AngryITGuy

I decided to test out iOS 8 with out current MDM setup which uses Apple Configurator to supervise the devices and Meraki. I have restrictions enabled on all devices which vary depending on the end user of the device. One of the restrictions we set right across the board here is Not Allowing Account Changes on the device. We set this to stop anyone from logging out the designated iTunes account for the device and to stop anyone from configuring emails on the devices. Along with this restriction I also have the Allow modifying account settings (iOS 7) in Meraki untucked which essentially does the same thing. With previous version of iOS this has worked perfectly no one was able to log out of the designated iTunes account and no one can configure any additional mailboxes. When you hit the Mail icon in the iPad dock you get an error message saying its lockdown and the application closes. On 8.0.2 you can't logout of the iTunes account but if you click on the Mail icon you can now configure a mailbox! I have gone through the process and configured my iCloud email even though the setting is disabled, if I go to settings Mail, Contacts and Calendars the add Account buttons is disabled yet I seem to have added an account using the mail icon from the dock. Can anyone with a similar setup running iOS 8 test this for me as I could have made a mistake somewhere during the upgrade process. I'm running the latest version of Configurator so I'm not sure what I could have done wrong. Thanks

Here's mine, we recently relocated to new offices in school. I nabbed the desk at the end of the office so that I got the benefit of the sea view and the chance to ignore all the mess behind me!

We've just ordered the Experimental Makerbot Replicator 2x. All being well it should be here in a couple of days for me to try out.

We recently purchased a dozen Toshiba R830 something or other with a 2nd Gen i7 CPU, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD and 13" display the model includes the TPM chip. They came in at about £325 with 3 year RTB and all of ours were in immaculate condition and very quiet even under significant load when we tested a demo unit.

Do they have to be brand new? We recently purchased a dozen Toshiba R830 something or other with a 2nd Gen i7 CPU, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD and 13" display. They came in at about £325 with 3 year RTB and all of ours were in immaculate condition and very quiet even under significant load.

It's on the list to do just need the right vacancy to open up. Nothing has come up at the school my children go to. I can't be a staff governor at my working school because I don't work for them. I'm waiting for one of the LEA seats to open up as the managed service is provided by them so could be my way in.

Never came across an open job application before and suddenly I've come across two in the same day. The following extract was taken from another job advert I've just come across ... "Applicants will be interviewed on an ongoing basis and the vacancy will close as soon as the right candidate is found."

i have a question for any ICT Staff working in schools with the words Director, Strategic or Leader in their job title. What additional responsibilities do you have as part of your role that say a Network Manager doesn't? I've been the NM at my current school for 7 years now and I am looking to take on more strategic & developmental responsibilities and want to know what responsibilities others have so that I can take my proposal to the head. This isn't about getting more money from the school as I'm paid via the Managed Service that the school buys in to, it's purely for experience and possibly additional training which I hope will open doors and opportunities for career development.

I've just looked and can't see a closing date for the application either. Perhaps it's an open advert until they find the right applicant? Never came across a job advert without a closing date.

Thanks for the update, please keep us posted with how you get on. How long did that print take? All being well we should be ordering the MarkerBot Replicator Desktop version on Monday.

Who did you purchase that from? We are now looking at getting one of the larger versions ordered.

We use to use BLOXX and can't remember the reports looking like that. I could fire the box up for you and generate a report for you to compare if you need it. There are a couple of things worth checking regarding your situation. Firstly I would check your AUP to see what it says regarding your Internet access as part of your role and the checking of user Internet access. I'm a NM in my current role and our AUP says I can't just look in to a users Internet history not even a students. I have to be requested to look, student access requests come from teachers and staff requests from the SLT. Secondly check if any group policies are applied to you and your workstation. Are you even able to bypass the filtering like it is being suggested. Probably most importantly would be to speak your union if you are in one or the head teacher and request that the very same report showing no Internet access is generated again in your presence to prove its legitimacy.

Will take a look at those as well as he markerbot ones too. If I had my way we wouldn't be buying such a device as I personally think at present it's a you for the department and nothing less. Did a quick calculation for the Trio printer and to allow all students in KS4 one print at maximum size it would cost almost the same as the device in materials. I just don't get it but need to research the right device so I don't get blamed for picking the wrong one when it doesn't get used.

