ronnoco

Many thanks for the replies. I'll see if I can work out how to do some of those things as if I could just get this working it would be a quick win. The virtual server has 3 Ethernet connections. I can ping 2 of them but not the one I need for SMTP which is Ethernet 2 on the screenshot attached. Does anything long out of the ordinary on this connection compared to the others?

Thanks for the reply. I have restarted the server. E-mails scanned on the photocopier are not being received. I can't ping the Linux server from my laptop. I'll try logging into the photocopier tomorrow and seeing if I can do a ping test from within the browser or i'll take my laptop down there and plug the Ethernet cable in and mirror the network settings and do a ping test that way. I suspect you are correct and that it's an issue with the queue. Never even used Linux...and would prefer not to start now if possible! At my previous school, I don't recall even setting up an account, I think we used a fictional email of [email protected] and it just worked perfectly using the standard SMTP.gmail.com settings. Its more a case of will the outside world, i.e. Gmail be reachable when it's on this segregated vlan. I'm trying to ascertain if smoothwall will be able to route. Thanks for the help.

Hello all, Started work at a new school yesterday and have inherited a lot of outstanding issues. One of them is a virtual Linux server that has broken and now not working as an SMTP relay. I have never used Linux so trying to resolve will be very difficult. At my old establishment, we simply used smtp.Gmail.com but there were no VLANS in place. All printers are on a a vlan at the new school and the routing is handled by virtual nics on a Smoothwall appliance. If I were to use smtp.Microsoft.com - would it automatically route or is this why there is the need for the Linux vm acting as a relay? We don't scan a huge volume and I just wondered before I tried to work out the settings if its feasible. I haven't got much experience of VLANS. Any help wouid be much appreciated as I'm very busy at the moment!

I've not done it myself but it seems like you do: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/failover-clustering/manage-cluster-quorum Change the quorum configuration in a failover cluster by using Failover Cluster Manager In Failover Cluster Manager, select or specify the cluster that you want to change. With the cluster selected, under Actions, select More Actions, and then select Configure Cluster Quorum Settings. The Configure Cluster Quorum Wizard appears. Select Next. On the Select Quorum Configuration Option page, select one of the three configuration options and complete the steps for that option. Before you configure the quorum settings, you can review your choices. For more information about the options, see Understanding quorum, earlier in this topic. To allow the cluster to automatically reset the quorum settings that are optimal for your current cluster configuration, select Use typical settings and then complete the wizard. To add or change the quorum witness, select Add or change the quorum witness, and then complete the following steps. For information and considerations about configuring a quorum witness, see Witness configuration earlier in this topic. On the Select Quorum Witness page, select an option to configure a disk witness or a file share witness. The wizard indicates the witness selection options that are recommended for your cluster. Note You can also select Do not configure a quorum witness and then complete the wizard. If you have an even number of voting nodes in your cluster, this may not be a recommended configuration. If you select the option to configure a disk witness, on the Configure Storage Witness page, select the storage volume that you want to assign as the disk witness, and then complete the wizard. If you select the option to configure a file share witness, on the Configure File Share Witness page, type or browse to a file share that will be used as the witness resource, and then complete the wizard. To configure quorum management settings and to add or change the quorum witness, select Advanced quorum configuration and witness selection, and then complete the following steps. For information and considerations about the advanced quorum configuration settings, see Node vote assignment and Dynamic quorum management earlier in this topic. On the Select Voting Configuration page, select an option to assign votes to nodes. By default, all nodes are assigned a vote. However, for certain scenarios, you can assign votes only to a subset of the nodes. Note You can also select No Nodes. This is generally not recommended, because it does not allow nodes to participate in quorum voting, and it requires configuring a disk witness. This disk witness becomes the single point of failure for the cluster. On the Configure Quorum Management page, you can enable or disable the Allow cluster to dynamically manage the assignment of node votes option. Selecting this option generally increases the availability of the cluster. By default the option is enabled, and it is strongly recommended to not disable this option. This option allows the cluster to continue running in failure scenarios that are not possible when this option is disabled. On the Select Quorum Witness page, select an option to configure a disk witness or a file share witness. The wizard indicates the witness selection options that are recommended for your cluster. Note You can also select Do not configure a quorum witness, and then complete the wizard. If you have an even number of voting nodes in your cluster, this may not be a recommended configuration. If you select the option to configure a disk witness, on the Configure Storage Witness page, select the storage volume that you want to assign as the disk witness, and then complete the wizard. If you select the option to configure a file share witness, on the Configure File Share Witness page, type or browse to a file share that will be used as the witness resource, and then complete the wizard. Select Next. Confirm your selections on the confirmation page that appears, and then select Next. After the wizard runs and the Summary page appears, if you want to view a report of the tasks that the wizard performed, select View Report. The most recent report will remain in the systemroot\Cluster\Reports folder with the name QuorumConfiguration.mht. Note After you configure the cluster quorum, we recommend that you run the Validate Quorum Configuration test to verify the updated quorum settings.

