seawolf

We are no where in the vicinity of Wiltshire Avon or the UK for that matter, but iPads certainly do work very well for Special Needs (Autism, Aspergers, severe ADHD, other learning difficulties) kids. That is one place I have seen indisputable proof of positive learning outcomes. There is one large government school for Special Needs kids that I know of here in Victoria that has replaced all of its computers with iPads following a year-long trial with them. During the second half of the year, their 250 desktop computers sat barely used as the iPads were rapidly and effectively adopted into the classroom with very positive results. They now have over 600 iPads. Of course, the teaching staff more than anything have to be equipped to deal with Special Needs kids in the first place (as the staff at this school were) or the iPads or any other tool will only have limited effectiveness. As for creating documents and printing or saving the work, this is easily achievable on a Windows Domain and this is how most iPads are being used (on a Windows network). It is best that said Windows domain is not a .local one, but the iPad can get around this more easily than a Mac. For AirPrint, you would only require a Mac Mini to act as a print server (any model will do as long as it can run 10.8 or 10.9) and you can either use Printopia, Printopia Pro or Papercut for sharing out the printers. We use Printopia Pro as it handles VLANs very easily. For saving of files to a Windows file server (or any other device that can provide SMB shares), you can use Acronis Access, Foldr, eSchool Lockers, or setup WebDav on your File Server . Another option is to use the Google Drive app if you are already a Google Apps school or OneDrive app if you are an Office365 school. If you are trying to point out the major difficulties of these particular things and your Assistant Head has seen it done at other schools, your arguments will fall on deaf ears - possibly justifiably.

PRTG has a app that pushes alerts. It can also send SMS to your phone if you have an SMS service.

Another option you could look at is OpenDNS. Depending on your requirements, this might fit the bill.

Well, this is pretty much the reality of what we all face with users these days. Let's see, in what ways could a home environment be better than a much more expensive and complex work environment: 1. Internet - a 100Mb fibre connection shared by 3-6 people tops? I would hope it would be fast. We have to share ours with 700 people. 2. WiFi - so you have 1-2 802.11n or 802.11ac WiFi APs shared by maybe 15-20 devices tops. We could have 50-100 on a single AP at times. 3. Networking and Severs - probably not a single switch, firewall, proxy, web filter, or local server anywhere to be found at home. You have a DHCP server built into your router and use external DNS servers and probably external storage such as Dropbox or Google Drive exclusively. We have 22 switches, a firewall, web filter, DHCP server with 25 VLANs, and 27 VM and physical severs, multiple SANs and backup storage arrays. 4. Backups - probably a USB drive or possibly a simple NAS drive or online backup for a handful of devices. We have TBs of data to backup including VMs backups, tape backups. RTOs and RPOs to meet. 5. Users - need I say more? Yes, this article is kind of like a school nurse thinking they are as capable as a world renowned brain surgeon because the surgeon occasionally loses a patient and the school nurse has never had anyone die on their watch.

Cheap and data don't really go well together so I can't recommend a cheap NAS. However, I can recommend a good value, and relatively inexpensive solution using FreeNAS. 1. FreeNAS Mini from iXSystems - commercially supported and great quality and lots of storage in a small box http://www.ixsystems.com/storage/freenas/ 2. BYO FreeNAS box using a decent MicroATX case (Lian Li etc,) an i3 processor, 8GB RAM and 4 x 2-4TB drives. You can install FreeNAS OS on a decent quality 8GB USB drive. Both of these solutions can provide SMB shares as well as FTP, AFP, NFS, and iSCSI. FAT or NTFS are not good file systems to use for data storage as they are not highly resilient. FreeNAS uses ZFS, which is the best filesystem to use for storage in my opinion (and many others).

