Rydra

I gather there are currently images for the existing desktops, but I shall have to edit them, as they haven't been configured properly, and are images for Winsuite. Most of the important stuff is MSI'd, and the rest are small enough, or do not need physically installing, just copying the program folders. Primary programs tend to be rather simple things! And thanks for the constructive posts here. Though there's a range of about 1 day to two weeks, It gives me a good guess, and enough for me to formulate a plan of action tailored to what I've got running here, and allows me to do some forward planning. I was estimating 2 weeks work for fully operational anyway, barring any major problems. The fun will be when I get to do it; I am torn wheither I want to work during the term holidays, when I don't normally work for overtime, or wheither to work on it over a longer period of time, during term time. I suspect I shall go for a mix between the two!

I have considered this, but i expect that to take 2-3 times as long, and we have issues with the curriculum network that can only really be fixed by starting afresh, which i'd rather not leave for too much longer.

i don't expect it to take too long to setup a new DC, but configuring everything the right way, writing new policies will take a while; as we're moving onto a mix of xp/vista/win7 we will with any luck be moving to Server2008, so no easy imaging; also no funky just upgrading, as need to wipe existing system really due to the combining of 2 domains, and getting rid of winsuite! Though it was an RM server, my last place had the 2 main DC's upgraded, using some funky norton package that migrates/mirrors the whole server to a new one, minus drivers etc, and even migrated from 2k to 2k3. That took 1 1/2 days for 2 of them, but included 200GB of data transfer with it. It's the GPO's that will be fun to write, and then assign, and the migration and config of the users to the new policies. Lets not argue about how long it takes to rebuild workstations, as that is all dependant on too many different factors, but I'm saying 20 per day, and that's what I'm sticking with.

Sorry, but I do not know what computers/servers or team size your working with, but I want it! It takes about 40 minutes to an hour to install a basic Windows OS with no config or setup, somehow I think it will take longer than that to build a new Domain server, and if I knew fully what I was doing, I wouldn't be asking on here about it! Also to note, that since we're a SCHOOL we will need to migrate the admin packages (SIMS and SCO at least) to a new server, which is not doable in 4 hours, it will probably take that long just to copy over the databases. Same again with reconfiguring the AV suite (Kaspersky BusinessSpace Security, administration server). Also 20 minutes per machine is 3 per hour, which equals 20 per day.....

I have 2 different types of curriculum pc at this time, and about 12 different staff laptops; I'm less worried about these, as 60-70% of the staff laptops i inherited as standalone laptops rather than domain controlled, so it's easier to leave those till the new network goes in as they are, and just add them to the domain manually. I spec 20 machines a day, expecting it to take about 4-5 hours for a full build, when all the images are held on a single NAS, running over the network. Any more than 20 in a day, and the impact on the NAS will probably cause it to go slower. It also means if I mess something up, i haven't got to do it all again, only a smaller batch. no DHCP to configure etc, cos my network does it all for me. All I have to do is setup the server(s), the ip's are assigned by the network according to what port they are plugged into. Userdata is 70-80% stored on the NAS, so not a lot of data to transfer, just the accounts to migrate, or if that proves too messy, to remake them. I had thought about building the new domain, and then testing images/profiles before migration, meaning the existing network can run until i am happy the new one is ready, and then just do the migration from there. Is this possible, or would it be greatly quicker/easier to just go nuclear and do it all from scratch together? It would certainly be quicker/easier in respect to the member servers. Migrating the SIMS admin could be a royal pain in the arse though.

Ok, so some of this may be attributed to the migrane that came up just after I discovered how much of a hell I'm going to go through soon, but here goes... Due to some wonderful government money, my primary school is due for a major network update. The whole physical cabling and switch infrastructure is being upgraded and replaced. This I am happy with, though question wheither it's really necessary, I'm not going to argue about it. The FUN begins in stage 2 of the project, where it's been decided by some other company who was paid far too much money, that we need to replace our Admin server, and integrate the admin and curriculum network. They will supply us with a sparkly new dell server, and pay a dell engineer to take it out the box, and plug a network cable into it.... Then leave. It will not even have an OS installed on it. They are then leaving it down to the individual school, aka, just me, to acquire an OS for it, install it and configure it, then rebuild my entire network to integrate the curriculum and admin networks into a single domain. On top of that, the existing curriculum network runs on winsuite and server 2003, and I now have a number of Windows 7 laptops appearing, which do sort of work on the network, but management of them isn't as good as it should be. What I'd like to know from someone here, is how long it would be estimated to take, to: -Setup a new domain on a new server, building all new GPO's from scratch -Migrate existing system, including all users from 2 seperate domains to the new domain -recommission the old server(s) as member servers for the purpose of running Print server, AV server etc -rebuild the existing curriculum network pc's, approximately 50-60 of them to the new domain (rebuild required as not done in a while, as well as being based on winsuite currently) There is just the one of me, though I may be able to acquire another technician for a few days to assist with the manpower intensive tasks, such as rebuilding... Assume can rebuild 20 PC's per day. No DHCP/ real network config required, network being installed is a managed network. I'm not looking for an in-depth breakdown on it, just a wheither it should take a week, a month, or about 12 years....