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone use a 3D printer in a secondary school? I've been asked to look in to purchasing a 3D Systems Cube X Trio printer. Anyone who supplies the printer only does so with a 90 day warranty and there isn't an option to purchase any extended support. So I was hoping to get an idea of what others are using in secondary schools.

You will need to change the name via Configurator eventually as it will only end up doing the same thing next time the device is connected. However as an interim solution you should be able to go to Settings | General | About | Name to change the device name.

All sorted now, I disabled Push Notifications when installing the Meraki App which caused the error. Enabling this has now solved the issue.

Such as? We've used Profile Manager for about a year now and it hasn't always been reliable, hence the move away.

I've deployed it via Configurator, Meraki and also as a user installed app and I keep getting the same error! Have you managed to solve this?

I've been testing Meraki to use as a MDM Solution for our iPads as we are looking to move on from Profile Manager. I've created all the required system manager networks and setup the individual profiles for restrictions and settings. All of our iPads are supervised via Apple Configurator and I have a default backup image for the devices that is applied. I can enrol a device on to a Meraki Network and it appears as a client and I can push managed apps to it and refresh the app and profile lists. However I've just noticed that when I go to the clients details page, MDM commands and try to send a notification or GPS location I get a message telling me to install the iOS app on to the device. All the devices have the iOS app installed on then so I have no idea why I am getting that message. The Meraki app shows up under the Installed apps list on the device. I've opened the app on an enrolled device and it shows as being enrolled on the System Manager Network, but when I click on the Managed Apps button I get an error saying the device enrollment has not yet completed. I though it might have been the way the app was deployed but I've tried adding the Meraki app to the default iPad image, I've installed it as a managed app and I have even installed it manually on the device but each time I get the same erorr messages. Has anyone come across this issue before, as I can't see where I have gone wrong with the device enrollment.

I'm listing my sisters Macbook Air MD226B/A which she purchased on the 29th or March this year. She is selling as she never uses it and it has pretty much lived in the box it came in! Since having it she has only used it on the battery charge supplied when purchased, I know this as I unwrapped the power supply and put it together today as I restored it for her! It's the top spec model of the previous generation with the upgraded 1.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 256GB Flash drive, full device specifications are available here Having checked what it's worth and given its age and condition she's looking for £900 which includes the delivery charge too. Any one interested, or have any questions feel free to ask. Thanks

Seems a very small step in the right direction from Apple with regards to iOS device management in education. Such a same the the VPP isn't available here yet. Looking at the app it looks like a cross between the old iPhone Configuration Utility and the a small portion of the Mobile Device Management module from Lion Server. Having had a run through preparing a couple of devices and installing some free apps it seems a bit of a let down. It took longer setting the devices up using the configuration than it does with the iPhone Configuration Utility and restoring a device from backup via iTunes. Unless I'm mistaken the tool seems to be focused around deploying the apps via VPP and nothing more, any one know if app deployment will be done Over The Air or will the device need to be plugged in. You still can't lockdown the settings icon, reset pass codes or wipe the device unless I'm being stupid and missing the settings, but you can set a custom lock screen image!

There's also CloudOn which lets you use Office on the iPad it's works alongside DropBox so all your files are stored in the cloud.

When I setup our school account I did it on a workstation rather than the iPad itself. You should get the option to select no payment details which will allow you as a school to use iTunes Gift Cards to purchase apps from the store.

We use an app called File Browser for this. We have our iPads setup to connect to generic shares, each time the user tries to connect to a share they are prompted for credentials. You can have it setup so that it connects with specific credentials each time without notifying the user. All staff iPads are also linked to their My Documents too we have the username hard coded to the app but prompt staff for passwords, its a bit more difficult to do with students as they all share the devices in school. The app is pretty secure as any changes to it are controlled by password access so users cannot connect to any other shares without the admin password, you can also lock it down so users can add to a remote share but not delete from it whist using the iPad.

Not sure about your issue with moving around the apps. But for the other issues you will need a Mac Server Running OS X Lion Server, the mobile device management addin of the software will actually disable access to the settings of the device.