Roberto

Ok this saves me a bit of posting. Thanks @elsiegee40 for posting this and thanks @Norphy for the recommendation. I'm obviously slightly biased here but I would echo Norphy's comments. I think this would be an interesting role for those of you who are keen to manage the service desk side of IT in a larger organisation. Please feel free to inbox me if you have any questions about the role.

Nobody wants to sell for less than they can get, but I don't see how one can feel insulted by pricing the house at (essentially) between £195k & £190k and receiving an offer around £190k. Especially if it's a cash buyer/no chain, I think that's a fantastic offer.

I can't comment on that product specifically but I will say I'm not a fan of smart TVs/Built in PCs/etc in general because the support lifecycle for the gubbins is typically shorter than the lifecycle of the TV itself (if you see what I mean). El-Reg are talking about domestic smart TV stuff here but explain the reservations I have quite well. We've been looking at Minix Neo Z64s and Xibo recently for signage and we're quite impressed.

This. So much this. The only reason to have a LAN server or workstation that you wish to have participating in an AD domain pointing to an 'external' DNS is because you're bored with things working properly.

If you think that's bad you should see what happens if a student finds out the local admin account credentials on one machine and realises it works on every other machine in the domain...

We use Lanode - have done so for years and we're very happy with them. First class network wiring and active kit work.

Think we have 21 cabs. We're currently doing our usual: install 250 new PCs, 200 new laptops, retire about 250 PCs and 150 laptops building a new block (well we're not building it, we are managing the IT fit-out) expanding capacity in one of our switch rooms to meet above demand create new IT classroom. Rebuild all the PCs, laptops, macs upgrade one of our HyperV farms to 2012R2 Migrate student email to O365 Migrate user data to new servers, migrate sccm to new servers, continue bring new backup system up to speed, retire old versions of all of these. the usual really.

We're trialling Xibo here as an alternative to tripleplay. Took us all of an hour to set up a server and our first client and get content on it. We're using Minix boxes (Windows or Android, both have a client) to display content from it. I think we'll go down this route further.

I'd suggest following FN-GM's advice first, but it sounds like you'll be ok assuming you're using up-to-date SCCM/SCOM installs https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/systemcenter/en-US/1ec67f49-20cf-4fa8-a095-7282d23290d5/can-we-delete-the-momlatencymonitor-in-scom-r2-since-we-haveopsmgrlatencymonitors-container?forum=operationsmanagermgmtpacks

Yes, it will be because there's less requirement for it, so its correspondingly rarer.

I have to say that I would have serious misgivings about the school being a part of someone else's domain - The AD Forest (not domain) is a 'natural' security boundary and I would worry about permissions issues. If they do this for a number of organisations then there's a possibility for a permissions fubar to expose detail from one organisation to users from another totally separate organisation (including the supplier themselves - while their technical staff would require access to the school's systems to administer it, their accounts department would not and should not have this access, for example) and that would be a huge red flag for me. While the probability of this kind of error occurring might be very low, the potential impact could be huge depending on what gets exposed. Of course, it may be that the reduced costs from only administering one domain are what help to drive the costs down for this supplier and that is something that the school considers very important. I'm sure the SLT members who signed this contract are well aware of the technical ramification of this design choice and have made an informed decision after a technically comprehensive risk assessment that has considered safeguarding, data protection and other important areas... Right? ;-)

Are you saying that you've dual homed one of your domain controllers and you want clients connected to LANs on both network cards to access AD? Don't do that. Dual-homing a domain controller is never a good idea. Connect both your networks to a 'core' switch, connect the server to that switch and ensure that the switch can route traffic between them. This will be a much more robust solution, will be easier to support in the future and won't give you massive problems the day you need to add a second server (assuming you only have one right now).

You mean a purchasing consortium? We've been part of one in the past. It works less well than you'd think because each organisation's needs are very slightly different so either you end up not actually buying the same configuration in bulk, or compromising on something that's important to you to stay within the constraints of the 'bulk' configuration spec.

