spc-rocket

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39286295,00.htm Ash.

Spanning Tree is good for preventing loops but you do need to configure it properly. For example it sould only be configured for ports that connects to other switches or routers, it should not be enabled on ports that are connected to servers or workstations. For connectivity problems such as GPO not assigning properly and scripts not running could be because the port that the workstations is connecting is still checking for loops. The thing to is like i said turn of spanning tree for ports that connects to workstations. In cisco switches its called portfast which basically tells the switch to immediatly move to forwarding state rather than checking for loops. Now you may ask what if someone connects a patch leads to two network data points in this case the loop would occur but the switch will not let this propergate it to other switches because the port that connects to other switch(s) will have STP enabled on it. For multiple vlan scenario, rapid spanning tree might be ideal however you do need to calculate the root switch, and the path cost etc. to make it work correctly. Loops can also occur if spanning tree is turned on espically when configuring port trunking or link aggregation or etherchannel as cisco calls it. However if configured correctly the etherchannel is seen as one link to STP instance. Ash.

If you have some media convertors between switches that can also cause packet loss and you may see symptoms like yours, i would check the patch/fibre leads as well. Ash.

Thanks for all your help, certainly lots of options available. Ash.

Hi All, Just wondering if anyone know how to mask the password on an inputbox when the user is typing in the password. I have a situation where i'm tryin to use vb script (using the wscript) which prompts for the username and password but the password obviously needs to masked with *'s or other character. Looked around on the net but not got much info except using IE to mask and incoporating this into the script. Any ideas? Ash.

I think this requires a kind of a server (for CISCO is VMPS - Vlan Policy Management Server) which basically keeps track of all mac addresses and that way it know which vlans to associate with which mac. This does give you the flexibility of just plugging a workstation or laptop in and not having to worry about assigning the correct vlan etc. Downside of this is the cost obviously of purchasing the server side of things and also some security issues as well. My advise would be to stick with static vlans as you which ports have been assign which vlans etc. Its a bit more work but better control. Ash.

Hi, You need to have a contract like smartNet from cisco or one of their reseller in order to download the IOS. Cisco do make some older IOS available to all users but the newer ones i.e. 2600, 2800 series router's IOS may require a login (not the CCO login but the smartNet contract login). From what i can tell, if your school has any cisco equipment, just get a smartnet contract on one of the lower end switch i.e. 2950 which will not cost that much and then they will give you the login to download software and from what i've been told you can download IOS of products outside your smartnet contract i.e. if you bought a contract for 2950 you can download the IOS for routers etc. Can't verify this though., but don't tell cisco this of course!! Another program you may want to look at is IOS hunter. Its not free but it will allow you to download and search IOS images prior to 2002, you obviously have to pay if you want to download the latest. HTH, Ash.

HI, You may want to look at the Cisco Express 500 series switches, these will allow you to do qos, PoE etc and are designed for small - medium businesses who need the VOIP, PoW, wireless etc functionality. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6545/index.html They are not badly priced either. I would talk to one of the cisco resellers and ask them for the gold discount which for schools can be anything from 20%-35%. The only thing with the gold discount is that there is a lead time of 6 weeks so plan the purchase early. Basically with this they actually manufacture the product for you and hence the longer lead time. HTH, Ash.

Hi, Have you applied SP2 and also post SP2 hotfixes? Apply SP2 and the fixes and also enable the PMTU discovery, this will speed up the net access. Also how is the DNS setup, do you use an internal DNS server or DNS on the isa server itself. The recommended practice is to have an internal DNS server and configure forwarders on it. You will also need to create an access rule to allow DNS traffic from the internal DNS server to Enternal network. Joining the ISA server to the domain is also a good idea as this will allow you to do seamless AD user authentication. Enabling PMTU ---> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902347 Also run the Isa server best practises analyser --> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=D22EC2B9-4CD3-4BB6-91EC-0829E5F84063&displaylang=en This sorts outs or atlest tells you most of the problems. HTH, Ash.

From what i gather, exchange does not anymore require the CALS for each mail box for per device licensing so you need to buy the same amout of CALs as the number of computers you have. For external users you can buy the external connector license which will allow unlimited amount of people to connect to the server from outside. Sorry don't agree with the license/cal per mailbox, now that's just plain silly and MS now knows this so they dropped this idea. More info here --> http://www.slipstick.com/emo/2003/up031001.htm Looks like you got a choice with exchange 2003 either a user cal, device cal or EC. Ash.

Try netstumbler, this will display graph with signal strength and will also reveal other info as well, i.e. encryption used etc. Ash.

