Summer Holidays 2024

[CrootUK]

For those 1 week into the holidays how are things going? many room moves I can imagine!

[mrbios]

Ahead of schedule so far! Which is nice.

 

So far week one has two IT suites replaced, two new laptop trolleys filled (That's 116 devices in total...a LOT of packaging filling a corridor at work right now) lots of stuff shifted around, clearout of our server room and a tidy of the office..... Next week I'm taking everything offline and replacing our ancient, small and panel-less server rack, at the same time new UPS and new core switch being put in place. All while a cabling company recables one section of our network and relocates a cab.

 

Looking forward to a week off in week 3!

[MrEprise]

So far, It's been a odd Summer Holiday so far and a bit more taxing than normal (also long post as I explain why.)

 

I had an APC UPS fail in an odd way (displayed "Internal Fault, Contact APC), then fix itself after I unplugged it & the battery for a few minutes, then plugged it back in again without the battery and left it for some while where it no longer displays a error. I then plugged the battery back in, ran the self-test and it seems to check out fine. Not sure I trust it now though. No idea of warranty as it was purchased by my predecessor who didn't leave much in the way of documentation (but that wasn't really his fault due to the usual MAT politics.)

 

I also had a HPE server catastrophically fail after a cabinet move (out of our former Reprographics dept. where the room is now becoming a Behaviour Unit and I don't want to leave server equipment in there,) where it wouldn't turn back on no matter what I did to it i.e. swapped around components, tried a PSU from one of the working servers (though not something I'd really recommend doing) and nothing I tried seemed to work. Luckily, it was still in warranty but only by one day, where by the next day it would have expired! It also turned out the iLO still worked and was able to prove it an issue where a motherboard replacement was required. As luck seemed to be on my side that particular day, HPE agreed and sent out someone to replace it. The guy they sent had an uncanny resemblance to Johnny Ball and had an air of eccentricity much like him. Turned out he'd been doing the same job since the 1970's working for DEC (then Compaq, then HP up to HPE in the present day) where he was repairing VAXs and PDPs. One interesting anecdote was that he was called out to Hinkley Point B back in the early 2000's and asked could they have another PDP-8 for redundancy in case one of the existing ones were to fail. Yes, he had to tell them that this really wasn't possible as getting the required S-shape backplane was next to impossible to source.

 

These were both in the same cabinet so I do wonder if the UPS took out the server in some way, which it very well might have done.

 

I've also had to deal/will be dealing with the following while doing the above:

 

- a new Photocopier contract so making room for new copiers while simultaneously trying to move the old copiers out of the way (of which there's no ETA on collection) then dealing with the unexpected arrival of an engineer which I didn't get prior notice of. All nice guys to deal with though.

 

- removing an ICT Suite so the room can be split in half, while also deliberating how to turn one half back into a suite. Some members of SLT want it back as an ICT Suite with desktops while others want it as a normal classroom with Laptops but don't realise I probably won't have the budget next year for them.)

 

- deployment of refurb Laptops for all teachers - I didn't initially have budget for these as the Trust said they'd find funding for it, but then it turned out that I'd be paying for these out of my own budget after all somehow. This of course was decided 3 weeks before we broke up which meant it was all ordered late & so I won't get these until the second day of week 2, all the while trying to remove old desktop setups and trying to find storage for it all.

 

- lots of last minute submissions on the HelpDesk for room and office moves that I need to somehow allocate time to go do and find equipment for.

 

- trying to get rid of a rat that had managed to get into the IT office (the door was briefly open while I was moving equipment in and out - I guess long enough for it to hop in while I wasn't there.) Not for the squeamish, it did eventually get captured by one of the Premises staff but did meet a bit of an untimely end with the business end of a long pipe. Our pest control guy said it was for the best but I couldn't help feeling a bit upset that its life ended that way.

 

- managed to get locked in our Maths & Music block while upgrading Music's computers with slightly better ones. The computers are situated at the far end of the building in 2 converted practice rooms so are soundproofed. When one of our Premises staff shouted out asking if anyone was still in the building, he heard no reply and carried on locking and alarming the building. Cue me walking back into the Music classroom and subsequently hearing an alarm going off. Oddly, this noise sounded distant so I didn't realise I'd set it off until I went to walk out of the building and found myself blocked by a locked door. The building has 2 entrances at each end so I had to run back to the other entrance where both the alarm was louder and where I saw said member of Premises walking back to the building to find out why the alarm went off. Imagine his surprise when he saw me knocking on the window of the door!

 

Fun times had by all...

[Dos_Box]

Sorting out the October EDIT Conf venue (still).

I have a place I'd like us to host it in (and you SE\London folks will be happy with the location), but until someone at the other end can pull out their finger and provide me with a floorplan (or even pick up the phone!) I'm playing a waiting game!

[talksr]

One of the schools I take care of was donated a large amount of used systems. Amoungst that was 20 surfaces - seemed like the older versions, but they take Windows 11 which is good enough for me. 20 HP something laptops, nice business grade ones with generous RAM and a strong i5. 20 HP not quite so good but not bad ones, and also not in bad condition.

I have been wiping them and adding to Intune. Getting there, but it has taken some time and lots of new policies and apps to configure.

 

I stuck one of my favourites in the freezer for an hour earlier - gets it just to the right temperature for drinking.

