TheHyperTechie

Forgot to mention that on my previous reply... central email system (O365). In the end, we had about 30 schools in one tenant with a MAT format e.g [email protected] Only caused a few headaches, especially for schools that had been fully google/g-suite for years...

Hi all, Hope this post is in the correct forum. We have a chromebox in each of our classrooms which are connected to our interactive screens via a standard HDMI cable. Every day, I get multiple calls about the interactive screens not working e.g not displaying anything. I have tried basically everything, new HDMI lead, updating the screen, updating/powerwashing the chromebox but every day... they still run into the same issue. The only working (ish) method I have found is completely rebooting the chromebox and powering it back on. However this only sometimes works.... Does anyone else have chromebooks/boxes connected to their interactive screens? if so, do you ever run into any issues? Thanks!!

Worked in a previous MAT and we went through this. It was all about centralisation to be honest, making things easily manageable. I will list a few examples of what we did... - Central VOIP phone system - Central Sign In System - Central Domain with a VPN at each site - Central Apple School Manager for iOS management - Central MDM for device management - Central/Same website provider and hosting service for each school - Central Asset Management System - UniFi at each site with a cloudkey so everything was accessible through the same portal - Trust wide broadband contract It's a process though, and will take a while... but definitely worth it in the end!

I had an issue with this a while ago, all of my keys etc were missing from the O365 console. I reached out to our supplier and they were able to look into it for me, but to be honest I don't think they solved it. I just left it for a week, and they re-appeared. As someone else mentioned, make sure your account is a global administrator (just in case)

I have this too. Pixel 7 Pro, excellent feature!

Legend, thank you!!

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone had a UniFi Gen 1 cloud key lying around from an old deployment etc. I am after one for a personal (home) project. I know they are EOL but it would be enough to get my network started until I save up some pennies for something a bit more 'capable'. Happy to pay for it + shipping...! Thanks

Was going to say^^^ Normally when I have seen this issue before, it is due to an issue with their ISP. You may need to ask them to ensure that all of the necessary URLs are unblocked for Google access.

So... We have three Ricoh IMC5500 copiers on site. These all use the Ricoh Cloud Print software which is deployed to end devices via a chrome extension (very similar to Papercut) You have the option to set an OU containing users, with Local Administrator access to devices using GCPW. For example... I have an OU in Google called Administrators, this contains my account and maybe a couple of other users. I have this OU set to get Local Administrator privileges on any GCPW device when they sign in. I hope this makes sense? Thanks

All students use chromebooks, here we have about ~400 of them. We have implemented Wonde SSO with magic badges for sign ins (for students) Google MDM is exclusively for staff windows devices, as they were not willing to move to Chromebooks at the time. I have 2FA on for staff, but not enforced as not all staff members have a device to access the authentication app on. Mobile phones are not permitted around the school. Hope this helps!

I have just completed a successful migration to Google's MDM. GCPW for managing logins, Google Drive for files, and Windows Device Management. I really like it! I am just in the process of decommissioning our server, our DC has been off for a while now with no issues. I also migrated DNS and DHCP to our firewall successfully. If you are an exclusive Google school already, I would recommend trying it out.

We are near Truro and use SWGFL/RM. Everything seems to be fine here, although I did experience an outage for about two minutes this morning...

Out of interest, What switches are you currently running?

+1 for Krystal

What about Jamf Now? I believe it is aimed for more parental controls. I can't comment on it providing a web filter though. It also states that it is 'free' for 3 devices - https://www.jamf.com/products/jamf-now/ If this isn't viable. Can you not force Google safe search on/set an age rating via your home router? I know that some home ISP's offer this kind of feature. Not a solution, but might help?

I think the second point you made is the main reason I am considering it. Everything is wireless these days. Desktops are scarce and if we do have them, they use the wireless anyway. We have about 350 Chromebooks used daily, I guess it is just my way of future proofing the school for a while. I think the best option might be to wait for a while and invest in Wi-Fi 7.

Yeah, one of my schools qualified for this. With the funding I was able to upgrade their switches to enterprise models, along with their access points (all UniFi). It's a shame my other school didn't qualify for it due to their area/location.

A similar situation to yourself. We have about 20 UniFi NanoHD access points. Which, are performing absolutely fine. However these were only installed a couple of years ago by a previous network manager. I have been tasked with creating a 3 year IT plan including possible upgrades. Wi-Fi 6 is at the top of the list, I just hope they understand and consider the benefits compared to the current system.

Hi Everyone, Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are regarding Wi-Fi 6. Those of you still on Wi-Fi 5, how long are you waiting before you make the upgrade and why? TIA

I would buy more ram (as you already know) and migrate some of those services on the host to their own VMs. We used to have Paxton, and ESET on its own VM. I take it the SQL is for SIMS? if so, I would definitely migrate this as @3s-gtech mentioned it really eats up the ram and other resources. Having separate VM's would also be beneficial as if your host packed up, you can just mount the backed-up VM's to a new host.

I agree with all of these. Especially number 2... If I require something that's over £1000 (rare but does happen) I will usually get three quotes from different suppliers to create an average and make sure they are around the same price. If I mention that someone has quoted slightly under compared to theirs, they are suddenly able to knock £xxx off their original quote. I think honesty and transparency is definitely something I value in a supplier.

Hi, I went with the DS423+ with 4 x 2TB drives. Managed to get it for £799 from a supplier, it's a nice unit. No issues so far

DWService

Would I have issues integrating something like a homeplug in with my UniFi setup? For example something like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Universal-Extender-Broadband-TL-WA854RE/dp/B07PKX1ZD1/ref=sr_1_10?crid=KQNBQQ8NV8UH&keywords=tp-link+booster&qid=1706191799&sprefix=tp-link+booster%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-10 I understand you get what you pay for, but these kitchen staff will probably be using the internet for about 15/20 minutes a day max, so it doesn't need to be amazing.

I agree, and do it for the most part. This would be used in the school kitchen as there is currently no cabling infrastructure there. I am thinking something like this would be a cheaper alternative compared to a cable run.