Sooo, i'm a 'network manager'!

[Pete10141748]

I agree with Dan, RM CC$ does make some jobs easier/quicker, but it's not "the way forward", it doesn't really offer much that a Vanilla network can't do/be 'pursuaded' to do plus, I personally think it's better to have the pupils using a 'real' computer environment like regular Windows and not a re-created version tailored to them, as it won't serve them later on if all they know is how to use your specific 'brand' of user account.

 

If you do decide to ditch RM CC$, then be sure that you *know* what you need to do to make the changeover smooth and as un-noticable as possible for your end users.

 

 

Also, don't knock the fact that you don't have to support everything; trust me, IT jobs tend to grow as time goes on and if your school is anything like mine then in 3 years time you'll hardly recognise they job you are doing now as it has changed/grown so much, so enjoy the less-stress now while it lasts!

[cbeeching]

CBeeching is coming to my school tomorrow, so hopefully I can give a demo on setting up ADUC etc

 

Give him a helpful start in his career

 

Yeah, thanks for that Neph, am looking forward to it, hopefully I will learn a few things/get some ideas - that's if we don't spend the time discussing Bad Company 2, but then we might have some tips to swap on that too.. haha..

 

Hi Charles,

 

I'm 25 and have been a network manager for 2 years.

 

CC4 is the way to go if you are on a network manager. It supports XP/Vista and Windows 7. It will take time to upgrade but XP wont be around forever so you must plan to upgrade the network soon. Maybe some of the workstations have upgrade licenses already - check with RM. CC4 has been around a long time and the major bugs have been ironed out. The tools that come with it will be very useful to you as well in running the network.

 

Also I woulc think very carefully about going completely wireless. Laptops are more vulnerable than desktops. They can get moved, knocked off stolen etc much more easily. Also if they belong to a teacher and they are off sick or leave it at home what happens then? No interactive whiteboard???

 

Make sure you read and update all ICT policies. You will get an overview of what needs doing. Get ideas from the supprt comapnies on how to manage software and licenses, backups and passwords, user acounts, shared areas, filtering and e-mails.

 

That's interesting.. I haven't seen many pro-RM posts on here! I actually had a sales representative come in to my school (which I forgot I had booked, as it was sort've thrown upon me over the phone in my first month working at the school..). He was telling me all the benefits of CC4 etc, warning me that change was imminent. I listened to all he had to say - because like I say, i'm new to this game, and i'm trying to take in everything before I start pretending I know what i'm on about.

 

I did get the feeling he was making CC4 out to be THE only way to go. He didn't once mention any other choices (I mean, why would he, he's a sales representative for RM!). He mentioned that I would have to be careful as if I bought new machines in the future (like next academic year) I wouldn't be able to get XP on them and then our CC3 server wouldn't support them etc.. not sure how true that is? I know XP is getting on a bit now, but I was pretty sure it would be available for atleast a few more years yet..

 

That's my predicament really, as at the end of the day, i've got my local support team telling me RM is the best way to go, and RM, and that's all this school has ever really known. Plus I don't want to leave the school in the pooper if I make a decision to steer away from RM and then am unable to support it due to my own inadequacies. I understand why the local team is advising RM as well, since i'm the only member of IT staff in-house, so what happens if I leave, and don't have a standard system in place etc..

 

It's all a bit confusing. But i'm learning slowly...

 

Hah, and in terms of my head wanting to go ALL laptops, yeah don't worry, I can feel the pain already!

[danrhodes]

I second this motion! CC4 is a cop out, and IMO if you CHOOSE to use it (rather than being force to use it), it shows a lack of skill on your behalf, you can do everything on a vanilla network, just involves learning rather than having it on a plate for you.

 

*Cue the rants about my comment!*

 

No rants from me nephilim I agree totally, I think choosing to go with RM if you have a choice does show a lack of skill and lazyness, once it's installed, to manage it it's just click this button click that button all laid out in front of you, they provide you with a console as they don't like you going into AD, where is the fun in that!

 

Vanilla is definatly the way to go, if you want to loose touch with your AD and GP skills and slowly stagnate as your not keeping up with the current software then RM is for you, the minute you move from an RM network you will be in well over your head and not be able to do the things you are required to, purely because you will have become lax with having it so easy using the RM stuff.

 

Rant over!

 

D

[cbeeching]

cbeeching is very lucky to be called Network Manager - hope he gets the money to go with it!

 

Unfortunately not...

[Abaddon]

No rants from me nephilim I agree totally, I think choosing to go with RM if you have a choice does show a lack of skill and lazyness, once it's installed, to manage it it's just click this button click that button all laid out in front of you, they provide you with a console as they don't like you going into AD, where is the fun in that!

