Gaz

Its just a standard domain controller running the usual roles, AD, DNS, DHCP, IIS, (Possibly Hyper-V), Group Policy etc etc etc. My idea was that the RAID1 array would host the OS and roles and the RAID5 would host the storage for the user areas.

I've got a server with x5 600GB SAS drives, I think I have dismissed RAID6 but what are peoples thoughts on having x2 drives in a RAID1 array and then x3 drives for storage in RAID5 or would you just stick them all in a RAID5 array? The controller is an HP P420i 1GB FBWC integrated into a HP Proliant ML350p Gen8, which I'm not sure actually supports having 2 RAID arrays or if even good to do if it does support 2 RAID arrays.

Who will be managing the WiFi? Are you the school IT Tech? If you will be the one managing the WiFi then maybe get a trial kit from Meru to see if you even like their system, if not trial Ruckus or other vendors then get a quote for a system you like.

Yeah I've decided to go for APC tower style, for support and parts availability.

Its actually £300 (VAT Price) more. I didn't really want to spend more than £650 but I do appreciate its not something that should be skimped on.

We are in need of a UPS around 2000VA but which make? We've currently got an APC smart UPS, but I'm after a rack mount version however the APC version rackmount is way out of budget. CyberPower PR2200ELCDRTXL2U Professional LCD Series Rackmount Uninterruptible Power Supply (1650W/2200VA) Tripp Lite SMX2200XLRT2U SmartPro Series Uninterruptible Power Supply (1920W/2200VA) Both seem ok but the Cyberpower doesn't have any UK presence for support. Connected will be a Server (460W PSU, NAS 52W and a switch 487W maximum. Those figures assume the devices are fully loaded. Ideally I'd like to get it from Broadbandbuyer as I'm ordering other stuff too, so its easier to just buy it from them.

I guess for me the GUI offers a visual overview of the config whereas with a CLI you need to look at the config in text format and be able to understand it to see how it effects the network. I'll get used to it, I guess I was just expecting more from the GUI side having been spoilt with the Cisco.

I like that saying, however I can't abide by it yet At the moment, not a lot as the server still isn't in place. I've made some VLANS which I did manage to start using the GUI but I had to finish them off using the CLI (for ip helper etc) still gotta sort out the routing for the VLANS for DHCP which is a little tricky without the server. A lot of the CLI stuff I actually remembered from reading threads on here about other people trying to config HP switches, which I guess is another reason for choosing HP switches and the support from edugeek.

We are building a new site and this time I opted for HP switches as they get raved about on edugeek. I much prefer a GUI to CLI to config a switch, possibly just because of my skill level (or I'm lazy) I've only ever used Cisco SMB switches before so I know their GUI pretty well, today I setup the new HP switches (2920-48 & 2920-24PoE Stacked) and had a good look around the GUI, or lack thereof! It seems that with these switches 90% of it is done via CLI as the GUI is very sparse (Using Manager account) Even using the GUI is a complete mess and it seems to take ages to navigate around, using the "Help" (really its a joke i'm sure) isn't great either and there in no search function that I could see. Are they really this bad from a GUI perspective? Or is it a case of the higher up in class of switch the less GUI is used? I guess I'll get to improve my CLI skills but I just prefer to see what I'm doing and the effect in a graphical environment. The lightshow when they start up is pretty cool though

Nice! I'd almost forgotten about this.

Yeah I saw that but it looks a little overkill for inside a reception. I was going to get a dome type and mount it in a ceiling tile. Will probably get the ubiquiti dome camera with an .af converter which isn't ideal but considering how cheap the converters are I'll buy a spare to have on hand.

Still its a point of failure that I'd rather not have. You are probably right in that they can sell products cheaper by not supporting AF or AT.

Yeah like their low end WiFi Access points you need to use their PoE injector. http://dl.ubnt.com/datasheets/unifi/UniFI_Video_DS.pdf

OK so that ubiquiti camera is off the table as its one of the ones that forces you to use a PoE injector. We go to the expense of buying a PoE switch we don't want to have to use a PoE injector!

Does anyone have any experience of these UPS's? This one seems reasonable but is it too cheap? CyberPower PR2200ELCDRT2U Professional LCD Series Rackmount Uninterruptible Power Supply (1600W/2200VA)

Thanks James, thats good to know. Meldrew while Axis has a good reputation so does their price! I guess if the Unifi doesn't work out for us then we can look at Axis. Good to know its got free software too.

So my boss has asked me to look into getting a camera for our reception and I instantly thought of UniFi is that wrong? They don't want to spend a whole lot of money. If I got this Ubiquiti UVC-DOME UniFi Indoor HD PoE Dome IP Camera w/ Night Vision (720p) do I also need to get this? Ubiquiti airVision 1-Bay 500GB NVR Network Video Recorder (20-Channels) We are more than likely going to get a QNAP NAS for backup in general but looking on the QNAP site it doesn't say if the Unifi is supported.

As someone who is considering Meraki for our new wireless install has anyone with an MR18 had one fail? I've got one of the free ones from the webinar (MR18) and its been fine.

Try these. Download Internet Explorer Administration Kit 11 from Official Microsoft Download Center https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=internet+explorer++11+administration+kit

I think that you need server 2012 for IE11 to get the proxy info as the Internet explorer maintenance GPO no longer works with IE11 when using server 2008. You could use the registry to hardcode the proxy info via a GPO but I found that was just easier to make a custom IE11 image using the Internet explorer administration kit, and push out that via GP. http://www.technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/ie/bb219517.aspx

I use this for our 2003 2008 servers but you will have to try it and see if it works for 2012 AD Infinitum Active Directory network administration multiple user manager tool for Windows 2000 and NT4

Does anyone have any experiences, good or bad, of Lambda-tek? LambdaTek Component Shop - CPUs, Memory, Monitors, Printers, Storage, Networking, Software + more They have some HP stuff I require quite cheap but I've never heard of them before and there isn't much info on edugeek about them other than people posting links to their site, but they may not have any experience of them.

Yeah but its not far behind. If you put the HP P3015 against the HP Officejet Pro X 551dw its only 20,000 pages less on the duty cycle 551dw - Up to 80,000 pages P3015 - Up to 100000 pages M551dn - Up to 75000 pages We are planning to use some of these instead of lasers in our new building because they are suitable for our needs.

We got the X551dw

Well we are very happy with it, but in hindsight we should have got the Multi Function version, Currently its got 4000 pages on it and the colour inks are still on their starter ink's only the black has been changed. We use Professional mode as standard which is around 40ppm but if you are in a rush the 70ppm general office mode is pretty fun to watch and still very good quality. We get our inks from Viking-Direct. Black Hi Cap is £84.59 inc VAT Colour Hi Caps are £83.39 inc VAT Lower Capacities are about £55