spc-rocket

Slighly going off main topic, but we have put back the wireless project and it was a marthon persuading th manegement that wireless is not a good idea at present. We have a good wired infrastructure in place and almost a dual data socket and every teaching rooms. Of course every school's requirement is different but i personally think schools should wait for 802.11n standard which is expected to provide better speed and range and security. I'm not so hot on the WiMax and if it will be successfully but since 11n is from IEEE it got a more chance of being in the mainstream. I think the Laptops will be capable of connecting to 11n networks providing the wireless mini PCI cards are replaced. So the investment in laptops is protected for the time being. The main thing is when will the 11n kit be out and what will be the prices? Right back to the main topic. I think if you are going to deploy wireless then there should be some research done on the range requirements, client requirements, applications, bandwidth etc. I do agree that cheap branded kits can be a nightmare in terms of reliability so its a wise idean to buy decent kits in the first place. Of course there is no problem evaluating the different AP/Routers out there and some suppliers will even let you do this i.e. Return after 2 weeks. Ashok.

Linksys is now owned by Cisco so expect decent kit and performance. I think Cisco wanted to get into the home/SOHO wireless network market and that's why they bought linksys. From what i heard of them Linksys stuff is pretty good. Ashok.

Yeah it uses the memory for caching. Maybe you can limit the memory used to cache in the caching properties. I think you have specify this in terms of percentage of RAM. I don't know the exact details but its somewhere in the ISA 2004's cache settings. Also there are some tips to reduce the amount of memory used to log the request i.e. especially if you are using the MSDE logging. Have a check on isaserver.org for more info. BTW, SP2 is available now for ISA Server 2004. Ashok.

Use RADIUS to authenticate when servers are not connected to domains. Windows has a RADIUS server built in but not enabled its called Internet Authentication Server (IAS). I think IIS support RADIUS because it uses basic authentication. Make sure you secure the traffic by SSL for the password bit anyway. Ashok.

ISA Server 2004 does a good job when it comes to things like this. It allows you to define mime and content type and block these per group/per user/pernetwork basis if you want to. It does cost money but its worth it!. From the spec side it doesn't require too much 512mb ram would be enough and a 40Gb HDD would fine fine. However if you can afford a better spec than this, it always help. We have ISA Serve 2004 as the main firewall and its also got SurfControl webfilter for filtering out web content. It also allows for bandwidth management - added bonus. Works well. Ashok.

Have you got a reverse NS setup for your domain. Aol requires this because it checks this before accepting message, its right pain in the butt. You ISP should be able to setup reverse DNS for you. hth, Ashok.

We use Bromcom for registration and also e-behaviour as well and have found it to be very good. All staff now have laptops so we deployed the latest WinFolder application (v. 2.05 i think) and works very well. What makes the winfolder app very good is that its quick and has small footprint. I agree with others in that the wireless pads are bad and outdated. We have them still as we are in a process of migrating to using winfolder but those pads are rubbish and were terrible -staff used to hate it so much. The feedback on using winfolder is very positive and it gives staff so much info and its quick. Nath, for remote support from bromcom we just allowed NetOp traffic to 6502 UDP i think to the relevant bromcom server. With ISA server this is pretty easy to do. They shouldn't need VPN for this and if they are asking for VPN access then i would phone them and get info on exactly why they need this. They certainly don't need it at our place. They use NetOP remote control software to provdie remote support. Our server has been setup to recieve traffic on TCP/UDP 6502. Just publish the bromcom server using the above protocol (inbound). What we have done is got the source IP of where they will be initiating the connection and made the rule so that only they can access the server remotely. HTH, Ash.

You can use your own dc (which is also i presume the CA for your domain) to do this. Have a look at http://www.isaserver.org for more info on how to do this. Its mostly to do with isa server but had some tutorials to create the certificate. From what i can gather, you need to go into IIS manager and right click on the default website and click on properties. Then go into the "Directory Security" tabe and under the "secure communications" section select the server certificate and follow the wizard. Take a look at this -->http://www.isaserver.org/articles/2004pubowartm.html HTH, Ash.

I agree with Norphy, MS licensing is not the cheapest but at the same time its not ridiculusely expensive!. With SELECT agreement the cost is not bad but hopefully we will see a drop in prices from MS as Becta review states its expensive. Unlike linux systems there is only one code, one support provider etc, and it is easier to use - i don't want to turn this into one of those windows vs linux debate but for many schools MS is probably better option in terms of major rollouts. Ash.

