michael2k6

Hi all, Hopefully i can clear this up a bit. This is my own post, i'm not on company time, i nor Serco will be held liable for it's contents, etc etc, if you want to check this by all means please visit Serco firstline - Facility Support or give support a call. But, this is how it is - the current hardware spec says on it that we don't support R2. The reason for this is R2 is only released as a 64bit OS. We don't support 64bit OS. This is because we haven't had a full test on it yet. We do however have a lot of schools using it at their own risk and so far the only issues are with the ISAPi filter used for IIS. We have produced a 64bit version of this (dependant on CPU make) and you will need to make a registry edit, as the default location is the 'Wow64sys32' node of the registry, and the software is looking for the key in the root of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE. These are available from support. We reserve the right as per the hardware spec states to request you rebuild the machine as a 32bit box should we encounter issues we believe are due to the 64bit architecture. So that's the low down on what we do and don't support and why. Now for the original question... What Gaz said is bang on. The only thing to bear in mind which you may or may not already know is to restore templates first. So restore the templates file, then go to Students | Configuration | User Defined Fields. Click 'ok'. Doing this adds the necessary fields to the necessary tables - if you don't when you restore the data, user defined field data will have nowhere to go. Do the same for Staff, and Applicants. The thing to bear in mind is unless you're giving the new server the name / ip / an appropriate DNS entry to replace the old server, and you've named the database the same name and setup the authentication in SQL the same, you will need to give the clients a new connection to the database. Now is a good time for me to mention that all users should have seperate client files. They should not be shared. The 'start in' path of the shortcut the users have should point to the location of this specific users client files folder. A good idea is to keep them in the home drives of the staff. That way, when you do things like this you can sit at the server and copy them out to a user list, or use script, rather than pushing them out to the individual machines. It's fine to hide the folder if you wish. Facility Admin uses a file history on the file menu to make life easier accessing the CDB. If you wish to remove the old one and add the new one (you'll have to if you've hidden it or they wont be able to see it to open it), then close Admin, go to c:\windows\cmisadmin.ini on the client, and edit in notepad. Look to the bottom of this file and find the most recent file list. Edit as appropriate and save. Reopen Admin. You can find supporting information for this on First Line, such documents as 'how to create a database in SQL 2005 for use with Facility Admin' (SQL 2008 is an identical process), 'how to connect Facility Admin to a SQL database', and with the release downloads, installation instructions. There are also instructions for IIS 7 (7.5 is the same but the ISAPI and registry is different as i say). I'm sure continuing to post here also will get you lots of help - look out for my mate John, i'm sure he'll be along with a post sooner or later, and also bear in mind on First Line there are also user forums. Mic Sanderson Techie Right now, me on my sofa. During the day, Serco Learning.

A pug is sound if it's been looked after. I'm not sure about the older models but the newer ones are a massive donkey to do the timing belt on (don't even know if the 306 is a chain or belt), and i've had to do all sorts to my ex's pug 106 and a friends 306 sedan. All doable mind, just a massive pain. If it's right when you get it you'll be sound. It whether its been treated right, which i supose is true of any car, but bear in mind the french ones are generally more of a pain to fix.

Looks like a nice post at a nice place, and it's slightly closer than the one i went for with John! Maybe enough to make the difference. But i can't afford it Good luck to those who apply.

back on topic, Witch, i hope you feel better soon. Make sure you make MrWtich feel guilty for not being at your beck and call too. I'm sure that he doesn't deserve that but you're ill so surely you can get away with it. Here's hoping you feel better.

To my knowledge, this doesn't exist at the moment. If you want to be certain the people to contact are our sales guys. Mic @ Serco

Same here, but closer to home. And what John said.

Hi, When i first started working for Serco i was travelling from Wakefield to Derby and back every day on my own time, fuel and car. That was about 70 miles and It was ruddy expensive in the end and i couldnt afford to do it. Eventually i managed to get a work from home job with them so that i didnt hve to travel. I wouldn't of coped much longer though. I turned down a job working with John at Settle because i couldnt stomach the journey again. I'll not do it again, unless i'm determined to leave the place i'm working at and its a good offer. Mic

That's brilliant.

Cheers John. He's absolutely right. Best place to be is the firstline website. The settings are in the Master Config, but i'd recommend you look up the correct procedure on Firstline. Mic@Serco

PM Me and i'll see if i can help.

As i said this time last year... good effort guys.

I know i used to use it and think its pants. Unfortunately i can't help you further, sorry, i was only an end user. Note: Comments are my own not my employers.

Just a little aside - i'm sure those it will matter to will know - but logmein123.com is a valid and genuine site. It's the corporate version of logmein, so these ridiculous people must have an account for that if they're actually remoting in using it. I'm not saying you're wrong and that the people are genuine, just that that site in particular is (to not put people here off using it for genuine purposes). I'm sure if they were reported to logmein, they would take it very seriously. I only say this as we use logmein123.com at work. It will prompt you to download and run an exe and then asks you to confirm remote control, advises you to close confidential stuff etc. It bothers me greatly that people still get away with this but then i supose why wouldn't they! Meh.

I've done a couple of weddings and agree with all of the above. The best way i've found of doing things is to have spares of everything and someone to follow you around to help you carry them.

Richie_OLSJ, i think you may be right. That would certainly make sense. I'm still not willing to commit to it being correct though lol.

You can limit the amount of cores used by SQL in the properties of the SQL Server Management studio. It's in the properties of the database engine for the instance you're running. I dont know whether simply limiting it there though means you need less licenses or whether it's completely irrelevant - but just to answer an earlier question. Mic@Serco

The Jade, it's a sin, much better than the Pet Shop Boys version. Not the best cover, just one not many people will of heard.

I might get shot for this... i had an Astra Coupe which did me sound for a good couple of years. Was a 1.8 on a W plate, and a lovely fairly rare shade of blue. You can get those in a 1.6 which are too sluggish, a 1.8 which was pretty good for the car, about 130bhp i think, unmolested, and was the most i could afford on insurance at 18years of age. You can also get the 2.0 turbo version which is the lump out of the GSi iirc. The only thing to watch out for on those were the headgaskets, if someones ragged it around a bit the head gasket would be known to go. Mine had done about 45k when i got it and 70k when i sold it, i had the timing belt done while i had it and serviced it myself twice, no problems with it otherwise. I remember it feeling fairly spoty because of the 1.8 and the cream clocks, and although the seats weren't buckets they wrapped around quite a bit and were dead comfy. The seats were low and the center console was high in comparison to the seats which made it feel lower. For example: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-VAUXHALL-ASTRA-16V-BERTONE-BLACK-/110552756243?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item19bd753013

Happy Birthday John

So if you don't mind telling us, are you leaving?

With it being in Buxton it takes some getting to too. I'm going to apply for this and its 35 miles away from me too. It will take a good hour and a half. But i love driving so the peak district is something i wouldnt mind.

Nice one thanks

I've done the whole rock challenge bit aswell, its a good laugh.

Oh, and nice to hear from you James and to see you're helping out, hope you're keeping well.

Evening all, Thanks John, as usual. I'm Mic, i've had 2 years in a large secondary school as data manager and assistant exams officer dealing with assessments, exams, attendance, census, etc, and then a further 3.5 years at Serco as support, installation and consultancy (of a technical nature usually). There are a few other Serco staff lurking around that tend to stay a little quieter but i'm sure they'll PM you or reply to posts as they see fit. As John said, the forums are a good place to be, and we also now have a blog which will have lots of handy tips on it aswell as a shed load of other features. Welcome Mic Sanderson Technical Engineer Serco Learning