Norphy

The "numbered" versions of Windows Server (2016, 2019, 2022) are all LTSC versions. The version updated in August just has the latest patches and service stack updates as of then.

Microsoft aren't doing semi-annual channel releases for Windows Server any more. That ended with 20H2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/servicing-channels-comparison

I don't think it's possible without some scripting. An AD account has a "PasswordLastSet" attribute and the domain will have a policy which defines maximum/minimum password age. Your computer will then know to force a password change from that. The closest I think you'll be able to get is to run a script using a scheduled task which sets the "PasswordExpired" attribute, which is the same as ticking the "User must change password at next logon" box in the account properties in ADUC.

According to the O2 Service Checker website, there are no problems at the Excel centre https://status.o2.co.uk/

According to its spec sheet, this switch is L2 plus static routing. Are you sure you wouldn't be able to get away with a bog standard L2 switch? Something like a 2530-8G?

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/scythe I laughed.

To be honest with you, I think it would have been better if Microsoft didn't allow Windows 11 to be run on hardware which isn't in its HCL. At least then, things like this would be unnecessary and the situation as to what Windows 11 will work on would be a lot clearer.

Is the new variant of COVID the Epideme virus? Stuff is suddenly making sense. No wonder the government is lifting restrictions...

I used to drive past this place in Thorntons Heath every so often...

China doesn't exactly have a good relationship with telling the truth about anything. They've been spreading disinformation about the pandemic since the beginning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation_by_China https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-china-56513257 You missed the "And kill your pets for good measure" part of that policy https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-59249485 You need to take what comes from any government with a large pinch of salt, but anything that comes from them needs an entire salt mine.

Silence

I would imagine that most people are using some kind of transparent Always-On VPN which kind of precludes the use of a password. It uses a certificate for authentication instead of a password, whether that's a device tunnel or a user tunnel. I certainly did when I was working in edu. I implemented it just before lockdown and I'm very glad I did. My current workplace uses a Cisco ASA device for its VPN which piggybacks onto Azure MFA, so whenever I need to use it I get the usual authentication prompt on my phone to get in.

UEFI or Secureboot?

Yea gods, anyone would think I make that post while drunk. Damned predictive text. That's mask rules in Scotland and cases up here. Apparently, not HM Government :\

A Xeon is essentially a standard Core CPU with some extra PCIe lanes and (sometimes) the ability to run in multi-CPU systems, have the ability to address more RAM and have more memory bandwidth. In terms of IPC, they're more or the less the same as their desktop counterparts and should be able to do everything a desktop CPU can do. According to Intel's ARK, that CPU is based around the Skylake architecture, which is the equivalent to a 6th Gen Core CPU. It's going to be a fast system, but if Windows 11 is on your horizon you may want to hold off on it and get something a bit more modern. You will be able to get Windows 11 on it now by using well known registry hacks but who knows what will happen with the next release?

I don't think you're going to find much, if anything, that's free. You don't have to get the full Microsoft 365 A5 license to get Intune though, Intune for Education licenses are something like £4.50 per device per year on their own.

Don’t you need Apple School/Business Manager if you want to buy apps in bulk? I’m pretty sure you also need it if you want to use whatever Apple is calling DEP these days as well.

It's worth bearing in mind that it might not be an unwillingness to learn. Quite often, a teacher or a department has a curriculum or their teaching materials built around a specific piece of software. Substituting it for another piece of software takes time and resources which the teacher or department may not have. If someone told me to rip out my AD and Exchange* servers and replace them with OpenLDAP and Zimbra because they're cheaper, I'd be pretty peeved. Yes, they're both perfectly good products but I don't have experience or training in them and putting them in and migrating everything over to them would not be a trivial process. *I've not touched on-prem Exchange in over six years, I'm just using that as an example /edit Also, at the end of the day, the teachers are there to do a job and if they're going to do that job and do it well, they're going to need tools that they're happy with and familiar with. Forcing them over to another product is going to do nothing but harm the people getting their education. Chances are that these teachers have a lot of experience with teaching with their favourite product and know it back to front. Forcing them onto something else is going to be an adjustment and it will reduce their effectiveness. Why should they have to do that? It's not laziness, that's just the way it is.

Absolutely with you there. Getting proper training for something makes a huge difference. I'm immensely grateful that my workplace at the time paid for SCCM training, for instance. I'm certain I've got ten times more out of the product because of that. Yes. It's probably the best Mac MDM out there, but education pricing doesn't make it cheap. Do look into alternatives, JAMF is probably the best but it's not the only one that's good. Difficult to comment on that without knowing what exactly you've got. I will say that because Macs are expensive (no getting away from that!), schools tended to buy the base models of whatever they bought. Unless you've got a suite of MacBook Airs, I would think those Macs have probably not got much RAM and possibly magnetic hard drives. Like any computer, give them decent speed storage and adequate RAM and they'll last for years. My own personal iMac is a 2010 27" model which I've maxed out the RAM on (16GB) and put in an SSD. Three SSDs, actually! It's by no means the fastest machine in the world and it's now running an outdated build of OS X (it's 12 years old ffs!) but it's still fast enough for a lot of things. It's also worth pointing out that Macs in themselves are expensive, but quite often first party software from them isn't. Logic, for instance, is very cheap when you get educational licenses, as is Final Cut Pro. The cost of a Mac Mini plus Logic quite often works out the same as the cost of a PC with software like Sonar.

Granted, but your product should drive marketing, not the other way around.

Macs can be a pain in the whasit but done properly they’re fine. As already said get, get a decent MDM and you’re golden. It also helps to look at the positives as well. Don’t say ‘Oh God, I don’t know anything about these, i don’t like them’. Look at it as a learning opportunity and as something else you can put on your CV. Experience of MDMs and Mac management is valuable. Plus, you may end up liking them. It happened to me…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60750364 Make rules in Scotland are staying in place until April at least. Seems sensible, to be honest. Cars up here seem to be on the rise again. In my highly scientific survey of my tiny corner of the country, people seem a lot more sensible about wearing masks here than they did in London, so hopefully there won’t be too much resistance.

Not saying that this is what you've done, but when I managed a network with Aruba 2530 switches, I found that the 24/48 port and 8 port versions of the switch had different firmware files. When you tried to put the 24/48 port firmware onto the 8 port switch, you got an error. Might be worth checking you've got the right file?

Happy.

Fandango