maniac

Yes best to remove all traces of what you've already installed, particularly mySQL and apache, else the WAMP versions won't be able to run because the existing services will be using the ports. Mike.

I was involved with this just before I left my last job, and it went fairly smoothly. The only things we had problems with were making sure all the siblings were linked correctly, not just that they're associated as siblings, but that the exact same record was used for the parent/carer who was given access, else they ended up with seperate logins for each kid. We also reviewed all our student contacts, as we only grated access to priority 1 contacts. If you ring serco they can send you a simple SQL query that you can execute through CMIS which automatically does this, save having to tick the 'eportal access' box for everyone. Also a simelar one for disabling eportal access for priority 2 and priority 3 contacts, so you know precisely who has access. We went whole school at once with the access, with a small trial group of 10 users first to iron any bugs out. Usernames and passwords were automatically assigned by CMIS and sent to parents in a letter that was mail merged from CMIS, nice and easy. The other thing we did was upgrade our e-portal server to cope with the possible extra workload. It was running for about 3 months before I left, and there was surprisingly few problems with it. The most common reported problem we had was parents not being able to find the correct link on the website, or putting their login details into the VLE insted of E-Portal, then ringing us wondering why it won't work! Mike.

If they do it properly then the ducting they install for the firealarm should be bigger than needed diameter, both ends should be accessible, and there should be a pull cord left in place so any contractors or yourself can put in more cables in the future, save digging up the ground all over again. I would use as a minimum a good quality external grade cat5 cable, or if finances allow use armoured cat5 cable as mentioned above. If installed properly the outer 'armour' can be (and should be) earthed, which can cut down on possible interference from any other cables that might share the ducting either now or in the future. The only problem with the armoured cable is it is expensive, but in the long term it is worth it, as the last thing you want to have to do is change it because it's been severed at some point along its route. Also as said above, run two or preferably more cables while you have the opportunity. Mike

I've found a neat way to setup the shortcut is to have the CDB file in the shortcut, e.g our cmis installation is opened from R:\ and the CDB file is on the users H:\ so if I point the shortcut to; "R:\Admin\Admin.exe" then put "h:\clientfiles\database.CDB" immediatly after it (with a space inbetween) it opens the CDB file automatically and prompts for a username and password staight away without the user having to go file and open and select a CDB file. Seems to work well, not sure if Serco would recommend it thou?? Mike.

If I had £1 for every marketing call we get, I'd be a very rich man. I hate companies that cold call, it irritates me. If I'm looking for something specific, then I'll go looking for companies that can supply what I need, if their advertising is any good then I should find them anyway!

We have some workstations with static IP numbers (mainly admin ones) so we can use remote desktop on them, and obviously printers, wireless APs and other devices need a static IP so you can manage them, we assign these manually and the first set of addresses in our range are reseved for this purpose. For normal run of the mill workstations DHCP all the way. The other machines I might consider using a static IP number on is Wireless Laptops, as some wireless systems seem to struggle with DHCP for some reason, and it saves a lot of hassle with them sometimes, as it picks up the network faster when/if the wireless signal drops. Mike.

I don't really need the extra functionality, the only bit I really use is the powerbutton control, but the full console control of the machine from within iLO would be handy. However terminal services will suffice for my needs as it's not worth the extra expence for the number of times it is likely to be used. Mike.

Goold old ILO on the HP servers has saved me a fair few times when I've accidently gone to shutdown insted of restart when working on a server remotely. I just wish you didn't have to purchase a licence to get the full functionality Still just the ability to operate the power button remotely is a real bonus! Mike.

We have a very old Javelin P310i printer for our ID badges. It's old, but it does the job and you get 200 cards to a roll of the film for it, so it's very cheap to run. For designing the cards, we've simply used MS publisher, which for bulk operations I've setup to do a mail merge (including the photograph) from a simple excel spreadsheet, does the job nicely. Individual staff ones we just do 'on the fly' so to speak. Our ID card is not that professional, but it serves its purpose (I would post a sample, but I'm at home.) We have one designed in red for the staff, and we also issue cards to 6th form students which are done in blue, and also have an expiry date printed on them. Mike.

Check your switch settings, as some managed switches have options to disguard multicast packets I believe, which may mean you can't see anything setup as multicast. We had a simelar problem with muticasting in ghost, it just doesn't work through some of our switches, but unicast is fine. Also if you're using any sort of V-Lan setup, I think this also requires some configuration to handle multicasting, but don't quote me on that as I've not delved into the relm of V-Lans yet, just going by what I've read. Mike.

