ICT infrastructure progression

[umairadmin]

Hi,

 

Our School is planning to replace our old computers from ICT suite and from classrooms. Headteacher and business manager are so concerned about the ICT infrastructure as we are going to get the suitable and updated hardware for pupils' learning and progression in Schools. And also if there are any more advancements in terms of hardware tools so we can have it too.

 

If anyone know anything about any events, conferences or meetings. Please do let me know.

 

Regards,

 

Umair

Edited February 5, 2013 by Domino

[fiza]

erm....BETT would have been the ideal place for you to go. It was last week!!

[umairadmin]

Thanks Fiza,

 

I checked last week it was all about curriculum and it had nothing to do with ICT infrastructure and hardware. I have email different bodies if they can provide me with any information. Thanks anyway... but do let me know if you hear anything.

 

Regards,

 

Umair

[sparker]

You just missed BETT show but many suppliers will be listed on website. Probably hard to suggest much without more info:

How big a school ? How many pupils? What KS? What type of network do you have speed, age, switching,etc? Do you have managed Wifi?

 

IMHO I would say slates are too expensive for schools in terms of life expectancy and management costs so desktops would still be my first choice but if you are a big school you could factor some mobile device in the mix. You could also keep you old harware and update Ram and OS or convert to thin client. If you post more info I am sure the community can give endless advice support!

[laserblazer]

Does your LEA provide any support?

[X-13]

it had nothing to do with ICT infrastructure and hardware.

 

You missed out... There were A LOT of hardware and infrastructure companies at BETT. I pretty much talked to all of them.

[Domino]

[Merged threads: please don't post the same thing across the separate forums]

[umairadmin]

Hi,

 

I did check their website but couldn't find anything about ICT hardware progression. I have dropped them an email. Let see what do they say.

 

Thanks.

[CyberNerd]

 

I checked last week it was all about curriculum and it had nothing to do with ICT infrastructure and hardware

 

Out teachers who went complained there was too much infrastructure/hardware and not enough educational apps!

[sparker]

I would suggest Lenovo have some nice SFF PCs and the best W8 Slates that I saw but seems like you might want to ask the teachers how they want to work with ICT. Maybe visit a few schools and see what they do and poach best ideas. We are a large primary and you would be welcome to come and visit and talk to the staff.

[umairadmin]

I missed BETT then if everyone is saying that there was a lot about hardware infrastructure. Does any one know when is next conference or exhibition from BETT?

 

We are a medium School and using Server 2008 with mixed environment of XP and Windows 7. We want to upgrade our infrastructure but headteacher and business manager have few concerns about hardware that what hardware is recommended at the moment by different educational bodies. We want to have upgraded ICT hardware in our School to provide suitable and updated learning environment to pupils.

 

 

Regards,

 

Umair

[Domino]

The next BETT show will be next January, however there will be an EduGeek conference this year there's no hard details yet.

 

I'd suggest visiting local schools if they're happy to let you do so, and see what people in a similar situation are doing.

 

Apart from that, thinking about what you want to achieve is the best place to start.

 

Do you want BYOD? - wireless and filtering are probably the first place to start

VDI, etc? - Server side investment is important

 

I think really an audit of your current state (including back end hardware, switching) and evaluating the weak points is your jumping off point. I know your head and business manager are probably gonna want toys, but without the infrastructure to support them you'll be setting yourself up to fail.

 

Just my 50pence worth ;-)

[fiza]

sponsors on here should be able to help @Millgate , @CPLTD

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

sponsors on here should be able to help @Millgate , @CPLTD

[fiza]

strange - last post appears twice "updated" ?

[sparker]

+1 for Domino Just typed my thoughts faster than me!

 

What age group? How many client devices? Most LEA have less knowledge than most Techs as they dont spend their lives installing, deplying, rebooting, repairing, updating....etc.

Most schools mostly use standard or SFF desktops as they last a long time ( some of ours are from last millenium but still run W7 and Office 2010 fine)Tier 1 manufacturers ( Lenovo, Dell, HP etc) are sometimes better than component builders (but in any case get a 5yr warranty if you can). That said, I have recently had some machines built by redcap who have a nice desktop stand that hides all the cables away . They will build what you want and their sevice is amazing - they are still providing components even though the warranty ran out a year ago! Contrast that with 10 netbooks from Zoostorm who could not care less when they all diedafter 12 months.