Thank you both very much, it's working now. In a rush to try I missed what sonofsanta said - when I went back and changed from %APPDATA% to C:\Program Files.... it worked straight away. I'll keep a note of the command for next time I export. Cheers guys!

Hi Arthur, thanks for replying. Sorry, i'm quiet the novice with Powershell. This is what I am using to export: export-startlayout -path C:\startlayout.xml Can you tell me what needs changing? Cheers

Thanks for this, much appreciated. I added the shortcuts, IE is now showing which is great but i'm still missing Cleric. I tried changing to DesktopApplicationID but still not showing.

Hello all, I have built a Windows 10 image running LTSB and got all group policies working. Everything is fine except the Start Layout The Start Layout simply needs a few tiles and for now, all I need is RDP, IE11 and another piece of Software that is installed. I created a new user account, set the layout and exported with Powershell and tried setting it locally and through Group Policy on both of these: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar Start Layout Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar > Start Layout The Start menu works as I can see the RDP tile but there is just a blank space where the other 2 should be. Why is this? Do I need to adjust the cell spacing? Why does it work for the user I have set it with and no others? Also, this customises the tiles but can the Start Menu still be re-directed via Group Policy like it could in Windows 7? Here is a copy of the XML. Thanks very much in advance for any help. - - - - -

Excellent. I've ordered on of those and an an NVR to test. Many thanks again.

Many Thanks, that's really helpful. Do you think the DS-2CD2342WD-I will be a good choice in general then as this has 106° angle of view. Full spec can be found here: https://norbain.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/DS-2CD2342WD-I.pdf

Many thanks both. There are so many options, it's confusing! To save money I'm going to buy the cameras ourselves (through HV approved distributor) and have a local AV company install. One supplier quoted model DS-2CD2342WD-I which is a turret. Does this look a good option? Is the DS‐2CD2125FWD‐I still a current model as I do like the look of this. What's the difference between this and the turret?

I totally forgot to mention on my first post that ever since moving to hosted sims we have issues whereby the local print spooler seems to lock up randomly. Never happened prior to sims but support say it’s not an known issue. Will this software help with printing?

We moved to hosted Sims last year. SIMS ID (the main core system) is generally ok. I think connecting via RDP is quite old fashioned. Would prefer a fully cloud based system myself. We had to update every client in the school to a newer version of RDP as the version shipped as standard with Windows 7 isn't supported. Required a few pre-requisites and was difficult to do with WSUS. We weren't told about thus so if you do go ahead, be warned. We had major problems provisioning new users for many months but that seems to have been resolved now. It's very stable and with a fast internet connection, you shouldn't have any problems. It's easier to put the RDP on a shared desktop than keep downloading it. You will have to remember to re-download and replace after an update though. The SIMS Learning Gateway (what the parents use) was absolutely terrible. an IOS update broke it for weeks, problems provisioning parents and more. In the end, it was so bad, we dropped it.

