pete

Vision can do some of it (our data lead is playing with it) but most of our data was in PowerBI already (SIMS+Integris > WondeAPI > PowerBI) before Bromcom and now we're going directly from Bromcom to PowerBI. If you're running a mix of MIS, the Wonde API is cheap and fairly straightforward.

August (bar exam result download days) is easier for me to schedule.

I'd put new street cabs close to bus stops / other public infrastructure with a raised flat roof and have an arrangement with the council about mounting solar on top of the bus stop (high enough to deter most half-hearted unplanned vandalism) to charge the batteries. Offer the council free broadband connectivity for bus stop display screens as part of the deal.

Work? Not in the slightest. Even if we could source a couple of containerized diesel generators, sourcing sufficient fuel (absent a pre-agreed fuel contract with heavy penalties for non-delivery) from ideally two different directions wouldn't really be feasible. Plus we'd need one per school to keep the basics running and then another just to drive the kitchens (all electric) at the secondaries. Home? There's bottled water, candles, torches, battery banks and tinned food and noodles etc for a week or two if need be.

Tentatively, making the PCs check and update drivers via HP Image Assistant HPImageAssistant.exe /Operation:Analyze /Action:Install /Selection:All /Silent /ReportFolder:C:\IT\HPIA\Logs /SoftpaqDownloadFolder:C:\IT\HPIA\Drivers /BIOSPwdFile:currentpwd.bin ....seems to have prevented occurrences in one room. (and realistically does no harm being pushed out to all the HP desktop kit). I'll leave a link to the Client Management Script library downloads: https://www.hp.com/us-en/solutions/client-management-solutions/download.html https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/ish_7636709-7636753-16

Yes - we've spot-checked PC <> cable <> wall jack <> patch panel <> switch port on the affected devices. Switches are 2930m and 2930f for the most part. We've had HP desktops (Prodesk 400s and 600s) for a fair while and while they do drop to 10/100, they've never actually turned off the NIC (no lights). We have 20 of the G6 version of this model that didn't display any problems. They were running Win10 22H2, however. For drivers we're using OSDCloud, which downloads applicable drivers/firmware as part of the imaging process (OSDCloud+MDT). I haven't double-checked the versions offered against those on the manual download site yet. @ITGuyNW Not sure, haven't tested that yet.

Yup, it's an "has anyone else had this?" post. We have a batch of HP Pro Mini 400s and we've put 24H2 on them. They have the latest (as of 2 weeks ago when I rebuilt the driver stores) firmware and drivers. We've tested 24H2 on these and various other bits of hardware lying around to iron out any quirks......or so we thought. Some of them (1-2 in a room of 31) will quietly drop the network connection and not resume it while they're actively being used. The switch doesn't log anything (disconnect, for example) or bad traffic on the port. There's no pattern so far on when it happens. They're connected to Aruba switching (gig PoE+, loop-protect and spanning-tree on) and the patch leads in the rooms have been inspected and replaced as part of the refit. Testing the network jacks shows no issues. Symptoms are dropping the network connection (no lights next to the NIC) and not re-establishing the connection until either the ethernet cable is unplugged and re-inserted or (in one case yesterday afternoon) a USB > Ethernet convertor is used (to save a student's work) and then the onboard NIC starts working. We're working through Any BIOS setting we missed 24H2's power-saving options (NIC sleeping etc) Known issues for driver / BIOS release notes Event logs on the device Whether it happens just for the onboard NIC or whether it can affect all NICs (USB > Ethernet convertor). My suspicion is a an overly-aggressive power-saving setting somewhere, but I'd expect it to be more widespread if that was the case.

Business Insider co-founder roasted over creepy blog post about AI workers https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/henry-blodget-invents-ai-employee-20289048.php https://www.askamanager.org/2024/01/men-are-hitting-on-my-scheduling-bot-because-it-has-a-womans-name.html (and yes, I'm annoyed that I'm going to have to cover this in a policy - WTF, people?)

