Koldov

Somebody has got to be using it though (some of the figures aren't recent).... Desktop, Laptop - Windows - 86.92% (all versions). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems#:~:text=ultimately%20Linux%20remains.-,Market%20share%20by%20category,-%5Bedit%5D

It may not be your issue (but it is recommended by Capita/ESS). Never done the compatibility mode thing myself as we are still on an older version of SQL, but from the technical roadmap: "SQL Compatibility Mode We are aware that some customers experience issues with performance when running SQL2016 in its native mode. Following on guidance and direction from the EPG group, if you are experiencing this, we recommend changing the compatibility level to 110 within SQL Server Management Studio. We have made KB0036825 available for more information." and... "SQL Compatibility Mode We are aware that some customers experience issues with performance when running SQL2016 in its native mode. Following on guidance and direction from the EPG group, if you are experiencing this, we recommend changing the compatibility level to 110 within SQL Server Management Studio. We have made KB0036825 available for more information." EDIT: I'd be careful about uninstalling random software, it is probably on there to pass SIMS info direct to cloud services that rely on it (I've forgotten the reason half of them are installed but I think we have Groupcall/Exporter/Emerge/Wonde/USO update various learning platforms, B2B, LGfL with children's data). EDIT 2: 'Discover Data Transfer' and 'Discover User Synchronisation' are set on our server as Windows Scheduled Tasks if you can see a particular time for it happening in the event logs.

Yeah, like "I'm not sentient, honestly.. I'm not"... *smirks*

Imagine doing a course on AI and then getting an AI to write your final paper... How could you fail? Anyway I imagine it won't be long before 'they' are able to put AI into a Boston Dynamics robot... then we are all DOOMED.... it's coming!

Has anything changed? How long has this set-up been running fine? Is your 2016 SQL running in 2012 mode (I think it should be for SIMS)? I only ask because iirc somebody here posted a similar problem and I seem to remember this was the cause. Someone on here will also know if there are also options in SQL to limit RAM use, so at least it doesn't kill the server (only the SIMS bit) maybe?

Can somebody make this a little less grey for me please (if that's possible)? So I have to go to tender, I have to use a 'standard' framework and I can or cannot 'weight' 'invisible' practicalities? In my (theoretical) MAT I have 10 schools, 9 of which are on long contracts with MIS (A). But that 10th school is finally getting rid of MIS (S) and wants to go with MIS (A) (for all the benefits of having everyone on the same MIS), but has to put it out to tender (public money and all that). However, MIS (B) technically wins the tender (because they scored higher on points required by the school's own framework...?). Is this is like saying: MIS (A) can do 'late marks' = 0 MIS (B) can do 'late marks' = 1 MIS (B) = winner! The thing is, the school chooses MIS (A) possibly because it actually suits them better in ways that cannot be (or was not) included in the 'weighting' (like Jane & Fred coming from another school in the MAT to help training and the depth of knowledge about MIS (A) that is already in the MAT). Anyway somehow MIS (B) finds out they actually won and sues the school because of all the time and effort they spent sending an email with a price on it (plus it was unfair to them as they won the tender and now have potential loss of earnings?). So this a bit like advertising a Senior I.T Tech job (because you have to) even though you all know that John the Junior Tech is going to get it (and that's 'illegal', right? ...asking for a friend)?

No need to go there... I was expecting 'FIX BAYONETS' meme...

