kooperthedog

Hi, Hoping for some assistance from other users based in Scotland. In the past week we have seen large numbers of Windows 10 clients unable to connect to Seemis (our MIS). When we enable verbose logging, we can see 403 errors, but have been unable to ascertain the reason behind this, and we are also awaiting feedback from Seemis themselves. Our Windows 10 PC's are all 22H2 with the latest patches, with a mix of kit built in the latter half of 2023 and the others recent builds done in the past few months. As a general rule we can see that the 2023 machines are the ones that fail to connect to Seemis, whereby newer builds (and some we have rebuilt in the past few days) can connect without issue. Seemis uses it's own compartmentalised java version, and we've checked the comms and can find no issues. We've had an entire suite of 21x PC's (on the 2023 build) that haven't been able to connect, yet when we rebuild one of them with the latest image it suddenly starts working, while the others on the 2023 build remain unable to connect. We've updated NIC drivers, BIOS and chipset drivers, but still no joy. From what we can tell we are getting an SSL handshake, but we are then having authentication knocked back by one of the Seemis edge servers, but trying to fathom what the difference is between the 2023 build and the newer builds in terms of this issue has proven to be a real challenge. Has anyone else seen this type of error with Seemis in their environment - any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks

Hi Gavinc, I work in Falkirk Education ICT, mostly in the secondary schools. Please feel free to give the main Falkirk Council number a call and ask for Kenny Lang. Cheers, Kenny

Hi Guys, Many thanks for the comments. Cheers, K.

Hi Folks, Thanks for the comments, nice to know I'm not alone! I've been in IT for about 14 years now (I appreciate that's not as long as some folk!) and I think I've reached a stage whereby I've "fallen out" with the industry and just don't enjoy it any longer. I continue to work long hours and strive to deliver the very best I can, but it's getting harder to maintain the enthusiasm and drive in something I don't have a passion for any longer. I know there are worse (and better) jobs out there, and like everyone else I have a mortgage and bills to pay, but I do believe that there is more to life than money and I want to do something that is more rewarding than the thankless task that is ICT. The problem at the moment is that I'm not entirely sure what that other rewarding career is yet! Cheers, K.

Hi Folks, I've become a bit fed up with the ICT game over the past few years, and can honestly say it's been about 3 years since I last enjoyed what I do for a living. Like most of us I work long hours and spend endless amounts of my spare time studying new technologies and keeping up to speed, but at times it feels like it's a thankless and almost worthless task. Looking at current technology trends, I don't see much of a longer term future for in-house technical staff any longer and I think this adds to my disolutioned feelings about the job. My current post does include a lot of project management and customer liason work on top of the usual tech stuff, so I have been able to build up skills in other areas. I'm wondering if anyone else has been down this route and what areas they identified as a possible career change path. I know this may sound like I'm having a bad day, but the bad day has lasted for to long now and something needs to change! Cheers, K.

Any comments on the following: SaaS, Mashups, And The End Run On IT Departments - CIOs Uncensored Blog - InformationWeek Are our skills finished or is this a SaaS sales pitch? Personally I have doubts over the longer term future for techs and sysadmins, but perhaps I'm being downbeat?

Hi Folks, I've setup ISA 2004 SP3 and Sharepoint Services 3.0 SP1 and am having some issues with AAM's. I have configured a web server publishing rule for our Sharepoint box and setup the correct AAM's and also extended the web application for use as an external site. The internal site is accessed via http://servername:port and the external name at http://externalsite, and this appears to work OK when browsing (externally) around the basic site that Sharepoint creates. However, when I try to create a new document library when using the site externally I hit problems. I can get to the screen that allows me to enter the name and description of the new library, but as soon as I hit the button to create it I get an http 500 error. When I check the link at the top of the page, I can see that it has reverted back to using the http://servername:port internal address. This is driving me bonkers at present, and I have googled the subject extensively but can't find anything that points directly at the issue. Hope someone can help, thanks in advance. Cheers, Kenny

Hi Guys, Thanks for this, will give it a try. K.

