[sims] Ahhh Capita, golden advice as always

[MattHarwood]

So SLT have brought in some Capita sales reps this afternoon to talk about using "SIMs in the classroom" for attendance, and assessment etc. Three of them came, in fact. Strength in numbers...

 

I bit pretty early on - "our SIMs installation is on our Admin network, and classroom computers are on our Curriculum network, for a very very good reason. How can these interact?".

 

Their suggestion: Oh don't worry! About a thing! All you need to do is merge the two networks - it's really easy

 

I walked out a few minutes later with a muttered excuse.

 

/rant

[chazzy2501]

lol, this is what happened here! (before I joined)

[MattHarwood]

lol, this is what happened here! (before I joined)

 

Did the school actually do it?!

 

I'm now worried SLT will be sold on this. Time to enter convincing mode.

[Abaddon]

Out of curiosity, what is your "very very good reason"?

[chazzy2501]

yeap.

 

I have 1 big flat network. (that's why I'm now only worried about learning vlans)

[glennda]

Having two networks is so very old school in terms of security, this was long since the recommendation with regards to Sims. As long as your NTFS permissions are set correctly no student should ever be allowed to get near Sims.

[broc]

You could always establish a trust between the two networks, that was how SIMS.net & lesson monitor were set up when I arrived in my school in 2003. A couple of years later we merged the networks & we have run with a single combined network for more than 7 years without issue.

[MattHarwood]

I was equally annoyed at the idea of rebuilding the entire network structure for their electronic tick sheet, to be fair.

 

Of course, I agree that having one network can be sufficiently secure with NTFS permissions and so on. But I am a paranoid soul that feels a lot safer with separated networks

[tumbleweed]

You could always establish a trust between the two networks, that was how SIMS.net & lesson monitor were set up when I arrived in my school in 2003. A couple of years later we merged the networks & we have run with a single combined network for more than 7 years without issue.

 

And Trusts are now frowned upon, AD Federated Services is the way to go ...

[sted]

the main prob ive found is i cant remember the last time i diddnt have to manually update pcs everytime sims is updated on the server its like it just dosent check for updates anymore and just complains about incompatible database. I still dont get why attendance cant be run from a webpage its just adding a few values to an sql database

[glennda]

the main prob ive found is i cant remember the last time i diddnt have to manually update pcs everytime sims is updated on the server its like it just dosent check for updates anymore and just complains about incompatible database. I still dont get why attendance cant be run from a webpage its just adding a few values to an sql database

 

Not when you tie it into behavior, homework etc its not.

 

It moaning about incompatible database is that the shortcut should have C;\program files\sims\sims .net\simsload.exe C:\program files\sims\sims .net\pulsar.exe so that it runs the simsload first which checks the sims.ini in the window folder and the server and installs update.s

[Abaddon]

If you want web entry for registrations etc, look at SIMS Learning Gateway. Then wish you hadn't bothered.

[nicholab]

I used to work in a school with two networks the best thing we ever did was merge the two networks. We moved the admin machines on to the curriculum network it was great. Edited May 22, 2012 by nicholab

[BatchFile]

the main prob ive found is i cant remember the last time i diddnt have to manually update pcs everytime sims is updated on the server its like it just dosent check for updates anymore and just complains about incompatible database. I still dont get why attendance cant be run from a webpage its just adding a few values to an sql database

 

Make sure that your shortcuts are pointing to

c:\program files\sims\sims .net\simsload.exe  c:\program files\sims\sims .net\pulsar.exe

and that the simssetupsfolder in c:\windows\sims.ini is set to the right place. As long as both of those are ok and your users have appropriate permissions on the local machine, all should be well.

Edited May 23, 2012 by vikpaw
Correct path

[glennda]

Make sure that your shortcuts are pointing to

c:\program files\sims\sims .net\simsload.exe  c:\program files\sims\sims .net\simsload.exe

and that the simssetupsfolder in c:\windows\sims.ini is set to the right place. As long as both of those are ok and your users have appropriate permissions on the local machine, all should be well.

 

You mean pulsar in the second path

[Jawloms]

We run two domains, but that's because we were two schools and are now one. The two domains trust each other and obviously our SIMS server can only be in one of the domains. We have users on both campuses running SIMS with trusted logins and updating clients when there's an upgrade with no problems at all. Hopefully over the summer we'll be going to one domain......

