kaphc

Apologieis if this seems a bit last minute, we have had a thread going about a Derbyshire It Techs meeting and have arranged a meetup for tomorrow. The venue is The Meadows Community School, Highstreet, Old Whittington, Chesterfield, S41 9LG and the time is 12noon. if anyone else can make it, please can you reply to this thread or send a PM to Edugeeker PyROm who works at the school.

Hope you're feeling better, will PM you. (I think you mean 2011 in your post, unless we are travelling back in time lol!)

Yeah I think a security overhaul on the WAPs is necessary ... have deleted the IP allocation for now and will keep an eye on it until I can get round and implement tighter security.

Just been looking at our DHCP allocations for something, and happened to notice that there is a device on our network called Blackberry-8BEB which has been allocated an IP address. I'm curious to find out where this device is and how it's managed to get an IP address, surely a Blackberry would still require a WEP key to get onto our wireless network? We don't have RADIUS or anything similar implemented currently. From a security point of view as well, this is more than just mere idle curiousity!

It's interesting that the majority of new schools phone systems mentioned in this thread are using ip based systems now .... am wondering if this is the way forward for us to go as well. I worked quite a bit with phones until about 8 years ago and Ip integration was just starting to come in then, so would be interested to know how widespread it is now. I'll have a look at Avaya IP Office. I "grew up" with an Alcatel system so am also looking at thei OmniPCX system. As with any solution though, I think it'll be about balancing our small-scale needs with something futureproof.

Hi, have just been reading this thread and am interested in the various solutions suggested. I provide IT Tech support for a small primary school which is moving to a new build site this year and we are currently looking at the new phone system. Our identifications so far are for 3 PSTN lines serving 12 extensions plus broadband access. Telephony in schools seems to be something of a black hole - i.e. there is no support for it from our LA and we can pretty much do as we want. While this gives us a lot of freedom, it also means we have to ask the right questions. I'm keen to hear from anyone else has gone through similar experiences recently and what things you needed to take into consideration when identifying requirements for a new phone system so that we can scope it correctly.

That works for me. Can we confirm this as a definite at The Meadows then? I have spoken to another IT Tech in another school who is potentially interested in attending. Any more lurkers on here who might be interested? I wondered if we could get the info onto the DnfL extranet as well to advertise it and possibly get a few more along - what do you think?

Hi, we had the same issue when trying to enforce strict password policies for staff but not for pupils. I looked at Specops as well, they do a basic version which might be more cost effective. We didn't go for this in the end though, as we are due to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 later this year, where password policies can be set by group rather than for the whole domain. You don't have an upgrade pending soon do you??

Hi, that sounds good. My issue will be timing as I can get to things far easier in the daytime than in the evening ... if we can put some work-related stuff in as well and hold a daytime meetup, does that sound like a possibility? End of January would work for me, maybe a couple of hours on a Friday over lunchtime?

Sounds a bit like MeadowHell in Sheffield! :-)

Thanks for finding out and letting me know, I will bear in mind that it may be a future possible option - would be interested to hear if anything definite is decided, but will also depend on how much our Learning Platform gets promoted as the main school site in future too.

Is this when you are trying to log into the embc e-mail service? Only things I can think of are the obvious ones on Internet Options - is it added as a trusted site, and is it listed as a proxy exception?

thanks, just had a look at their website to find out more - does that mean there is a SiteBuilder option available to schools to create websites? and if so, what are the rough costs? I'm not sure if we would use it, but would be useful to know.

Not come across Plesk but am curious to know what this is? I make all the changes using Microsoft Expression Web and ftp the files up to the embc server.

Just phoned county and apparently we are logging onto web4.embc.uk.com now, not web2.embc.uk.com - am guessing I didn't read my letter properly!

Hi, I cannot log into the embc server now following the upgrade. I'm getting the error message "530 User cannot log in". Then "Critical error" and "Could not connect to server". Is anyone else having problems?

In Derbyshire, the schools that did open this morning are closing at lunchtime mostly - including the one I work at. The school my daughters go to though is staying open all day - they are really hardcore there and will even put by a store of potatoes to do jacket spuds at lunchtime in case the dinner delivery doesn't get through!

Yep, my mum and dad were both teachers before they retired and always used to do this in heavy snow. This was before the days of Safeguarding and Ofsted though.

It's worth looking at what the Open University offer - I am currently studying TM128 which doesn't include the Microsoft MCSP exam but does prepare you for it and gives the option to take the exam at a discounted rate. They also do a course relating to the Cisco CCNA qualification.

Nothing's happening as far as I know at the moment, would definitely be interested in some sort of get together maybe in or near Chesterfield? A social meeting would be good, then depending on what setup we have at our schools, something technical for future meetings too.

Thanks for all the suggestions about ways to survive without air con .... I had no idea it could be feasibly done so it's quite interesting. Sorry I haven't been back to comment on my initial thread earlier, we've had a few slight issues with our server (I say slight, it's needed a complete rebuild) but I do appreciate all the ideas and think we could have a look at some of these - if the head will listen.

Some of you may remember that I have an ongoing saga about the server room in our new school only having an external door. Well, I've managed to convince the head of the security issues regarding this and she is talking to the builders about it to see what can be done. So, while I'm on a roll, I set out my basic shopping list for the server room including a UPS and air-conditioning. I was told (and this is not a joke) - "We're not allowed to have an air-conditioning unit because the school is going to be as eco-friendly as possible and so there will be some sort of ventilation built in." Think I am going to hijack the bloomin' server room, put padded walls in it, sit there and just say "Wibble".

Am feeling your pain, I did something similar earlier this year only I was flying a kite (yes I know!!). Work is not the most important thing - your health is! Get well soon xx

Not solved it but found another WAP down in an adjacent classroom - fixed that and the am getting enough signal to get back onto the wireless network. I am coming to the conclusion that this particular WAP has not worked for ages! Possibly due to the IP addressing issues I mentioned before - could be a return to factory settings I think!

Am looking into this a bit more and am wondering if it's actually the laptop. I get it working fine in the office via another WAP and the laptop has a normal IP address assigned. When it's not working in the classroom, it has a completely screwy IP address. Am going to try and fiddle around with the laptop IP address settings and see. Another laptop in the same classroom has come up with the same issues though ....