 

Vanilla is definatly the way to go, if you want to loose touch with your AD and GP skills and slowly stagnate as your not keeping up with the current software then RM is for you, the minute you move from an RM network you will be in well over your head and not be able to do the things you are required to, purely because you will have become lax with having it so easy using the RM stuff.

 

Rant over!

 

D

 

Absolutley agree.. if you want to move OUT of education at any point, experience "managing" an RM network would be virtually useless as a bargaining point.

[witch]

 

Oh dear - hope my other comments were useful though

[danrhodes]

cbeeching is very lucky to be called Network Manager - hope he gets the money to go with it!

/QUOTE]

 

Unfortunately not...

 

As if, this guy works for the government remember, we get forgot about! Luckily I work for a private company that managed school and company systems!

[IanT]

No rants from me nephilim I agree totally, I think choosing to go with RM if you have a choice does show a lack of skill and lazyness, once it's installed, to manage it it's just click this button click that button all laid out in front of you, they provide you with a console as they don't like you going into AD, where is the fun in that!

 

Vanilla is definatly the way to go, if you want to loose touch with your AD and GP skills and slowly stagnate as your not keeping up with the current software then RM is for you, the minute you move from an RM network you will be in well over your head and not be able to do the things you are required to, purely because you will have become lax with having it so easy using the RM stuff.

 

Rant over!

 

D

 

Totally agree

[cbeeching]

Oh dear - hope my other comments were useful though

 

Yeah, sorry they were

[danrhodes]

Absolutley agree.. if you want to move OUT of education at any point, experience "managing" an RM network would be virtually useless as a bargaining point.

 

My point exactly Abaddon, if you ever move away from RM and you have been an RM drone for any number of years you will not be wanted in the real ICT world as you just won't be able to cut it. Harsh I know, but true!

 

D

[featured_spectre]

Yeah, thanks for that Neph, am looking forward to it, hopefully I will learn a few things/get some ideas - that's if we don't spend the time discussing Bad Company 2, but then we might have some tips to swap on that too.. haha..

 

Well I want to start you off in the foundations of Active Directory, Group Policy etc.

 

I will show you how to set up a test area to play with first then work from there. BC2 will be on the back burner as it is my plan to get as much info into you and give you my number to bounce ideas of off me, as live chat is sometimes better than a forum (no offence to here, as I usually bounce ideas here when I have the time).

 

That's interesting.. I haven't seen many pro-RM posts on here! I actually had a sales representative come in to my school (which I forgot I had booked, as it was sort've thrown upon me over the phone in my first month working at the school..). He was telling me all the benefits of CC4 etc, warning me that change was imminent. I listened to all he had to say - because like I say, i'm new to this game, and i'm trying to take in everything before I start pretending I know what i'm on about.

 

I did get the feeling he was making CC4 out to be THE only way to go. He didn't once mention any other choices (I mean, why would he, he's a sales representative for RM!). He mentioned that I would have to be careful as if I bought new machines in the future (like next academic year) I wouldn't be able to get XP on them and then our CC3 server wouldn't support them etc.. not sure how true that is? I know XP is getting on a bit now, but I was pretty sure it would be available for atleast a few more years yet..

 

That's my predicament really, as at the end of the day, i've got my local support team telling me RM is the best way to go, and RM, and that's all this school has ever really known. Plus I don't want to leave the school in the pooper if I make a decision to steer away from RM and then am unable to support it due to my own inadequacies. I understand why the local team is advising RM as well, since i'm the only member of IT staff in-house, so what happens if I leave, and don't have a standard system in place etc..

 

It's all a bit confusing. But i'm learning slowly...

 

Hah, and in terms of my head wanting to go ALL laptops, yeah don't worry, I can feel the pain already!

 

Laptops for staff is not a bad idea, however for students its a mixed field here. My ICT suite was berated across the county because its completely wireless, however with it being wireless, we actually get faster log in times compared to before, as well as throughput being good also. That said we are running a ruckus system here which has helped massively.

 

Also, who is your local support and have you signed a contract for the new financial year? if not I will give you the number for a VERY good support company who will help regardless of the system you have and will not tell you whats the best system!

[36Degrees]

I understand why the local team is advising RM as well, since i'm the only member of IT staff in-house, so what happens if I leave, and don't have a standard system in place etc..

 

That very much depends on who comes in to replace you. I've never used RM CCn but the school had Viglen's Classlink when I first started here and my initial impressions were that it didn't want me to do anything, it wanted me to pay Viglen to change it. That summer we had a massive upgrade and went for vanilla 2003 so as long as you know 2003 even if my documentation is rubbish or non-existent it won't take you long to get an overview of the system and change things you don't like.

[cbeeching]

Well I want to start you off in the foundations of Active Directory, Group Policy etc.