[matt40k]

So SLT have brought in some Capita sales reps this afternoon to talk about using "SIMs in the classroom" for attendance, and assessment etc. Three of them came, in fact. Strength in numbers...

 

I bit pretty early on - "our SIMs installation is on our Admin network, and classroom computers are on our Curriculum network, for a very very good reason. How can these interact?".

 

Their suggestion: Oh don't worry! About a thing! All you need to do is merge the two networks - it's really easy

 

I walked out a few minutes later with a muttered excuse.

 

/rant

 

It is easy if you plan it right. If re-IP ranging etc is a nightmare, then you can look at RemoteApps - might be cheaper if curriculum machines aren't up for the job of running SIMS. Loads of options open. Just hope they didn't say it's free... it costs (remember your time is money). Make sure they know if they do it you'll need time to set it up - even if a 3rd party does it, you need to update your documents and understanding - as well as testing the solution is actually secure.

[laserblazer]

the main prob ive found is i cant remember the last time i diddnt have to manually update pcs everytime sims is updated on the server its like it just dosent check for updates anymore and just complains about incompatible database. I still dont get why attendance cant be run from a webpage its just adding a few values to an sql database

 

I just tell the staff to open SIMS.NET from All Programs after an update, rather than using a shortcut. I get the odd one who doesn't understand but on the whole, it works.

[vikpaw]

Make sure that your shortcuts are pointing to

c:\program files\sims\sims .net\simsload.exe  c:\program files\sims\sims .net\pulsar.exe

and that the simssetupsfolder in c:\windows\sims.ini is set to the right place. As long as both of those are ok and your users have appropriate permissions on the local machine, all should be well.

 

You mean pulsar in the second path

 

Adjusted )

 

SimsLoad checks for updates and runs them. Pulsar will actually run SIMS, after the update is done (if it was required).

 

As for classroom access, networks: flatten them, otherwise look into a web based solution which is much easier to manage. SLG - which might be dear and a bit overkill, but gives lots of other options, or one of the other third parties, such as TASC. TeachersWebFolder from Bromcom...

[Ex-MGSTech]

Then after you have binned SLG, take a look at TASC Software PARS & Pars Connect

Attendance, Attainment etc all in a web interface....

[localzuk]

The blasé attitude towards merging networks aside, they kinda have a point. SIMS.net is no longer a tool purely used by the admin team - it has a role in the classroom for a whole host of things. Your network should be built around the needs of the users, and security in place around that, rather than looking from a position of 'this is what we do now, i don't want to change' (this is the impression I get from the OPs first post).

 

There is no real need for split networks any more - it is an artificial divide that shouldn't really exist!

 

However, have you thought about putting in a terminal server and running SIMS.net off that instead? That way you don't have to deploy SIMS.net to any machines.

[Gibson335]

We're taking the single flat network plunge next summer. At the same time we're introducing a different, and much larger IP range to address future demands. A fair amount of work, but a nice project to get my teeth into. The last link in a 3 summer development plan.

[wesleyw]

Also make sure that your sims.ini file on each client is pointing to your current SIMS Server if not it won't pick up any updates.

 

 

Wes

[sted]

right finaly in a school with this problem looks like my sims.ini is a bit light its just

 

[setup]

SIMSDotNetDirectory=C:\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net

 

 

can someone post up a more corret one please as it looks like the update line has gone walkies

 

infact scratch that, that appears to be just this pc checked a few others an updatedir is f:\.....

Edited May 29, 2012 by sted

[featured_spectre]

*snip*

have you thought about putting in a terminal server and running SIMS.net off that instead? That way you don't have to deploy SIMS.net to any machines.

 

The cost of this can be quite high depending on clients, CALS etc. I do agree though that one network should be the way forward for everyone, however some people have management that wont let them...me in my last place for example...had to be 2 networks as the HT was sold by her friend that having 2 networks meant the children could not gain access to anything from the staff...from then we had to buy a new server and offload the kids onto it. No matter how much myself or the 3 academies near us tried to convince her she wouldn't have it.