mjs_mjs

tbh i would say that if you work in a school the people paying for the patch cables will not care about colour coding. After all it's your job to know what goes where, and why should they pay for anything that makes your life easier??? agreeded all of us here think it's sensible, especially if you have multiple devices using the same cables as most of us do. i would do it cab by cab with a massive warning on the front of each. also it depends on who has access to the cabs. if it's one department, a scheme will be easier to impliment, if you have other departments using your cabs too then it's likely you'll face some resistance. well you would where i work anyway. as someone stated above yellow and orange are fiber colours and they are standardised so avoid them. we use mainly green for patch to switch for client, red for switch interconnect, blue for wireless, white for phone, purple for cctv in alot of places, All of our servers are labled so that you cannot unplug them without noticing a massive TAG with the server name on it.

if i remember correctly there is a program that runs the VBS script. i think its windows scripting host on the clients. i dunno if it's possible to uninstall it then reinstall it? it's a shot in the dark.

A+ is for technitions - with a degree and having done private work on PC's you should be able to pass that with no effort at all. cost's about 100 quid tho. Network + is almost an extention to the A+ and i've been told it's designed for the network manager/engineer type job. again you shouldn't have any iissues with that with your previous degree. A+ and Network+ are CompTIA exams - have a look at there website for other exams. there widely know about in schools and within the industy. some people love um, some dont care if you havent got them. the linux+, security+ and server+ look to be good ones to broaden your skill base as often they are just windows type exams. do look at working towards an MCSE. cos it will get you into a management position within a school easily. and tbh the spec isn't that difficult it's just - very microsoft! the cisco exams are rated by alot of people, and again there not hard, just time consuming. if your after tables of the money for each/what people want then tech republic have reports of the industry and it's qulifications i dont know much about where you work or you but if you havent; get a webserver and learn PHP/MYSQL and use it, get an exchange server, use outlook and show SLT/SMT how they can use their calander and their PA's, create staff training for those less abled colegues, redesign the network with redundancy if you can, get a VLE working, learn how to use the phone exchange if you have one, create a VOIP exchange if you havent got one, learn how to use power tools. install whiteboards is a good one. and learn how to wire patch cables ect... learn opensource ways of doing things - i'm assuming the school will be very microsoft. saving cost is always a good thing in schools or buisness. having a degree i'm guessing you'll have used alot of open source stuff alreddy. alot of those who are managers are in positions where they do not just manage computers - often the MIS, echange, e-mail, website, tv, dvd, whiteboards and phones come under the role of network manager. in schools anyway. btw i'm in the same position as you somewhat except i dont have a degree to my name. 19 working in a school, trying to absorb as much as i can to broaden my skill base before moving to somewhere else/get a promotion. i went the experiance root and did volentry work there one afternoon a week for 6 months. then didn't for a year, concentrated on my a-levels at a different school, as part of that i set up my own domain/group policies ect, own e-mail server, and application server (running vmware, iss, apache, mysql php and microssoft sql) rote a few little web apps, then the post came up, me vs 11 others. i got the job beating people with degrees and those who had been in the industry, even network managers. probably cos i was young (just 18 then), enthuastic and had the relevent experiance they were after. and they knew my skill set cos i had proved it through the volentry work then what i managed on my own. now i'm not really bothering with exams cos i dont rate them. i will be doing an MCSE when the 2008 one appears if it does cos that what i work on at home/experiment on. my boss (net man) reckons an A+ would be easy for me so i may do it when i have the spare day or two to revise, and he's also working toward an MCSA. use monster and other job search engines to look at job descriptions and try to meat all of them. if you can do that then you'll be well on the way to having everything u will need for future jobs.

IT is a constantly evolving industry. having a qualification doesn't mean much as often there vendor specific and/or out of date. but what they show an employer is that u can apply knowledge to a task - having multiple qualifications like A+, linux+, MCSE, CCIE, would show you can apply knowledge across the board at many levels and to different areas of the industry. also depends if your aiming for project management/manager or foot soldier. A+, network+ are good to have - as is an MCSE. (which can be used as a pathway where you become MSDST, MCP ect along the way). having a network qualification line the CCNA is also helpful. but it depends on where u want to be. and exams arnt everything. sometimes just showing u can do something by doing it is good enough ie - set up a web server and leave it online and show them that during the interview.... experience is key!

make sure the system and administrators accounts still have full access though - dont wanna lock yourself out.

did anyone see After The Ordeal play from their bedroom on the screens? ---- matt

I'm studing towards an A+, kinda. Got myself a dvd traing thing off ebay, so been watching and listening to that. Me boss who's working towards a MCSA and has an A+ thinks i can pass it without any 'revision', but i think it's wise to go other everything anyway. I want to have/work towards an MCSE, anyone got any advice for me? A key question i have is if the A+ can count towards an MCSE, or do i need that and an N+? also what other qulifications are there that can compliment the A+ i no of CCNA and the microsoft ones - but are there any others? matt

aged 19 with 2 DC's (one 2000, one 2008), LAMP server, File server. Netgear and panasonic network gear.

nor here - too much time taken to do it - it's not porn so wont be blocked. if we block this hobby (which it is for some) then we should block others to keep it fair; like googling??? cant see that going down well anywhere.

is it really worth blocking?

I'm guessing that the ssonline software isn't free, and there's no mention of price on website. If someone knows PHP and MySQL, you could knock something up pretty easy for free.

as a little aside - some software lisencing alow staff to use softwares at home for work use. under a schools agreement, for example, you could take sever 2008 home to test it out in your own time. providing you have the correct lisencing this would be fine. the issue comes when your staff abuse the lisencing. this could happen at any point in their employment, or after. you just have to trust your staff and be vigilant. here, education is key. also as it is stealing, it is a crime and a sackable offence under almost all contracts, in a school or not. you have to give you door keys in before you leave, why should lisence keys be any different?

Are you trying to link this to any other systems or will it a standalone system?