I won't even tell you what we spend then, but it's a lot more than that! Luckily out SLT are reasonable about the money they give us, they put the brakes on any sort of print quota system, so we said you'll have to give us more money for consumables then, which they did. And in answer to your question, staff can print off whatever they need to/want to in our school, same for students. Any sort of restrictions on this is seen by our SLT as distrupting the students education. I can sort of understand where they're coming from, but it does mean we end up changeing a hell of a lot of toner cartridges in the average week! Mike.

Our storage server is a bit overkill, we have 4 HP network cards teamed in it, until recently it was just 2. It does have storage for all our users doucments, and all the shared areas on it, so the extra bandwidth can't do it any harm. The HP network teaming tool is very good, most manufacturers also to their own variations so it's worth looking for them if they exist for your network cards, rather than using the built in Windows options in my opinion. Mike.

Anything to do with Wireless Networks :censored:

I have an Epson scanner which does negs. It works well, apart from the fact it needs to be spotlessly clean, as any dust particles or scratches really show up! Also your scanning software hopefully has some smoothing ability, and some brightness/contrast adjustment else they tend to come out a bit grainy and dark. I've scanned in 100's of my old negs at home, and been very pleased with the results once I'd faffed around the the settings to get the correct adjustment. Mike.

It is possible, I tried this today at work. Read this post on the moodle.org webstie and edit the relevant PHP files, you can choose whether e-mail is mandatory or not, and it does work!! http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=79669 Mike.

Well I never knew that!! I've got a VBS script which does this for me, but this sounds a much more sensible option. What I would do thou is specify a domain group if it lets you, that way insted of editing a group policy everytime you want to add or a remore a user, you simply need to make the user a member of that group in your domain. I have two called Local Admins and Local Power Users on my domain which I use for those purposes, they are added as members of the repective local groups on all my workstations by my script. Mike.

This will probably be the most in-constructive advice I've ever given, but I have to say it . . . . Ditch ranger, we did and we've never looked back. We had all sorts of problems on our system, but as soon as we got ranger off the network, everything speeded up, and all the little problems disappeared. Seriously thou, one thing that might solve your problem is setting up a Group Policy with the internet security setting set to medium, and also adding the AQA site in as a trusted site. We had to do this with our LEAs webmail service as it needs a ActiveX control to edit messages, which just won't run unless we have it added as a trusted site. Mike.

Have you got a drive mapped, or other resources connected from you domain controller, (e.g sophos antivirus creates a connection to your server?) Make sure there is no other software running that's making a connection to the same server and you should be able to add it. I've had this problem before, and it can be a PITA to fix, and I seem to recall it was to do with the machine already being connected to a resource on the domain controller. (in my case it was sophos AV running its updates) Failing that, run sysprep on it then let it start up straight away and add it to the network using the mini setup, this will more than likely work. Mike.

Definitely avoid it. Any payment methods other than Paypal or cash on collection through e-bay are a definite no. I'd be willing to bet you'll send your money, and get no car in return and no come back through e-bay or other insurance because of the payment method you used. I would never buy a car without seeing it, If I were spending several thousend on a car, I'd be wanting an independant mechanical inspection on it. Don't be tempted just because it's cheap!! Mike.

I've been running it on my workstation for a while now, and CMIS seems fine on it. Our timetable person has also had it on her workstation for a while, she uses CMIS a lot, and so far had no complaints so it seems to be ok. Mike.

I'm contemplating the same move, I spend far too much on wasted rent, that I could be saving towards a house deposit. I also spend about £100 a month on petrol for the car just to get to work, it's silly! My parents house is 3 miles closer to where I work so it should save a me a bit on fuel, plus I won't have to shell out rent, utility bills and other stuff every month, I think I could save £500 or more a month living at home again! Difficult decision, but look long term and the benefits are obvious. Mike.

Seems you're not the only one after them. IT Resource Center forums - Part# for the Non-Hot Swap SATA drive caddy Unfortunitely it seems they are un-available as a spare part from HP according to that thread. Mike.

Must admit I've just been looking on the HP website, and I can't find the item you have listed as a part for that server, or even under the generic DLseries storage section. I have seen those type of caddys before, but I thought they were more-or-less obsolete now. Saying that, I have noticed that the photograph that HP use of the DL140 on their site pictures the server with two of those installed! http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/images/emea/proliant-dl140-g3_190x170.jpg Mike.

Our DL140 G3 has these drive caddys in it. http://www.scsi4me.com/images/HP-SATA-SAS-Tray.jpg I'm sure they are SATA drives and not SAS or SCSI drives. Mike.

I ended up going, even thou I said above I wasn't going to!! It was awesome, easily the best Foo Fighters gig I've been to (that's 5 now ) Was there on Saturday when Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones made their guest appearance, brilliant!! Mike.