maniac

Which is why we don't use the RM build process here. We have a basic XP image we pull down to the workstation using FOG, then it's set to automatically log in on first boot, the RM comissioning tools are pre-installed, and an autoit script calls the VB file and the computer name program, prompts you for the computer name and fills the rest of the boxes automatically - bingo one RM'd workstation in a fraction of the time. OK, so we can't remotely initiate re-builds, but we never used that feature anyway. Mike.

We have started dealing with Viglen recently, we've just brought into the Its Learning platform which Viglen market in the UK, and have been very impressed with the service we've received so far. We are currently looking into Viglen supplying us with Desktop PCs and possibly more hardware for the network. The person I've been dealing with has been very professional, no question is too much bother to answer and they are more than happy to be flexible with what they are quoting you for, and explain in detail exactly what you are and are not getting for your money, so there's no surprises. Can't comment on the quality of their hardware, as we havn't actually brought any yet, but that may change in the near future. Mike.

it's usually the cable that gets pulled out of them, although we've not been suffering from this too much lately. All our cables are zip tied together behind the computer to prevent theft, although somehow we still get the odd one or two go missing from time to time!

We quite regularly get little treats from members of staff that we've got the extra mile for, some of them are really thoughtful. We got a home baked cake ourselves on one ocassion, it was yummy!

You can wedge a small flat blade screwdriver into them normally and undo them, they're not that tight. You can then replace with a standard PC case screw to scave you having the same problem Mike.

It is very slick when a bunch of machines start up after sysprep has run, then re-boot having been renamed by FOG, then reboot again after being added to the domain, then they're ready to be used. I installed it onto ubuntu with very little experience, and got it up and running it less than a day, so I'd say relatively easy. I'm still fairly new when it comes to linux, but what I've used and seen so far constantly impresses me. Mike.

Basically it will automatically rename and add the machine to the network for you when you image the machine, therefore the process is entirely automated. The important thing to do (and it's a bit of a gotcha unless you read the instructions carefully) is to make sure you have the Support Tools for XP installed on the workstation you're using the Fog AD integration on, or it won't work. (Specifically it uses the NetDom.exe program) Also do not add it to the domain as part of your sysprep, just let it choose a random machine name and add it to a workgroup, FOG will do the rest. you also have to use the FogCrypt program to encrypt your password that you program into the interface, we use a dedicated add2domain account for this. Printer support I've not tried yet, and probably won't use as we have a nice VB script that does this for us, so I can't comment on how that works. Mike. Edit: Was writing this as other replies were made with the same info, sorry for duplicating!

I have one image that works on 3 different workstation types, but a majority of my other images were also spawned from 1 origenal image, we just have a few different ones with different software pre-installed etc. Bulk of machines range from Dell D510 laptops up to Core 2 Duo PCs recently purchased from Stone Computers, and it works on all of them without a hitch. Even our age old TC1100 tablet PCs work on it. @Netman - I've never tried it on Vista, but the Fog website says it's fully supported, and it mentions Vista on several menus within the program, so I assume it works as I've not come across anyone saying it doesn't, although it begs the question how many people are actually running vista in a commercial environment and using fog? Not that many would be my guess. Mike.

This little VBS script will do it. I use it for one off distribution of files sometimes. dim filesys set filesys=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") If (FileSys.FolderExists("c:\DESTINATIONFOLDER")) Then WScript.Quit filesys.CopyFolder "\\SERVER\SHARE\FOLDER", "c:\DESTINATIONFOLDER" Mike.

Not had that particular issue, but 2 things I found vitally important for it to work properly were 1) FOG is told that the Host OS is Windows XP, and 2) The image type was set to "Single partition NTFS only - Resizeable" then it works flawlessly with windows XP. Initially I had the image type set differently and it didn't work properly, as soon as I selected this it worked. The other thing that important to note is you must use the SYSPREP utility on your images prior to taking the snapshot with FOG, or you will run into trouble with SID's and the like, and also using across different hardware types - if you're not using sysprep, this could be your problem. Mike.

Aye, it is. I've been using it here for about 6 months now, and it is a genius program. When you get the fog service working on the clients and use the active directory feature it really comes into its own. The speed of it always amazes me, 6GB images pulled down to clients in about 3-4 minutes on this network, now that's fast! This thread reminds me, I need to update my installation as we're a few versions behind at the moment. Mike.

We use the Cisco VPN client provided to all Kent schools as part of their KCN subscription to connect into the school, then I can use Remopte desktop connection to connect to my work PC, and then in turn to my Servers. Works a treat, but obviously only if your LEA offers a service like this. Mike.

