jamesfed

Try running (from the command line) netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled on your Windows 7 PCs.

Can't say we have ever had any problems with our TMG 2010 install - what hardware are you running it off?

Another vote for Lync 2010 - we have been using it to great effect over the past year. Long term plan is to mix it in with the schools phone system as well (well more replace than mix in). Runs off Windows Server 2008/R2 and setup is very next next next done (no Linux to play around with!).

If you don't already have one give your staff a VPN/Terminal server for remote working - would work with existing RM network fine, that then gives them instant improvement while a summer migration goes ahead. I know your intent to start the migration process right now but to be honest it will only cause one big pile of headaches - a summer migration truly is the only way to get this right from day one.

Is that dual display ports + the DVI port?

Aerohive through and through - so secure that the APs have TPM chips inside!

By the sounds of it you need to start thinking long term as well - I know primarys arn't the most wealthy of things on the planet (we do work for a few) but with PCs that old there is going to come a point where replacement is required. I would say get everything on to one single network (no split between admin/curricular) - try to keep your new server as 'clean' as possible so only the server roles you need installed on it. Software lics should be a concern as pointed out already - I assume everything is OEM but what about things like Office and other bits of educational software - the most recent primary we took took control over had all manner of unlicenced software lying around on PCs. Don't just look to your LEA for pricing for software as well - many other companys (and I'm sure a few will pop up on this thread) can offer even better.

Its possible to get some from eBay now and again but they are treated like gold dust - another option is to buy some cheap HP 160GB SATA server drives and then put your HDDs in the caddys that come with them.

Have to by the drives separately - the images you may have seen on the website with apparent caddies in are just blanking slots which can’t be used to store a drive. Although not a ‘right thing’ the reason you have to buy HP drives is to ensure compatibility with the HP RAID Controllers (not that I haven’t been able to successfully use non HP drives in HP servers before but its best to be on the safe side). So....you WILL have to buy drives separately.

Working link for the lazy ones of us - Current Vacancies

WDS should be your first port of call - can be installed on any Windows Server edition (well almost any). If you want to take a step up look at the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit - mixes in with WDS and although the setup is more complex the end result is a lot easier to work with.

OCC are updating their lines for Primarys soon enough with a comercial system - should be on the way by 2014 (were another Oxfordshire school btw).

The add pin one Although I think both could use a bit of a size boost.

I know many Unis take the stance that Facebook is ok as the users (students) are of an age where they are responsible for their own actions (and so the Uni can wave all responsibility to needing to filter certain content in their AUP) - I don't know how this would mash across onto a college though....

Any kind of print monitoring software that could prevent them from printing jobs?

Any chance of making the Bing maps window a little bit taller? Have added us as well

Averages between 70-80 with notebooks at any given time, another 20 who just have a desktop (admin staff ect).

I feel I have to jump in and add my 2p as a proponent of 1:1 notebooks for teachers. For the past 5 years or so we've been handing out notebooks to 'eligible staff' - eligible being staff members who aren’t tied to desks. The policy has been run on the understanding that while the notebook is in the care of the staff member it is their responsibility and that we will charge for any damages even if it is warranty replaceable. We've mixed this policy in with highly robust (but still fairly cheap) HP notebooks (TPM, Drive Guard and enough horse power to throw any OS at them) and most of all a site wide wireless network. Further to that we require that once every 6 months the PC spends 2hrs up in the IT office being checked over. In reward staff get their notebook swapped out every 3 years with a new model with the old ones going to student use (however the increasing use of thin clients in the school is diminishing the need for notebooks). Staff members regularly take their notebooks home and hook up to our VPN (which has been a huge hit since being introduced) and rarely forget to bring their notebook back in as they know the response will be - 'come back in 2 hours' at which point they are issued any old random notebook that we could find lying around. So yes it sounds like we operate with a lot of stick and not a lot of carrot but it works - the staff get the work done, annual replacement costs to the IT Department is around 8k/year and I would never ever consider limiting the staff members to just desktops in the classrooms and PCs in the staff room.

Anything thats powerd by Windows Phone 7.....why?? 1. You get your choice of hardware - no one size fits all iPhone - want a big screen get the HTC Titan, want style get a Nokia Lumina want a keyboard get a HTC 7 Pro. 2. You will get every software update - no waiting for news on blog sites about when your Android phone will or wont get the latest software 3. If you have anything to do with Microsoft Exchange, Windows Live (Mail/SkyDrive), Xbox Live, Facebook, Twitter and lots of other online services this was the phone built to get the best out of them right out of the box. 4. The app store isn't as bad as people say, all the big names are in there and you get the assurance that unlike Android new applications won't crash your phone. 5. You can get them at almost any price point - on contract from ~£20 or you can even pick some phones up on PAYG for £150!

One other thing to inject - are you a school or a business? If the latter then remember Windows Server OS licensing can be quite steep (at least compared to what we are getting). I'd say look to spend about £900-£1100 on each server, budgets maybe tight however I wouldn't want to bet the successful running of my place of work on hard drives designed for desktop PCs. A HP ML110 G7 with 8GB of RAM and 2x1TB drives (just use the fake HP hardware RAID in the server) and you should be around the £1000 mark (with no OS).

System Centre Virtual Machine Manager Web Management has the ablity to be used in a VPS style - also look at the Windows Server alternative to cPanel (enkompass) which as I understand is free.

Windows 2000 is no longer supported by Microsoft (no patches ect) and as such no one else in their good mind would want to support it as well. Best bet - start thinking an upgrade to Server 2008 R2 I know this dosn't realy help with your question but all the same.......

How much storage you need is going to be the key part of this and also what kind of speed of storage you need - if its heavy graphics/3D work then time for some SAS goodness but if not stick with SATA drives. Personaly it sounds like you are after simple like a HP ML110 G7, nice simple Intel Quad Core and 8GB RAM (8 is the new 4 in my world). Above all else I would say invest in something good for backup - by that I mean even a simple QNAP iSCSI box hooked into Windows Server backup.

Just to echo the above - BACKUP!!!!!! These kinds of disk changes are indeed quite simple but have the ablity to go bad fast with just a single little error.

Yep we've got an internal homepage but the school homepage loads in a second tab - looking at our TMG logs though we only send about 400mb of traffic to the site a week so it dosn't make up for the TBs word of data. Nice thought all the same