I worked for a major Uni in the 90s and this was our maintenance period, tied into the JANET maintenance period (in fact, I think it was the same thing as we were part of the then new SuperJANET backbone). Custom and practice and all that.

Given that JANET is a 24x7 operation and people do use the connection all the time, and that they want to be able to contact other support services if an incident happens during an upgrade, I'm not sure what a better time would be (and yes, I've worked for a place that uses JANET that would have been far more inconvenienced by losing the connection at 2am).

Who is everyone? I can tell you we've done it by building a fresh OU and GPOs and migrating users and workstations out of the RM AD tree and into the new OU tree and not had any problems. Much less disruptive than building a new domain.

Regardless of what you think of Windows 8 (and believe me, I'm not a fan) it seems more than a little utterly and completely pointless and self-defeating to buy tablets then put a non-tablet operating system on them. As Windows 10 is available from the end of this month, might that be an acceptable compromise?

I've not tried this but almost certainly not. Remember that the User ID is a convenience for us feeble humans and the actual identifier for a account is the GUID and this will be totally different in a new domain and hence a totally different set of GUIDs even though the accounts will be "the same". It's probably possible with a bit of powershell to go through and link the "old" mailboxes to the new accounts in the new domain of course, but to be honest, I would question why you would need to create a new domain. Unless there are some very very serious issues with corruption on the DCs for the current domain or some very daft decisions were made during the the past management of the domain, upgrading by creating a new AD domain is nearly always the wrong decision.

Luton Sixth Form College are looking to recruit a IT Infrastructure Engineer, reporting to the IT Infrastructure Manager, working to support the College's IT infrastructure as part of the college's IT and Information services team. This is a full time post and while salary is not yet 100% finalised, it is expected to be around £28k p.a. To apply, please send your CV and a covering letter to [email protected] Responsible to: IT Infrastructure Manager Job Purpose: To help maintain and develop the College’s core IT systems and infrastructure as part of the Information and Technical Services team. Responsibilities 1. To take technical ownership for the College’s System Centre Configuration Manager deployment, providing image deployment, patching and management tools for workstations, servers, applications and settings to the requirements of the IT Infrastructure manager and IT Support manager. 2. To take a key role in the management of other key features of the College’s IT systems. This will include: 2.1. Maintenance and development of the college’s virtual infrastructure, which is currently based around HyperV and SCVMM. 2.2. Managing the college’s backup infrastructure (currently based around Arcserve and Quantum iScalar tape library). 2.3. Supporting the college’s server and network infrastructure, based predominantly around Windows Server and HP Procurve switches 2.4. The physical installation of servers and related hardware 3. To assist in identifying and supporting the business needs of the College and the end users of College systems, especially in relation to the systems for which this role has technical ownership. This includes 3.1. Meeting College managers and end users to discuss their needs 3.2. Devising solutions and systems which meet users’ requirements, keeping in regular communication with them at all times. 4. To support the work of the Information and Technical Service team, including 4.1. Ensuring that infrastructure management SLAs are met. 4.2. Troubleshooting systems issues and dealing with second line support calls. 4.3. To Deputising for the IT Infrastructure Manager in their absence. 5. To carry out other duties commensurate with the grade and general nature of the post under the direction of the Principal or other designated manager of the College. Person Specification Qualifications and experience • Essential • MCSE or equivalent experience • Professional Membership of the BCS, or equivalent experience Skills required • Essential technical skills • SCCM • HyperV • Networking (TCP/IP, VLANs, Switch config) • Familiarity with IT security best practices, Firewalls, antivirus. • Windows Server (including WSUS, IIS, AD, DNS, DHCP, Powershell) • Desirable technical skills • SCVMM • ITIL Foundation certificate or equivalent experience. • SQL Server administration • Apple Mac server and client management. • Some Linux administration skills • Network switch configuration (HP Procurve, Dell PowerConnect, Force10) • SAN (Dell Equallogic preferred) • SCOM • Enterprise Wireless (RADIUS / Aruba) • Other skills • The ability to document and then implement clear procedures. • The ability to work as both leader and part of a team. • The ability to deliver projects and other work to a deadline, and to remain flexible, thorough and accurate