Yeah, works fine internally with no issues. I also have a couple of other websites running (non sharepoint and running on different ports) that they access externally via port forwarding without issue.

Hi Folks, I'm trying to setup external access to a Sharepoint site for a small business that I occasionaly work for and I'm not having much luck. The Sharepoint site lives on port 80, and I've setup port forwarding to port 80 on their ADSL router. I've also setup basic authentication for the site to try and resolve authentication issues through the firewall. When I try and hit the Sharepoint site I am prompted to login, and I am using the "domain\user" username etc. However, at this point the authentication fails and I can't hit the site. I have an ISA 2006 server that I could implement for them (using the publishing wizard for the Sharepoint site) if this would help. However, I'm assuming I would need to remove the NAT/PAT from the ADSL router and setup classical routing etc. Hope somone can help. Cheers, Kenny

Hi Guys, I have no doubt that you have all heard about cloud computing, and like me have read many views from those who have doubts, to those who push out the panacea marketing hype. I am interested to see what the edugeek guys think this will mean for our future. The views I have seen on the myriad of IT industry sites ranges vastly from those who believe we will be finished within a few years, to those who state that IT staff will still be needed but our roles will change. Also, what of the future for the myriad of IT consultancy firms that support the industry, and what of the future for Microsoft, not forgetting Apple, Linux and Novell etc. Are we in a position whereby we should be warning potential computing science students to stay clear, as their will be virtually no jobs for them by the time they graduate in 3 or 4 years time. If the worst is to be believed, we could be looking at a near total wipeout of IT departments and the services we provide. On the flip side, some mention that IT teams will go through an evolutionary change whereby we deliver more value and spend less time fire fighting. Like many edugeek members, I have spent a lifetime in the industry gaining a skillset and building a career. It is extremely depressing to continually read more and more articles that tell us that we are no more than an annoying burden to our organisations, and that we can (and will) be disposed of by Google and Amazon. I am not so blinkered that I don't relaise that what is for us will not pass us by. However, perhaps I am being overly pesimistic - please let me know if I am. Cheers, K.

Thoughts on the following? Microsoft shows off Windows 7 operating system - Telegraph

Hi Folks, I currently have a requirement to get a school based video and audio streaming server off the ground, and as per usual I have zero budget! I've had some experience in setting up standard streaming services like Windows Media Services and Darwin etc, but usually for a specific purpose (eg stream the school radio station etc). What I am effectively looking for is a You Tube clone, and I've had a look at PHPmotion and it looks pretty good. The only issue I have is that we are primarily a Windows site and PHPmotion has been developed and tested for a Linux environment. I don't have an issue with setting up a Linux box (I've used Ubuntu server in the past), but it makes life awkward given that we have several Windows boxes that are effectively "ready to go". I was involved in setting up ClickView at one of the schools we look after, and this would be great if it were free! However, a web interface would be better as we have very limited numbers in terms of support staff, and school wide fat client rollouts can really eat into our time (even when we rollout apps via GPO or SMS!). Any information with regards to this would be much appreciated. Thanks, Kenny

Hi Simon, I work for a centralised team looking after eight high schools with the following: 38 Servers 3000 PC's 300 Laptops (approx 200 wireless) Sharepoint / Exchange / Openfire IM / Streaming Media Platform etc 300 Smartboards / 500 Projectors 12,000 Pupils / 1600 Staff Digital Camera's, Camcorders, Visualisers, and anything else with an LED on it! We have four full time engineers (centrally based), a part time tech at each school, and a comms engineer who spends part of his week looking after Education.

Hi Butuz, They aren't a hard up school and as such can afford the luxury of extra kit - please also remember that I have inherited most of this and I'm working with what I have been given, rather than what I would have liked. They actually have a number of other PC's and laptops that I haven't added to my spec because my issue is based around the new design for the network, so it isn't really a 4X4 ratio. It's also worth noting that they run a high volume scanning bureau and can generate upwards of 2Tb of data over the space of an average month, hence the need for plenty of storage space. Cheers, K.