spc-rocket

Steve, I came across this article --> http://pluralsight.com/blogs/craig/archive/2003/05/04/692.aspx It talks about the "Network service" which is the IUSR_ equilent in ii6 you may want to try this. Also when you are trying in IE, do the following. 1) Open up IE and then click on File | Open 2) type in the url in the Open box 3) Place a tick in the "Open as Web Folder" Give this a shot. HTH, Ashok.

Steve, What kind of authentication have you got on the website? Integrated, Basisc, anonoymous etc it may be this. The username and password is normal as webfolders doesn't use IE but windows explorer so you will be prompted for this. ON the autnehtication select Basic rather than integrated. However i do recommend that you use SSL to secure the traffic as in Basic authentication passwords are sent in clear text. Also when you type in the username password did you specify domain\username format? Ashok.

The technology behind webfolder is WebDAV so you may want to have a look at this and do a few searches. Check out this --> http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/WebDAV-IIS.html HTH, Ashok.

Hi, From what i thought, you need to use something like LDAP (lighweight directory application protocol), which allows you to manipulate AD. This is probably the fastest was to do it and can be done using asp pages. ADSI is another option. HTH, Ashok.

Steve, RM easylink uses Microsoft web folders technology which allows you to publish these folder on the intranet or internet. The RM system uses SSL (443) to publish folders but i suppose you can also use just plain HTTP (80) to do the same. There are few directories (high level) which gets published in IIS and some asp pages that sort of looks at who logged in and maps it to the appropriate "my document" for the relvant users. It also displays LR (Learning Resources) as well and i think this is again based on webfolders as well. Have a look at webfolders on the net HTH, Ashok.

Open software is a good idea and it is been proven, but what i find is th tmost of the open source software does tie (i know i'm gonna get few comments here on this ) to the specific platforms. What i mean about this is most open software is gered towards linux OS (LAMP etc) and while this is good it does not really answer the question i have about open source i.e. if a software is open source then why don't they develop it for other OS as well, e.g. MAC, Windows etc. Don't get me wrong there are software that is available on various platforms but they are software that is not the core softwas as i call it i.e. firewall, dhcp, backup etc. Word processors and other things may be available for various platforms but some mostly itis geared towards linux OS. One reason for this may be that ppl who develeop these are very keen on linux and hate other os i.e. windows so much that they don't bother or it takes too much time to test etc. Again i could be completely wrong but this is some of the views of our IT dept. who have done may searches on net to find example of open software that is compatible on both linux and windows and without much luck. I think the idea of using linux is good and it has its place but from a training point of view many IT guys are more trained and knowledable about windows and macs than linux, although this is change now due to linux growing in popularity. Ashok.

Hi, Hi use the DHCP method or DNS method for doing this - the DHCP method allows you to put the .pac file in another webserver and make it point to it as for DNS i think you do need the WPAD.dat file in the webserver and it will always look for this. Using the DNS method is the preffred way of doing this when you got isa server running but both will work. Check out isaserver.org for more general information on how to do this. Ashok.

Hi Guys, Just can't get this to work so i'll post it here to see if any you have any suggestions or recommendations: We are having problems using the RADIUS authentication and i'm not too sure if we got it correctly setup or if our scenario is possible. What we have is ISA 2004 configured as an edge firewall with 3 NICs, 1) on Internal network (curriculum) where ISA is joined to the domain 2) Another intreface that connects to our other neytwork (admin) and finally 3) the external interfaces. What i'm looking to do is to use the RADIUS authentication from the other network (admin) as that has a seperate domain and isa is not joined to that domain. When i configure to use RADIUS it dones't work and the users on the other network are prompted to enter the user name and password on the domain which ISA is connected to. Sorry for the vague description. So far i have it setup as follows: ON the other network (admin) i have the following options set. Use web proxy, and the port number 8080, the firewall client is not installed on this network and so the support for this is not configurted. The cliens on the admin network are configured as web proxy clients and also as S-NAT. On the authentication i also have taken the tick off the intergrated and selected RADIUS authentication and selected the appropriate RADIUS server. ON the define RADIUS tab in general i have the IP address of the RADIUS server on the admin network (its also a DC for that domain) and is running IAS with the policies set). Any help and thoughts much appreciated. Ashok.

Hi Guys, Thanks for the suggestions. As for the TechNet subcription, anything like this and the management's faces turn right down i've been aksing for a maintainance contract on our core switch for ages but so far no luck. These top level folks haven't got a clue about the potential impact of that core switch. They are brilliant at generating requirements but haven;t got the got a clue how to implement it or how much it may cost. Ash.

