TechMonkey

What is also being over looked is the general move to cloud. Currently we have Timetabler installed on a App server and the shortcut given to those that use it. But, if we move to a more cloud centric model, the App server would become redundant as users would want to use the software wherever they are on whatever device they are using. A single piece of software holding that up would be looked at pretty critically by management and alternatives asked for. If alternatives are being asked for someone will fill it. Having the data stored centrally in SharePoint or GoogleDrive is an alternative, but now I have to ensure every install of Timetabler is kept up to date separately, rather than one central install we have currently. We all know that this will be forgotten until the day they want to start working on the timetable.

Only issue we had with 2012R2 -> 2019 was IIS. Haven't found a way to migrate settings so you end up with no websites. It was a Sage server we were decommissioning so never went further.

It also looks like one of those trailers where they have included all the good bits and revelations. I'll hold judgement.

Separate VLAN that has the gateway as our Smoothwall so they have no route to internal systems, dumps them straight to the Internet through our filtering. Getting them signed in and connected is a whole different matter. We've looked at the Ruckus Cloudpath, and it looks really good, but for the few visitors we have it isn't cost effective, in my mind.

One issue we noticed is that, when you set to wipe profiles, each user is set a quota. Something like 2GB, and this is used very quickly. There is no way we have found to edit this limit. So removing the wipe profiles may help in the short term. I still wish ChromeOS installed apps per device, rather than per user, so once the initial login happened, everyone else already had the app.

Here is the code I used over lockdown to set furloughed staff OoO Connect-AzureAD Connect-EXOPSSession -UserPrincipalName USER@DOMAIN $group = Get-AzureADGroup -SearchString "furloughedStaff" $members = Get-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId $group.ObjectId -All $true | Where-Object {$_.ObjectType -eq "User"} $OOFMsg = "EMAIL CONTAINING HTML FORMATTING" foreach ($member in $members.UserPrincipalName){ Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration -Identity $member -AutoReplyState Enabled -InternalMessage $OOFMsg -ExternalMessage $OOFMsg }

Ok, that is silly. Internal email shouldn't matter. I think you should escalate that as someone is fobbing you off.

With SendGrid they could just use that.

What issue do you have with the iSAMS log? We find it OK. Could do with some search tools but shows who sent what, when and to whom. We have the SendGrid set up, it may even be setup all ready for you as I think they were making it mandatory to stop their servers being blacklisted.

Have to say, this is a known restriction from O365 and they have been tightening bulk security over the past few years. Look at SendGrid or something similar, or adjust the settings to slowly release the emails. Though this may cause issues if it is an urgent notice that is time sensitive. We had the same issue with our Library system before we realised the Librarian was sending out late emails all on the same day to the whole school and each parent. MS can not afford for their mail servers to be blacklisted as it would hobble their whole service, so they have to self regulate heavily.

We have an MSP as a third line support. We pay a fixed annual amount that covers calls and if we don't use that up they generally suggest review services or something else that will make up the difference and then the cost will be reviewed for the next year. They also know our network well so if something awful were to happen they could either step in or help who ever does step in. The company works by having an account manager I talk to about general things and then he can bring the experts from the company to help. We are assigned to a team so we have consistency with who we speak to and we know their team leader incase we need to escalate anything. They have a lot better contacts in various large companies, MS for one, than we could ever hope for. We try and update them if our documentation changes but generally if we do major network upgrades, they are the ones doing it. If we paid more they could be more pro-active. They use a monitoring service that could go on every endpoint and let them know everything is working, and we would be able to have visibility of that, but we opted out of that, just having the bare minimum monitored. We still get calls occasionally as they have had a flag for disk space or Veeam Backup going wonky, or a major outage, but we are generally sorting it already or have done it. We let them know when we are having downtime so they don't try and contact us for no reason. I have also had occasion to contact them at the weekend when we had a major issue with our infrastructure and they had an engineer on standby to come to site to help us, but in the end we managed to sort it. But it s good to know the option was there, for a cost. Ultimately it comes down to an insurance policy. Some may see it as a waste but ultimately when the doo doo hits the whirly device, I know I can have someone to contact or even an extra pair of hands, that is more likely to have come across the issue or know the people that will.

I've seen companies that do it. The idea is to make it more like they are in the room, as described. You just have to get the right camera and mark on the table where the view is so no one sits out of view.

I wouldn't classify these as pain though. Those are necessary steps and should be built in to any migration of any system. If they are considered pain then every day of my work life is pain and my work place should be dealt with under the Geneva convention as an instrument of torture!

I know it is US-centric but this is the best advice I have ever read Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Me, Wouldn't rush anything, would rather get work sorted so as not to leave my team in the lurch. Set up some trusts for Son and Nephew. Sort my Sister and Parents our for houses and cars. Sort some people close to me for a good chunk of change. But a large chunk into investments, just in case. I'd like a sail boat, and to learn to sail. Then take my time enjoying myself for a bit. Then as you say, help out some charities randomly. Get my old Scout group a new hut and some decent kit. Do some random drops of cash to help.

I think you will be surprised about how accepting staff will be if they are being offered something that will actually help them and they don't have to actively fight. We moved from an old school SIMS-a-like and staff were happy that we were using something modern that they weren't having to fight to get what they needed done. Now, we weren't so far along the using IT systems and utilising data so it may have been easier but I will bet you still get a lot of goodwill by getting rid of a system staff do not like. Not saying it is plain sailing all the time but Staff are a lot more accepting when something goes wrong when it is the exception, rather than the rule.

But there is scare mongering in that post. Saying there are is disruption is only valid if a proper plan is not put in place. Not going to claim every migration will go smoothly but to label it as disruption is pretty disingenuous. I don't know of any migration that have restricted data migration or have causes data loss, if properly planned. The cases where I have heard of difficulty are normally moving from SIMS and to do with their support not wanting supply data structure information or people having issues navigating their tortuous structure. The choice argument is hilarious in a post trying to convince people to not choose. The cost argument is also just an indicator of bad planning or maybe a rogue installer. I don't know any systems that hide their costs as it is a sure fire way to annoy schools. In fact the biggest culprit of that in the past has been SIMS. Not sure what schools they have spoken to but on here there has been nothing but positive experiences from moving. Yes it needs to be managed, and managed carefully, but anyone not realising that was going to have a bad time no matter what.

This has been extended to 29th of October

Yes, I asked them about it and it is this. Less customisation, more standardisation and aimed solely at the State Sector

Although if it is an emergency and you use the emergency call feature, or even dial the emergency numbers, it will go over any mobile phone network available.

Yes, thank you all. Was really good, informative and jolly tasty!

We do similar with PRTG free, which will run on Windows and allows 100 sensors. You can also script sensors using PowerShell. We have sensors for all switches responsive, SAN enclosure, Appliances are responsive, Google is contactable, our website is contactable, SIP trunk is available, Number of Domain and Local admin group members, core service servers are responsive, file share disk space, and currently trying to link our Veeam backup to let us know if it goes wrong. Our board has a rotating map of our network map and cool looking radial graph, which looks impressive but really just shows everything is green unless something goes wrong!

We have the same for even younger. Must have Photoshop to teach the y3 kids how to scribble on a picture.

Thank you both. In my head as it was a guided tasting we were gobbling all pies and all beers. I was up for the challenge, though fully expecting tomorrow to be tricky.

I may have missed something but how does this run? Do we need to get them cooked before hand or are we walked through? I've also though, first world problems I know but, do we end up drinking all 5 pints through the evening? @Chanelle_Securly

You would need a third party system, something like Hootsuite. You will be looking at paying the big bucks though I'm afraid.