Michael

I've done this also - 2008 R2 > 2012 R2 > 2016. Last I looked SIMS still wasn't officially supported on 2019, but this may have changed by now. Either way, 2016 is still way within support.

On paper this looks good - Papercut in the cloud, users provisioned from either Azure or Google, but then surely you're still going to need a server to host printers to be deployed, say by GPP for example? Even if the server was in Azure, you're then going to have the issue of print jobs going up and down the WAN. I'm not sure how or why this is any different from Enterprise requirements? What would be nice is if Papercut could be hosted on a Ubiquiti Cloud Key equivalent, maybe attached to one or more MFP, then a synchronisation with a cloud instance for management. I can't see how else it'd work myself?

Should hopefully put an end to 32Bit only or 64Bit only and of course 64Bit enforces driver signage for quite some time now. Be interesting to see whether or not UEFI will be enforced as well, so all installs are more robust at a low level.

Be interesting to know also whether W11 will be 64Bit only, just as Windows Server has been for years now. This would make sense, as more apps are natively 64Bit themselves.

Just curious to know whether the new Start Menu is also XML based, or whether we can redirect and copy/paste shortcuts into it? Theoretically W11 should have its own ADMX store you can copy to a server, rather than wait for Microsoft to publish it online separately.

Interesting - I had a feeling they would ditch IE completely. From this perspective it makes sense - new OS, no legacy browser. As you say, the Control Panel issue is something that should have been resolved with W11 from the start also.

First impressions, looks/feels more like Mac: https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/leaked-windows-11-screenshots-start-menu

Unless you're running Windows 10 LTSB 1607 or Windows 10 LTSC 1809, they're still supported until the year 2026 and 2029. It's fair to say I will be observing what happens with Windows 11, but I won't deploy it anytime soon! #learnlessonsfromdeployingwindows101507

There isn't a hard limit, only a suggested recommendation. The Cloud Key Gen 2's are more powerful and better made than Gen 1.

Apparently CAT5e 'can' do 2.5Gbps with a supporting switch up to 100m and CAT6 5Gbps up to 100m. Whether or not these standards will be adopted by enterprise IT remains to be seen! Multi-Gig ports on high end routers will soon start becoming the norm, labelled as 5G/2.5G/1G.

SC to ST then and looking at the age of the patch panels, I'd hesitate and guess it's OM1 or OM2.

I agree, hence why I definitely said rough It can be an indication, but isn't guaranteed. Hopefully in future it'll be less of an issue, as at least all new multi-mode fibre is 50/125; more so the equipment either end being the limitation rather than the fibre itself.

Chances are your fibre patch lead has an ST or SC connection going into the Media Converter. You'll need to identify the fibre type, as it varies a lot. As a rough guide - OM1 = Grey 62.5/125 OM2 = Orange 50/125 or 62.5/125 OM3 = Green 50/125 OM4 = Green 50/125 The SFP or SFP+ module will need an LC end patch lead, so it could either be ST > LC or SC > LC as common examples. You of course need to do this both ends to operate at 1Gbps and beyond.

It'll be a classic 99 ice cream with two flakes, not just the one for '11'. All this just makes me think of Mac OS to be honest. I won't be tuning in on the 24th...!

You can remove Solus as above, but the actual SIMS directory on a workstation, you can delete using a startup script. It won't leave an entry in Programs and Features, because unlike properly written applications, it's special.

I'm running 1607/1809 LTSC patched up April 2021 using WUfB, no issues to report. All I can suggest is review the event logs and if required, delete applicable local profiles. They can still become very large or of course corrupt.

Good feedback! The grey box needs to be somewhere suitable, but ideally hidden as well I agree!

I agree, if you don't have gas then your choices are limited. It wouldn't be unreasonable to ask for your 'average user costs', for each type of fuel/method used to generate energy for a typical 3/4 bedroom house, then you have a direct comparative. I'd also encourage speaking to someone who's actually done it too. I did exactly this and it wasn't favourable in their case, but may not always be the case for all.

I haven't bought one, but I have looked into it. There are two aspects to look at (very much like electric cars really). 1. Is it better for the environment (possibly). 2. Are you better off financially, probably not, far from it. An Air Source Heat Pump requires space in your garden, as well as a water cylinder in a cupboard/garage, which ironically a lot of people in the UK got rid of in favour of a Combi Boiler. An Air Source Heat Pump will continuously turn a motor (which of course uses electric) to generate heat and heat your water cylinder. So as it stands, your gas is roughly 2-3p per Kw and electric can be as much as 14p per Kw - all I can suggest is look at your current tariffs with your energy supplier. Personally I think the future will be hydrogen, as the existing pipe network serving gas could be used for hydrogen and manufacturers of gas boilers (such as Worcester Bosch), now sell dual gas/hydrogen boilers in preparation. It'd work in the same/similar fashion, burning on demand when you turn the tap on and not continuously. The biggest issue in the UK from what I've read, is it's currently expensive to manufacture hydrogen, but I'm sure that will change. The biggest issue I have with all this - Air Source Heat Pumps and electric cars, is if everyone did this, would the national grid cope? I've no idea, plus there are questions on how all this additional electric would be generated? So there you have it - still unfavourable cost wise and still questions environmentally. Everything just doesn't add up at the moment.

To be honest you shouldn't need a sliding shelf, just a static shelf on all 4 columns. I presume the drives are front accessible? Other than the original install, it's rare there's a need to slide a rackmount server out. I think the last time was to install a dual 10Gb network card!

Most native rack mount servers required 1000 deep these days, as I suspect eventually those desktop servers will someday be replaced... and likewise batteries are another consideration - standalone vs rack. Also better for airflow and really there aren't any disadvantages. Easily the best use of space and keeps everything off the floor!

Different hardware revision possibly? They should all behave the same though!

This is just it - I'd probably say 64GB of memory overall, shared between hosts. This is fine for other VMs, but not DB type VMs. So by this logic, probably no more than 4 SIMS/FMS instances shared, depending on the number of users at each school too; Secondary would of course be a lot greater compared to a Primary. If it was 64GB per VM, it'd be a beast of a server - 8 SIMS/FMS instances with a system total of 512GB of memory.

I'm looking at a local SIMS instance, Server 2016, 16GB of memory sitting at 60%, running on an Intel Xeon Silver = no issues.

There have been issues with Unifi and Radius, so I'd say the issue is probably nothing to do with the XG.