IT_Man_Dan

Ok thanks. So if I just populate all my users email attribute with %username%@mydomain.co.uk that should give them the username as we want it with Google. That's interesting about SSOEasy, I'll have to have a read about that. I take it that means that when they open google it just auto signs them into google apps? Does it work for things like the Google talk and everything? I just want it to be as simple as possible for the end users. You said about SSOEasy providing a good way to set passwords in google, is it able to replicate the password set in AD? I'm just thinking about when the users want to log in to Google offsite.

Evening all, I'm looking ahead but am going to be introducing Google Apps into my secondary school over the next few months. I've just started to read up on it and watch webinars etc. I'm running AD and am planning on using the Google directory sync tool to sync between Active Directory and Google. Question 1: Do users in Active directory have to have an attribute set under email address in order to populate google apps? I think that's what the guy was saying in the webinar was needed but my users don't have anything written in AD for the email address. Will this be a problem or will all my users create ok and then get their gmail address? Question 2: What's the easiest way to sync the passwords between AD and Google. I'm planning on disabling the users ability to change the password in Google but want it so that when their password is changed in AD it syncs to Google. From what I understand Google Directory sync tool is unable to read the encrypted passwords from AD? My big plan is actually to have single sign on setup so that when they login to Windows it automatically signs them into Google Apps, has anyone had any problems achieving this? Many thanks Dan

No I won't need all 1300 users or some of the groups etc in the old AD. I don't have to consider email or anything else, (that's my task for September, Google Apps). I've actually created new groups etc on the new AD so am only worried about transfering the users I require keeping permissions to their home areas and existing files etc and moving the home areas to the new server also. The shared areas I can deal with the permissions of so I'm not too worried. I might be making this into more of a headache than it needs to be just because I look at the existing AD and think 'what a mess!!'. Thinking about it, would it be best to just export the users I want to keep from existing AD (can I hand pick?), import them into the new OU's in the new AD and then just copy their home areas and profiles across? Would that keep their permissions to their home areas etc? Surely I'd need to change them all because of the new domain and server name? Sorry it's been a long time since doing anything like this and I'm panicking due to the tight schedule. Am I looking into this the wrong way?

Nope I've only setup groups so far on the new server. I've got over 1300 users so wanted to just hand pick the ones I wanted group by group and then migrate them to new AD on the new domain with their folders etc. Existing AD has been left to me by my predecessor and is in a BIG mess. what's the best way to go about this then? Create neew users, then move folders across? or use robocopy to move groups across 1 by 1? Would this keep their rights to their home areas etc? Sorry I'm still waking up this morning so probably missing the obvious. Cheers

Morning all, I'm only a couple of weeks away from needing to move my users and their files and folders from our old 2008 server on our old domain to our new 2008 server on new domain. I have been looking into the easiest, quickest, and most reliable way of moving it all across. It seems that either Robocopy or the file server migration toolkit is the way to go? Can anybody confirm this and reccomend which one is the best and quickest method as I'm on a rather tight deadline. Many thanks for any help you can offer. Regards Dan

Cool thanks that's good for most users. I'll assume that Options and Nova modules need 32bit then?

Just checking. Does SIMS..NET run ok on Win 7 64 bit? Cheers Dan

Morning all, My head's PA want's to print out a user friendly (one that actually looks like a calendar, not just a list) version of the sims school diary. Does anyone have either a sims report template file that would allow this or a current way of exporting the diary into MS Outlook? Many thanks Dan

Morning all, Ok I've got a simple question for you. Do all APC Smart-UPS 1000 models take the same battery (RBC6)? I've got to replace the battery in one of mine but can't get to the back of it to check the exact model number. Does anyone know a good reliable and cheap place to source the replacement from? Cheers Dan

No we haven't got any HP2600's I have got an update though. There was an old HP officejet 6000 driver hanging around that when I tried to delete printer from printers and faxes it made the spooler hang. After changing the port I was able to delete the printer and then delete the driver from server properties. Now the spooler doesn't seem to fall over but server properties takes a while to open and when you click 'add a printer' nothing happens?!? The Officejet 6000 was on the local machine that I remoted to the server from.

