pantscat

Why swap tapes for HDDs? Tapes are designed to be portable and moved around, HDDs are definitely not (you could argue that SSD type things would be ok though). If it ain't broke...

Have you tried updating the wireless drivers on the laptops? We've had a fair few problems with WPA2 encryption and old wireless drivers.... after an update it suddenly works amazingly!

Yes - that's it... But... you also need a RADIUS server on your network to authenticate the clients. This can be, for example, IAS on Windows Server 2003, NPS on Windows Server 2008 or FreeRadius. Personally I'm running NPS - I have it configured so that only machines that are members of "Domain Computers" security group are allowed to authenticate and access the network. (I chose this because I didn't want pupils or staff connecting their own machines and authenticating with their AD credentials - they'd be able to do this if I'd chosen user authentication). In a nutshell you need to: 1. Install IAS/NPS on a windows server (it's a Windows feature - so add/remove control panel). 2. Get a certificate issued to that server. (I used my in-house certificate authority). 3. Setup the NPS box as an AAA server on the ZoneDirector 4. Set NPS to use the ZoneDirector as a RADIUS client. 5. Set an access policy. 6. Set a Group Policy Object to automatically configure the wireless settings for mobile clients. I'm happy to offer advice, as I've only just recently done this and it's still (relatively) fresh in my mind! Ant

Yeah - you're right. Seems a bit inconsistent... not that I'm complaining. I love my Ruckus system a lot.

Does it?! I'm running version 9, and on my WPA2-PSK network it still displays the clients by MAC and IP. On the 802.1x network (that I'm just starting to get going) it displays them via hostname or user (depending on if you're using machine or user authentication).

Thanks Paul - that looks like it'll be very useful!

Yes... that's an option. But I don't really want to use the captive portal type method to make people authenticate. Plus I want to be able to restrict what machines can and can't use the wireless.

Yes - it's a Ruckus system... didn't realise it was just the controller that needed to be added to IAS... interesting! That makes life a bit easier... and means that I could go down the IAS/NPS route.

Ah... good point! Initially just for wireless access (maybe PEAP-based authentication), but then in the future I'd like to do 802.1x auth for all machines.

Does anyone have a nice guide for implementing RADIUS? I've looked into doing it with IAS or NPS, but as I'll have more than 50 "clients" that's not going to work without going down an Enterprise Server licence route. I've read a little about FreeRadius, but I haven't managed to find any nice and simple guides for implementation. I'm keen to have a play around with this so if anyone has any advice or comments it would be very welcome! Cheers, Ant

Ah... ok - looks like you need to fiddle with IIS to get ActiveSync working happily - looks like Method 2 here (Exchange ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access errors occur when SSL or forms-based authentication is required for Exchange Server 2003) will do the trick.

Is it your own Exchange box? Do you have an external web-mail (Outlook Web Access) link?

This is a good place to look at first: Windows Server 2008 ADPREP There's a new version of 32bit ADPREP on the 2008 R2 disc (I forget where exactly), but I've just prepped my domain the other day to start to do exactly the same thing. 2008R2 and 2003 DCs can coexist quite happily as long as your domain functional level is set to 2003. What else do you need to know?

Have just gone from the "inherited" (e.g. it was here when I arrived) 120-ish fat-AP based wireless system that could be summed up in one or two choice four letter words to a 50 AP Ruckus system. Not really using it with a high denisty of machines - maybe 15 users per AP - but it's working very well indeed! I'm chuffed with it.

Windows clients will automatically cache logons (I think it's the last 5 users by default, but I might be wrong), unless you've disabled this via a GPO setting. Offline files will do the job too - a bit of user training will be required, but it will do the job.

Ah... ta!

Right... I've got my nice shiny new Mac Mini server - now what? I want it to be AD integrated, but do I need to setup OD first? Is there a nice guide for Mac simpletons like myself to follow?

David has some very good advice there - splitting the roles into virtual boxes is a nice tidy way to keep things separate. If you're only doing active-directory stuff on the box then 2GB as a starter is fine. As with all of these things though, if you can afford it get more as you'll always use it in the future. Beware of cheap NAS boxes - I find that they don't perform well when there are more than a few users connected... (I'm thinking of Buffalo terastation type things).

Hi Andy, All depends upon what exactly you'll end up using it for... you may start off with quite basic requirements/plans... but these may blossom in time! As a rough guide, if you're just doing Active Directory and Group Policy then 2GB is fine. If you're going to do file storage then I'd go for a bit more and perhaps 3 - 4GB. If you're going all out and going for Windows Small business server (or having multiple roles on one box, e.g. Exchange for email and ISA for firewall) then I'd go for 8GB + Feel free to ask if you've any other questions! Ant

Couldn't agree more with clarky2k3 - great little boxes. Get a bit more RAM, some HDDs and upgrade the warranty (as it's your only server, you'll want it fixed pretty quickly *if* anything goes pop).

Thanks for the useful info - all much appreciated. Now to find a supplier!

Thanks Antonio - that's confirmed exactly what I've found so far in regard to imaging. I think that for a bit of R&D a MacMini server would be sufficient - at least enough to investigate authentication and management. If anyone has any other useful pointers for a 'noob' then that would be most welcome.

I use FOG currently for imaging -I've not managed to find a way to get the Macs to pxe boot... Hmm... OD could be well worth shelling out for a mini server... I didn't really expect the granularity of Group Policy, but it would be useful to be able to lock down some settings (or configure them centrally...etc).

I've got 15 Mac minis in the Music department and I'm considering getting a dedicated Mac Server... (why not!?). But... why should I get one? What benefits will I see? I'm very new to the world of Mac but the sorts of things I'd like to be able to do are: - Group Policy type settings - Imaging - Centralised authentication (a la Active Directory) - Centralised storage would be handy too... (would I be able to back this up using my Windows Server with Backup Exec?) I see that I can get a Mac mini server for around £1k... which looks reasonable enough for a dabble. So then you lovely Mac experts... over to you!

64 of the buggers here... a fair few failed HDDs and about 3 or 4 with backlight issues. Running XP SP3.