I am looking at doing something similar for my primary school. The high school I came from used the RM Smartcache2, and it has it's problem (It's a "Block" rule or an "Allow" rule that overrides all "Block" rules... so say you want to allow all "bbc.co.uk", it has a HUGE flaw, as you can then goto google, search for "hot sex" -"bbc.co.uk" (for those who don't know, minus says "search for THIS excluding links relating to "THAT".) But it allows direct control through your AD of who can get at what, connects to a central database for sites to block in different groupings (Adult/mature, social networking/chat, technical, email etc etc) and you can control everything from individuals, to year groups, to whole usertypes, everyone, and includes time management; say you want the staff to be able to only access facebook etc during break/lunch/before+after school? All done through this. It was all written in linux, and no doubt is a modded version of someone elses software, and I would bet there is a solution out that that isn't affected by the "RM sucks" bug that all RM products get plagued with!

I have a very similar situation coming up. School has got a PCP grant to upgrade it's gear; getting a complete newly wired Cat6 network, with a managed wireless and core switch, the works. They've also specced some money for "Server upgrades". Currently, school is running curriculum on a single CPU quad core Xeon with 4gb ram, a 2nd DC, single CPU dual core 2gb memory, that does nothing it seems except break the replication between the servers occasionally (I may turn the sucker off!) And an admin server, I suspect similar spec to the curriculum, though I believe slightly older (not had a chance to nose about and see what it is, i've been here 10 days so far!) All servers running Server 2003, client pc's are a mix of xp, vista, and a couple of windows 7. and a 2TB (1TB raid 5 setup) NAS. I have considered looking into a virtualisation system for here; one curriculum, one admin (sims), all data on the NAS. Don't need a printer server, all printing is done either by local printers (or low tec enough I might as well add them individually to laptops as local's), or by a riso networked/managed photocopier/printer thing. From my experience, most schools don't have the money/resources to have any real redundancies. You can setup all these possible systems, but without having a complete 2nd network sitting idle, you will always have a single point of failure to contend with. with my current setup, The DC runs printing, AD, and all userdata; the NAS is mapped as an iSCSI drive to the DC. So if the DC fails, all printing is lost, all documents access is lost; it's all mapped through the iSCSI drive, not direct to the NAS. If the NAS fails, users can log on, but all profile data is lost, all documents is lost. RAID arrays in various different mirror config's will help here, but we all know to remirror a DC or a NAS with hundreds of profiles worth of work is at minimum a day's work. I have an added problem of only the admin server is backed up externally at all, but that's a discussion for another place!

Is there a similar way to do this, but to allow the windows 7 Themes? Server 2003 atm, windows 7.

"This laptop is useless. I can't get on emails, internet, documents nothing. stupid thing, I want a new one this one doesn't work!" Look at laptop, look at user, press button on laptop.... Look bored for 10-12 seconds..... Hand laptop back to user, and try not to refer to them as a moron while you explain about the little Blue light for their Wireless. Note: this style also works for users who complain they cannot get anything up on the screen, while you press the power button

I used to use something like this for myself when I had just too many icons on the desktop. You can add a java dropdown menu into the page, which can link to folders on the pc or network. If you know what your doing, you can also set hyperlinks that run programs for you as well. In the long term I hope to set this up for my primary school, to replace the useless winsuite we have at the moment. Dreamweaver is very good for this sort of thing i found, though I'm relatively new to Web development, so there's no doubt something that does it a lot better.

custom drivers. It's a large networked photocopier with some funky drivers, so would involve going round and installing them all again on every individual laptop. and I'm not sure it's one of those printers you want to install on 40 odd different machines.

another little update.... I'll need to leave it a couple days, but it looks like it was all down to a borked AD replication. Since rebooting both servers, the domain workstations have started behaving themselves. All is well again! Just need to get my NAS up and running again.

ok, sorry I got tracked on (as we all do!) onto other problems.... never a quiet day! The server reboot did the trick, and replication kicked back in. I can now add things to the domain again, so that part is solved. Part of the printers issue is also solved by this. I missed something blatant in the networked printer... It's a networked printer on a domain, being accessed by laptops that are not on the domain (They will be soon, new network etc....) For those who haven't had their coffee yet, to access anything on a domain server, you need credentials on that domain to access it. I will need to setup a startup batchfile that maps a drive with domain credentials, which will give it the credentials to access the printer! Apparently it used to work before, but somehow I doubt it, as I don't see how you can ignore domain authentication. The only remaining problem now, is sporadic domain workstations being unable to connect to the domain. I strongly suspect this is something to do with either the DNS being screwy, which I'm ignoring as will getting a brand new managed network with all the trimmings in 3 weeks time, so to put effort into fixing that now would be a waste of my time. OR, it's something to do with the SID's. I cannot see the images they used to build the workstations with at the moment, as they were stored on the NAS, which is dead...... BUT having met one of my predecessors, and read the CV of the other one (silly silly man.... network manager with 5 years experience, and forgot to clean out his personal files from his workstation.....) I strongly suspect they didn't use Sysprep. How could the SID's cause this trouble? I'm still stuck with Winsuite, and due to the age of winsuite, it's a fair bet to say it uses SID's to identify the stations. Cannot be 100% sure, but it's a fair guess.

