edutech4schools

Thanks. Might give the manual method a pop. Bit of topic but I am trying to update the firmware etc before deploying the OS. I have entered the lifecycle controller. entered networks settings as DHCP and checked it has been given the correct IP addresses. In the firmware update screen it wants our proxy details but when I hit test it passes all the internal pings but fails to connect to the DELL servers. Any ideas?

Just about to install server 2012r2 on to a new Dell T420 at a primary and I am faced with at least 2 methods for getting the OS installed. I can install the OS using the Lifecycle controller, which will also setup raid and download current drivers etc and install the OS or insert the Windows OS DVD and run through the process manually. What do other Dell users do? EDIT: Just noticed the OpenManage DVD includes some kind of system builder utility. So I can probably add this to the install methods.

The new server arrived today. YAY. Going to get RAID and Windows 2012r2 installed today + Windows updates. What is best practice when setting up the partitions on the host. Do you leave as one large C drive and let Hyper-V create the VMs in the default locations or as I suspect is it better to create a separate partition for the VM'v to get created in?

Does not help your issue but with the learnpads. wifi + proxy can be setup by scanning a bar code.

How odd. We tried a few different (free) backup options but all would fail on occasion and we were told it might be due to the 100mb system partition. In the end windows backup was the only option that worked properly.

I have done this. When creating the GPO if you click on advanced (not %100 sure what its called) you can use GPO targeting to target a security group. So if 1 teacher needs access to something extra, create a group, add this teacher to this group and then in the GPO settings select to target that teachers group. only someone in that group will get that gpo. Sorry not near a server atm so if you need more info let me know.

Just thought of another question, With the new server (host-01) how much HDD space should I keep aside for it when assigning disk space for the VM's?

I am down in East Sussex. I have got a few months to do this so no panic just yet.

Had a play with the HP microserver and I have gleaned lots of knowledge while testing. The schools new server still has not arrived but I have a couple of questions. 1. IS it OK to snapshot a server with Sims, FMS + SQL? 2. The new server (host-01) was going to be setup as follows, host-01 -VM-DC-01 -VM-data = User Data, Sims etc -vm-rds = Remote Desktop Service + Gateway Server2 (700gb RAID5) DC-01 But is there a reason why the DC (VM-DC-01) is a virtual machine and not just running on host-01?

Just gone from xbox 360 to PC. YAY. Steam ID - TwistedHelixis Battlefield 4 atm

+1 for Learnpads I have them in a few schools. They can have different desktops and can all be controlled via a webpage or scanning bar codes.

This could be handy but I was able to browse the shadow copy files of a hyper-V guest that had been backed up. I basically restored a single file from the backup image to an earlier version using ShadowExplorer-0.9.

For those interested I have just found this handy info but not had a chance to test yet. https://standalonelabs.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/a-closer-look-at-windows-server-backup-and-where-did-my-backup-files-go/

I am using Windows backup in 2012r2 for data drive backup. If I do a restore using the built in backup GUI I can choose any data to restore a file back to. A really handy feature of Windows backup is being able to take the backup USB drive, plug it into any modern PC were you can mount the backup files in Windows explore and browse the files that have been backed up, just like browsing a USB drive. The issue is that when I mount the backup all the files listed are only the files taken in the last back. I know the older files must be present as I can take the same backup files, fire up Windows Backup GUI and choose an older date to restore to. Any ideas how I can get Windows file browser to see the older files. Hope that makes some sense Thanks

Hope this is enough. CPU = Intel Xeon E5-2430 v2 2.50GHz, 15M Cache, 7.2GT/s QPI, Turbo, 6 Core Memory = 16gb HDD = 5x 600gb 15K SAS (1 drive will be spare) RAID card = DELL H710 recommended on Spiceworks as being very good. Thanks for all the very helpful advice. I have managed to blag the HP Microserver for testing. I'll install 2012r2 hyper-V over the next few days and have a play / test.

To be fair to Google they did give us plenty of notice. What's New in Google Apps Google Apps update alerts

Thanks that is very handy to know. Server1 (1.2tb RAID10) host-01 -VM-DC-01 -VM-data = User Data, Sims etc -vm-rds = Remote Desktop Service + Gateway Server2 (700gb RAID5) DC-01 Server3 (1TB RAID1) ???? = Backup, WSUS, Images etc. With my physical DC (Server 2 - DC-01), which is the old server, can I run any other services on this such remote desktop services, as it does seem a waste of space to be using this server just for DC+DNS, or is it best to keep it separate from other roles / software.

Would be very interested to know what does not work anymore. How did you find out something had stopped working so I can check at my schools. Thanks

With the 2012r2 host do you join it to the domain before installing the hyper-v role or just leave as standalone?

Should Veeam (Free version) be installed on the host that has the VM's or can it get installed on another server?

This seems to have come about due to a few reasons. The government has guidance for the LEA based around what legally is meant by sole trader. The issue is that if you work in the same school or schools at the same time each week and do this that and the other for the school you are not legally a sole trader but work for the school or schools and should be classed as employed by the school. If you can show you work outside education, do not work on a fixed schedule etc you are OK to be a sole trader. This then causes a few issues around TAX and NI. What has apparently happened (although I think this is more hypothetical) is someone who was self employed and worked for a school on a regular bases found out they could refuse to pay their TAX an NI and simply make out they were employed by a school. The TAX office then worked out that the person should be classed as employed by the school and not only billed the school for that years TAX but because he had always worked on the same days at the same place they wanted other expenditures. I had a chat with my accountant when all this started and this is a real issue / loophole. Did you know all schools should be filling in a sole trader form for anyone self employed? Most schools do not even know they should be doing this. The government does have guidance that the LEA should follow about working with sole traders and even the Government makes it clear in the sole trader form that schools are not to use self employed people if they work at the same times etc etc etc. Although I could show I do not only work for the schools, I decided I would not fight this one. It is totally up to each LA how they interpret the Governments Sole trader forms but my LA have decided to take this to an extreme and 100% cover themselves. That's basically what the schools have been told.

Am I right in thinking there is no point backing up a VM DC with DNS etc as restoring it would cause time sync issues and it would simply be better to have another DC replicating?

Are there any primary schools that are already visualized? If so I would really like to ask a few questions about your specific setup.

Do not forget you need to move the FSMO roles after promoting to DC. install new OS Join domain Depending on OS version either DCPROMO or use server roles to promote the server to being a domain controller transfer the FSMO roles Something like that

Going to have a play with Veeam at some point. Just wanted to run the following past you, Lots of advice online about making one DC virtual and keeping one on physical but why even bother making a DC virtual when you cant snap shot it or restore it from a VM Backup? Also I am currently going to do this 2012r2 server -VM DC -VM Sims and DATA drives Would it make sense to do this instead? 2012r2 server - with DC (DNS)(DHCP) -VM Sims and DATA drives