Hello fellas, Anyone got a copy of windows vista?? been trying to get this from good old MS but no luck. Anywhere i can download - don't mind the large download. TIA, Ashok.

SpuffMoney, Agree with most stuff with front end and back end exchage server setup but with this things do get slighly complicated so if you want to publich owa then on your firewall you need to open up port 443 (HTTPS) inbound. This will allow external users to reach your exchange server for outlook web acces. To allow your exchange server you need to have rule which allows 25 (SMTP) outbound to allow the mail server to send emails and also a rule of 25 SMTP inbound to recieve emails. You can do this in ISA Server 2004 quite easily. it also have a new OWA forms based authentication which authenticates the users at the ISA server before allowing access to the mail server, making it even more secure. One thing to remember with isa is that the traffic outbound will always go out on the primary IP address that is allocated to the external interface on isa. Few things to think about. MX records, A record in your domain public IP address for the mail server and owa HTH, Ashok.

Agree with Geoff, You need to enter your ISP's DNS servers in forwarders section. This will solve your problems of entering your ISP dns servers in your clients. Ashok.

This is the kind of setup that woulod suite schools best and you guys are very lucky in the north. The main here is the flexibility and at the same time realiabilty of important service ie.. net access. Because of having less layer of heirarchy in support, things get done quicker and response is much quicker. The issue that many RBCs face is that the RBCs need to rely on many suppliers i.e EMBC uses BT, Kingston, Fujitsu, Synterix and probably others and this creates lots of issues as to who deals with the queries and how that is communicated through these providers. Cutting down a supplier and created less dependency on many suppliers may be the answer. If a county or LEAs are bidding for services from one suppler i'm sure then the suppliers will drop the prices as wholesale kind of thing and the LEAs and schools will still benifit. Just out of interest Dos_Box do schools recieve the discount or some sort of payment (full or part) for their internet services? I had a chat with the Public sector director at NTL and he said that Becta about 2 years ago put such a restrictions or demanded things that was not easy to implement quicker for NTL - one of the thing that he said was that surf control software that NTL put forward for filtering was not good enough for Becta and this is reason NTL cancelled their accreditation bid for Becta accreditation. They are going to do this again soon as now Becta are saying that this would be fine. Aparently Surf Control approched Becta explained a few things to them interesting Can't believe surf control is not good enough come on its better than NetSweeper Anyway i'll keep you posted on what is happening with NTL. Hope this helps in putting together some document that could be passed onto the relevant people are EMBC and other RBCs. Ashok. Ashok.

Tony, I'll send you a PM with the relevant info. Few things about the content, we have a portal setup (no hosting at school no no hassle of backup restore manintaince etc) which allows content to be placed on it in a organised way, by class groups, subjects etc. What is good about this is that it allows other schools to view the content as well and we have around 3 schools who will be connecting to it so we can collaborate. If you guys want to check it out here's the link: http://www.school-portal.co.uk/Grouphomepage.asp?GroupID=21501 When we went with NTL and away from from EMBC we did really think it through and to be honest the service was not good enough and they were not meeting the SLAs. I'm not saying that they will not improve I think they will but what suprises me is that the strategies used by goverment to the RBCs. It seems that there is no consistency between RBCs across the whole UK, some RBCs do things differently than others. i.e. there is no standard way of delivering the service to schools for all RBCs - now i do understand that there will be sometimes technical limitations but even the processes are not consistent. i.e. some RBCs allow more public IPs say and some are really really restrictive. Tony if you could put the above issues to EMBC it may aid in getting the service to be improved or at least get their attention i suppose. HTH, Ashok.

Go with the free one!! Untra VNC and VNC are brilliant. We use Remote Desktop on the servers. Ashok.

Russ, I'm in the process of doing this right now and will be going through the scenarious, fire in server room, etc complete HDD failure etc. This will give you an idea as to what to include in the DRP, do a quick brainstorming session on what kind of info you require i.e if server goes down. IP Addresses, Domain name, serial no, spec of server, disk sizes and partition sizes etc. Recovery CDs, who to phone for tech support if a managed server. Don't worry if the document you end up is 30 pages because its well worth it in the end. When i complete my DRP i will forward it here if that's allowed ?? don't know all the rules of what kind of stuff you can post on this forum. Ashok.

Just read a few replies on this posts and people are wondering that if the schools are not with RBC they will not have access to video conferencing outside NEN? well in that case what happends when a school on a NEN has links with schools in other countries ??? say your school has links with another school in japan for example and they offering video conferencing either parties will need to initiate a connection (VC). I think people are jumping to conclusion on HOW NEN will work when we haven't even got the thing working correctly and not many schools are using it either so you can't possibly work out what it will and will not allow. NEN will be flexible - have to be really because will they deny a school acces to say VC session with another school non it NEN or in another country?? i doubt NEN will extend on the japan's school network Ashok.