Luton Sixth Form College are looking to recruit a IT Support Manager, reporting to the Director of Information and Technical Services, working to manage the College's IT function alongside an IT Infrastructure Manager (me) and Data Manager. This is a full time post and while salary is not yet 100% finalised, it is expected to be around £33k p.a. To apply, please send your CV and a covering letter to [email protected] Responsible to: Director of Information and Technical Services Responsible for: IT Technicians Job Purpose: To maintain and support end user IT systems in the College, in line with the College’s core aims and values. Responsibilities 1. To Manage the IT Support function, including both online and physical helpdesks. This will entail: 1.1. Ensuring that all users of the helpdesk receive prompt, courteous and effective service. 1.2. Ensuring that all incidents, requests and other tasks are recorded and managed on the Cherwell service desk software and associated systems. 1.3. Monitoring all active tasks and allocating resources as required. 1.4. Setting challenging standards and service targets for the support team. 1.5. Providing statistical and performance data relating to the IT Support function to the Director of Information and Technical Services 2. To be responsible for identifying and supporting the business needs of the College and the end users of College systems as they relate to core applications and hardware. This includes 2.1. Acting as Champion for end users, working with them and on their behalf to ensure that the IT services they use are effective, efficient and user-friendly. 2.2. Monitoring and evaluating the performance of IT systems as experienced by end users. 2.3. Devising and implementing systems to support all centralised software applications, including the application of upgrades and patches. 2.4. Ensuring that end users are provided with all the necessary guidance on how IT systems and applications should be used. 2.5. Meeting College managers and end users to discuss their needs and negotiating appropriate solutions. 2.6. Devising solutions and systems which meet users’ requirements, keeping in regular communication with them at all times. 2.7. Engaging in two-way communication with all users to ensure that they are fully informed of developments and are able to use and benefit from College systems, and that their concerns and emerging needs are acted upon. 3. To work with the IT Infrastructure Manager and the Data Manager to jointly manage the operations of the Information and Technical Services team. This includes 3.1. Operating a centralised task management system to track and plan all tasks 3.2. Sharing resources, especially staffing, to meet common goals 3.3. The planning and scheduling of project and development work 3.4. Making joint recommendations to the Director of Information and Technical Services relating to technical systems 4. To manage end user hardware and software licencing across the College. This includes: 4.1. Maintaining the CMDB data on College IT hardware 4.2. Tracking and maintaining software licences 4.3. Working with the Technical Business Manager to ensure that the requirements for end user hardware are identified and that equipment is procured and deployed to meet these requirements. 4.4. Providing and managing the staffing resources to install new PCs etc, especially in the summer replacement cycle. This will include the recruitment and management of temporary staff if required. Person Specification Qualifications and experience ITIL Foundation certificate or equivalent knowledge of good working practices At least 2 years working in a Windows-based IT support environment Skills 1. Experience of working in an IT support environment 2. Working knowledge of ITIL practices. 3. Expert knowledge of Windows PC systems 4. Experience of using and supporting Microsoft Office 2007 or later, including Outlook. 5. The ability to document and then implement clear procedures. 6. The ability to work as both leader and part of a team. 7. The ability to deliver projects and other work to a deadline, and to remain flexible, thorough and accurate.

In the core, 2 HP 8212zls & 2x 5406Zls, 10Gb connections to the servers and 2x10Gb connections (1 per 8212 zl core switch) to each of our 40-odd edge switches.

Dear lord. But what were the winning entries like?

HP have purchased obsolete but working switches from us the last time we upgraded, precisely in order to recondition them to facilitate their lifetime warranty. They obviously can't do the impossible (so I have no idea what would happen if there simply wasn't a spare/replacement to be had for something) but they really do move mountains to keep that warranty. It's a big selling point for them - not just the words on paper but the lengths people know them to go to in order to live up to the spirit of those words.

They can have both our bottlecaps!

Fallout 4.