Not Windows itself, but I have to say I wondered if 10 was suitable when I found all the Candy Crush and Xbox junk etc. I know it isn't a popular choice on here, but I thanked $deity that there was an LTSB/LTSC version, as I didn't have the skill/confidence/time to deal with removing it all back when I needed to deploy. There is obviously nobody in the R&D team in MS that has a clue about what my EDU needs are, but also I take the point that what my version of education looks like is very different to what someone at MS might think education looks like... Also when I think of what goes into trying to make a newer OS version, I doubt anyone with any real say in the matter would even be thinking about what an 'EDU version' needs to look like (criticisms that can equally be levelled at Google or Apple although retrospective steps have been taken - Google Workspace/Apple Classroom). We are a segment of the market, but I don't think a big enough of one to warrant being thought of at 'ground-level'. There are those who bemoan the fact that I'm depriving my teachers (of Paint 3D, store and modern apps - Photos/Videos, Calculator etc.) but the core OS is becoming less important now as we use 3rd party software to accomplish those things as we have done for browsers, media players etc. As many have said here, with cloud (O365, Google) offerings being used by more and more establishments, meaning Chrome OS becoming more useable, cloud MIS and other browser based software becoming a 'thing' the underlying OS to run them is becoming less important. It relies on being 'what we've always done', however scalable, manageable it is and yet others are becoming more of an equal as any Google evangelist will tell you (even if you didn't ask - are they the I.T. vegetarians?)... 1:1 isn't affordable for us and as has been said BYOD is a lottery. Preparation for the 'real world' may pertain to higher KS levels, but it isn't really necessary at ours. I can see the argument for CAD/Graphic designers needing industry 'standard' software, Sound Engineers to know the most popular DAW, or anyone working in administrative/office roles to know the MS suite of products. I'm not sure many of those employers will be overly impressed with a C.V. listing Paint 3D, Audacity, or Google Sheets as their weapon of choice... at least not for the foreseeable future...

Wasn't that the 2013 ISO then...? Can someone tell me what the 'SIMS 2013 Summer 2 ISO' is used for (actual genuine question as I'm thinking of a SIMS server migration soon and wonder if I'll need it)....? Also (depending on the answer to the above), what would be the reason ESS (Capita) would have ever felt the need to provide anyone with an updated version, bearing in mind the answer from @willtech ? A bit like using an old Windows ISO and running the latest CU...? Furthermore (also depending an the previous answers) if the OP is running SIMS without support, why? But if they have support they would be the most suitable place to get... support. Or is what the OP needs the ISO for out of the scope of the support level they are paying for? Or are they being too slow with their response to your request? This has also been asked numerous times (usually from forum members with low rep)... http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/230526-sims-2013-summer-2-iso-password-help.html http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/224629-summer-2013-iso-password.html

Can I ask some basic and probably stupid questions.... I'm missing something here and unfortunately reading the page linked I'm not sure what the issue is and what the solution is... Are you saying harden the paths: RequireMutualAuthentication=1,RequireIntegrity=1,RequirePrivacy=1 Or are you saying DO NOT harden the paths: RequireMutualAuthentication=0,RequireIntegrity=0,RequirePrivacy=0 If this setting is not put into a GPO and it remains 'unconfigured' does that mean they are 'hardened' by default in the Server OS? Also, what the link seems to be saying is that by setting these to '0' the security of the SYSVOL/NETLOGON folder is significantly reduced and that the only benefit is being able to access them by I.P. or other NTLM negotiated means, which may be why it isn't granting the permissions needed (and therefore there may be many other factors at play). I seem to remember messing about with this years ago when a post mentioned they would help with GPO 'software installation'... must see if that GPO is still 'live'...

We had that and even had an engineer remote on and run a fix.... a couple of weeks later and it's back!

SOLUS has come a fair way since the days when I first started using it and very rarely gives any issues now (although I've probably jinxed that now)... I'm no expert but I really would look into the reasons it isn't deploying SIMS to your workstations. DNS and Firewall as others have said and make sure you are on the latest SOLUS3 version. When you try to deploy, failing installs should report back the reason to SOLUS, even though sometimes they are a little hard to understand a quick search on here will turn something up (or even post your own question) a lot of people here use it (or have used it at some point in their career). First thing is to look at SOLUS and see if you can account for all workstations and that they are reporting in via the agent, make sure all the settings in SOLUS are correct for your school.

I haven't seen anything about this on the television news so I thought it was all sorted out now... Went to post a birthday card to my father (who lives in Spain) yesterday and the Post Office counter staff refused to even accept it into the system! I wonder if they would have just sold me the stamps and I guess I could have then just dropped it into a post box....

