jamesfed

We don't have anything like that here but I'd approach it by setting up a site wide wifi/wireless network using 802.1x authentication (letting them login with their AD username/password). VLAN it out so they can only get to the internet - then through that provide them with a Citrix/App-V infrastructure with the schools programs/documents on. I wouldn’t say start putting desktops into the rooms (maybe a small social work room with some thin clients in) simply because it would be difficult to continually monitor the (physical) condition of the machines.

Just one thing that you may have already done but can say anyway! Have you changed the default DPI on the printers? In many cases printer drivers set to the max as default (e.g. 600 DPI) - in many cases setting it as low as 150 DPI will look just the same and bring about a massive drop in ink usage.

What kind of service are you going to be hooking your thin clients up to? By that I mean are you running XenDesktop/Microsoft RDS/ect. Next you need to work out what kind of user experience your thin clients will deliver - if they need to do multimedia and you are using XenDesktop then you want Windows based thin clients as they can take advantage of all the HDX technology (although flash is coming to Linux now). If you only need the basics then Linux based devices will work out fine (and much cheaper). Personally we use thin clients from 10zig - very nice small devices that hook into our Kaviza/VDI in a box system very nicely.

60Gb is a good size for a boot OS and basic applications (say office/media players/other little programs) but the moment you go into games that take up 8GB+ you need to think about using something larger. I use a 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 in my PC here at work which is enough for my VMs + all the programs I use and I have one of the 500GB + 4GB SSD Segate hybryd drives in my home PC.

Weird thing I've had in the past (most often with Acers never had an issue with a HP) is remove the battery - press the power button for a few seconds (no power cable in), then replace the battery + cable and power on

It will only do one trawl through the server and so any changes made after the first conversion of any files will be lost. For stability sake I would suggest you always go with a fixed size VHD - dynamics should only be used in testing and when space is a serious limitation. However with a file server the size of the VHD would almost always be expanding and it would be all too easy for it to become corrupt.

Works a treat on all our TPM enabled notebooks - never used it on a server though (I only assume you are looking at servers given the forum uve posted this in).

It sounds like you have pretty good physical security in place already - (better than many others in fact). Using Bitlocker would require a TPM chip in your server (in an ideal situation at least) and this would prevent the need for a password on boot - all the same you would have a small (few percent) drop in disk performance. Backup shouldn't be a problem as your backup system will be backing up the files/folder while the server is running and as such just sees the data a normal. Once you run into any kind of issues with your server (say the OS won't boot and you need to use Windows PE to change something) encrypting it will case MASSIVE problems in getting anything fixed. So as others have said I would speak to your Governor and find out what he is actually looking to achieve - the way I see it SMTs/ect are there to give you problems to solve/ideas to implement but are not there to decide how you do it. One other thing to throw into the mix would be notebook PC encryption - they are a lot more portable than any server and as such present a much greater risk to data loss.

We changed from Backup Exec to System Centre DPM 2010 and instantly got a 10x boost in the speed at which things backed up. So maybe give the trial download a go and see what the results are for you?

Remote desktop is blocked regardless of network location on our TMG server - as we are using a SSTP VPN the only port we needed to open on our LEA controlled firewall was 443. As such we have little overall concern but the best point to watch is (as has been said already) getting a decent firewall that will only allow the ports you need.

Servers, Notebooks, (some) Desktops, Switches and Printers are all HP here. Aerohive for wireless We also try to stick to Microsoft products for software (DPM for backup, TMG for firewall) simply because its cheaper. On occasion we use Acer for notebooks but only because their timeline series lasts forever on battery.

That’s very odd - I've got a OCZ Vertex in both my personal notebook (Vertex 2) and work PC (Vertex 3) never had any problems. Also have put OCZ Agilitys in some PCs built for various people and again no issues ever.

Putting a OCZ Vertex 2 made a whole lot of differance to my HP dv2 (pretty much the same machine as @3s-gtech) - and you will notice it as well. Your processor will be find however I'd suggest you take a look at upping to 800mhz RAM (if your mobo can take it) - although my dv2 runs of 667mhz as well (and it flys) it would be good to make sure all your PCs parts are talking to each other as fast as possible.

I'd have a look at my 2nd option then - would be expensive but maybe something for the long run You can do some pretty impressive things in Hyper-V.

No clue about that Details about it all are here though - JANET Certificate Service

This is the latest version of what I have cooling my Phenom 9550 - ::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions ::: Keeps it cool and can't say I have ever heard the fan (the one in my AMD 6950 kicks out a lot of noise though!)

It would hammer the computer startup times but why not do it through group policy? As a total and utter off topic alternative if you are dealing with VMs in a testing enviroment you could always get something like a HP DL385 G7 server and set it up with Hyper-V and System Centre Virtual Machine Manager with the self service portal setup for your labs users - they would then be able to setup and run their own VMs (indipendant of each other) on the Hyper-V server.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the go ahead to upgrade our servers to have the RAM/Disk (well SSD...) grunt to take on more of the SC products Can't wait for next year and FF Endpoint security!

Not anymore - LEAs can register and they act as a contact point for schools to get ahold of their certs. As such we got ha.fitzharrys.oxon.sch.uk for free (living proof)

Not that I can help with your question but do approch your LEA about certs from JAnet They are free

IPExpo was great this year Got to catch up with our contacts in the real world of IT and managed to get plenty of freebies

Windows 7 should turn it off (for SSDs) but see if the page file is still enabled - also check if system hybernation is still enabled. One other thing to use is good old WinDir - it'll map out in a nice graphical way where all your storage is going.

$40 is a whole lot different from £40 and that’s just child care. (sorry to be blunt but please read the whole post) Either way I get what you mean however without taking things further (like the Chinese have with 'family restrictions') I don't see what can be done about it.

Phew remind me never to move to New Zealand! Don't think I could live without my precious AMD. Certinly does sound like your only move is to look at other hypervisors