Hi Guys, Remember that you can aggregate the traffic by using two ports so say from your core switch to your distribution switches you want to have redudancy and at the same time have 2Gb uplink rather than just 1Gb configure the port to be trunk and use PAgP or Etherchannel or GigabitChannel to combine the two physical links into 1 thereby adding redudancy as well as better throughput. This will give you true 2Gb or if you want to be really flash 4Gb in a full duplex mode. I think this kind of setup is required is you got many switches that hang of or cacades of the distribution switch. I haven't got any experience of HP Procurves but we use Cisco switches here and it offers all the functionality of spanning tree, vlans, port trunking and aggregating ports etc. The 3550 or 3560 with miniGBICs would be ideal for a distribution switch. For core Catalyst 4506 (64Gb fabric) or 6509E (up to 720Gb fabric) would be ideal. HTH, Ashok.

Wonder how they are going to do this with the various RBCs around there. They haven't event got that right - vrious RBCs are different in the stuff they deliver, support and manage. Centrally managed, someone has underestimated what this entails and the type of cost involved for something like this. Moodle looks good and fact that it is easier to use than most vles makes it suitable to be used by teaching staff and pupil. Our current solution Uniservity is good but a bit slow and doesn't offer the same thing as moodle. From what i gather there is big moodle community who develop plugs in to provide extra functionality, can on;y make it worthwhile to have it. Most of all its free!! Russ, not sure about embc and its SSO, from what i can tell IBM or someone else designed it and it has had a few hickups (server down, curruption of data, too much load etc) in the past. How is your 10mb connection? have you got it going yet? Ashok.

Out ICT coordinator was saying that Open University have adopted moodle!. We are going to setup this on a test server and play around with it from what i can remember and have seen it looks fairly easy to use from a teaching and pupil point of view. If open university have adopted this then its really going mainstream. The usual scenarios here is that there are so many VLE out there that its harder to evaluate all of them and also when LEA or RBCs have their own content management systems that they are promoting i.e. EMBCs single sign on (SSO).? so where do you go. Ashok.

Jake, What RBC/LEA is your school with? from whjat you are saying it looks like the sign of EMBC Few things about the NEN, i wish there was some headway on this, we keep hearing about the usual not available if you are not with an RBCs (well schools would be with RBCs if they provide the kinds of services which schools require!) and it will be compusary to be with an RBC. The probably single biggest mistake form the LEA/or RBCs is the word compusary, sorry but i just can't see this happening. It usually starts up with talks like that but the people who make decisions will realise that there will need to be flexible and not force, let me say this again force schools to be with an RBC so they can have access to NEN. The idea of RBC is good and well done to those who have come up with it, but these inconsistencies and other issues needs to be ironed out and let the RBCs mature for few years before inforcing rule like NEN access etc. Schools will move back to RBCs if they get better and allow flexibility that schools require. They need to listen to the schools (who are their main users/customers) on what they want. I applaude the things Tony and others are doing to get somekind of dialogue going with the relavant people/parties in RBC(s) to make them at least aware of the issues schools are facing. Time to cut out the politics and red tape and provide the services that really matter to schools. Ashok.

Rob, There is no consistency between the different LEAs or RBCs on even the bandwidth they provide i.e. like you say your primary schools have 10mb connections and secondaries 100mb, well over here in the Midlands they have just started to upgrade the secondaries to 10mb. This is one example of course but there are lots of other inconsistencies i.e: - the number of public ip allowed - forcing the usage of their proxy server - providing restrictive access on selected public ip(s). - poor filtering and restrictive control to manage each school's filtering Ashok.

Yeah agree with Geoff, Most LEAs don't allow this kind of separation. The solution embc uses for its email filtering is a solution from emailsystems which you can buy as well. http://www.emailsystems.com The issues here is why does do people have to move away from RBCs? this is the question that the RBCs need to really look at and take note of the concerns schools have. Ash.

Hi Pete, We were with EMBC but have now gone over to NTL for their 8mb leased line (1:1 contention ration). Never had a problem with NTL and they do have service level agreements and stick to it!. EMBC has so much red tape it drove up mad trying to open up ports, they lost our requests twice!, the internet went down without any notice and our 2mb service was saturated completely so it was time to move to another supplier. The 2mb line is only from the school router to the local concentrator and after this other schools may jump in as well so essentially sharing the connection. There was no notice of potential problems with connection or informing us of any planned ourtages. We were promised the 10mb service a year and half ago but nothing materialised they have just started rolling out the 10mb service now so not sure what it will be like but to be honest sometime their helpdesk (fujitsu) appears to have no clue as to how to deal with problems and some staff are completely remain baffled (i.e. no idea how to do that) when we try to request the most basic services/request. One positive thing about EMBC was its email filtering yes i'm saying email filtering and not web filtering. We didn't have much spam and it was easier to control and manage the settings for our domain via web browser. As for their web filtering solution its completely the opposite, only 50 local URL! that you can request to be blocked or allowed - how silly is this. Apparently it used to be only 30 before, my colleague tells me. :? LEAs don't like you to do this bacause they want to keep all schools with RBCs (regional broadband consortia) and there are plans to share resources across the national educational network (NEN) which all RBC will be involved in at some stage. I say at some stage because the NEN is yet defined on how or what it will cover - there are guidelines drawn up by BECTA but the its still in the early stages. NTL are looking to get Becta accreditation which allow them to provide services as whole or partly to RBCs. Things to look out for: - The cost of net connection - Email filtering - Web filtering - Domain name/content hosting - Public IP addresses - How the connection is delivered i.e. managed router, serial lines or direct ethernet HTH, Ashok.