Dear all, My print spooler keeps randomly hanging on my Win 2003 print server. When it hangs you obviously can't print and you can't access printers & faxes view. As soon as you restart the print spooler all seems ok and printers and faxes view opens up. Could it be a dodgy driver causing this? at the moment we have mainly HP printers (about 20) on the server and they are all using the PCL5 or PCL6 driver for their printer model (ie 'HP Laserjet p2050 series PCL6') would it be ok to set them all to use the HP universal PCL5 or PCL6 driver and remove all of the other drivers off the system? Would I loose any functionality by using the universal driver? Today it hanged just when I remoted onto it from a workstation, then again when I tried to delete a printer (twice). Any ideas would be appreciated. Many thanks Dan

Thanks, I contacted the UK Prism reseller and confirmed version 12 works on Win 7 32 and 64 bit. Is anyone using any alternatives that I could consider? Thanks

Afternoon all, As mentioned in another thread we will be moving away from CSE over the summer and going from XP to Win 7. Currently we use prism snapshot package builder to create software packages and send them to our workstations. Is there a similar product available that will work on Windows 7? Many thanks Dan

I know this is a bit cheeky but I was wondering if anyone has a teacher quick start guide for impero that I could please have a copy of? I won't have time to knock one together until next Monday but have teachers wanting one sooner. Thanks for any help, much appreciated. Dan

Afternoon everyone, Does anyone know of any room booking solutions other than freeperiod that can pull the existing timetables from sims? I like the idea of freeperiod but want to know what free options are about? Thanks

@RussDev Impero is very good, the teachers love it! I'm just playing around with it and getting it setup how I want it. Would be good to have a chat to you about a few things to do with it at some point. Dan

Morning all, I'm new into my job and I've found a lot of inkjets dotted around the place and no print management in place meaning it's costing a lot of dosh for consumables etc. I'm going to get either Papercut or Pcounter in for the print management but am also looking at the long term plan of replacing the printers with HP lasers (thinking long term lower costs). I currently need to replace a multi function inkjet printer in the reception area and am wondering whether I can justify a colour laser multifunction printer for it?! They currently print about 10 colour/mono sheets a day and on average do 5 copies per day on it too. I'm looking at the HP Colour LaserJet Pro 100 range. Ok the printer is more expensive initially and so are the toners but I'm thinking about longterm savings. The reason for sticking with HP is that I've used them for over 10 years with no complaints What are your thoughts on this please?

I've just installed impero, yesterday in fact! I'm very impressed with it so far. I'm currently running the 30 day trial on 100 machines but unless any unforseen problems with it arise I plan to purchase it for the whole school at the end of the trial :-) Currently my network has CSE (I'm new here) but I plan to go for a Vanilla network with Impero. Where in the UK are you?

We too are looking into moving away from LEA email and going to either live@edu or Google. I had a chat to people on both stands at Bett. Google Apps looks good but I don't feel it's what we're looking for at the school. I spoke to one of the developers who assured me that Google apps for Education would remain free. Live@edu looks good. At the moment I'd look at using the live outlook and I like the look of skydrive. My concerns are about how this is changing regarding Office 365 as the person who I spoke to thinks certain things would be chargeable and not included in our EES agreement :-( I've sent an email off to Microsoft asking about the changes and what costs might be involved. Depending on the outcome we might be looking at Google again :-)

I went yesterday, lots to see and play with etc. Obviously all will try to sell to you so try to only get your badge scanned by people you'd like to hear from :-) It is definately big enough, in fact I don't think I got to see everything I wanted to and I was there all day. It is a good but tiring day so have an early night the night before and definately take a bottle of water and wear comfortable shoes :-) If you go you must go and see the Edugeek stand and sign the poster :-)

Morning all, We're looking at possibly doing away with CSE and going to a Vanilla network. Can anyone share their experience of uninstalling CSE? How easy is it to remove from the network and what state did it leave the network in regarding policies etc? I haven't looked into uninstalling it at all yet I'm just getting ideas and starting to do my homework :-) I imagine it's a big job and time consuming to do and that it will leave a nice big mess to clear up? Any advice appreciated. Regards Dan

oic lol Is there going to be pizza at the edugeek stand this year?

What has the Network Manager lounge got that's worth going in for? Is it worth changing my Badge?

I'm just planning on wearing casual clothes (jeans, t shirt, hoodie), that's ok right? Also regarding the NM lounge, I take it you can get in with Systems Manager job title too?

I agree with you here Russell, We're looking for 1 tool that will do it all :-) I'm speaking to Tim at BETT tomorrow to get a full demo etc and find out more about impero :-)