneDrive so its machine based rather than user based.

We then redirect the my docs to onedrive so the student can't save locally. Staff are happy as the desktops backup to oneDrive as well

 

Staff shares are more complicated and ideally need to be done using teams or Sharepoint or a bit of both

[j224]

For those who have moved their storage to cloud how have you gone about doing this?

I knows SIMS like to have a Documents area to store things etc.

We have tried using a drive mapping solution but as it relies on WebDav it's just unreliable and causing drops outs etc. We are a O365 Windows based schools. We are looking into Azure etc but pricing is difficult.

Cheers

Dan

 

For storage, we just uploaded stuff to Google Shared Drive.

 

For SIMS, a local company is hosting it for us so we just access through RD Web. Not had any dropouts. The couple of admin PCs we have use remote desktop which allows them to run the SIMS reports and print locally using 'TSPrint'.

 

The fiddly bit is copying and pasting the reports which get saved onto the hosted server's documents folder onto the local computer. Otherwise, when the secretary goes to upload it or attach to an email, the system can't see hosted server files.

 

It works though. And the secretary likes being able to access it from home when needed.

[paulkerton]

For storage, we just uploaded stuff to Google Shared Drive.

 

For SIMS, a local company is hosting it for us so we just access through RD Web. Not had any dropouts. The couple of admin PCs we have use remote desktop which allows them to run the SIMS reports and print locally using 'TSPrint'.

 

The fiddly bit is copying and pasting the reports which get saved onto the hosted server's documents folder onto the local computer. Otherwise, when the secretary goes to upload it or attach to an email, the system can't see hosted server files.

 

It works though. And the secretary likes being able to access it from home when needed.

 

I don't know why you'd go through these hoops to deliver SIMS remotely when every single alternative to SIMS available is cloud based, cheaper, reduces overheads and is frankly a better product.

[dsmith8]

Dan we've moved files using the sharepoint migration tool.

works off a CSV. There are some OneDrive conversations in the cloud forum detailing how to install oneDrive so its machine based rather than user based.

We then redirect the my docs to onedrive so the student can't save locally. Staff are happy as the desktops backup to oneDrive as well

 

Staff shares are more complicated and ideally need to be done using teams or Sharepoint or a bit of both

 

Thanks James,

 

I think we are in a similar boat as we want to start pushing Onedrive using the native sync client with some redirection. Then use Sharepoint Online where possible.

 

One of our headaches is with staff wanting to save to shared areas as our 3rd party tool is letting us down. I know office apps can see it natively but when they are downloading files etc it's a pain.

[j224]

I don't know why you'd go through these hoops to deliver SIMS remotely when every single alternative to SIMS available is cloud based, cheaper, reduces overheads and is frankly a better product.

Which ones would you recommend?

 

We looked at Arbor but with training costs it worked out more expensive than hosted SIMS, plus we'd upset the secretary who is in (probably) her final year at the school after many many years using SIMS.

 

Our LA also buy Capita licenses so it's part of our budget. I'm not really involved in that side of things though.

 

Also, we use FMS and I couldn't find a suitable alternative to that. Again, we've got staff who have used it for many many years, so we'd only switch if something is considerably better and cheaper.

 

Apart from the copying and pasting hassle, the hosted SIMS works completely fine.

[supportman]

Which ones would you recommend?

 

We looked at Arbor but with training costs it worked out more expensive than hosted SIMS, plus we'd upset the secretary who is in (probably) her final year at the school after many many years using SIMS.

 

Our LA also buy Capita licenses so it's part of our budget. I'm not really involved in that side of things though.

 

Also, we use FMS and I couldn't find a suitable alternative to that. Again, we've got staff who have used it for many many years, so we'd only switch if something is considerably better and cheaper.

 

Apart from the copying and pasting hassle, the hosted SIMS works completely fine.

I've written about it before on these forums, but we looked at Bromcom, Arbour and iSams. Eventually went with Bromcom and its been excellent.

 

Really can't believe people are keeping Sims, the market has moved on massively in the last few years.