Mr.G

So the long and short of this is failed Hard Disk was replaced, then you wanted to use DSRM for which you think you have the password for but it doesn't work. Am I right? If so...... I'm certain that when you add a Server to any Domain it prompts you for DSRM password before it continues installing AD onto the Server, which can be different (user specified) to the Administrator account password specified at server initial build stage (long time since I've done it so not 100% sure). Maybe the password entered for DSRM at the time AD was added isn't the password you have! Which would explain you using Administrator password and getting nowhere. Just a thought? G

Impreza = one of "the" best handling cars on the planet. Someone previously in the post mentioned build quality being great.....nonsense, it's not German and feels rather like a sardine tin while inside. I had an RB5, rated really highly in Evo Magazine "The RB5 is truly outstanding, each ingredient perfectly in balance with the next – power to grip, weight to damping force." I'd say stick with a German car. How about a nice UR Quattro

Hey Joe. Hows things?

To be honest 2GB doesn't seem a lot for all those Services to be running. Why not split the load? Anyway...first thing to check is available memory (windows task manager, performance tab - being quickest, or in the Server Manager Console), if that's very low then that would be my first point of problem resolution. If that is fine...you say you've checked logs....how thoroughly? Can you paste any errors you have here? G

Just wondering if you can give an SCCM newbie some pointers. It's installed and I'm just downloading the R3 install ISO, I'm applying the hotfix as I type this. What are the key things to remember when configuring/installing SCCM. Steps for getting everything to work might be useful! Thanks in advance! G

Thanks for the welcome! Sure, will visit your site when I have chance G

I'm G, IT Manager at a School somewhere in Wales. We have around 500 hosts and 14 or So Servers along with a HP SAN. G

Teachers are professionals too. I think what we are all forgetting here is that while they might have limited IT knowledge (some) they aren't about to deliberately write commands like format c: Yes they do sometimes leave the Pc's logged on, and yes there is a security risk involved in that, but the Teacher is then responsible for the damage caused (if any). ScreenSaver locking times adjusted, down to 5 mins, restricting applications is more beneficial than simply removing access to most of the operating system. I've found file screens are effective, preventing anyone from saving pre-configured extensions to the network. No exe's in user storage, no scripts, no batch files etc. G

Hi. I'm the IT Manager at Pencoed Comprehensive School and recently BCBC (Bridgend County Borough Council) have implemented a managed service for VLE. The service is carried out by a company called Synergy. You could speak to someone in BCBC and ask for contact details or go direct to Synergy and ask for a similar setup? I find the Moodle VLE easy to use and to setup. We did have moodle running here before BCBC took it upon themselves to provide Schools around the area with one pre-made. The information is the only thing that needs to be put into the VLE, everything else is pretty much done for you, which is great. Thanks goes to BCBC for arranging that! We are still in the infancy stages of using our VLE but none the less it is there and is live for Students and Staff to use, content is uploaded to it daily and it is growing fast. Also, our web-site has recently gone live, I worked on this myself and design web-sites in my spare time (amateur) so thought I'd help out and design one for my School. Welcome to Pencoed Comprehensive School - The Learning School Links to the VLE are on the main page if you wish to view that also. Hope you get your VLE sorted, they are from what I am led to believe, great teaching resources.!? G

I dont understand whats being said here. Schools agreements come in different forms. As far as i'm aware there are 3. We have Schools 3 here, which covers Windows OS, Microsoft Office and the core cals. We have our servers listed also and have exchange licensed under this same agreement. You get a free subscription to Technet and MSDNAA if you have over 5 servers, we have 10 so this isn't a problem for us. SA comes with all schools agreements, meaning latest versions of all the software licensed under that agreement for the amount specified. Additional PC's can be added at the next renewal date. If you use XP then this is still a valid arguement under the T&C's of the agreement, using rollback licensing. All PC's must have a valid license sticker which does not corespond with the schools agreement, in other words, the PC's must be licenced already when being purchased. In a sense doubling up on licensing but it is a requirement before any PC can be entered under any shools agreement. That is as far as i'm aware and have been told this by Microsoft. I also have 2 technical support telephone calls to use per year and have access to other benefits such as online learning for students/staff, enterprise versions of software etc. It's been hard getting it right and perfected but when I entered the agreement 5 years ago it helped massively with keeping track of our licenses, making sure we had the correct up to date versions of software and more importantly making sure we are LEGAL. Heres a link for anyone wishing to enter an agreement. Microsoft UK Education - Types of Educational Licence - Schools Agreement We have a MAC suite also which uses Office for Mac 2004 or 2008. This is also licensed under our agreement and just a number of macs is required to the total count of PC's. Technet & MSDNAA is a great added extra for those who don't have it. It does give you the option of self evaluating any microsoft product for extended periods of time, 12/24 months if need be and it's all legitimate & legal. I've used one support call in the 5 years and it was resolved promptly and professionally.