How about using ISA Server 2004 Standard edition. Can have many interfaces as you like. Ashok.

Hi Guys, Thanks for responses!, personally i don't want to go down this line yet but our MFL faculty has links to schools in other countries are wanting to do some courses which will help both schools so the requirements came from them. The management has also given backing to this. We have cisco managed switches and are using vlans to seperate the two networks we have. As for the classroom conferencing its just that i know they will ask for this so my team is trying to get the research done in advance to answer the silly questions they will ask. Unfortunately people don't understand that even the newest technologies can't meet all the challenges. They think because its a computer system it can do magic!(!). We have the 8mb connection and after installing isa server 2004 out traffic has cut down so its no more than 3.5mb max. So i can reserve at least 3-4mb for the VC session(s). Polycom kit has been recommended to us already so i'll get the guys to check it out. Thanks for your suggestions/inputs. Cheers, Ash.

Hi All, We are looking at doing VC and are looking for pointers on what to purchase and what kind of softeare are available for a classroom VC. Any ideas? TIA, Ashok.

Hi Ross, It is probably the AV scanning the remote files as they are checked. Try to exclude the files and folders from the ondemand or on access scanning. This should speed up the process. From what i have read in this forum(s) it is also a good idea to exclude scanning of remote files i.e. H:\sims if your sims is on the H drive. There is a technical article developed by Capita tech support which explains what happens when the sims.net is executed. Since that requires loggin into sims.net supportnet i downloaded it here. Let me attach it (its a PDF file). BTW, What AV are you using? Sophos users have had no end of problems with getting sims working correctly. HTH, Ashok. networkimpactofsims.pdf

Just to let you guys know that ISA Server 2004 SP2 is to be available in the end of Jan 2006. Usual bug fixes as well as the extra features below: - Support for compressed HTTP content - BITS caching - The HTTP QoS feature Out of all the above the "support for compressed HTTP content" is perhaps the most important one as it will speed up web access and also speed up OWA. Ashok.

Steve, can't you hard code the netbios name of your domain in the scripts/html page? The forms based authentication on our isa server has the same issue but it theres a fix on isaserver.org ---> http://www.isaserver.org/tutorials/Customizing-OWA-FBA-Logon-Screen.html RM has sort of encrypted the asp files so i can't really guide on how the code should like. If anyone got a asp file decrypter then please get back to me. HTH, Ashok.

Hi, Yes we're also stuck with uniservity as well and it not bad and some teachers have put content on it but like you said it is slow and requires internet connection i.e. no ingtranet available. While this does seem a good idea to not to worry about the backup and restore of data and maintainance of server, the bandwidth issue does remain. Id students are meant to use this then say a class of 30 students logs on and tries to download 50K word document, it will have quite an impact on the bandwidth. We have isa server and decided to cache some of the content for quick access but doesn't see that great in the caching department - looks like the coders didn't give a damn about this facility - shame! The SMT thought it was brilliant they signed up for 5 years Ashok.

Hi GUys, I called up the company and explained what i wanted to and which course i wanted to take and they said that for schools they will offer the courses for £100 per day. The do know that schools and colleges have limited budget hence the discount. HTH, Ashok.

Geoff (m25man)), I agree with the webdav, i' not too sure of those products which sort of tunnels into your network using SSL and give a VPN kind of functionality. WebDav is like you say is the native comes with IIS can be used with the asp scripting to do remote access to files etc. We have RM Easylink which uses this method so its definately doable. We are looking to provide SIMS.net access to some important users from home by allowing very very restrictive VPN but you mentioned about ISA server. We have ISA server 2004 as our firewall and so far have been very impressed on what it can do which brings me to another point - you mentioned giving access to sims.net etc via isa server publishing - is this possible without VPN? I would be very much interested in any potential scenarios because then i can get around the VPN setup business. Please keep me posted if you come up with any solution or potential idea. Ashok.