We run office 2003 on a majority of our workstations, but I will be putting open office onto some of the lesser used ones this year to avoid having to buy more Microsoft licenses for office. There are a lot of areas of the school that just do basic wordprocessing and net browsing that really don't need the office suite. We have a new director of learning of ICT starting who seems very much on the same wavelength as me, so I'm hoping he'll be open to the idea of using open office on all the curriculum machines, time will tell. Mike.

You could probably knock up a VB script to modify these registry settings on startup if it's necessary to do it on all your machines. Mike

Try ghosting it onto another machine, I had that problem before where oddly enough it turned out to be the HDD, as it must have written the data back onto the drive slightly differently, and the hard drive was on the way out and part of the image appeared corrupted, but it was actually the hard drive in the machine causing it. The image worked perfectally on another machine. Mike.

Shame the ones who nested in our box wern't so good, the female just didn't take care of her young, and they all perished last week just as I'd sorted out getting the streaming video working on the network. Never mind, there's always next year! Mike.

It's for our business and enterprise area, not DT.

We havn't got the room in the area it's going in for a copier type printer as they tend to be bigger, and also the academy don't want to enter into any leasing agreements at the moment so we are looking to buy. It's probably not going to get enough use to cover the usual minimum monthly/yearly quantites that a lot of leases have, and we already have a networked colour copier that is used by staff and reprographics for our bulk printing that we get charged by the page for. This is going to be available for students to print to, but only on approval of the teacher and there will be tight controls on the number of copies and who can authorise printing to it to keep the running costs down - based on the number of prints that the cartridges can do in these devices, I don't anticipate changing them more than once a year. Mike.

Never brought one before, but I've been asked to look into purchasing one for our new Business and Enterprise area coming this summer, so any recommendations from people? I quite like the look of the Xerox Phaser 7400, but have no real idea apart from reviews to go by, so has anyone got recomendations for this type of printer? Cheers Mike.

No it's not, it's becoming the 'Sheppy Academy' from this year, but they are having to remain in the buildings of Minster College and Cheyne Middle School until the new academy buildings are ready (They've not even started building them yet!) The school buildings have suffered majorly with years of neglect, although they did recently (about 4 years ago) have a significant sum of money spent on them when the school was I believe in special measures for a while. Mike.

Use it here to monitor my printers. We will be buying the full package soon, and are considering the version that also allows you to manage photocopying, so we can manage our printing and copying all from one place!

Yes, we went through that here, although it was before I started so I wasn't actually responsible for the change, but I can tell you how we manage both databases now. What happens here is there are two different database instances on the same server. The connect.ini file for all staff connects only to the new database, but there are a few admin people in the school that have a modified connect.ini file which prompts SIMS to put a drop down box on the login screen, so they can select which database to log into, it's quite a simple solution really. The only times access to this data is needed is when someone requests information that's held within it, which happens ocassionally, or they need to reference something that wasn't transfered over to the new database. Mike.

I've got RADIUS authentication successfully working on our domain now, and it's been happily managing our wireless system for the last 3 months now. However, one of the things I've been unable to do is to get non-domain devices to authenticate to the wireless system using certificates or simelar, because quite honestly I have no idea how to get this to work! At the moment our RADIUS system is using IAS on windows 2000 to provide it's authentication and the clients are set up to use WPA/TKIP and PEAP for authentication. It works flawlessly as it is, but obviously that type of authentication is no good if the devices aren't part of the domain. Is there a guide anywhere that someone could point me to that will tell me to also use a certificate authentication using IAS so I can authenticate non-domain machines to allow me to add a few items to the wireless system that I need to? I've tried googling, but I can't find the right information, I'm assuming of course that this is possible, if it isn't then so be it, but I'm sure it is. Many thanks, Mike. P.S I don't want to turn on user authentication on IAS as it would then allow kids with wi-fi enabled devices to connect to our system without us knowing. I want to find a way of using certificates if possible so we can control who has access.

5 Years, 2 months roughly. In that time I've worked in 3 different schools - started as a network manager for a small school working on my own in a vastly under funded department. Moved onto being a tech at a bigger school where I was one of 3 techs there managing a rediculous sized network, now network manager with two technicians working in an academy, been here about 10 months now. Mike.

I can't remember the old versions of these, but I've scanned through these documents relatively quickly, and they seem very helpfull, well laid out and easier to read than some documents I've downloaded from the BECTA site.