Hello, What would say is the best model to go for in general? Most of my cameras will go in corridors. Is there a vandal proofed smoked option so pupils can't see the direction of the lens? Many Thanks in advance.

Hello, In a nutshell, do any users of Hosted SIMS have difficulty printing? Coincidentally, since moving to Hosted, all sorts of users have trouble printing in that their print spooler gets locked up and requires IT to resolve. It happens on old printers, brand new printers, new fully up to date computers. I have tried using mandatory profiles, giving staff Admin rights to the local machine, full control to the printer, latest drivers/firmware, etc Nothing ever shows in the event logs which makes me suspicious that it’s an error in the SIMS AD Forest . When you log on to Hosted SIMS, effectively you are simply RDP’d to a Server 2012R2 server that loads a profile for the user and your printers are re-directed. I.e. if you print through SIMS, your local printer, for example a Brother HL5450 will be called Brother HL5450(redirected1). The next time it will be called HL5450(redirected2). We wonder if it’s timing out which then messes up the local printer spooler. It even happens when printing Word documents or e-mails but users are still logged into SIMS. We never had this issue before and are running out of ideas. Any help, much appreciated.

@GrumbleDook - I completely understand what you are saying and based on what I have read, fully agree. You clearly really know your stuff and i'm sure you are right, the IT manager can't be the DPO. You can however see the problems that many schools are going to be up against if they go with their findings on a course. Some of these people on the course will have walked away with a summary of: 1.) It was a course provided by our LEA 2.) The staff were qualified Solicitors who work for the LEA advising on all legal matters 3.) They haven't said the NM or BM can't do the role, they say further guidance is needed/it's a grey area. 4.) The PowerPoint explained the roles, i.e. Governors are the Controllers/Owners - it didn't say the school. I'm doing my own research and thankfully, know to come to places like this....many wont! I could answer your question about new systems but we'd be here all day - completely new SLT, changes galore that unfortunately are mostly beyond my control. I'm sure others have been there.

You could outsource but then that means every time you bring in a new system, you are gong to need your consultant to review. I've lost count of many we have installed this past year. Probably not going to be an option for small Primary schools either. They just don't have the budget. I've even heard of schools asking for voluntary donations. As IT Manager of 10+ years, I would 'feel' I have the seniority to check in with the Governors. Baring in mind they are ultimately going to be the Data Owners for the school, surely they would want to know about any problems. It depends what is classed as having the authority. It's very tricky as others have said before, the 'conflict of interest' seems to apply to anyone who may want to undertake the role. I spoke to a Chair Of Governors last night who didn't even realise that the Governors would the Data Owners and legally responsible. The same was discovered on the course.

OK, so next question - when will it be clarified? Are we waiting for the UK bill? What does it say on the EU GDPR? If we were going to follow this had we not decided to leave the EU, does it definitely say it can't be the NM? Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

It's a grey area to me as this was an LEA course ran by a legal company comprising of 4 X Solicitors and they definitely said that further information is needed to clarify who can undertake this role. What I presumed from that is you wont officially know the answer until the UK bill has been passed.

I don't think a DPO in general would even get involved in such things as encryption. They might ask 'are the laptops encrypted?' to the NM but I doubt most would do more than that. Us 'techies' think of such things - hence my point, the broad understanding of a lot of this.

You don't need them. You could simply contact the parent who's details you discovered, tell them sorry, etc and not report it. Or even do nothing but apologise to the parent you sent the wrong information too. You're unlikely to get caught from e-mail logs. That breech should be reported, so if you are a data subject (which everyone is in a school) you could have a conflict of interest being the DPO I would have thought. I do get that a NM is very close to the data and has the highest of access but in my eyes, that's probably a good thing for carrying out this role...you're more likely to understand what to look for and be in a position to spot it.