Thanks Roberto, Another constructive post. I'm feeling confident now that Thursdays meeting with the Union will sort out any missunderstandings i may have about my job and what i should or shouldn't be doing. I'll let you all know how i get on an if successful with my regrade or "case" i'll make a walkthrough of what i did to tackle a tricky situation, hopefully then that will help others who may be in my position in the future! Thanks once again, Mr.G

Hi all. Overwhelming support from you guys! Can't thank you enough for all your positive replies. It is and has been a very hard position to hold, with just myself here for the best part of 4 years. We have circa 400 hosts here over 2 networks with 9 servers which are accessed by segmented VLAN over a Gigabit full fibre backbone. All of the work here has been done by myself. Spent loads on a site wide HP procurve solution. CISCO was to expensive. The thing is, this job has always been a 2 person job, realisation from SLT has only happened recently and to be truthful it has been a long time coming. As i've already said, loads of responsibility has been added to my JD with no renumeration. I have been a "YES" man since i started here and the staff here have become complaicant with that. Now though, the fact that i will not take on MORE resposibility is causing me problems. I have had an updated JD given/writen out, which i agreed to and signed. But nowhere on that JD does it mention Exchange, it is regardless of the fact it may not be a "WHOLE" load of work, the simple outline here is that it is additional work and responsibility for me and me alone. When "anything" goes wrong with "any" IT related equipment it is me that is called on. Even plugging in a projector if the staff don't know how - LOL. It will be the same for the exchange box. It will also be heavily used and relied on. The fact that i have a part time technician to help/support me is neither here nor there. It doesn't alieviate my workload, just adds to it, as there is one more thing to manage. Not that i am complaining of course. I am very grateful to my technician for the help/support provided as for too long have i been running around without my head attached lol. It is the principal of the additional items being added onto my JD and self worth that is paramount here, not the case of "just another e-mail server". We don't have e-mail facilities here for pupils or teachers, just admin staff. Pupils/teachers currently use hotmail accounts etc to access mail. If i take this lying down then whatever happens i'll continue to be put upon. I have to set guidelines and boundries to where i will be pushed. I've almost completed my CCNA and have far too much resposibility to just sit there on a less than mediocre salary. Fair is fair! Or isn't it?? Mr.G

Thanks for all your advice and help. It is appreciated, very much. I've now had a meeting date scheduled for Thursday Morning 9am. Informed the School Manager that the Union is coming in too. The School Manager said that if i'm not going to Implement it then they wouldn't be purchasing the Server. lol, tell me something i didn't know! I hope the Union will back me 100% on this now as i've started the ball rolling. Mr.G

Yea i've been thinking the same. If i don't fight it then i'm open to anything else they may suggest. I'm just waiting on that call now from the Union. Hope they ring soon. When the case is over i'll post up anything i can to help others who might need the same advice. I really hope nobody else has to go through this as its not a very nice position to be in. Hope i have some fight left in me thats all! Mr.G

Thanks for all your comments, they really do mean a lot as i feel like i'm fighting a loosing battle sometimes, it's good to know others opinions. Seems like there are others who experience the same. Exchange Training would be a good idea yes, but why should i take on the responsibility of another "full time" job while doing one already? It's one thing installing/configuring an exchange server but another managing it when it goes completely wrong. The ownership will be put to me and i will be the one under pressure to get it back up and running. My JD does say "Anything the Head Teacher sees as Reasonable". Is another full time job reasonable? I think not, the Union have backed me and have already told me to say i'm not under obligation under my JD to carry out the work. If they thought that i would have to then they wouldn't have backed me in the first instance. 30K...well i'm not asking for that. Nowhere near, I'm on Scale 5 Point 23. Not sure if its the same scale as you guys all have but it equates to under 20K. I've explained what it involves, but obviously they don't see that it falls out of my JD.

Anyone??