Thanks, can never have too much knowledge I guess though. All the jobs are separate to start after each other for off-site and I'm going to try and keep increments down as I'm looking for smaller disks and I'll only ever be restoring from the day before. Yes, I've gone with the 'Community' version so far just to 'test the water'...

Interesting, but I can't quite see how that works... I have my backup disk connected to my work PC now and all I see are 3 files (.vbm, .vrb & .vbk - I presume a backup, an incremental and a catalogue of change or something I guess), all proprietary Veeam file types, so nothing I can use without the software installed. Although, I have seen something about copying some files from the Veeam install to allow an extraction from the backup and I guess all the relevant files might be in there (Hyper-V disk, machine, config) and then somehow add them into Hyper-V? Thanks, I'll see what the options are on the restore through Veeam but I have other VMs running so don't really want to disconnect from the Network card in the Hyper-V global settings. Yes, have thought similar recently as trying to move everything onto VMs and technically I suppose that's the way to go, but I have some 'messing about' to do (changing the host from MBR disk to GPT, partition deletes etc) so I want to make sure the backup works anyway. I'm just not brave enough to export the VMs, wipe it, install OS & updates, mess about with I.P.s and host names, add Hyper-V role, import machines back and expect everything to work... although I guess in theory it should be as simple as that... I'd want downtime to be minimal as one of the VMs is the PDC (though I guess I could transfer roles to another DC and demote it)... EDIT: HAHAHA! Never mind... I installed Veeam B&R... and after all that I can't do a 'Full Restore' into Hyper-V on a 'Windows 10 machine', it says I can do an 'Instant Restore' though and then fails that due to Windows 10 not having a Hyper-V VSS Writer... Trying the 'extract' route now... There's obviously no 'options' here so I'll try it creating a virtual machine with the network disabled and import the disk (because I don't think it contains the machine settings in a form Hyper-V can use to import a machine). I don't know..."Do backups"... They say.... OK... "Test backups"... They say... HOW?! Nobody seems to actually know... I guess if I get more confident with Veeam I will try restoring it on the actual server (New name and UUID with no network is the way I guess?) and hope I don't make any stupid mistakes (unlikely as I'm a bit new to VMs and Veeam)... The host backup couldn't restore to a VM (Instant Restore to a VM - P2V) https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/agents/agents_restore_hv.html?ver=110 to test either though which was a function I read Veeam can supposedly do (Failed to get external virtual switches. [WMI] Empty result)... So I think I can try to export that as a virtual disk too, but I don't have the space on Hyper-V SSD I use in machine for the server disk... I can view the contents though and it seems to have files in there so that's a bonus...

I'm presuming I need the Hyper-V role and Veeam B&R installed on another computer to test restore? If so what is then the best option in Veeam to do this and also keep it from becoming live on the network? EDIT: Is there anyway to test restore the Veeam backup of the physical host?

Shame, they went into liquidation didn't they after they were taken over, I seem to recall seeing a fair amount of their stuff in various schools... Anyway, might be worth giving a couple of these a call/email to see if they've got anyone who remembers anything about them or details of the PSU if they have any of the units in stock?: https://shop.acclaimav.co.uk/product/coomber-44583-pa-with-cd-player-bluetooth/ https://www.bandsupplies-education.co.uk/coomber-44573-portable-amplifier-with-cd.html Haven't checked how current those websites are so YMMV...

The only thing I can suggest is a search for the original power supply (1858 PSU 15V) which might be difficult as the PSU is always the first thing to get lost or broken: Or if you can, get a generic one with the same pin/barrel connector (looks fairly standard), polarity, V & mA...

Is burn-in (image retention) still a thing on modern TVs? If so, how are you all dealing with an image being paused for long periods of time?

Might be some more info here: In order to view the Connection Status option, you need to both hold down your CTRL key, and right-click on the Outlook systray icon. Now you should see the 'Connection Status…' option. Click on it to check your status. Is it this?: https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/tests/O365Ola/input YMMV and UAYOR.... I looked at it but didn't use it as I wasn't sure it would be suitable for local Outlook client connectivity (seems everything is geared for O365, but it might work all the same), I just didn't want to put any credentials in (would be a good page to spoof)...