You are in very serious danger of a RAID failure with two drives predicted to fail on a RAID 5 array. With even one drive failure you are in danger of a RAID failure during rebuild as the likelihood of a URE occurring is relatively high. With two drives in a bad state there is a better than 50% chance you will not be able to successfully save the array. Your best course of action is to immediately take two full backups of all data on the array on two different physical backup devices, then to prevent any data being written to the array if at all possible while you attempt to perform the rebuild. You will want to use the same drives preferably (same firmware, size, etc.), but the most important thin is to save the data as your array is possibly, likely gone. If the rebuild fails, I strongly suggest you create a RAID 6 (good) or RAID 10 (better) array to replace it, then restore your data.

The iBoss is the best I have used or ever seen.

I've had a few questions about some of the tools available to deploy and manage Macs, so I thought I would provide a brief overview and my thoughts on some tools that I have personally used. If you have thoughts on these tools or others you have used such as Munki or Puppet feel free to post them. OSX Server - The Server.app available for $20 for a Mac provides several features, some most people will never need, but others are quite good and useful: - Caching Server which is kind of like WSUS for OSX and iOS, except it can also "cache" apps from the Mac or iOS app stores. It is fire and forget, so has limited customisation. This is it's main weakness. - File Sharing works pretty well and is used for sharing images, packages, and scripts for both DeployStudio and Casper Suite. It also can be used for sharing SMB or AFP shares to Mac and Windows clients. I have found that File Sharing in OSX 10.6 works better for Windows clients than the more recent versions however. - Profile Manager is the management tool for Macs and iOS devices (MDM). It works quite well especially for smaller environments. - Wiki Server is a quite good easy to deploy Wiki for schools with a relatively intuitive and easy to use interface. Quite useful for schools that want to have class-based Wikis or for small departments. DeployStudio (DS) - Netboot, partitioning of drives, monolithic imaging, directory binding, PKG deployment, self service (DS runtime). DS is primarily an imaging tool for mass deployment of monolithic images (similar to Fog or other Windows imaging tools). It does this very well and very fast, including dual-boot or triple-boot images. DS can also push out individual packages, but there isn't as much customisation or flexibility in this in DS as there is in Casper Suite. This is why DS i usually used for monolithic images. The downside to monolithic images is that you need one for each build and you will have to update the entire image anytime an app is updated or the OS requires an update. You could just use individual updated packages for apps over top of a base image in the short-term, but over time you would need to update your image itself. DS does what it does extremely well and is very easy to setup and use. I highly recommend it for anyone just starting out with mass imaging. The online tutorials are good and it's dead easy to use for an experienced tech. CS has a much bigger learning curve, but it can also do a lot more. You will need a Mac to act as a "server" with DS and you don't require this with CS. More on this later. Home DeployStudio: Heavy-duty imaging software for OS X | Ars Technica Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) - The very powerful, and relatively inexpensive remote management and mass configuration tool provided by Apple. It blows the doors off of MS Remote Desktop in many ways. ARD takes off where DS leaves off and can do Inventory and Reporting, package deployments, Remote management/assistance, run automated tasks in the background (a "Task Scheduler" can be installed on a Mac server so that tasks can be pushed from a client ARD by an IT technician with no further need to leave ARD open or their computer even on as these tasks will run on the copy of ARD on the server). One of the very neat things is being able to do a Spotlight search of multiple clients for a file or app (which can be automated if you have software that you want to remove if found, etc.) or push unix commands to multiple Macs. Apple - Remote Desktop 3 Casper Suite (CS) - Inventory and reporting, Imaging, Patch Management, Create custom packages, Self Service, Remote Management, Policies (like custom-built GPOs, very flexible), Usage monitoring, GSX integration (warranty info), License Management, Software Restriction policies, Profile Management for Macs, and MDM for iOS. It basically can do the job of OSX Server, DeployStudio, and ARD all in one integrated system. It can be installed on either OSX or Linux (VM or physical). There are only two things that aren't built-in to the basic suite, which are Netboot and Caching Server. You either need to configure Netinstall on an OSX server or use the NetSUS Linux VM provided by JAMF for this purpose. NetSUS provides ASUS, but not Caching Serve. I have tried NetSUS and the reason I stopped using it was that everytime they update it, you had to redeploy the whole VM. I think they have fixed that now, but we use Caching Server and have a Mac server so there wasn't any point. With CS though, you don't actually have to have a Mac server of any kind to image and manage Macs and iOS devices. If you have a good virtualised setup, you can do it all with your existing backend. http://resources.jamfsoftware.com/documents/products/overview/Casper-Suite-Overview.pdf Using JAMF Casper Suite and Winclone Pro to Image a Lab of Dual-Boot Macs So, either the combination of OS X Server, DeployStudio, and ARD (for the whopping cost of $99, minus the cost of a Mac Mini or other box to use as the server) provides a very powerful Mac and iOS management framework. Casper Suite can do everything this combination can do and then some, but it isn't free and the learning curve is somewhat steep. I recommend starting off with OSX Server, DS, and ARD to start with particularly for smaller to medium-size environments. Casper Suite doesn't come into its own unless you have at least 100 Mac clients.