Make sure your network is in good condition and well set up and we went for a single image accross our 220 clients so anyone can go anywhere and find the same desktop but that may not be what your school needs.

[umairadmin]

Thanks Domino

 

Visiting schools would be a good idea. Filtering is managed by LGFL so I don't have to worry about that but in terms of hardware I would better start off with replacing network switches and wireless.

 

Thanks

[umairadmin]

Hi Sparker,

 

This really is a great help. We are a primary School having client size of approximately 100. I have few questions related to ICT hardware infrastructure and I'd appreciate if you advise me on them:

 

1- We have a single Dell PowerEdge T605 Server in the School. It has 4 GB memory and 500GB hdd with raid1 Array. I am looking forward to replace our server as this is running slow and short in capacity. Do you have any preference for the Servers?

 

2- All new updated Schools have ICT suite or you use netbooks in classrooms rather than having a separate ICT suite? If you have ICT suite then how many computers do you have in your ICT suite? We have 30 DELL Optiplex 330 computers in our ICT suite with all XP pro. I will be looking forward to replace these desktop by the mid or end of this year.

 

3- We have Samsung netbooks for year 5(25 netbooks) and year 6 (25 netbooks) pupils' in classrooms. Though year 5 pupils are using old XP netbooks so we may think of upgrading them. Do you guys use netbooks in your schools or ipads? And if netbooks, which netbooks do you prefer to get for pupils to use in classrooms, netbooks for upper school.

 

4- Our broadband and firewall is managed by LGFL so we won't be replacing them. But I will replace network switches in the School and would like to know which network switches are best for Schools? I am using Cisco and Netgear at the moment. I am using DrayTek Wireless access points for wireless connectivity of laptops and netbooks in School. I have installed one wireless access point for 10 netbooks (approx).

 

5- What is the recommended replacement life of UPS? Our APC ups is almost 1 and half year old but still working fine and give 100 results while self testing.

 

6- What's the best option of desktop computers for classrooms for teaching? I would definitely go for Windows 7 64-bit pro but I am little newbie when it comes to brand. Which brand and category you suggest for client machines in a network?

 

7- Which School is well known for best ICT infrastructure in Southwark council, do you have any idea?

 

I want you geeks to please advise me on these questions so I'd better equipped and prepare myself for best hardware and suitable learning for School.

 

I appreciate your time and support.

 

Best Regards,

 

Umair

Edited February 5, 2013 by umairadmin

[tmcd35]

1) A quad core Opteron and 4Gb shouldn't be running slow for 100 clients. I'd look at upgrading the hard drives rather than throwing out the whole server, personally.

 

2) Netbooks/Laptops vs ICT suite is a question for the headteacher and their vision for the school. How do they want to teach their classes? Most primaries we support prefer laptops because they can move to the children rather than the other way round. As for how many in a suite/trolley? What's your average class size?

 

3) Again 3 is a question for your headteacher and their vision for teaching and learning. I'm promoting iPad's as I see a real benefit for them but it has to fit in with the schools ethos. At the moment (we are a high school) we don't use either and just have suites of computers. As I say, most primaries I support prefer laptops. The largest as a mixture of all three and is actively moving more towards iPads.

 

4) Switches? I don't know. We use all HP managed here. We run 10/100 to the desktop. They've been in for years and we've almost forgotten about them. Wireless is another school ethos question. If you going big time down the netbook/iPad route then you'd be much better served looking at a fully managed system than trying to maintain a 10:1 cheap AP ratio.

 

Best advice is to get a company like net crtl who specialise in this sort of thing to do a site survey.

 

6) Who every offers the best price for the spec you're after? I'm looking at Novatech, Stone, Dell, maybe Viglen or VeryPC next time out. Spec + Price + Support.

[umairadmin]

1) A quad core Opteron and 4Gb shouldn't be running slow for 100 clients. I'd look at upgrading the hard drives rather than throwing out the whole server, personally.

 

2) Netbooks/Laptops vs ICT suite is a question for the headteacher and their vision for the school. How do they want to teach their classes? Most primaries we support prefer laptops because they can move to the children rather than the other way round. As for how many in a suite/trolley? What's your average class size?

