localzuk

The main barriers to this would be lack of devices, lack of good wifi, and lack of charging capability. Even if a school has 1:1 devices, these couldn't just switch between "day to day" and "exam conditions" use, so you end up needing a set of dedicated "exam computers".

Contrasting the comments about Inventry with my experience of SignInApp... I had an issue where our Paxton fobs were being read with a different format than how we store them in our AD for the PaperCut system. Their solution was to ask me how we'd like it formatted, and then they developed a specific format type for us, and rolled it out in a new version. We had an issue with some RFID codes not being picked up properly even though they were present, and they worked diligently to fix that as well for us. Their support is excellent, and helpful. Seems like 2 very different companies. SignInApp want to get customers by having a great product - which is why we put it in our 8 sites.

It takes some real business acumen to manage to drive a monopoly provider of a critical resource that everyone must buy, to the brink of bankruptcy.

The username rules are here if you want to check: https://support.google.com/a/answer/9193374?hl=en

Which licensing scheme would you be buying under? EES, OVS-ES or CSP? EES and OVS-ES are yearly. How many FTE EQU would you be buying of A3?

You can extract it using SetupRST.exe -extractdrivers SetupRST_extracted

We got a quote in Dec 2021 for it, they wanted £2610 per station - covered the PC, thermal printer, mounting bracket, and the software. It was then a further £337 for each RFID reader, and £1350 for a 3 year license including SIMS integration.

At the moment, we deploy a PSK based wireless network to all our Chromebooks, but when we have our new wireless network installed this summer I would like to transition them all to an 802.1x based network. Does anyone have any guidance for doing this? I know I can set up a service account and deploy 802.1x that way, but that seems to miss the point of 802.1x?

This is something I very much agree with. For screens that have built in systems, we don't join them to the network here - we have no way to ensure they are secure, so they would be a big risk. Potentially in the future, we may put them on a dedicated SSID on our wifi, with client isolation enabled. So, they'd be able to get some use. But having them on your normal network seems like a big problem.

Beware that running VMs on top of an OS that is itself running services is not supported or recommended by Microsoft, especially not SQL server. This can cause issues with memory - as you've seen already.

I can confirm it works with Bromcom. Though, it is a double edged sword - if a child has been marked absent for, say, a medical appointment by the teacher/office, and they arrive and sign in, it will overwrite the registration that was already there. So, you may need to adapt the process you use for ensuring the right marks are in the register. In reality, I guess that'd be the same problem for all sign in systems with write-back.

So, SQL server is designed to grab as much memory as is available for itself - setting the limit as @willtech said is pretty much critical. I always go with the size of the MDF file + a couple of GB for memory sizing. So, in your case, I'd be assigning 4-6GB based on your MDF file sizes. Though, with those small amounts, I'd realistically stick to 8GB for SQL, and probably give 4GB to the OS. Your initial message is a little confusing though. Are you running SIMS in its own VM? Or is it running on the host, and then VMs on top of that?

Another happy SignIn App customer here, using it across our 8 sites, with Bromcom integration.

If it were DOA, the return should've been to your supplier rather than a warranty replacement - as most warranties will send out recertified disks in my experience. Your original supplier should be sending you the new one IMO.

If it is not something you have (a fob, a phone etc...), and is just a second "something you know" it is not MFA. It just a 2 part password, and doesn't really add any appreciable extra security to the system - someone can get both the password and pin/image choice without the user knowing and breach the account.

I don't think you can lock it to a specific network like that, without blocking other networks entirely. I think @ThatBoringBloke is right - you need to look at a different filtering and monitoring system. We use Classroom Cloud for monitoring, which allows viewing screens regardless of the connection they're on, and Smoothwall Cloud Hybrid which filters via the cloud when off network, or via the appliance when on-network.

Anyone with Smoothwall able to explain how I do a report that actually respects the start/end date/time? I want to do a Complete user audit trail for a user this morning from 8:30 to now. It only returns the last 30 minutes instead. If I do a search term report, it gives me the full time range, but it refuses to do it for a complete user audit trail?

Physical media is not a panacea for keeping what you've bought, sadly. CDs and DVDs degrade over time. Some of the original CDs produced are already degraded to the extent they don't work. They have about a 50 year life expectancy. If you have anything stored on CD-RW, they have an even lower life expectancy.

@MRDabble I'd read that as asking if your monitoring system can monitor the content that apps are using - eg not just dedicated web browsers. So, if someone uses the Youtube app, is it monitored etc...

Easy risk assessment to do really. It is fairly impossible to have MFA with children. Its either unaffordable to issue physical fobs to them all, or impractical to have them all use personal phones - not to mention the security risk of having all those phones in school as well (especially in light of the various govt ministers being pro-banning phones in schools entirely). Then add in the fact that not all children are old enough to have a phone etc, and the idea of MFA for children is a non-starter.

It depends on what you want - if you just put a second identical line in, with a different ISP, you'll basically double your costs. If you go with a lower spec tech (eg. an FTTP line instead of leased line) you will pay considerably less usually.

Depends how you implement it. We have a backup FTTC line here, for example. But, the idea of a backup line only really works if it is routed differently in my view. If your main and backup lines are from the same ISP, using the same tech, one going down will likely mean the other going down too.

This seems to be incorrect - at least, the DfE mandated CAT6A for our connect the classroom installation that is going in this summer. The DfE's own guidance, updated in March, still says CAT6A.

That's a really odd requirement, as the difference between the 46xx and 26xx is that the 46xx can be put in a quad socketed server and the 26xx in a dual socket server... I suspect a 26XX series would work with high enough clock speed to hit their 180 events/sec requirement. As basically no servers run just 1 or 2 46XX chips from what I've seen (there's no need for it, as the only difference is how the chips communicate with each other - as the 26XX is only communicating with 1 other chip, it doesn't matter).

One thing to take into account when choosing a system is the DfE standards for schools now. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-digital-and-technology-standards-in-schools-and-colleges/switch-standards-for-schools-and-colleges https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-digital-and-technology-standards-in-schools-and-colleges/wireless-network-standards-for-schools-and-colleges https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-digital-and-technology-standards-in-schools-and-colleges/network-cabling-standards-for-schools-and-colleges They aren't compulsory but it seems prudent to highlight them.