Butuz

Go into "Services" and stop the "Netlogon" Service no one will be able to log on then. Butuz

Very dissapointed with how this thread has come along - Edugeek is our window to the outside world and we should be presenting an approachable and professional image as "education ICT professionals". Outside users (teachers etc) do not expect to see some of us bitching like a bunch of 13 year old girls, calling others professionality into question, resorting to personal abuse... Mods - this thread should in my oppinion be pruned of any derogitory / nonsensical posts so we can get back to the issue at hand. As for Open Office: 1) I think it is a great free piece of software. 2) There are no security threats to the network as long as it is installed correctly. Some could argue that it is infact more secure than Microsoft Office, less prone to bugs and hacking. 3) I find it to be on the slow / clunky side compared to MS Office - it is no where near as polished. But it can only get better. 4) The DT department wanted to try it - I gave them the benefit of the doubt and installed it on 20 PC's - but after a few months they got a bit fed up of it and wanted to go back to MS Office - it is what I expected to be honest. 5) Here we are licenced up to use MS Office at considerable previous cost - why use Open Office which is slower and more clunky - and presents some training issues. 6) As for choice - yes choice is good. But as has ben said before - we teach them the skills not the package - so it shouldnt really mater if we use Open Office or MS Office - but I will say this - I firmly believe the pupils should get used to using Industry Standard software so that they are ready for the working world. It may be a sad fact and some may not like it - but it is a fact none the less that MS Windows and MS Office is industry standard software used in probably 95% of industry's in the world.... 7) I would install OpenOffice along side MS Office on the whole network, as long as file associations defaulted to MS Office, and as long as Open Office was configured to always save documents in MS Office format, rather than Open Offices own formats. I would like to find the time to package an MSI including what I want - but it is not high on my priority list at the moment. Hope the teacher who started this thread has not given up totally on us. Butuz

Oo glad I've spotted this I've been looking for some good value linux hosting that I can host a few sites on! One question - If i have a website which I later need to add HTTPS on to - is it possible that this could be set up on a one off basis? I couldnt see anything about HTTPS on your website. Cheers Butuz

Oh well he wanted more than a chat! He brough a Securus box and we set it up for a trial. So far looks very impressive - just need to reboot my Terminal Server after 3pm so it picks up the client software & the firewall change I made to GPO (needs UDP port 87 open). Admin interface is clear and easy to use - the system seems very powerful - i've done a few tests so far and been impressed: 1) opened regedit - securus picked that up and flagged it as a major hacking concern 2) swore alot in MS word - securus picked that up too 3) typed in kill you and securus picked that up as bullying. It even lets you filter websites, and group workstations, and group time into a timetable so you can see what lessons have the most incidents etc (dinnertime!) Butuz

Yes we use Grommits system too - we call ours Cover1 Cover2 etc - seems to work. Butuz

That's good to know! Got Securus Rep coming tomorrow for a chat. Thanks all! Andrew

Yeh I'll let you know how I get on. So you use securus now Netman? Have to admit I am a bit worried about the overhead of running it - i.e suddently having lots of incidents to investigate. Butuz

Thanks for your experiences - I am arranging a 2 week trial now - so we can see if it works well with my terminal server - or not! Butuz

Anyone know if Securus works on Terminal Servers? I.e detects each individual session on the server? Butuz

Oh just googled and it comes up as Maths Alive Framework Edition - don't have Maths Alive here so that explains that one! Butuz

Thats a strange one - I do not recognise that package name at all - just checked my CC3 network and I do not have a package with that name on there. I am fully up to date with all hotfixes, HSP's and SR's - so have no idea what that package is or does or why you have it allocated? Not much help I know... Butuz

4 x 146Gb 15K drives in Raid0 is going to be DAMN fast Butuz

Wow - 1500 Eee PC's and site wide wireless. Sounds like a recipe for low reliability - and MASSIVE TCO to me! Good luck with this one! Butuz

Raid 0!!!!! Arrgghhhhh run away!!!! Butuz

Basically you're saying that if Ford made a new Mondeo that was twice as wide as the old one, so that it no longer fitted on most UK roads - you would expect the Gov't to dig up all of the roads in the UK and make them twice as wide, JUST to fit this one badly designed poorly executed car? Personally - i would blame ford...they should be sensible enough to make cars that actually fit on 99% of UK roads....... Edit - haha another car analogy Butuz

In that case my appologies! So your child has not actually been proven to have hacked the network? If not - I do not see how they could ban your child from the network because of a "percieved / possible threat". Out of the box CC3 is very secure. It can of course be made very insecure by inexperienced / bad managment... but that is the same with any system. Butuz

And that folks is what happens when you don't read the job description Butuz

*falls off chair* *lands in a pile of money that someone threw at him* as mentionmed above - 3com suck too! As for genuine technical reasons - would be nice but real world experience will do for me! Butuz

I think you'll find most of us NM's don't get 27k Butuz

Netgear seem struggle to make a £40 ADSL router perform reliably - I wouldnt trust them with my mission crytical network, or thousands of pounds of school money. I have not had one HP switch or module fail over the last 6 years. I have had 3com fail, cisco fail, netgear fail, linksys fail, planet fail. Thats my choice though and you may chose differenty! Butuz

Oopsi my bad! Butuz

Simple answer is because for many schools BSF will actually improve ICT provision in a big way. Schools with very good network managers would be hit hardest under BSF as they would probably see a decrease in the quality if ICT support. Schools with bad network managers (or even no network manager) would see an increase in the quality of ICT support under BSF. I do think however Dos_Box may be being slightly nieve with respect to the idea that BSF companies will bend over backwards to help schools. They may bend over backwards at the start - but as soon as they have some concrete data on how ICT support is being used in the schools they wil probably start to bend over backwards less and less. No profitable company can afford to bend over backwards for every customer - its simply not practicable. I am watching the BSF closely, safe as I am in Wales (for now!) Andrew

Having trialed 30 thin clients in the business studies dept - I am rolling out another 70 thin clients to the 6th form and ICT department. Going to save us a bucket load of money in the long run. Ultimate aim is to have thin clients in all ICT rooms apart from Art and Design Tech. Butuz

Stick with HP for sure. ProCurve Switch 8212zl at the core and 2650's with Gbit Fibre module on edge would be a cood combination. The 8212zl might be a bit overkill for you currently but its certainly got expandability! If that is too expensive maye try one of the 5400zl series at the core - there are 4 different models, ranging from 4 - 12 module slots so there should be one for you there. Butuz

Trouble??? Sorry - no help but couldn't resist!