IrritableTech

Yes you should be continuing with AVCO and the address will remain Avco.leedslearning.net:323. The leedslearning.net domain doesn't expire until dec 2014 and it's controlled by the LCC so it makes sense to leave it where it is, and leave one less thing for schools to change. Eft is a custom cuteftp install which requires a certificate at both ends. A couple of schools have got it running, but due to the fact there have been so many issues, nobody at LCC is using it yet. So they took the decision to extend the Avco licence for six months. We will all be using eft once that expires. Schools who can't get either working can use ad hock eft (a session via a website is opened for a week) or schools2schools. Data Management are the best people to speak to regarding installing and configuring any of the above.

Avco already works from any internet connection - the server was moved a few weeks ago. FMS (as in FMS Leeds/FAB?) You should have had an email (or your main contact at school) to have your free Vasco tokens assigned. If you have't, PM me your email address and I'll forward the information.

Or a tone generator...

We've just two computers and one phone hanging on for dear life. The computers will be sorted tomorrow, and I'm going to leave the phone plugged in and see what time we're actually cut off on Monday. Do you think they'll send a box for the 2950 on Tuesday morning?

Yep. Our primary schools have a single flat network in most cases. At the high school we have VLANs, but they are geographical rather than user based.

Yep, also file and folder permissions etc. Nothing out of the ordinary, but things that need to be done right to ensure users can't access anything they shouldn't. Two domains may have been seen by some as more secure.

In my nine schools all are on a single curriculum domain. Only two of the smallest ones still have an Admin domain. I'm not sure there are really any benefits to having staff and students on separate domains, only more work. Assuming that is that things are secured correctly on a single domain...

@echo off - - - Updated - - - @echo off

Echo... - - - Updated - - - Echo...

You should be able to WOL across VLANs on procurves using these... http://silvertrip-it.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/how-to-setup-wake-on-lan-with-vlans-and.html

I haven't used the system, but know of it quite well. For what is quite a modest fee (£199/annum but is that for SWGfL schools only?) it seems like very good value. I'm sure the insurance side of email and telephone support would be worth it - there are some fantastic people working within that department.

Spanning tree? If the negotiation of your spanning tree isn't fast enough, you'll miss the window to network boot.

I'm just using 'The Dude' by Mikrotik. Our last set of switches lasted ten years, hopefully these will do the same. Much like @AButters we wanted to standardise our switches as much as possible. Our 5412ZL feeds 2910AL's which each feed 2510's The idea is that if we found money to replace our fibre, both the 5412 and 2910's could all be upgraded to 10Gbit. I expect now we'd be probably be replacing before upgrading them.

We do run gigabit to the desktop here, but as @localzuk says it's largely unnecessary. Due to old OM1 fibre links, we can only interlink switches in trunks of two gigabit fibres. Looking at my monitoring tool right now - the most utilised trunk is running at 56/72Mbps. Looking at the history - it hasn't broken 100mbits today. The link has about 100 pc's running on it, plus printers and wireless devices (~30).

Alan MacKenzie - @esafetyadviser - also has a model policy for free on his website... Free e-safety resources for your school Get as many interested parties involved as you can with this - I include the students here too. The people who the policy is there to protect need to know why it is there, and how it will help keep them safe. If they 'own' the document, they are more likely to work with it.

I'd change your ranges as suggested by your ISP. Adding another NAT device in the mix is asking for headaches. Double NATing isn't going to be fun. We changed our range a couple of years ago to expand our LEA supplied subnet. I was quite nervous about it, but actually it wasn't too difficult. I changed the IPs on the servers but placed the old IP address in as an alternative. That way I could create and configure ranges (in DNS, dhcp etc.) before the switch over day. One important thing to remember I haven't seen mentioned is to add your new range to the sites and subnets area of active directory. After you've switched over try to periodically sniff the packets on your network (I use wireshark). You can then identify the devices you missed in your planning. It's amazing where software/hardware/profiles etc. hide these settings. Then once you're confident you've found everything, you can delete the old - alternative - IP address from your servers.

'fraid not. Had a presentation from capita only yesterday. Early April seemed to be the closest to any commitment. Perhaps @PhilNeal might put his neck out and suggest a date?

We have different SSIDs for domain connected devices, guest devices, sixth form devices, staff devices and cashless tills. We control access using our ruckus controller, AD and dynamic pre shared keys. I need to setup a radius server though to do dynamic vlan assignments - we've hit the limit on SSIDs.

...unless that's changed...

Not heard of anyone using it yet. I spoke with Mike (Director of Sales) on the Lightspeed stand at Bett about this. They were waiting on a final approval from Capita I think before they could release the tool to schools. Nice to be told they aren't charging any extra for the tool either.

The mini dish is so small compared to other dishes because the signal is relatively strong. Which makes aligning it relatively easy. I've aligned about half a dozen mini dishes using nothing more than the dish and the set top box signal meter. It's really easy. The hardest thing is probably loosening the rusty nuts. Move the dish - wait a second and look at the STB meter - move it again etc. As long as signal and quality are above 60-70% you'll be set for all but the worst rain fall.

I had a few telecoms providers recently telling me that they must provide a dedicated connection for SIP trunks. If they didn't provide the link, they couldn't be responsible for the QOS they told me. Many painted a grave picture. Although I understand this in theory - I think their priority was actually up-selling.

@phillip_croxford WPAD isn't a silver bullet unfortunately - you'll still have problems with iOS and Android devices. I wrote a couple of posts about this on my blog... WPAD Archives | IrritableTech In IIS you'll need to set up some MIME Types... .pac & .dat application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig This site is useful reading... Deploying WPAD « FindProxyForURL - PAC & WPAD Resource

This is great advice - especially the decent protective kit and make sure you wear it every single time. You can be hurt just as easily when you're 'just nipping down the road'. Buy new, not second hand - you can't know it's history. Hein Gerike is expensive, but places like J&S have some cheaper brands worth looking at. If you haven't booked your CBT yet, get some recommendations from local bikers. The one I went on was brilliant. Ask them all the questions that are popping into your head - they'll be full of information and very willing to talk about it if they're any good. If you already drive cars start adjusting your driving style - look further ahead and expect anything to happen. Assume everyone is going to pull out in front of you so you're prepared when they do. You need to ride motorbikes defensively. Enjoy it - it's great fun.

We have about 20 twitter accounts. One for each department within school. Some are very well used, some not at all. Our main school account is followed by about 700 people and is simple a broadcast account - we show the feed on our website too. Some departments regularly post and converse with students. With regards to what elsiegee40 suggests it's probably best for schools to only use official accounts - The teaching standards suggest all communication needs to be open to scrutiny. However there are many teachers safely using what seem to be 'personal' accounts well in other schools. As ever, policy is important here. Elsie also makes a great point about the T&Cs of these sites, and the under 13 rule. I find twitter is best, because our students and parents can view everything we publish, without feeling the need to join. We have a facebook page - only to bag the name and prevent others creating something without our knowledge. We do not use it at all. Our Youtube channel is used to host promotional videos for the school, and showcase some students work.