tj2419

For removable hard drives is that literally just buying some 1tb hard drives for example setting up a backup schedule and swapping them over? Or is it a special hardware setup? Forgive my ignorance here

Hi We currently have three pedestal servers that backup to tape and using backup exec, backup to another server. We will be switching to rack mounted servers on server 2012 so wanted to look at our backup again. How would you suggest the backups were stored? As we will no longer have the tapes I take offsite. Is it enough to backup to a server in the same server room and then another server the other side of the school on a weekly basis? I am paranoid about not having something to take offsite incase the whole school burned down! Cloud storage seems very expensive as we have about 2.5tb of data from all the servers. Cheers

Thanks guys. Are you both happy with schoolsbroadband then? How was the transition? Our network is very basic. No vlans. This will be changing in the next few months though as we look to introduce BYOD. Out of interest are you using BYOD with schools broadband? Does it all work nicely and easily? Cheers

Hi We are looking at going it alone for our filter, internet and firewall. They are all currently provided by LEA and we are getting quotes as it is due for renewal. What are peoples thoughts with smoothwall and lightspeed. We are looking at schoolsbroadband's hosted option with 100mb fortinet firewall and lightspeed filtering and getting internet from RM and using smoothwall filter and firewall. Anyone experience of either? Also our LEA ties into their support contract filter, firewall, networking support. If we went it ourself we would loose out on the networking support e.g. switch troubleshooting and repairs to cabling. Does anyone know firstly of any reliable IT consultancy support if we had switch issues we couldn't solve? It is also worth noting we use HP switches and they all have a lifetime guarantee. Also the best method to get some general training on switch configurations etc. Whether it a course or good sites / books. Cheers

We had Andy out from verypc to demo some hardware recently and I was very impressed with their thinbooks! Really customisable and seemed like solid bits of kit. Think we will be ordering some in the near future.

Hi I am currently in the process of overhauling my IT development plan and realigning it with our school development plan and budgets. Some hardware i am having a problem predicting life cycles for (as i have never had to replace them yet). The virtualisation kit is something i am looking to introduce over the next 18-24 months as a phased upgrade. How often would you replace the following, (I know it depends on growth etc but a ball park figure based on experience would be really useful): Core Switch (Currently 3Com 4800G) Edge Switches - Currently HP v1910-48G SAN - 10TB (Currently use about 4TB for document shares and user work areas) Hosts for virtualised system Also going to ask all staff to fill in a survey to ensure that there are no obvious areas i have overlooked and to see where they think development etc is needed. Could just get a lot of criticism but it at least gives a platform for it and shows i am attempting to tackle issues that are bought up by large numbers of staff. Thanks

We gave up in the end and used PDQ deploy (Free) to deploy the MSI and then just replaced the proxy files remotely. Took about 10-15 mins a room. CC4 network as well.

+1 Overnet Data

Did you get any of the SI boxes or are your standard servers? Cheers

Hi We are looking at a server refresh over the summer and have been looking into the Stone SI. Basically a network in a box. It is using the converged infrastructure approach with the idea one box can effectively be the three hosts and SAN. Works the same as the Dell VRTX. School Infrastructure | Stone Group Just wondering if anyone here is using one or has any experience with Stone server hardware? Have always been HP in the past but budgets are getting smaller and smaller and this looked like a cost effective way of virtualising our servers using Hyper V. Cheers

I'll try that Monday. Cheers

Hi I received one of the free meraki AP's after attending a webinar. I have received it but running into problems setting it up as it won't connect to systems manager. I believe this is because we use a proxy in school. Is there anyway to configure the proxy in the AP? I can't find anything online for it. Cheers

Also if anyone has a link as to which values to change that would be great thanks. I have 16GB RAM installed but don't know where to tell it to use it all. Cheers

Hi thanks for such a detailed reply. I'll get looking into these. Just a query about your first paragraph. Would that be configured in the php.ini file? Or somewhere else? Many thanks

Hi We have installed Moodle 2.6 last Easter and are constantly getting remarks that it is not as quick as moodle 1.9 (Our previous version). Looking at RAM, CPU usage they are fine RAM about 17% usage and CPU bobbing between 5% and 30%. What else can cause speed issues for moving around moodle? Are there any tips and easy ways to identify where issues could be? Cheers

Is that dealing direct with BT or through a third party? Are you then buying your firewall and filtering from elsewhere? Cheers

We were told that we have until December 2015 on our current contract. So need to workout when we can switch (if we do) to cause minimum impact.

Hi We have just been given notice that our LEA internet services are going up in cost quite dramatically. Just wondering from anyone that has moved from their LEA internet services to a third party company if they have any tips? Any pitfalls to try and avoid? Are there any companies people would highly recommend? Do most people get their feed from one company then their firewall from another and filtering from another? How long did it take you from placing your order to getting the services up and running? Any other bit that people feel might be useful would be greatly appreciated cheers

On my way down today. Hoping to pop by and say hi for the first time. Similar story to the rest though babysitting some NQT's

Which stand are you on? Could do with a new notebook

What did the email say? In case they ask

Hi We use this powerpoint. You just change the hyperlinks on the first slide to jump to different times. Only displays a countdown but they also have a normal clock in there. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By-LC15FDBaXSnV5XzVXTWZUWVU/view?usp=sharing Also used this site Timer for a clock

tj2419 - Friday

We used to use it a good few years back. New deputy head wanted us to look at it again recently which we did but it didn't really offer us much more than what some of the departments already have and what we could create via moodle ourselves.

Thanks for that. I'll have a look at them. Just measured the cabinet and the depth is 880. Would an 800 plinth work with that? cheers