 

What's the worst that can happen?! About six minutes after taking the first tantilising sip...the Microsoft outage begins The stacks of devices waiting to be autopiloted are looking at me:blabla: Oh dear.

Not a very productive afternoon I am sorry to say.

 

I will be sticking to water tomorrow

[Olliedawg]

Ahead of schedule here!

 

Finished all of my "next academic year" tasks (creating new users, shifting students up a yeargroup into correct OU's/sec groups, importing class lists into various online platforms languagenut etc..) Just have Teams classes to generate on the first official day of term. Usually come in an hour early to do this. " The quiet before the storm " and all that

 

Replaced our LAST 100Mbps switch (HP 2520 24Port Non PoE). This was in our sports hall above some ceiling tiles. Was last PAT tested in 2014.. lol. Only feeds a few data points, couple AP's and a couple cameras.. Replaced with a much newer Netgear switch with PoE! Good riddance PoE injectors.

 

Just today started my Win11 rollout, only doing staff machines for the time being. Made a task sequence in MDT to do this, can just leave it going & its a doddle with an in place upgrade

 

Gave a network cabinet which has been on my job list for a while a good tidy up.

 

IWB fittings booked in ( x5 this thursday, x5 on 20th of august ).

 

Lots of room changes to do still.

 

Lots of building / electrical work going on

 

I've got next week off which i'm looking forward to!

[ColonelPanic]

A busy couple of weeks!

 

 

• Rebuild of a 2-node server cluster at one site (18 SSDs replacing the 7 year old spinning disks inside, the vendor said it couldn't be done, it took us 3 days but we made it)
  
• Long weekend in Oslo as a Wedding/Birthday gift from my Norwegian friend
  
• BIOS flashed/re-imaged one of our 11 ICT suites
  
• Located, labelled, and replaced lightning cables in our SEND iPad trolley
  
• Replaced 20 staff laptops on the last day of term (trying to pry back the old ones so I can flesh out an existing trolley back to 30 machines)
  

 

To come...

 

• Installation of 10 eSports machines into the side of a suite (+some generous 'testing' time, currently with no power or data)
  
• Replacement PCs in engineering CAD lab (which does not yet have enough power, or data)
  
• Imaging of 6 of the other IT suites/BIOS updates (with custom boot logo )
  
• Reinstalling W11 on the digital signage PCs
  
• Moving 5 of our worst laptops into the isolation room
  
• Sourcing an 85" screen for a new meeting room that SLT have invented
  
• Figuring out MS Teams Rooms licenses with our reseller
  
• Usual new term rollover (much easier thanks to Locker/Ruler Connect)
  
• Figuring out where everyone has taken their phone post-office-shuffle
  
• Another network run for our office
  
• Creation of 3 new "flexible study spaces" with 12 PCs in each, and a TV to teach from (also do not currently have power or data)
  

 

Junior tech is off for another week and half, and nobody has any clue when the electrical contractors are coming to install Cat6 from 2 of our IT rooms back to the nearest switch (currently Wifi)

[Fazza]

For those 1 week into the holidays how are things going? many room moves I can imagine!

 

No money for moves this year so everyone is staying put - first time this has happened in the 12 years I've been here!

[Rob_D]

No money for moves this year so everyone is staying put - first time this has happened in the 12 years I've been here!

You need money for moves? We just get told which offices everyone is moving to this year and it's all done by us and the site team.

 

We're working through 50 new PCs going into classrooms, and then the classroom PCs will go into offices (because the new dells don't have DVD drives and the teachers use DVDs more than the admin staff).

[kennysarmy]

Yesterday migrated broadband away from SWGfL/RM to Wave9

Last week had our S8 Smoothwall replaced with an S9 appliance

 

Just about resolved all the fallout from the issues created by the changes required due to the above projects!

[3s-gtech]

Updated a suite of Macs. Now archiving from our file servers (after deciding that no, now is not that time to shift them to Sharepoint). Previously in the week - completely removed an ivy that had just reached the roof, and dug out its roots. It was attractive, but would start causing major issues pretty shortly!

[ICTDirect_Dave]

July was our busiest month ever and I'm glad it's done.

Over three quarters of a million pounds of refurb kit made its way to schools across the UK from our warehouse last month and it's fair to say our processing teams are shattered.

August is going to be busy, but not as busy as July so it'll feel like a rest for everyone I'm sure

[3s-gtech]

July was our busiest month ever and I'm glad it's done.

Over three quarters of a million pounds of refurb kit made its way to schools across the UK from our warehouse last month and it's fair to say our processing teams are shattered.

August is going to be busy, but not as busy as July so it'll feel like a rest for everyone I'm sure

 

Glad it’s going well! Schools are at least responding to the need to chuck out that old kit.

 

How’d that golf game you had with Bill Gates and Sataya Nadella go? [emoji6]

[ICTDirect_Dave]

How’d that golf game you had with Bill Gates and Sataya Nadella go? [emoji6]

 

I couldn't possibly comment...

[Slarty66]

Usual last minute room changes. Lots of cabling as staff expect everything to be easy to move ...

Removed a Suite of iMacs from the Music room replaced with new PC's. After years of struggling getting Macs working on our network we finally have replaced them!

Nothing against iMacs, I have one at home but the hours I've spent troubleshooting them even with Jamfpro has been painful!