I have very little knowledge on this subject at the moment but personally, I think the NM seems like a good person to undertake the role as a lot of DP work relates to digital. The NM understands how third parties like SIMS, Groupcall, etc obtain and use data whereas you DH probably has no idea of the actual workings. Also, NM will be involved in Internet/E-Mail monitoring, filtering, encryption of laptops, memory sticks, CCTV, social media, etc - they are at the forefront of what a lot of this is about and will know what steps to take. Surely every member of staff would have a conflict of interest. i.e. You make a big muck up a send student data to the wrong parent, that's a breach. You could choose not to report it and smooth it over yourself and hope you don't get found out. It becomes a question of honesty and integrity. I'm confused about what we should be following as from May. Is it a case of we follow the EU GDPR document until the UK bill is passed? The Solicitors on our course said that it was Article 29 that explained that it shouldn't be the NM, BM, Head, etc - like that wasn't relevant for us. How does Article 29 fit in with all of this? There are schools in my area that only employ 5 staff. With these, an existing member of staff would probably have to fulfil the role as I doubt the school would have the budget to outsource. I think as long as you are following all the guidance and making good efforts and most importantly, can prove what you have done - i.e. I follow the Data Protection Progress Plan I have been given and produce all the necessary folders, guidance, evidence and put those things into action (including staff training) - over time and with a lot of study of the act, you will naturally become very skilled and experienced at DP. It's a tricky one. A member of staff can go on a Child Protection Course then become the designated senior professional for CP. You certainly aren't going to know much after a one day course. This could well be viewed the same. Doing a basic qualification in DP would of-course help and in this day and age, the skills, experience and any qualifications you can here gain here could be very advantageous. It really does depend if it is a deal breaker for an existing Head, NM, BM, etc to do the job and if you are prepared to do it.

Hello, Just returned from a GDPR training course provided by my LEA. This was ran by a legal team who consult for them. Sharing some of my findings: Data Controller – The person with legal responsibility for personal data (This is the Governors for maintained schools) Data Processor – Any person who is not an employee of the data controller who processes data (SIMS, GroupCall, Wisepay, etc) Data Subject – The individual (Student, Staff) Data Protection Officer – The individual at the centre of the school’s risk based approach to Data Protection DPO must be appropriately involved in all matters concerning the protection of personal data. Need not be a qualified data protection professional must have sufficient knowledge and expertise. Was told there was nothing official at the moment that said it can't be a BM, NM, DH, etc (although I am confused as it does say otherwise in article 29 - also says 'expert' knowledge?) Shouldn't be an 'extra hat'. Awaiting further guidance from DFE. Brexit has thrown a spanner in the works and now a UK bill is going through Parliament. A huge amount of work to be done to be done (admittedly, a lot of this should be happening already) You need a written contract every time you employ a processor to process personal data. Must only appoint processors (third parties like SIMS, Wisepay, etc) who can provide sufficient guarantees that GDPR requirements will be met and rights of data subjects protected. ***Applies to old and new contracts*** Severe breach that needs reporting is defined as something that is likely to result in high risk to a person’s rights and freedom. How many people on here are (or are thinking) of taking on the DPO role? Would you be seeking an honorarium ro some form, of pay increment for undertaking this work?

Hello, I've been asking My Maths for well over a year about when they will be bringing out an alternate product that doesn't run on Flash. Ideally, I would like a Maths solution that works on any device. Our Head Of Maths had a look at Accelerated Maths (Renaissance software) but didn't think it was very good. My question - can anyone recommend a replacement to My Maths to use in a secondary school. Ideally, something that will work on all platforms. Many Thanks in advance.

Hi Roberto, That's brilliant, thanks ever so much for clarifying and great idea with the name of federate.nwhs.uk and re-directing. I'll do exactly that. I'll get looking for a public certificate authority and get one ordered. Kind Regards