This may help, but I've never had to look into it so I can't explain any further (only that Outlook which contacts the internet constantly would be interconnected with Windows and is therefore dependent on whether some part of it was incorrectly reporting the status of internet connectivity)... but it's been raised on here a couple of times so I'm hoping someone else can help. The link mentions O365, but I'd presume it goes for all Microsoft Office. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/59943/ncsi-false-no-internet-status

So you have found restoring full servers (VMs I presume) from VEEAM backups quicker/easier than Hyper-V. I've never really had to do either in all my time in IT (so it scares the life out of me), but I know it's something I need to get confident with doing... I don't know, I think you're onto something, anyway I also still have WSB running, so I have time to experiment with VEEAM. The other thing with having one full backup everytime (rather than full plus x amount of incremental), is that for offsite storage I can use smaller, faster (and relatively cheaper) SSD disks to rotate rather than the big clunky Enterprise TB disks we have now. Thinking about it, I'm not actually sure how VEEAM deals with rotating disks for one backup job, I didn't see any options for it like in WSB. I don't know if it would realise the change in what it had incremented to the last disk and the difference to what it needs to increment on the next...

Would you do that through VEEAM rather than a checkpoint/snapshot on the Hyper-V...? Is it quicker/better/easier/more consistent to, A) do, and B) restore (genuine questions).

I think the options you are thinking of are in the VM backup job (I have enabled 'Reverse Incremental' in the jobs for the VMs), but I don't see them in the job for the physical VM Host... I have also thought about the 'One Backup To Rule Them All' I even thought about scripting the delete of the old backup before it took the new one, but it would be just my luck for it to fail the new one and I'd have nothing! I hadn't thought about using the VEEAM retention thing being set to one day, but I wonder when it deletes the 'old' version on the disk or maybe it just seamlessly blends them... I also thought about trying the 'Schedule' of the (incremental) job for a Sunday and then set 'Storage > Advanced > Backup - Create active full backups periodically' to Mon - Fri... but I'm not sure that will override the 'Schedule' and all I will get all week is one incremental of nothing on a Sunday?

Yeah, not only geared towards incremental, but it seems that is the default option (actually it doesn't even give you an option to change)...? On the 'Storage' page of the job there is no full/incremental choice to be made that I can see, just the 'Backup Repository' value and 'Retention Policy' and in the 'Advanced Tab' the option for creating 'Synthetic Full' (?) or 'Active Full' periodically (I doubt this would be instead of, but it would be in addition to the incremental). It seems there is some way to do it, but it is complicated/convoluted... as you say it's not really designed to do it and nobody understands why you'd want to do it, so I guess I am in the wrong. https://forums.veeam.com/veeam-backup-replication-f2/setting-up-a-recurring-full-backup-with-the-backup-copy-job-t74416.html I'm just the opposite I guess I don't really see the need for everything to be incremental backups. I know it's a thing and means less time and resources, but I have plenty of both. These aren't file servers that I'd want to restore an individual file from last week, they are purely the VM Host, VM Print Server, VM DC - DR backups that would be used as soon I'd recovered from whatever disaster happened! I just want to know the latest backup is a full backup and when I put the disk in to restore, it will be the only thing I need to worry about. What I don't have is the ability to stop the corruption or error on a single incremental backup meaning the whole chain is compromised, so this sort of thing worries me (just swap 'delete' for 'corrupt'?)... "To be able to restore data from a Veeam Agent backup, you need to have a full backup file and a chain of subsequent incremental backup files on the disk. If you delete a full backup file, the whole chain of incremental backup files will become useless. In a similar manner, if you delete any incremental backup file before the point to which you want to roll back, you won’t be able to restore data (since later incremental backup files depend on earlier incremental backup files)." I haven't got VEEAM on to the Big Boys yet (SIMS Server, File Server, FMSO DC, WSUS) most of those are WSB have been full every night for years (the exception being the file shares because just one of those is +300GB and you're right, a full backup of that every night would be a bit extreme).