 

I will show you how to set up a test area to play with first then work from there. BC2 will be on the back burner as it is my plan to get as much info into you and give you my number to bounce ideas of off me, as live chat is sometimes better than a forum (no offence to here, as I usually bounce ideas here when I have the time).

 

 

 

Laptops for staff is not a bad idea, however for students its a mixed field here. My ICT suite was berated across the county because its completely wireless, however with it being wireless, we actually get faster log in times compared to before, as well as throughput being good also. That said we are running a ruckus system here which has helped massively.

 

Also, who is your local support and have you signed a contract for the new financial year? if not I will give you the number for a VERY good support company who will help regardless of the system you have and will not tell you whats the best system!

 

My school is supported by 'School IT Systems Support', or 'SITSS'. I think they're built in pretty closely with the Herts county council, hence why our school is supported by them. They've always been helpful when i've contacted them, so can't fault them really. In terms of our contract with them, nobody seemed to be able to tell me what the deal is, so I couldn't say. I'm still unravelling the mystery that is my position within the school..

[36Degrees]

Hmmm, sounds like "stick with RM as our guys know how to fix it". I sometimes had run-ins with one of the LEA's techies when they sent him here - he was always dialling his manger to moan that he didn't know what to do because our system was different from the other schools. I always felt like telling him "That's right, ours has basic security principles applied.."

[Pete10141748]

That very much depends on who comes in to replace you. I've never used RM CCn but the school had Viglen's Classlink when I first started here and my initial impressions were that it didn't want me to do anything, it wanted me to pay Viglen to change it. That summer we had a massive upgrade and went for vanilla 2003 so as long as you know 2003 even if my documentation is rubbish or non-existent it won't take you long to get an overview of the system and change things you don't like.

 

Change "Viglen" for "WinSuite" and you've got my story at this school there too

 

I've found that running a vanilla 2003/2008 network keeps you on your toes more as well, as there's more steps (ie the actual steps!) needed to doing things as you have to do everything yourself! But you also get a great sense of satisfaction from creating your own thing from the ground up and then seeing it working day in day out

[cbeeching]

Change "Viglen" for "WinSuite" and you've got my story at this school there too

 

I've found that running a vanilla 2003/2008 network keeps you on your toes more as well, as there's more steps (ie the actual steps!) needed to doing things as you have to do everything yourself! But you also get a great sense of satisfaction from creating your own thing from the ground up and then seeing it working day in day out

 

I can see that, and I want to be bold and step in and say 'RM Be banished!'.. But it is difficult as i'm new to the school and the occupation.

 

I think small steps are in order, and like some have suggested, it sounds good to me to start learning the vanilla way independantly from my school network. That way I can make a smooth changeover if I decide to go non-RM in the future. If it was just my head on the line I think I would I go with my gut instinct that RM is probably not the best way to go. But at the end of the day i've 400 kids here who's education will be affected if it all goes belly up, plus an LEA who seems to be on the RM bench as it were. Time is a concern to me as well, as CC4 is creeping in..

[featured_spectre]

Take the time to document why a vanilla network is better, cheaper and more productive to run than an RM network. Believe me there is nothing like being thrown into the deep end!

 

If you want too, bring a pad of paper with you, I can give you some pointers on what to specifically put in. The previous tech here did that himself and the realisation that not having to pay for CC3 (and its upgrades on a yearly basis) was more than enough for them to go for a vanilla network.

[cbeeching]

Take the time to document why a vanilla network is better, cheaper and more productive to run than an RM network. Believe me there is nothing like being thrown into the deep end!

 

If you want too, bring a pad of paper with you, I can give you some pointers on what to specifically put in. The previous tech here did that himself and the realisation that not having to pay for CC3 (and its upgrades on a yearly basis) was more than enough for them to go for a vanilla network.

 

Yeah, definately gonna have a notepad at hand!

 

Cya 2moro.

[Pete10141748]

Definately a good idea to learn from your own mini-network while the main ones keeps working as it is, and yes small changes are a must!

 

I made the mistake of making some *huge* changes within the first few months when I started here, and everyone hated me for it. Forget the fact that the old system didn't work 90% of the time, this new working one was strange and scary and on more than one occasion I got a verbal lynching from a lot of staff!

 

Cut to 3 years later and they all love how everything works, as soon as something doesn't it's the 'end of the world as we know it' type scenario

 

So yes, it's perfectly possible to go from a pre-made network to a vanilla network, it just takes some learning and some patience on the part of the users too.

[danrhodes]

The deep end IMO is the best place to be, I find books to be floatation devices when in deep water, oh and EduGeek, that's like a rescue boat when the water gets really really deep!

 

The attached image shows edugeek coming to the rescue, and that's me in deep water struggling when times get hard!

[Pete10141748]

Being in the deep end in one thing, but being in deep sh*t with your users because nothing works is quite another!