Lift alarm/emergency phone? Old BT Redcare that no-one cancelled? Walked around the school looking for BT faceplates? Old ISDN line?

^Not in our experience, no. It was made clear that you need to sort out your data beforehand which (in SIMS as well) is a manual process. If you came from Integris (which is supposed to reconcile duplicate parental contacts in the background as an overnight, but doesn't), that's something your data manager and office staff should have been aware of before migrating (since they created the duplicate contacts in the first place).

Is there any evidence the Welsh government has provided funding for any additional work (bandwidth, latency, IPAM and firewall rules for several thousand additional devices) at the LA/RBC/Service Provider level necessary to support their eSports strategy? ....because if they haven't, and it's out of scope for the current contract......<insert Mike Monteiro's most infamous presentation>

If your client is too new, you'll see something like "Incompatible version [vX.XX]" if you enabled server browsing when installing the client (see attached). Upper redacted server is online and the same version as the client. Lower redacted server is online, but an older version.

We did think about that, then we thought sooner or later scammers will do it, so didn't want people to blindly assume "school logo = school person".

We don't, for basically the reasons @Norphy and @Oaktech mention and we only take individual school photos of students in Years, 7, 9 and 12.

eDiscovery and Content Search export (classic and new version) are both broken and have been since 25th March. Most likely due to the idiots pushing breaking changes to production. You'll get a JSON error message and if you press F12 it's a 500 error (even if you have appropriate permissions in 365 and roles in Purview). *is also processing a SAR*

Yup. If you're using LibreNMS as well, look at https://github.com/bonzo81/netbox-librenms-plugin

The other option is to try device-based licensing. The office install still needs to check in, but it's only every 90 days. Ask your reseller for sufficient licenses to be added to your 365 tenancy (they're free if you've got Office via an EES or A3). https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-apps/licensing-activation/device-based-licensing

Anecdotally, feedback on Anme about SecureSchools has been pretty good.

We had a driver grumbling about that last month, but when I phoned to query it they said he'd jumped the gun and it wasn't implemented yet. I've got a bin with a mix of hardware and empty toner that was accepted on the understanding they'd accept both. They're welcome to invoice me for toner in the next bin, but I'll reject any charges for the toner in this one. Part of the reason we don't use the bundled toner collection from the MFD provider is that it's not very good (needless faffing).

^ Yeah, I've got a Netool* for live ports but this is for testing potentially damaged ports and unpatched ports with the label peeled off (or the labelling scheme relies on knowing which office 3rd Bob had in 1993). @r0cketbev How is that Kostol tester for battery life? Does the PoE test function make it big and obvious (on-screen) which port to use to avoid burning out the main one? *decent for the price. Initial startup could be a bit quicker, but no other complaints.

Our Testum Validator has, after ~15 years or so, given up the ghost and I'm after a similar replacement device. This is for ad-hoc diagnosis and repair and tracing cable runs. I need: Cable testing (physical and basic networking - ping and DHCP) Tone + probing Ideally under £500 all-in. Definitely not a Fluke/NetAlly budget. Would be nice: PoE testing I'm looking at the Klein Tools Scout Pro series at the moment, but what are you using? (And if anyone's got a Testum Validator they're willing to sell, I'm also interested).

The credit card (or better yet iFixit prizing card) trick doesn't work on our doors without a flathead or chisel to knock out the door surround (fire / draught baffle) and at that point it's faster to kick the door in if you're going to leave signs of entry. Underdoor tools don't work for similar reasons (very stiff draught excluders and intumescent stripping) and most doors are keyed each side. But too far down that path and I'm knocking out hinge pins, shimming padlocks and a site walk that already takes 3hrs per secondary school would be a whole day.

Probably going to trigger a safeguarding report there.

On the couple of tenancies I've tried it's slower than usual but (as above) preview doesn't work.

The problem is that all the people with the aptitude (I've rejected a few people) and the seniority to do it are (because education) already stretched thinly. The current approach is to go more mid-level (capable, confident, some management experience) with backup from me if someone tries to pull rank on them. It's early days, so we'll see how it goes.