[sims] SIMs.net upgrade

[nwikie]

Hi all,

I we have just rolled out SIMs into our class rooms so teachers can take the register in class. All was working fine up to the point of the latest update. Now none of the class room clients are able to upgrade I get the incompatible database message which is probable due to the upgrade not being carried out on the clients.

 

To come around this in the office the admin team have local admin rights to the system. I don’t want to give the teachers local admin rights as they already break things. I created a SIMS group in AD and gave that group Full control of the SIMS folder thinking that would enable them to update the software. It failed.

 

Have I mist something or if someone is able to tell me any additional security settings I need to set that would be great.

 

Many thanks

[zag]

Add the Teachers OU to the local "power user" group.

[Mr.Ben]

Or use group policy to add permissions over the SIMS.net folder in Programs files.

[nwikie]

I've done both of these and they dont seem to be working. Ive added power users to the computers that runs sims and ive now given full access to the SIMS.net folder for my SIMS user group.

[sted]

isnt power users legacy only in win7 and has no real effect?

 

i had this tuesday upgraded 1 pc took 30 mins or so (was popular with that teacher) (the sims server is on another vlan and always has been slow network traffic no idea why but i have no access to those switches (one day i will put a 2nd nic in sims server but its not mine to support)

 

in the end i cheated i copied the c:\pro...\sims\sims .net folder to a network drive and just renamed the old sims .net folders on class pcs and copied the new one there but took 2 hours or so to go round and do it as upgrades always fail apart from one laptop for some reason

[FN-GM]

Add the Teachers OU to the local "power user" group.

 

Better using SIMSPERM.Bat

[Mr.Ben]

Better using SIMSPERM.Bat

 

When will capita rename this (Is it wrong that it always makes me giggle a bit inside?)

[nwikie]

What is SIMSPERM.bat and how should it be run on the computer... at start up or as a logonscript?

[Mr.Ben]

It's a batch file that changes all of the permissions to allow SIMS to run/upgrade for all users (or if you edit it a group of your choice).

 

It should be in your Setups directory on the SIMS server

 

It should be run as a Startup Script (rather than a logon script - the users won't have permission to change the permissions).

[jinnantonnixx]

Better yet would be to examine what (snigger) simsperm does, then set those file permissions using group policy for SIMS machines.

[Jamo]

Yeah we do what Simsperm does through GPOs. We also created a scheduled task to update SIMS as otherwise it asks for a username and password 3 or 4 times during the update which is rather annoying!!

[nwikie]

Hi,

Any chance you could share with me what you have done in GPO. I have a mix of 32 and 64 clients :/

[Jamo]

Hi,

Any chance you could share with me what you have done in GPO. I have a mix of 32 and 64 clients :/

 

 

We do:

 

%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\SIMS Applications

Staff Full Control

 

%ProgramFiles%\SIMS

Staff Full Control

 

%SystemRoot%\SIMS.INI

Staff Full Control

 

%SystemRoot%\Temp

Staff Full Control

 

Not sure if the temp entry is for SIMS or something else but thats ours which works ok

[nwikie]

Thanks I am off site now but I have added those changes to the GPO will see if it worked tomorrow when Im back on site fingers crossed

[matt40k]

Cough... SOLUS3... Cough...

 

[zag]

Cough... SOLUS3... Cough...

 

 

Does it even work yet?

[jinnantonnixx]

Cough... SOLUS3... Cough...

 

 

... and SOLUS3 gets coughed up like a furball.

[matt40k]

Haha, SOLUS3 works fine. It only has issues if your network has issues. Got over 50 schools that would argue with anyone that says SOLUS3 doesn't work - still could be a Suffolk thing.

[rad]

Just get Capita to release a product that doesn't require umpteen updates. Our sims support have put a fair few updates recently for me, NM is off and I haven't a clue!

[sted]

Just get Capita to release a product that doesn't require umpteen updates. Our sims support have put a fair few updates recently for me, NM is off and I haven't a clue!

 

i just dont get why for attendance it cant be an internally hosted webpage its just a few ticks in boxes

[glennda]

i just dont get why for attendance it cant be an internally hosted webpage its just a few ticks in boxes

 

I havn't used sims.net for a good 6 months but can you not right click on the register and add behaviour reports etc

[sted]

I havn't used sims.net for a good 6 months but can you not right click on the register and add behaviour reports etc

 

not a clue my knowledge is how to install and if school secretary is busy/useless generate a report for yeargroups to add to server

[superfletch]

Seriously though which are you using, SOLUS 2 or 3?

 

It makes a difference to the answer.

[glennda]

not a clue my knowledge is how to install and if school secretary is busy/useless generate a report for yeargroups to add to server

 

Yup - when using all the parts of sims there is a lot you can do from the register. But I'm fairly sure it would be possible to do from a browser and tie back into the SQL but Capita have said its not going web-based for a good few years*

 

*I'm fairly sure they have confirmed till like 2018 or something stupid when the rest of the world will be done

[zag]

i just dont get why for attendance it cant be an internally hosted webpage its just a few ticks in boxes

 

Exactly, its just a poor piece of design having attendance locked into the main products upgrade cycle.

 

Teachers aren't using any other feature here in classrooms other than the attendance module yet they still have to go through the pain of updating every 3 months. They are going about it the wrong way as well with the beast that is the solus 3 upgrade that no one even uses. Far better would be to use clever design to get around these update problems.

 

We do use Groupcall emerge these days and its much better. Sad fact that someone else had to write a product though.

 

EDIT: ooo that was a good rant for a Friday morning

Edited September 28, 2012 by zag