Gongalong

Also, as mentioned above my network knowledge isn't exactly at expert level. For the Visitor/Guest SSID we'd have to issue IPs via DHCP of course. How would we separate traffic? Is a different IP range/subnet enough?

I should add, for context, that we're a Comprehensive with around 1,200 students and 120 staff. All the teachers have laptops, so are currently the only users of wireless. The big potential change is that the students will go BYOD, so we could have another 1,200 users. Hence the system would need to cope with that! (On a Visitor SSID)

Hi folks, Our wireless system is currently a piecemeal set of D-Link WAPs (around 25). It isn't a managed solution, and each WAP operates independently. They're also mostly 802.11g. To add, they connect into the edge switches around the school, so aren't PoE. We're looking to upgrade it, and after recommendations for suppliers/manufacturers/models. The only changes we're looking to make are (a) improving bandwidth and (b) a dual SSID system that will create a separate network for visitors. My networking is pretty good, but I'm not at the level of switch management and complex TCP/IP setups. Any advice is much appreciated. TIA

Hi folks, I'm starting to get insufficient storage space on our DPM (2012) server. I've reduced the retention range on some of the jobs. How good is DPM at updating its volume allocations? i.e. will it reduce the volume allocation if it needs less space. If not, is there any routine I can run to get it to reassess/compact the data its using? TIA

I'm curious about Emerge. We currently have SIMS standalone, subscribed through the LA, so not sure whether this is an additional charge. Realistically though to make the registration quick and efficient it would probably require that every tutor had a tablet, and I can't see us having any budget for that, aside from providing wifi at the muster point.

jmak: I agree re. printing. The standard advice that I'm used to is "get out immediately". Where I used to work we had a badge system that logged who was inside the building, and during a drill the fire alarm was connected to the system, and would immediately print the list on a fast local printer.

We have two printers in the office, and I believe in the past they have printed to both printers anyway. I have a feeling they might keep a paper register of all students, that's roughly up-to-date, for emergencies. Agreed. This is actually sounding like the best idea to get around the time-to-produce issue. Certainly not all day. The big complaint is just response time with Lesson Monitor, which takes a varying degree of time to open up Edit Marks, dependent on how many records are selected e.g. tutor group, year, whole school. An absence report also sounds better, as it's presumably shorter. This could then be contrasted with current tutor registers.

What I do know is that most teachers have SIMS, so most registers get input there. Some don't e.g. PE, or broken PC, so switch to paper, which gets returned to the Admin Office, and then entered manually (the personal responsible bemoans how slow Lesson Monitor is, although Capita have acknowledged it's a problem). The Admin Office track absent students that call in, and they get marked off directly in SIMS as well. I think this is why there's a strong belief that the registers have to come from SIMS at the time of the drill.

matt40k: I'm not entirely sure how attendance is logged at our school, other than through SIMS. I have a feeling it's kept pretty much digital at our school, and the most accurate data is within SIMS. My objective is to just try and find the quickest way to achieve it, but very much interested in what people do at other schools.

In fact to be really clear, the issue essentially is how we register the students. Whether by SIMS or another means. I'm open to ideas :-)

Ah, I should have clarified that we're fine on building search, wardens etc. The problem we have is SIMS, and getting it to print a report at the time of alarm. The suggestions of having a pre-printed register are ideal, albeit with the only concern that it's up-to-date. I don't see what else can be done, but hence the question. Thanks all for the responses so far.

Is there anything similar for iPads?

Hi folks, I'm trying to find out what other schools do in the case of a fire alarm. We use SIMS, and the delay in trying to print out registers is pretty much unacceptable. It takes the SIMS Administrator about a minute to switch from what she's doing to Lesson Monitor, followed by a couple of minutes to pull up the relevant Lesson Monitor report, followed by another minute or two to print it. In total it can be up to 5 minutes before the SIMS Administrator can leave, with printer paper registers in hand. What do other schools do? TIA

Hi folks, Apparently we may need some software to check nutritional standards in food provided by the catering team. Does anyone use anything already, and can recommend (or not)? TIA

Rupert: we just need something that will lock the tablet down, so the student can just do... say web research. We want to then prevent access to everything else on the tablet. Is that possible? Would the software work with something like the Google Nexus?

If it were feasible with Android tablets we might have a chance. iPads are pretty much at laptop prices though, and with laptops being less likely to get abused, and easier to lock down, I think the latter will still win.

We just need a tablet that can be locked down. I can't imagine distributing any form of tablet in school which can't be locked down or at least easily reset - the latter seems to be Apple's solution.

It looks like Android enterprise management isn't good. Is that the general gist of things? Also amazed that no-one has released an enterprise suitable tablet.

I've also been asked the same thing. What's to stop students from reconfiguring and deleting apps, assuming there's anything to stop them at all? Are there such things as tablet docking stations, for on mass storage/charging?

No, it's not enabled. Next time this happens I'll check the server as quickly as I can, to see if that shows the files. It's almost as if a refresh on the second computer isn't forcing a refresh and is checking a cache instead.

Hi folks, I've noticed a curious issue when saving files onto our 2008 R2 file server (which runs as a VM on Hyper-V). Case in point today was saving files from a laptop onto a share on this file server. The laptop was side-by-side with a desktop, and a staff member then wanted to access the files from this share... except they didn't show. I refreshed Explorer, still no files. Several minutes later they appeared, but I was surprised there was such a lag. Anyone know why this is? TIA

Hi folks, Anyone know of any training organisations that do 1-on-1 training combined with exam prep for MCPs? I probably know 75% of what I need for the MCSE, so going through the MCSE would be a waste of time (I did an MCSA course 5 years ago). Therefore I would much rather put the money towards 1-on-1 training for the bits I'm not sure of, along with the prep for the tough MCPs. Do any organisations do this? (I'm on the Hampshire/Surrey border) TIA

I've just discovered FITS The FITS Foundation - Professional qualifications and support for ICT staff within education How does this compare with ITIL? (There's the suggestion that ITIL isn't easy to implement for IT in Education)

Thanks.

Would this work where the student location changes all the time? i.e. they only get printers relevant for the room they're in.