ICT infrastructure progression

[umairadmin]

Hi dhicks,

 

Thank you for your valuable comments. If speak about replacing server, existing server has Windows Server 2008 32-bit OS and it can only go up to 4Ghz only. And server hasn't got any much capacity left as teachers are saving videos, pictures and all other stuff. There are no more bays left in the server it came with only 4 hard drive bays so I would have to increase the capacity by replacing existing hard drives. So if I go for enhancing capacity on the same server I would have to upgrade everything as in OS, RAM and hard drive. And also Server is more than 4 years old now. Don't you think it would be a better idea to replace it completely rather replacing bits on the Server?

 

Thank you for you advice on managed wireless system. I will now look for their quotes and what difference it can make to our existing wireless system.

 

Thank you all again.

 

Regards,

 

Umair

[umairadmin]

Hey I have another question about compatibility of slates/tabs with educational resources? What applications/software and resources are you using on ipads/tabs if you are using one in your schools?

 

I mean I can understand we can operate all online resources but if speak about other educational software that can easily go on desktop. And is there a way to get an image of one slate and then copy that image to all other slates?

 

Many thanks.

 

Regards,

 

Umair

[sparker]

If you go virtual you can use the existing server just to home the OS for the VMs. You will certainly need some additional kind of stirage somewhere which could be an old pc stuffed full of big disks with a RAID card or you could by a purpose built NAS (12tb for about £1K or a 12 bay san (48tb for about 6K). Plus a near infinite range of possibilities either side!

Keep talking and asking and you will form an idea of the ay that is right for you. Bear in mind what ever storage you add you will need to backup and also that you will need some kind of disaster recovery plan which should be done in conjunction with the SMT and should include fire, flood and theft.

Personally I like to recycle old kit as much as possible but new stuff is more powerful and more efficient so power use should be a consideration - my new server use a quater of the power of the old ones and have 20 times the processing flops but the old server could be a second host especially if the VMs are homed on a secondary storage device you could just keep it as a backup in another location. Some cloud services can store your VMs so they can be pulled down in the event of catatrophe - so if you have a spare server near line that could be part of your DR strategy. Must try that myself!

If you want a chat about all this then PM me and Ill send you my number.

[VeryPC_Andy]

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.

 

Thanks for the mention @dhicks

 

Happy to talk about solutions/options we can provide if needed @umairadmin

 

I'll send a PM with my details

 

Andy

[nicholab]

Juniper/HP/Cisco switching

Ruckus or Unifi for wireless

Dell or HP workstation/PCs

Local update publisher with WSUS for software.

Also VDI is a good way to go.

Edited February 6, 2013 by nicholab

[dhicks]

So if I go for enhancing capacity on the same server I would have to upgrade everything as in OS, RAM and hard drive. And also Server is more than 4 years old now.

 

That's a good point, it might well be a good idea to get a new server and re-use the old one as a file server. If you did go for FreeNAS on the file server, the more RAM you can add to it the better - with enough RAM you can get it to do proper real-time block-level deduplication.