Hi All I work in a fairly Large Comprehensive School, have done for the last 4.5 years. Started as their only Technician on a less than admirable salary, now i'm the ICT Manager and have my own Technician. Still not paid fairly IMO of course. Due to the Exhausting and overly demanding volume of work here there was no choice but to employ a Technician, however, the Technician only works part time. 8:30 - 1:30. An the work set is more than enough to ensure "busy" days. I am the direct line manager for my technician and am therefore responsible for setting work out and training of. I know that most of you do the same job, i just want to paint you a picture of my position here. I'm responisible for everything IT based here, infrastructure, servers, cabling....you name it and i have to do it. My problem stems from the School asking/forcing me to implement Exchange Server for over 1300 users. Now i'm not "pretending" to know all there is to know about Exchange Server but i'm fairly up to speed with how much work it takes to implement such a thing and whats involved in the management. I don't do anything half "assed" and would always do things thoroughly. I know you can throw and Exchange box in and just get it "working", but to do the job properly i believe takes more than that. Security precautions, message filtering, virus scanning and disk quotation are just "some" of the things that spring to the front of my thoughts. Now I've looked for Exchange Administrator Jobs across the net and have found that £30K salaries are in place for such a position. There is obviously a reason for this!! Plus these Admins are only doing "one" job day in day out. How am i expected to do all this and my job too??? I've taken on "huge" amounts of responsibility during my time here for no extra salary increase with the hope that i will be "rewarded". Lol, guess i was wrong. The school now think that Exchange Server is part of my job description. I have had 1 meeting with the School Manager to discuss this but i was left confused and have now sought Unison advice, they back my position and have said it is not part of my job description and that it is an extra duty which would demand more responsibility and extra time would have to be allocated outside of my "normal" job to properly manage and implement the system. I wrote a letter to the school explaining that i would not take on this extra responsibility with no course of re-numeration or even a job evaluation, just as the union told me to. I have since received a letter from the School keeping with their original story that it is part of my job description. I now have to see my Unison representative and start the process of pleading my case. To say this has caused me stress would be an understatement. I feel pressured in work and it is beginning to affect my health. Tension headaches etc. Lets get one thing straight though, i'm no wimp and will not be pushed over a barrel. But as we all know schools are weird places to work at times due to the politics and sheer volumes of different stresses put upon you. So i'm asking advice here! What would you do? Just give in and do it? Or fight your corner and make a point, which could cause you more hassle? I'm going to speak to my Union in person this evening hopefully, taking all documents with me. I'm not looking forward to coming into work everyday like i used to. I Used to enjoy my job. I wont discuss my current salary but mentioning the 30K Exchange Administrator - I'll tell you it's a "LOT" less. I look forward to any response from anyone who can relate to this or who can give any advice. Thanks in advance. Mr.G

Lol lads. I'm in Bridgend! Yea Deputy Head handed me a newspaper cutout of the site....labelled hacker backchat! From TES magazine i think! Anywayz....nice to meet you all. I was trying to arrange a job comparative spreadsheet, comparing salaries and job descriptions think you lads could help me with that? Helps all of us plus it's ammunition when fighting for new salary increases. You don't get if you don't ask. Perseverance is the key with SMT. Cheers Mr.G

Can i suggest that "someone" (i'd be happy to) make up an excel spreadsheet with comparisons of job salaries/brief job descriptions for "Network Managers" to help those who are on the lower end of the Salary. We could all use the information to compare jobs etc and use the information to maybe gain better pay scales? Perhaps i'm being to optimistic here but i'd like to give it a go. If people could forward the info to my e-mail addy i'd be happy to compose it and e-mail it back out to those that had sent. Mods...hope i'm not treading on toes here. ? Mr.G

Hi people... I'm new here and this is my 2nd post! Wohoo Anyway, here's my thoughts on the topic: Salaries throughout the UK and Wales for ICT technicians and Network Managers are very different, we can clearly see that here in this thread. I'm on the top of scale 5/6 at the moment and have asked for a pay rise to match my responsibility/qualifications. One thing i've noticed. It is not ALL about the level of responsibility you have, qualifications are what Senior Management see along side responsibility. So we need to remember that when asking for payrises. I'm not saying its fair for one person to have more money purely based on qualifications, as up until recently my qualifications were around average. I am almost CCNA qualified and am working towards some Microsoft Qualifications (although anyone practically can get these). It is important to remember the changes in your job from year to year, with the addition of new PCs to support and any high end network changes including servers etc. One thing i did....wrote down all the changes in my job since i started 5 years ago. Noted the salary increases and showed the work/responsibility/qualification comparison over the period. It's the best way i thought i could show it. It worked, my salary is under investigation and i'm hoping to go to S01. Good luck to all those hoping for a pay rise...i know how hard it is to be recognised. Mr.G

Just like to pop my head in and say hello. I'm a newbie here, was passed the information relating to this site by my deputy head. Name is Gavin, 29, from Wales and i'm a Network Manager for a Large Comprehensive School. Nice site/forum. Although difficult to read using the layout used, informative and well presented. Cheers! Mr.G