Well, the price isn't too bad actually. We pay $7,000 for 600 licenses (they average around $12 per client). I could employ a very junior technician for 1 day per week for that amount of money. That's if I could actually find a junior tech who was only looking for one day per week and was any good. Overall, CS is a good deal in a labour vs capital analysis. Of course, for some schools even 7k might be a lot of money (apparently 25k isn't unheard of in UK schools for an entire annual IT budget I've been told). In those cases, DS (DeployStudio) might be more appropriate. Not nearly as many features, but it does what it does very well.

[Q UOTE=Jwzg;1142583]You use CS, don't you? Yep, just waiting for 9.3 to be released.

Of course,that's the simple short-sighted anti-Apple answer isn't it. However, like most things, the real story is a bit more interesting and more fact-filled. The Nitro render engine is restricted at least for one very good reason because it uses JIT, which poses a security risks if 3rd party apps were allowed to use it. http://daringfireball.net/2011/03/nitro_ios_43 But, let's say Apple did bow to pressure from all of those people who aren't actually iOS users anyway for some reason and allowed access to Nitro. A short while later, when the malware floodgates open and iOS has the same 800 percent increase in malware that Android had in 2013, then Apple would be crucified by the media and all of the lemming like Apple-haters who had been decrying iOS' lack of "openness". http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/210622/windows-android-malware-continue-steal http://www.sophos.com/en-us/security-news-trends/security-trends/malware-goes-mobile/why-ios-is-safer-than-android.aspx Of course, Google hasn't received the flak about Android malware that Apple would receive for two reasons (1) because the Google-haters aren't nearly so rabid or prone to spew forth bile without actual facts to back them up and (2) people don't generally expect Android to be free from malware anymore. They do expect this from iOS. And, given that a recent study showed that only .07% of mobile malware targets iOS while 79% targets Android (far disproportionate to the higher market share of Android - so arguing iOS has "security by obscurity" is entirely without merit) it's clear that Android is far from free of malware and has some real security issues. Given the high value target iOS users are to malware writers - isn't it so very odd that they are targeted so infrequently? Or, perhaps it's just that Apple may be on to something when it comes to mobile security. Of course, if you want to have a hack-tabulous time on your smartphone or tablet - you should buy an Android. Just don't be surprised when you are infected with malware. If you do, them the article below can help. http://www.citeworld.com/security/22565/android-malware-how-to-tell

Can't really say yet since the MDM we use hasn't been updated to enable use of any new features in iOS 7.1 Once I've been able to test that I'll post an update.

I have now updated my old iPhone 4 to iOS 7.1 and can confirm that it does in fact make it quite useable again. If you are an iPhone 4 or iPad 2 user, I highly recommend the 7.1 update. Others have had very good results after the upgrade as well. iOS 7.1 Speeds Up iPhone 4, Still Not as Fast as iOS 6 Apple's iOS 7.1 Gives The iPhone 4 A Big Performance Boost -- AppAdvice

Sigh....you can't concede a single point even when it's like a bull staring you in the face. Well, good night. Can't see the point in continuing.

