TechieWils

Just a heads up, before Meru were brought out you could login and download a firmware for free. 2 years ago we had to upgrade ours for some new access points to 5.5 I think but I downloaded 6.1 as well just in case. Obviously forgot when it needed another upgrade after meru were brought and was told I been a £1000 support contract just to get the firmware. I laughed down the phone and searched as I knew I had it somewhere and luckily found it. Won't be purchasing Meru again.

Student Numbers: 1017 Staff Numbers: 91 IT Staff: 3 (2 x 1st line, 1 NM) Servers: (virtual/physical)8/14 (currently migrating to virtual) CCTV Servers: 8 Panasonic VOIP System Paxton Door access Computers: (desktop) 350 Laptops:140 Tablets: 30

I've always believed anything beginning with 'P' is evil: Printers, Projectors, PC's, Phones, Parent Pay, PSF, Parents, Pupils and people in general. On a side note printers with WiFi builtin, why just why!

What @john said, we got hit and all VSS was wiped clean. Not a massive problem as backups are all offline etc but still a pain to bring everything back up. look for .lol files and how to get your data.txt files.

On the opposite end of the scale compared to @mdrabble I wait for the cold embrace of death as I debate with my self was it really a bright idea planning so much for the Summer. Only had 5 days off for a festival. Jobs Complete: New copiers installed and setup on PaperCut New Managed Print Solution installed with 54 old printers been scrapped or put in to storage for 23 brand new Epson WorkForce RIPS MFDs New alarm (PA) system for intruders and announcements installed across the site. 2 computer rooms refreshed and existing equipment rotated round retiring the oldest kit. Oldest machine onsite is now 5.5 years old BYOD setup with RADIUS to authenticate users Website migration complete, waiting on staff to provide updated information but that cant be helped SIMS learning Gateway customised and branded Year 7 accounts setup on all systems and users rolled over and archived New DVR's for CCTV systems installed and setup with 2 new camera's installed Email lists updated New staff laptops setup Outstanding Jobs New Hyper-V cluster installed today with P2V taking place over the next week Back gates and motors are been replaced and put on access control system Food Tech refurb and data points with AV need to be installed Reuse old blade servers for RDS farm and provide home access for specific users Set up SQL for new Computer Science course (help, thinking of using WAMP and doing it that way be advice welcome) Clean up documentation and move some switch ports to the correct VLAN Obviously some of this is down to contractors but we all know what it's like you end up called down to check something or clarify and before you know the days gone. Think I need something stronger than EduHobnobs.

Not a problem, just didn't want anyone in trouble. It looks like basic SQL commands and queries nothing fancy. As I said was going to investigate WAMP on a server and knocking up a SQL script making individual databases for each student to work on so I can back everything up. The notes on the document talk about students have a personal laptop with WAMP installed on it but I just think that's a bad idea.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that document had to be kept under lock and key as it's the actual assessment they will be doing. The Head of ICT made a point of saying it was to be kept confidential. Any way I was planning on setting up WAMP on a server and making accounts for the students to log in to and use. Not really though more past that. Any advice is welcome same as fn_gm

What he said, but also we've had parents request refunds but the card they used has either been cancelled or expired so refunding them was a manual operation involving a cheque. At least now the money is refunded to their Parent Pay so solves this issue. But it wasn't a huge issue and as has already been pointed out its caused no end of hassle here.

Random idea but you haven't run out of IP Addresses have you? we had this happen before, resulted in us kicking a lot of the BYOD devices off the network to make room.

Just got off the phone to the alarm company and his boss, it's a definite no on using it for the lock down alarm. Shame really. As for why? Not a clue but I suppose it's to cover their backs in case something does happen. We have had intruders in the past but they were the dazed and confused kind.

I will chase it up thank you, I may have being told a fib as a few others have said it can be done. Thanks

Does sound like a nice system but unfortunatly our Fire Alarm guys say we cant do that we dont have any extra inputs or anything like that. was the first one we tried. Cheers @pickman it doesn't actually its not a bad idea but would need to be practised as the space between blocks will cause an issue, I will suggest it though thanks. @andyturpie I suggested doing something similar but using Impero to blank all screen in the school and put a message on there but was overruled as staff away from a computer or not using it wont see the message. Thank you all for suggestions I know I'm not being easy with it.