Hi Paul, The migration was quite easy really they installed all their kit, and we only had to connect the serial cables to our router. IN our case we have 4 x 2mb serial lines (8mb in total) that utilises Point to Point protocol so the router config is easy as well. They wavied the install cost as well and we only had to pay a £500 odd one of fee for installation and we went for a non managed service so we can use our own router and control it. We had enough time to carry out testing because to get out of the contract with EMBC we had to give them a year's notice so we are still infact paying EMBC now and i think the contract will end in May 06. It was not an easy thing to pursuade embc or the LEA to allow us to go on our own but in the end the headteacher outlines some real problems that we had with embc and they backed down. Now i do understand that if you do go out of embc you lose the ability to connect to NEN and all that stuff but NTL are soon to becom Becta accredited and will then work with relevant parties to join NEN or partly join NEN (where they supply connections to schools). Having recently installed ISA Server 2004 to control net access and provide firewall services we have not seen the traffic going over 3mb where as with embc it was flatlining all the time. With isa we have been very strict on what kids can do and what they access. Only allow access to HTTP and HTTPS to students and that it. HTH, Ashok.

Hmm interesting comments about sophos blemin our LEA alreday sold us the next version 5.0 i think. The current one v3.x is a horrible thing as well and kills sims.net - it requires so much tweaking that its to the point where you are constanly paranoid of the anti-virus being the problem to any kind of issue. I can't comment on the new version because we haven't installed it but from what the ppl are saying on this topic things are not looking promising. I was recommended Kaspersky by somebody at the tech seminars and its works out cheaper as well. The best thing is that a company comes and installs it for you as well at no extra cost anyway too damn late for us we already bought the version 5 of sophos So people, to sum up what are the major shortfalls when it comes to sims.net and what do we need to exclude in order to get this working correctly. We're gonna try and upgrade to the new version next week. Any things to lookout for ?? Ashok.

We were with EMBC, but found the service to be very unreliable and the SLAs, well eh there werent'y any in my opinins because on some days we found that we didn't have any internet access and we weren't informed of anything. Migrated this half-term to NTL and yes its is only about £700 expensive than the EMBC so called brilliant 10mb service. We're very happy and had no problems at all with NTL. They even let you manage your own router etc. Ashok.

Hi Nath, What we are trying to do is to implement the FITS (Framework for IT support) and i'm after a software that allow you to capture info about particular device ie. .server. Basically this software aids in change management in the sense that it keeps a history of all the changes that are applied to a particular device i.e. installed a new disk, resized partitions to give you some example. I have knocked up a access database which captures info like this but was thinking if there is any software available. Having bleming over 680PCs, 10 Servers, 45 Swictches and gods know how many printers it makes it really hard to manage and control changes to any of these. Change management deals with how you handle a change ie.. what process you follow in order to get the change implemented, reviewed and authorised etc. CM is part of FITS processes ---> http://www.becta.org.uk/fits Ashok.

Hello all, Anyone know of a free simple changement management system?. Would like to know the window's version because we don't use any type of linux or unix system at present. TIA. Ashok.

Keith, Use the pressaler router grapher to monitor your router. It will allow you to monitor one interface on the free version but the full version (up to 25 sensors) will only set up back £22. really good stuff and can work as a service on windows so can let it run overnight and all year if you wanted to. It will also show you ther daily, monthly, yearly charts as well. How is you 10Mb delivered - one ethernet cable or aggregated serial lines?? Give it a shot. --> http://www.paessler.com/prtg Check out the screenshots as well. Ashok.

Nath, Try this, it will do from one endpoint to the other. Its free and runs on Windows. QCheck -> http://www.ixiacom.com/products/performance_applications/pa_display.php?skey=pa_q_check You don't need to buy the other product icowarrior or something just use the Qcheck and will show a lot more than the usual ping utility. Ashok.

The thing to remember about spanning tree protocol is not to enable on access points i.e. ports where the PCs/Workstations connect becuase eveyrtime something is connected to the port and has STP enabled on it will do a check on that port to see if there are no loops on the network. This delays the connection by approx 15 sec which is not a lot but of course most PCs are nowadays so fast at booting up it may cause a probelm and may take some time to "Prepare Network Connections". The solution is to enable STP on ports that connect to other switches i.e. ulinks etc. Ashok.