It helps your case if you don't try to make a strong argument against cold, hard facts. The cold hard facts are that the A7 processor blew away every other smartphone CPU at the time of its release based on independent testing. No fairy dust or reality distortion field required. http://gizmodo.com/iphone-a7-chip-benchmarks-forget-the-specs-it-blows-e-1350717023 You will find my arguments to almost always be rational and based on logical analysis of available data. If that's being a sheep, then baah!

That really depends on the vision of the school itself. The aim of IT is to help the organisation reach its goals, to achieve its vision. Not as a vision or aim unto itself. IT can in some cases be the primary tool used to achieve a company's vision (e.g. Amazon), but usually it's just one part. My recommendation is to ask good questions of the interviewer(s) to learn more about what they are hoping to achieve. If they don't have a clue themselves, then you are going to face some real obstacles and it's best to know that upfront. If they do have a clue, then asking good questions will show them that you are someone who will try to help the school achieve its vision rather than just someone who shoots in the dark or will go off on a tangent that isn't aligned with the schools vision. Research the school as much as possible to learn as much as you can about who they are (or at least who they say they are publicly) and this will help guide your questions. Also, listen carefully to the interviewer(s) and look around as you are coming into the building and going to the interview room to try to assess what sort of tech they have about the place. This may help to clue you in. Look for video cameras, computers. APs on the wall or ceiling, printers/copiers used. Be observant.

An early review of iOS 7.1 iOS 7.1 on iPad Air: Impressions and Performance We upgraded 50 iPad Airs to iOS 7.1 today and all was working very well. There are some nice new tweaks to the interface, but we will have to wait for the MDM software to get an update to test new features there.

For some information actually relevant to the title of this thread http://www.gottabemobile.com/2014/03/10/ios-7-1-on-ipad-air-review-early/

The 64-bit part isn't what makes the A7 processor so much faster or efficient - right now. It's just an ace up the sleeve that no one expected and has now laid the foundation for something game changing in the near future. Other companies are now scrambling to catch up with the company that can't innovate its way out of a paperbag according to many of you. We shall see... http://bgr.com/2013/12/17/iphone-5s-64-bit-a7-processor-competition/

You can send sound from your phone to a speaker over Bluetooth! Wow, how does that work? Sorry, but the absurdity of these comparisons just does my head in. It's like saying "Oh, yeah, well my horse and carriage had wheels long before your Tesla had them."

ROFL...

I suppose if trying to cram a thousand new "features" a year (aka bloatware) or selling phones with screens the size of a house is what is required to be "innovative" then Apple couldn't be described as very innovative. However, if producing the highest quality smartphones with the most intuitive interface, the most powerful and efficient 64-bit mobile processor available, a secure and integrated ecosystem free from malware, the best selection of the best designed apps, and satisfied customers isn't innovative - then I don't think Apple really cares.

I guess I misunderstood that the original query was regarding how to redirect to a shared location on the local computer, thought they wanted to do this to a network home. In any case, most of this is achievable using a FreeNAS server with decent drives and a gigabit network. Isolated networks would only be necessary if the school were producing and rendering very large and complex video files. And, if that won't do, then use an external Thunderbolt drive as the storage location.

No, it's not odd or contradictory, it's a purely rational decision. It all depends on how critical the service is to the organisation and the impact of a failure and how long it would take to recover from it. Importance of iPads to be able to print - Low/Medium ETA to restore service - 1 hour maximum. Overall impact on school - Very Low On the other hand, if the core storage (SAN,NAS, or DAS) goes down - enormous impact. If the core switch goes down - enormous impact, etc.

Our iPad print solution is setup this way: 1. Papercut installed on 2008R2 server 2. 2009 Mac Mini running Papercut Pro with Papercut printers shared (so all printing must go through Papercut), and VLANs configured for all 5 WiFi VLANs. 3. Wide area Bonjour configured to provide print services across VLANs. Works a charm.