Hi all, We are currently looking in to a lockdown alarm in case a crazed axe murder comes on site we need to have a distinct alarm that people wont confuse with the fire alarm and start evacuating. As always money is a factor but our current systems in place are: Fire alarm panel with only one ring style so we cant use that as people will think its the fire alarm. Also the fire alarm is linked to the all the doors meaning the intruder on site could get into any building. We have 9 seperate blocks with mifare card readers on all external doors. The school bell system was mostly dismantled and only works in the old main block, but most of the blocks are new and have nothing. Everything is run in under ground conduits. Current suggestions are: VOIP sounder system that plugs in to the bnetwork allowing us to have a call pionts where veer we need as well as school wide PA announcements. (Expensive) Reconnect the old bell system using 240v cable (very big runs between blocks) and install bells else where (really expensive because of labour) Use the fire alarms but have someone manually activate and deactivate it in quick succession while enabling the door locks. (cheap but requires Site or ICT team to do it and only from two locations in the school) Any one have a suggestion please? Thank you

Morning All, We are currently looking to go to a Managed Print Service reducing our big MFD's from 5 to 3 mainly for production runs, reports, booklets and then replacing the rest of the estate with Epson Pro Rips WF-R5690DTW MFD's. I see the headlines and the savings on ink, downtime, waste, electricity but it still feels to good to be true. We have priced up our annual toner spend, current leases and in house support and compared it to Epson's offering with single click pricing, leasing, support and toner for the 3 year deal (basically just add paper) using current printing numbers with a little extra just in case for growth and it is returning a saving. I just want to know what you guys think overall of the kit. Thanks

I have read you can set up an admin folder in Drive and share it with people so you have control over the structure and they can just add files from there. A little like drive mapping you give students access to the places they need. As for going into their drive and adding files I'm not sure its possible on its own.

Google Vault and then search for the student. Works for their emails as well. If you need extra info let me know.

That looks pretty snazzy, wish I had a eye for design. I cant even draw a stick man properly.

Here goes: 1. Personally I would get rid of RM, everything you need is builtin into windows or can be purchased for the cost of CC4 (my opinion I know some love it) 2. Hypervisor is basically the thing that makes virtualisation work so you need it. You can go with Hyper-V or VMware as well as others. 3. For pricing I couldn't really tell you, I would prefer a SAN or built-in in storage instead of a NAS myself but I'm not sure on your budget. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

I've said before if anyone ever wanted to poison me just leave food on my desk. Definitely a perk of working in IT

Morning all, Following on from the recent IT Strategy and Disaster Recovery document threads. Would it be worth those that have them to store them someone for members to download and view so in the end we all get the perfect setup/layout etc? I don't mind emailing my redacted ones to people but don't always spot my PM's. I get there's examples on the net already but real word examples are always nice to have. Just a thought what you think?

WDS, SCCM or FOG. There's a few out there but there the ones I've used before. Fog is free and will run on pretty much anything as it is Linux based. I made it a virtual server the once as a temporary measure and it did all right. ----------------EDIT @Oaktech beat me buy seconds. He's right on the SCCM part been a beast, WDS is free with Windows Server and just needs setting up. I have an old FOG guide somewhere that explains how to build a hardware independent image.

A little bump followed by does anyone have or know where the documentation to a Coraid SRX3200. The cmd line isnt exactly the clearest. Thanks

Morning All, We had a power cut during our backup run, the UPS devices kicked in but the batteries were so old they didn't last long enough to shut everything down properly (my bad, now replaced after going cap in hand for new batteries). The problem I have now is a 4 year old Coraid SAN out of warranty from a bust company I never setup (before my time). There are 3 shared drives all 4TB across 2 servers. One of the shares in windows is still accesible except one set of folders where it complains it is corrupt and unreadable. I've ran Chkdsk over the weekend and it sticks at 11% checking $0 at File 25 I think and never moves. All data is backed up and after checking the CEC console the drives are all reading fine on there. I know Coraid use Block Level Storage so the disks are fine its just the file system. I have tried reformatting the drive but again it just sits there and hangs. I'm cautios tryinmg to format from within Coraid as the sets are not labelled correctly so I don't know which one is which. Basically asking for any advice, Thank you.

The way I was always told to do it was domain\username

Same as above, did my year student placement in one Grammar school, finished uni did 4 in a inner city school as Senior Tech and now done 16 months as a Network Manager of a Girls Grammar School. The students are polite and friendly, very little in behaviour/vandalism issues. Very intelligent and driven. I will say staff are worked hard with massive amounts of pressure to succeed and push the students as far as they can. As for salary its comparable to other local schools, but I do have a slightly larger budget than my previous NM meaning I can do some fancier things more quickly. As for the work load apart from the vandalism at the inner city school I face the same problems. Password resets, dead pc's, SAN's not playing fair, Projectors dying etc.