This page links to Microsoft pages that no longer exist...

Nope, but nice try! I've had that once before...

My previous network was an RM network.... I've never had to use sysprep before! If anyone has a guide for Sysprep beyond the microsoft KB article which is conjested, and not overly explanatory I'd appreciate it. I have 3 new laptops that arrived last week I can do a FULL new setup on the way I like it

This is likely, evidence suggests my predecessors were in some respects I daresay incompetent. They had an understanding of "We need to do this" without some of the other aspects.... Like hosting a website off of the C drive of the DC, moving the domain administrator profile to a NAS..... I could go on but it'd be mean and off topic.

It's on the cards.... We are getting a complete new network infrastructure in 3 weeks time, new switches, new cabling, the works. Shortly after that I am having a server renewal as well; upgrading existing servers, combining admin/curriculum network and all that fun stuff. But it's not an option for today! What I do need is to get the printing up and running again, as 80% of the printing is done a single managed printer/photocopier. I don't care about most of the rest of the problems, but I NEED printing up and running again!

DCdiag... looking more and more like a dns/replication error. will see what the reboot does in about 10-20 minutes time!

AS with any network the 'event logs' have a lot of stuff in them! To list them all I'd need a new forum to host it all! But the few errors i've come across that MIGHT be related.... In File Replication Service: I am looking to having server2 rebooted in about half an hour, since it hasn't been rebooted in approximately 4 months. The above error has been going on daily for about a week, since I first discovered that the primary DC hadn't been rebooted for 7 months, had an out of date AV running on it, and all sorts of crap that shouldn't be on a server. removed the rubbish, rebooted.... The above error has been going on since. Second entry, System tab: This happens randomly, no idea what's going on here.... As another side note, all the users profile areas and userdata is stored on a iSCSI drive on the DC... The NAS that iSCSI connected to is dead at the moment, awaiting a new hard drive (Thank god for Raid 5, new drive in and it'll be back up!)

I suspect this may be the wrong forum for this, since it's one of about 17 different problems! Recently became the Network Manager for a Primary School, where I used to be a Technician for a previous school. There is something screwy going on with the network, and I cannot for the life of me work out what it is. So as a first, here's what I've got to work with.... 2 DC's running Windows Server 2003 SP2, 1 running DHCP + DNS (server1), and other running DNS (server2). I do not yet know the relationship between the two of them, except that server1 appears to be the primary. I cannot tell what the link is between them, and as yet not sure of server2 runs or replicates any AD services, but it is a DC. Approximately 50 student workstations running XP added to domain, and about 600 users.... Managed by Winsuite. Winsuite will be coming out very soon with any luck! Now to the problem.... The majority of the workstations seem to have a problem connecting to the domain. When trying to login, they come up with an error along the lines of "Unable to connect to domain...." with lots more text I generally don't read. Reboot the workstation 1-4 times, and it eventually lets you connect. As with all things like this, I cannot now replicate the error on any workstation, so I shall post that as/when i can get a computer to not work for me.... The 2nd problem, is with workstations currently NOT on the domain, they are experiencing a similar problem. when trying to access the DC in any way, including browsing to it on the network, attempting to add a computer to the domain, or even attempting to access a network printer on it, It throws up errors along the lines of: Logon Failure: The Target Account Name is incorrect. The printers thing is a similar issue but not quite the same; 1/10 times, I can get at the printers. The other 9/10 times, I get Access Denied: Unable to connect. Reboot works 10% of the time, but 5 minutes later lose the connection again. I've almost ruled out a networking error, as at all times i have no trouble browsing the net, assigning ip's, pinging workstations/servers. But beyond that, I'm completely stumped! Googling the error points to DC pairing issues, AD being outdated/DC issues, or DNS/DC issues! Any/all help on this would be appreciated. If you need more info, just say. I suspect these problems are all interlinked, but cannot for the life of me work out what it is. I have checked event logs on both servers, the client pc's, when they both do and do not work. Nothing obvious is showing up in the logs.

*mini necro* I'm due to start working at a primary school from next week that uses Winsuite. In an effort to get up to speed as quickly as possible I'm trying to find out some of the basics of how to use the various bits of software they've got, and winsuite I can find forum links (like this one) for working with/removing it, but NOTHING about what it is, where it comes from, or where to get support for the damned thing, if there is any. I saw it's made by NDI tech, who according to the UK site, appear to be pretending the software never existed. If anyone has links towards a manual, a support page, or a place with working guides etc, it would be appreciated.

So I know where to look when it comes, where do I find invites for google wave, and how does one acquire them? I need to add more ppl

PM sent, looks interesting.