phantomphan

I'd like to know too please if anyone out there can help! thanks

Just to confirm, back from Half Term, shiney new photocopier in situ, plugged into shiney new patch cable that myself and Site Manager installed - all working fine - kerching - £200 pounds saved for the school! Thanks for all advice given.

Again, thank you all for your advice. Just want to check before I order the unshielded cable...it will be running along with other existing cables - network and telephone, but not power - is it still OK to get the unshielded one? And the photocopier will be a new one arriving at half term which we are leasing and we are paying the extra to network it.

Thanks all - that's just what I wanted to hear. I know we could do it properly via the patch panel and a wall socket and it would very probably work!! But the simplist, cheapest and quickest way is to buy the made up patch cable. The photocopier is being leased and has been specified as networkable - but good advice, as current one seems to have network interface and I was told by one 'engineer' who quoted for the cabling job that it could be networked - obviously not just his pricing was wrong! Only question is now...do I pay £5.86 + VAT for this Cat5e RJ45 Patch Lead Unbooted 20m which seems very reasonable or should I splash out on this 20m CAT6 FTP Snagless Network Cable, Grey for £32?

We want to connect a photocopier to the curriculum network, hopefully to cut down on printing costs. This will involve running a cable from the switch cabinet in the ICT Suite to the adjacent room. We have had 2 quotes for the work - £200 and £260 - for 2 hours work max. The site manager and I believe we can do it ourselves. What I need to know is. . .can I connect directly to the switch in the cabinet without going through the patch panel? This would mean we can just get a cable made up with an RJ45 on each end and run the cable to the photocopier and connect it directly. I know this will not be the most attractive solution, nor the most professional, but it will be the cheapest. Will it work? Do I need to request anything special for the cable - twisted or something? Any help appreciated.

Thanks for all your input on this topic. I have today ordered the RM CC3 Network. I am glad to have finally made the choice and feel confident that it is the right choice for our school. RM were very competetive on price, even coming in cheaper than one of the Ranger reseller quotes. Thanks again, Phant 8)

yes, you can. I just did it (for the umteenth time) on Friday. So have I, umpteen times and none of them work in the installation of LNM as I have said above. Now I have ordered CC3 and I'm very happy with the decision. Phant

Thanks for all the responses and help. I have given up and I am in the process of ordering RM CC3 for the network. Phant 8)

I'm in the same situation. I've had 4 quotes: RM, Ergo, Ranger x 2. Ergo by far the cheapest and possibly simplist especially if teachers are managing it. We rejected this, 'cos we have a permanent technician on site (me! although only part time) and Ergo seems not to have as much functionality. RM, very competitive quote and we are almost certainly going with them (groan, groan, groan - yes, I know all your Anti RM feelings thank-you). The Ranger is from whatever reseller you choose to install it and we found their methods and cost varied considerably for the same network. One would take all the machines away and set it up then bring them back and set up on site, the other came in and charged by the day. It was a very close call between Ranger and RM, both will supply what the school needs. As I said though, depending on who is running it on site, Ergo may well be the better choice. IMHO PhantomPhan PS I have heard that Thin Clients are not suitable for Multi Media applications and therefore might not be suitable as only option in a Primary School. PPS Just noticed you are in Colchester, Rob. The better Ranger quote I got was from a company in Broxbourne, but do a lot of work in Essex. http://www.primaryitsupport.co.uk it might be worth giving them a try for a quote and they offer support.

Hi Robert I am in a similar situation to you, my primary school is looking at moving the ICT Suite to a larger room, we are also getting a new server and expanding the network. I have worked with Vanilla w2k3 for the past 3 years and although our network is very stable, I have not been able to use many of the features of w2k3 because I have no formal training on it, nor the time to teach myself enough - I only work 12 hours a week, support over 50 PCs, 12 Interactive Whiteboards plus projectors and teacher laptops etc. I am insisting that a Network Management System is included in our network upgrade and have had two companies in to demonstrate and quote - RM and Ergo. I have someone coming from Ranger tomorrow and then I will make the decision. At the moment RM are favourite. Reasons to pay for a Network Management System - in my view: 1. Speed of installation - they reckon they can have the whole network up and running in 3 days. I will then need to install the software I assume, and that will involve having to create some software packages (I believe this is fairly straightforward, but this might be wishful thinking). 2. Complete solution - network up and running, support at the end of a phone, easy to manage Server, remote software installation, easy group policies etc. 3. Cost - this is where RM fall down, but having added up cost of Ranger plus Server and setup of w2k3 (which I don't feel confident to do within a sensible time period with no hiccups) and RM is not that much more in the grand scheme of things - about £3000 more. This will save the school much time and money in training someone to manage vanilla w2k3 (I have not attended any training on it in 3 yrs) or employing someone who can. Basically, to cut a long story short, it is all very well sticking to vanilla and all its wonderful features but if you don't know what you are doing, get something that will help. If job satisfaction for you is figuring out complex problems and solving them, plus learning everything you can about w2k3 and being able to configure servers with you eyes shut - maybe you should go down that route. However if job satisfaction is running a network with the minimum of fuss, which does everything you want it to do, enabling you to get on with the hundred other things that you are expected to do, then look at some sort of management solution. I recommend you get people in to demonstrate and then decide - you can still go vanilla if that is what you want. You can always get someone in to configure the server and maybe give you some instruction to get you started. This all assumes the school has the money for a NMS - our quote for RM is around 10k for new server and 100 machine network 8O hope this is of some help. Good luck in your project. I have spent many hours awake at night thinking about all the options, worrying about making the wrong and very costly decision Sorry for essay. Phant

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/so.../MSLNM.zip This one is I believe. Phant

Sorry, can't help you then. I used this one and it worked fine. I can boot from the disk and begin the install of LNM from it. I am using Nero Express 6 and via 'Nero StartSmart', 'Copy and Backup', then 'Burn Image to Disc' it worked first time. I do not mean to be patronising by explaining my method, just trying to help Phan

F**ked up beyond all recognition. AhHa! Seems to describe my attempts to install LNM!! I downloaded this ISO and then simply burnt in Nero using "Burn Image to Disc" and as I said, it appears to work. Phan

I have made many w2k3 with sp 1 ISOs and none of them seem to work with LNM. Has anyone please got any ideas regarding what I should do now? Do I need to buy an original copy of the w2k3 with sp 1? Could it be the machine I am trying to load it onto? Somesort of hardware conflict? All goes well, until it asks for the w2k3 disc and then it starts loading, but always stops at the "driver.cab" files, says "Method '~' of object '~' failed" and then says files cannot be found. Any ideas, anyone? Pleassssssssssssssssssssse! Phan :?

Not sure what FUBAR is, but I downloaded this image from a link on another post in this forum and it seems to work. I say seems to work, 'cos I havn't managed to install LNM yet, but I think it is a problem with my slipstreamed w2k3 plus SP 1 image rather than the LNM ISO. http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/software/MSLNM.zip Good Luck Phan