 

3) Again 3 is a question for your headteacher and their vision for teaching and learning. I'm promoting iPad's as I see a real benefit for them but it has to fit in with the schools ethos. At the moment (we are a high school) we don't use either and just have suites of computers. As I say, most primaries I support prefer laptops. The largest as a mixture of all three and is actively moving more towards iPads.

 

4) Switches? I don't know. We use all HP managed here. We run 10/100 to the desktop. They've been in for years and we've almost forgotten about them. Wireless is another school ethos question. If you going big time down the netbook/iPad route then you'd be much better served looking at a fully managed system than trying to maintain a 10:1 cheap AP ratio.

 

Best advice is to get a company like net crtl who specialise in this sort of thing to do a site survey.

 

6) Who every offers the best price for the spec you're after? I'm looking at Novatech, Stone, Dell, maybe Viglen or VeryPC next time out. Spec + Price + Support.

 

Thank you tmcd35 for your kind words. Actually Quad core Server is now almost more than 4.5 years old. It takes a good time to reboot like 15 to 20 mins. But I can also consider option of hdd replacement. I will get back to you once I get some more suggestions. Thank you so much for your reply though.

[sparker]

1) I bought my servers from Fujitsu Siemens and they have been great but any decent brand would do. I would recomend using virtyualised servers possibly using hyper-V although I use VM ware. This will allow you to run a different server for different applications such as one for exchange, another as a file server and another for your MIS. This means maintenance will not impact the entire network - just the service you need to work on. There is a lot more to VMs than that and it may seem like overkill for a small network but it makes the admins life a lot easier and allows for better uptime for the school fo r little aditional cost. Ideally you want at least two servers to load balance/failover but you could keep your existing server as a second Host but would need some more RAM. Many here can advise further especially with Hyper -V. A reinstall and more RAM will certainly speed it up as will RAID 10 maybe with a few more disks. Disks are so cheap now less than £100 for 3Tb!

2,3) We have at least 4 classroom pc's plus a IWB/teacher machine in each room . We also have two ICT suites with 24 PC ( low power Asus EeePCs which have been great). The suites are in regular use especially in the infants but the classroom machines are used everyday for most of the day. We also have a trolley of netbooks (Samsung N120) which are good but seldom used. Our site is large and the books are not well looked after so teachers can't be bothered with them. If we had more or they were better managed then perhaps they would be more succesful. I think you will struggle to find netbooks now so you will need either ultrabooks, cheap laptops ( large), or slates.

IMHO slates will be too expensive (Ipad seems to have a 2 yr lifecycle which is intolerable for a £400 investment) Nexus et al are great but you need a mobile device management system to get them onto the network safely and you have to balance life spand vs price so I reckon 2 yr lifespan vs half cost of PC ( once you have bought MDM solution and apps) or Lenovo W8 slate which is again £400 but aleast will go onto a Windows domain.

 

2) I would keep the dells and maybe get new monitors ( 22" for £60) makem look good. They are dual cores I think so will run W7 64 so perhaps add some more ram. If all else fails set them upo with Multipoint server as thin clients. Or give them to me!

4) I got a good deal on D-Link switches and they are fine but most people go for HP as they are not much more and very reliable. Go for managed even if you don't use the features yet. If your wiring is OK ( cat 5e ) you should be able to get 1GbE over the existing copper.

[sparker]

1) I bought my servers from Fujitsu Siemens and they have been great but any decent brand would do. I would recomend using virtyualised servers possibly using hyper-V although I use VM ware. This will allow you to run a different server for different applications such as one for exchange, another as a file server and another for your MIS. This means maintenance will not impact the entire network - just the service you need to work on. There is a lot more to VMs than that and it may seem like overkill for a small network but it makes the admins life a lot easier and allows for better uptime for the school fo r little aditional cost. Ideally you want at least two servers to load balance/failover but you could keep your existing server as a second Host but would need some more RAM. Many here can advise further especially with Hyper -V. A reinstall and more RAM will certainly speed it up as will RAID 10 maybe with a few more disks. Disks are so cheap now less than £100 for 3Tb!

