Salamandersoft

[Tones]

Hey all,

 

Moving to a new MIS presents a syncing issue for us as we currently automate account creation based on scripts to our on-premise AD however aren't able to continue this with a cloud MIS.

 

Has anyone recently swapped over to Salamandersoft's Integration Suite after changing MIS or swapped from another sync partner to them?

 

Also anyone using Google Cloud Directory Sync if you had to change your AD/Google OUs and naming conventions?

 

Any pitfalls or advice would be appreciated on a smooth transition.

 

Regards,

Tones

[dmj]

Hey all,

 

Moving to a new MIS presents a syncing issue for us as we currently automate account creation based on scripts to our on-premise AD however aren't able to continue this with a cloud MIS.

Why? Don't all the cloud MIS have api's ?

[howartp]

Or, have a look at Wonde's API (available to end-user schools) then update your scripts to match that.

[Tones]

I don't think I'll be able to do it. I created the PowerShell script and tasks to automate AD creation based on SIMs and rules but not a clue how to use an API to get the data so thought I'd just purchase the software that can do that for me. Would be helpful for those that take over from me also in doing this as it requires less knowledge really. Is this something you guys have done instead of buying software then?

[howartp]

Sorry, I probably confused things.

 

We use Salamander, I was just responding to the fact you already had the scripts setup and seemed to be preferring not to splash out on Salamander. It's well worth the cost, and the ongoing supportability as you mention.

 

I happen to be a developer so I do use APIs, and am planning on subscribing to Wonde's API when I get a bit of time, to streamline some of my other internal processes that aren't Salamander-related.

[dmj]

I don't think I'll be able to do it. I created the PowerShell script and tasks to automate AD creation based on SIMs and rules but not a clue how to use an API to get the data so thought I'd just purchase the software that can do that for me. Would be helpful for those that take over from me also in doing this as it requires less knowledge really. Is this something you guys have done instead of buying software then?

 

I've done lots of similar integrations, but if you are not able to maintain it you should buy.

Salamander will be able to sort this for you (depending on the MIS and how good/bad their API is)

[Tones]

Going to Bromcom if that changes anything. Salamandersoft is low cost and certainly worth it from what I can tell, I'm just trying to figure out any potential issues with on-prem to gcds in an existing deployment before I move over :-)

[Linfit]

We use Salamander with Bromcom to sync everything up, works fine, no issues. We also use Google Directory Dync and don't use the Built in Bromcom Sync tool. To be fair, that may be all you need for the Google side, our main reason for having Salamander is AD provisioning.

[Tones]

Yeah, they recommended I use GCDS instead of their own internal sync tool also. Do your AD and Google OUs match? I'd like to avoid going through all the settings applied to the OUs on Google if I can.

[Linfit]

Yes, they do match up, that's just historical as I re-did the AD OU's and groups when I first set up our Google tenancy a long time ago and we wanted everything to mirror as much as possible.

[Tones]

Any advice for best practice on the setup of OUs or something you'd like to change? :-)

[ITGuyNW]

What would people recommend? Salamandersoft or Locker?

[howartp]

I think you’ll find far more customers use Salamander; Locker rarely pops up/gets mentioned on here.

[gszech]

What would people recommend? Salamandersoft or Locker?

 

We are currently using Salamander at all our schools. We looked at Locker and I really liked it. With Locker you are in the control of changes, but the application doesn't offer as many options as Salamander. It's also Windows based so not good for schools that would like to go 100% cloud.

Salamander offers more customization, but we had multiple problems where leavers were not suspended for months (multiple misconfigurations by the support team). Also their support was impossible to contact in September for the last few years.

 

We are planning to move to Wonde Edusync purely because it's cloud based and you can change sync settings yourself. Also I don't like how Salamander syncs our Google users by using Google Cloud Directory Sync.

[synaesthesia]

We are currently using Salamander at all our schools. We looked at Locker and I really liked it. With Locker you are in the control of changes, but the application doesn't offer as many options as Salamander. It's also Windows based so not good for schools that would like to go 100% cloud.

Salamander offers more customization, but we had multiple problems where leavers were not suspended for months (multiple misconfigurations by the support team). Also their support was impossible to contact in September for the last few years.

 

We are planning to move to Wonde Edusync purely because it's cloud based and you can change sync settings yourself. Also I don't like how Salamander syncs our Google users by using Google Cloud Directory Sync.

 

Edusync is the slowest moving thing on the planet alongside students in corridors at lesson changeover time and pensioners in supermarket aisles!

[gszech]

Edusync is the slowest moving thing on the planet alongside students in corridors at lesson changeover time and pensioners in supermarket aisles!

 

Do you mean performance slow or slow development ? I'm really interested as we are planning to switch over in September and there are not many other syncs platforms that I can find that don't require a server.

Last time I've checked Locker offers a cloud version of their product, but it's limited in functionality compared to their Windows application.

[ITGuyNW]

It seems Locker might be the best for the moment. I've heard from a few people now that Salamander seems to be a bit of a victim of its own success!

[synaesthesia]

Performance - a quick sync, for example if you need to manually assign a user to an address or something, that's a half an hour endeavour and is no quicker for one user than it is for 50.

Always found Wonde's support quite good however, so can't knock that.

[3s-gtech]

I have found Salamander to be superb. Support is very good if you don’t try to do any reconfiguration in September - a bad idea anyway - get it done now if you can.

 

Small tweaks and changes can be made yourself if you know what you’re doing. There are some things I’ve had to work out, but now having out Net2 also set up on it is a big help.

[kidpressingbuttons]

Love Salamander- we have a very niche set up and have expanded what we have salamander doing massively over the past year. Support is fantastic!

[Lebowski]

We are currently using Salamander at all our schools. We looked at Locker and I really liked it. With Locker you are in the control of changes, but the application doesn't offer as many options as Salamander. It's also Windows based so not good for schools that would like to go 100% cloud.

I personally prefer locker for this reason, can change things yourself, for bigger changes you can ask Locker for a ticket to do so. Salamander they basically have to change everything for you

[ITGuyNW]

Just had a demo with Locker and it certainly seems fool proof.

[Tones]

I've started the installation with Salamander btw. It's nicely customised to our domain specs and they flexibly added in a new custom attribute with a UDF for me as I wanted the ability to create an account for future starters by ticking a box on MIS earlier than their start date.

So far so good, I'd take a look @ITGuyNW don't write it off.

[robk]

Have to say having moved from home grown scripts to Salamander some years ago I really like the product. Yes support can be busy in Sept, but they do warn of that and recommend major changes are done outside of that time. I haven't used Locker, but it does seem that it does slightly less than Salamander can do. I wouldn't suggest anyone maintain their own vbscript/PowerShell to do all this in the current climate, well worth paying someone to maintain all that for you!

[ITGuyNW]

I've started the installation with Salamander btw. It's nicely customised to our domain specs and they flexibly added in a new custom attribute with a UDF for me as I wanted the ability to create an account for future starters by ticking a box on MIS earlier than their start date.

So far so good, I'd take a look @ITGuyNW don't write it off.

 

I went with Locker in the end. It was cheaper and seems to do what I need it to do at this time. Might look at Salamander again down the line if the complexities of the network outgrow what Locker can provide.