tom_newton

Not that I like to help a competitor or anything, but it's fairly common in these situations for MSPs to put in a cap on the amount of bandwidth a single connection (as in, one file download) can use, to prevent it swamping others. It would be concerning if you ran this across multiple machines and couldn't get more than a cumulative 50Mbit/s.

Massive fan of BB. Hope I can soon move my personal backup data to Amsterdam.

Plantronics are not cheap but they're the best. I like to have the "quick release" connector so I can take my bit (the headset) and use it with any kit (eg I have a phone with a Quick Release, and a PC dongle)

I've got a bunch of Hue bulbs and I'm very happy with them. As @mmoseley mentions though, if you've got spotlights the Hue GU10s could get pricey (I've only got bayonet fitting regular pendants where I have my Hues).

There are a few ways to tell if a host is up that aren't traditional ICMP PING. The nmap documentation is pretty useful here: https://nmap.org/book/man-host-discovery.html

Sure. Anyone who emails me I'll cc back through Georg

Thanks for your concern Steve, our renewal numbers are higher than ever this year

Hi folks - just had this through from our CEO, Georg: Thank you to everyone for your feedback over the past 24 hours. You’ve been clear and we have heard you! With immediate effect, we will honour the 30-day notice period on renewals for all existing customers who signed contracts prior to May 23rd. Customers who sign contracts with us after this change have 90-day terms – which is consistent with other vendors – but if anyone has a strong concern about this at the time, please discuss with your account manager. We do see instances where customers wait until the last minute to begin a renewal review, and continue to believe it’s a best practice to start early. We would never want a renewal to be a surprise or anything other than a constructive partnership discussion. We are always listening. We have invested in ensuring every customer has a dedicated account manager and customer portal with their direct contact details. Your account manager will proactively reach out to every customer several times a year at a minimum, to check how things are going and to hear your feedback. It’s their aim to be there for any questions, concerns, help or advice. Above all it’s our aim to be technology partner you trust and with whom you enjoy working. We thank you for sharing your views.

We decided to get off early as google was informing us of many issues on the way home - A34 was completely shut so we did the tourist route round oxford. Saw lots of thatched cottages and rarely broke 20mph. M1 was subsequently pretty kind to us though so I made it home before nightfall. Nick was nice enough to drop me in Leeds as he lives down by doncaster!

Thanks to all those who listened to me natter on. You all know how much I hate powerpoint, slides, technology, the internet... so yeah, expect glitches when I speak

We haven't given up on reporting, classroom was built by a brand new team, with no impact on the filter team.

Thanks, a fair review. There's a team behind the product who will continue to work on classroom, so expect plenty of advancement!

Hi folks, Yes, the new brand *is* a makeover - but not *just* a makeover. We have been investing in products both old and new, and will continue to do so. You'll start seeing the benefits soon, with Classroom Management, and the Cloud filter (which can integrate with your existing system to provide offsite filtering). Reporting is still being worked on, we're getting our first drips of data into our new cloud system at the moment. A totally new report system is a big job though so it is taking a while.

I'll be happy to clarify our future plans. Pm me if you are free for a chat. As product manager I tend to have the best handle on what's going on, and sometimes our sales folk do not keep up. I apologise for any disconnect.

Whoever told you that is perhaps confused that there'll be a new brand out soon, and the website will get an overhaul, and the product will look a little different (but it won't be a reskin, just a couple of very cosmetic changes). If you could PM me with who you spoke to I'll make sure they're singing from the collective hymn sheet.

We will admit our UI is a spot dated. We haven't invested in a lick of paint yet - preferring to focus our efforts on filtering, including getting client filtering off the mark, in order to hedge against the increasing difficulties in inline filtering.

Does sound like you want more of a safeguarding product than classroom management. Smoothwall's moderated monitoring product might be best for you - the missing piece being WoL (which is an odd one that creeps into some old school classroom management products). We define classroom management's "job" as helping teachers maintain student focus in class, while Safeguard Monitoring software is there to ensure long term welfare of students, and identify vulnerability before it happens. WoL/Power management/Fleet tracking to us fits in neither of those boxes.

Ew. If it's fortinet wifi I would keep the fortinet login above the smoothie one and use radius accounting to log users into the Smoothwall (this would keep your wifi most protected).

Has anyone looked at https://www.passwordrbl.com

Let me go find the chat. Can you pm me your details?

Yes Rob, you can use LLB as a straight up failover. Personally i'd try and find something over a different medium eg Virgin cable , plus Openreach FTTP, or find a local WiSP

Amazon s3 can do it, but again it's a bit of work to generate the links. Cachefly can make time limited links too

Have any of you considered https://safeguard.software - met them at bett and they seem to be a good alternative

Slightly emotional. Been an absolute pleasure working with you over the years, and I wish you every success with your fish-bothering new career. I'm sure you'll find your plaice. See you at some more beer festivals I hope

Good summary Steve. Cert pinning is dead - https://scotthelme.co.uk/the-death-knell-for-hpkp/ - it wasn't a great idea in the first place, as it only provided added toughness for large companies, and done wrong, it was fatal. Certificate Transparency is the "new hotness". As you say though, apps no longer trust the user cert store by default - I can sorta see why this was done, but it's irritating for filtering. A better solution would have been to let the user choose, and be very explicit about that trusting a cert means. On the other hand, we've seen the carnage "let the user choose" can cause...