2,3) We have at least 4 classroom pc's plus a IWB/teacher machine in each room . We also have two ICT suites with 24 PC ( low power Asus EeePCs which have been great). The suites are in regular use especially in the infants but the classroom machines are used everyday for most of the day. We also have a trolley of netbooks (Samsung N120) which are good but seldom used. Our site is large and the books are not well looked after so teachers can't be bothered with them. If we had more or they were better managed then perhaps they would be more succesful. I think you will struggle to find netbooks now so you will need either ultrabooks, cheap laptops ( large), or slates.

IMHO slates will be too expensive (Ipad seems to have a 2 yr lifecycle which is intolerable for a £400 investment) Nexus et al are great but you need a mobile device management system to get them onto the network safely and you have to balance life spand vs price so I reckon 2 yr lifespan vs half cost of PC ( once you have bought MDM solution and apps) or Lenovo W8 slate which is again £400 but aleast will go onto a Windows domain.

 

2) I would keep the dells and maybe get new monitors ( 22" for £60) makem look good. They are dual cores I think so will run W7 64 so perhaps add some more ram. If all else fails set them upo with Multipoint server as thin clients. Or give them to me!

4) I got a good deal on D-Link switches and they are fine but most people go for HP as they are not much more and very reliable. Go for managed even if you don't use the features yet. If your wiring is OK ( cat 5e ) you should be able to get 1GbE over the existing copper.

[sparker]

I think you would do better visiting some school and having a chat perhaps with your ICT co-ordinator. It can be very daunting to make so much investment so enlist the users for help - look at what others have done and cherry pick.

I am just outside of Reading and we have many visitors so you would be welcome but I am sure that others here would also be happy to show you their empires!

[umairadmin]

Hi Sparker,

 

That's really helpful. I'd speak to our ICT coordinator and will visit some Schools. I would let you know if I need to visit you as well. I think I have now got a better picture of what I need and what I don't. I will present my ideas to heads and will see what they suggest.

 

I may need your advice again. Many thanks everyone for supporting and replying.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Umair

[sparker]

Cool , good luck with it and dont forget we are all here if you need a sanity check before you splash the cash!

[dhicks]

We have a single Dell PowerEdge T605 Server in the School. It has 4 GB memory and 500GB hdd with raid1 Array. I am looking forward to replace our server as this is running slow and short in capacity.

 

If you're upgrading servers, virtual machines are the way to go. Your existing server itself should be fine, but fill it with as much RAM as it will hold (32GB?). For a smaller primary school, 500GB of disk space would probably be okay to run a domain controller, print server, general application server and management information system (SIMS or similar) server. You used to be able to run 4 Server 2008 instances with an Enterprise license, I'm not quite sure what Server 2012 does. You could, of course, run a Samba domain controller (my home system seems to be working very well so far, but I haven't tried it on a large install) and skip having to pay for one Windows server license or any device CALs (you'll still have to pay for Windows workstation licenses, obviously).

 

You'll need a separate NAS device of some kind for user files - I find FreeNAS works very well, although you might prefer a pre-built Windows-based or other NAS. You'll probably also want your own hardware firewall / Internet gateway device, although if your filtering is provided by your LEA then nothing too fancy is needed.

 

I'd guess you'd need enough PCs in an IT suite to cover the largest class size you have. In my experience, having a "mobile" trolly of laptops doesn't work well as there's too much messing around getting it to and from different classrooms. A laptop trolly for a particular class might work, though. I'd go for all-in-one PCs over laptops as tradditional dekstop replacements - we're finding our laptops tend to loose keys rather easily, which are a bit of a bother to replace.

 

For your networking infrastructure, I'd go for a proper managed wireless system - Ruckus and Meraki are popular choices on here. Meraki might well be able to provide you with a full switch-and-wireless deal, too.

 

What is the recommended replacement life of UPS?

 

If it's passing self-tests okay then that's fine. Ours lasted under 2 years, but that's because it's in a server cupboard withour proper air conditioning.

 

What's the best option of desktop computers for classrooms for teaching?

 

I like VeryPC's all-in-one FlexPC - basically a slim desktop PC with a snazzy bracket to hold a VESA-mount monitor. Works well, and good value. Several other companies do similar devices - Stone do an all-in-one chasis that you can add your own components to.