Agree with Geoff totally, it would allow schools to implement some things they way they want to and not pay for it to LEAs who decides on this "one size fits all" scenario. My argument has always been that the LEA/RBC should provide flexibility for large schools who have a higher skills set in both technical and also training ability. I can understand that smaller schools may not want to employ people for implementing things in house and would rather like it to be done by their provide which is fine, but as i mentioned the RBC/LEAs need to look at the larger schools and cater some "special" or flexible service (mix and match or as Geoff said, pick and mix the services). Someone mentioned that we shoudnt't compare the different services which is fine as they are all different, but i think the provides i.e. RBC/LEA then should state that the 10mb service is local to the nearest pop or distribution point and you are not getting the full 10mb pure internet service out to the UK gateway! but sharing this with other schools and county probably!. Ash.

Blimey!, that is expensive for sure, is this one to one contention ratio and symetrical? We use NTL DIA 8mb leased line service and have not had any issues or downtime at all except once where due to storm and some building damage the service was reduced to 2mb while they fixed the problem - and it only took them 3 hours to do that so its not bad. Since our account has now moved over to public sector (the shakeup with the merger etc) we will be getting a upgrade or either 12 or 14mb leased line! with out any more cost! let me know if you need any costing etc. Sorry just realised that i clicked on the wrong quote button, Ben i was replying to your message about the 25K that you pay for your service. Ash.

We had the demo of CMIS the other day and from what i saw it looks very good. I like the idea of having it all on one DB - a weak point of sims.net/capita because they bought other companies' products (nova, assement manager etc) and are now trying to integrate etc. into SQL a long and complicated thing. The person from secro did demo on the latest version which they showed at BETT and it looks very good, both e-portal and Facility Admin. We are also going to a conference in sheffield (Notre Dame school) where they will be talking about specialist technology collages related stuff and also a lot on the Facility CMIS. I don't mind copping the cost of extra server to host the portal, it is recommended by them and makes sense to be honest. Looking at this thread and others is that they may have installed both on the same server and maybe that's why the e-portal runs slower? The guy made it clear that it takes planning and there are 5 stages to transition and may take 4-5 months for the whole thing to be completed. Some may think this is too long of a wait but if you think about it, moving from one MIS to another is not easy for various reason and thus project management is utmost important. Strange really that in this thread that many people says they have moved from sims.net to CMIS but not the otherway around. Hmm...maybe we know the reason. Ash.

Hi, Probably worth looking at Exchange 2007, if you gonna do an exchange installation. Yes it does need 64bit server but you will be most up to date and shouldn't have to upgrade the mail solution for a while. The CALs are not badly priced as well. Ash.

Hi, You need to open up the ping traffic for the test you done. Ash.

BIOS update for the laptop? other than this i don't what you can do, except to find if there is a patch for the OS i.e. windows xp or something. Ash.

Hi Tim, For this i think you need to create a custom adm file and use this in your GPOs. I think there are some numbers you have to defin in the adm policy for the different drivers. This should point you in the right direction --> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/231289 This is probably better --> http://www.gpanswers.com/faq/?id=19 Ash.

Dan, Have you updated the drivers for the wireless card, this is the usual issues when it comes to wireless cards. Try the latest driver from Intel. Ash.

@Uraken, Are you using the admodify.net ? this will require the server with MS .net Framework installed v1.1 will do. What kind of problems are you having? Ash.

Hi, Have a look at the 2x application server. This actually publishes applications securely. The free versions includes support for 5 clients. Its runs on Windows Terminal services so you do need the TS CALs. Still not bad for sims.net and FMS for SLT. Check it out. http://www.2x.com/applicationserver/ Ash.

Uraken, You may also want to limit the no of recipient the students can send to. Once you take this away they'll start sending it to lots of other students. The recipient limit can be set on the policy or each individual student account. Of course with tools like ADmodify.net its all done in an instant. Here we have disabled access to the staff's global address book altogether and also set the recipient limit to 3 - 4 individuall using the admodify tool. Ash.

Wonder where is Russell, so far no comments from him!

Hi Tony, We had the same issues as well the first time it didn't like extending the site or something when using VMWare workstation i think it was. I think some info (if you have it or will have it) on WSS 3.0 and SLK would be great! Does this mean that wjhen SLK is out will it include the sims web parts do we still need to apply for these? I'm just trying to look at all the pre-requesites of WSS 3.0 with SLK to get a picture of how it all integrates and what kinds of benifits it brings. If someone has already tried this on virtual machine and got it working then it would be an idea to make the VM image available so others can use the VM Player or something to test it out without havig to go through the whole install. I know the image will run into few GBs but still worth it guess or make a DVD availble perhaps. I think its got a lot potential for being used as a VLE and more because of the modular approach of using web parts for various functionality. BTW MS will be making the templates available for WSS 3.0 soon so that should be worth looking into as well. Ash.

Hi Guys, This seems normal because it will flash if the workstation has WOL network card. You can look at the NIC on the PC and that will be flashing as well, this is so the WOL packets can be sent to wake up the PCs. Our cisco swicthes do these as well and at first we couldn't work out why this was but then we looked at the station and their lights were flashing as well. Ash.