flyinghaggis

Previously the stackable switches we've bought they've had dedicated hardware modules to stack them so they appeared and worked as a combined backplane. Most new switches now seem to utilise 'virtual stacking' so that they're connected via ethernet/fibre connections to each other. Is this different than simply 'daisy-chaining' several switches together in terms of the bandwidth it offers or does it have the same limitations? Do you have to designate one of the ports on the switch as a 'stacking' port or does it simply forward ethernet traffic? I'm guessing that manufacturers wouldn't be implementing it if there were any serious performance drawbacks but on the face of it stacking over ethernet doesn't sound much better than daisy-chaining switches which we'd usually try and avoid

Cheers for the advice. As you suggest I think we'd probably want to run 2 1Gb fibre links back to our core switch and aggregate them. Do you have any whitepapers or best practice guides on how to setup stacks of switches using this method? I've been checking out HP's website and I'm thinking that either on the options below might suit:- 1) Modular HP Procurve 4208vl (loaded with 6x24 ethernet modules and a 4 port firbre module for the uplink) ProCurve 4208vl 96 Switch (J8775B) specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products OR 2) 3 x HP Procurve 2610-48 in a stack (linked/stacked to each other with 1GB Ethernet modules and uplinked with a 1Gb Fibre module) ProCurve 2610-48 Switch (J9088A) specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products Is anyone on here using either of the above switches (4200vl or 2610)? Any recommondations on which setup is better (Modular vs Stackable) ?

The MS Office scanning works OK but does anyone know if there's any free OCR software that can detect layout formatting and pictures aswell as just text? We've currently got Textbridge 2000 but it's getting a bit long in the tooth?

Oh yeah, , a likely story....That's what they all say when you catch them.. "Oh, I was just trying to help by testing your system security to see if it would prevent me hacking the network!"

Yeah, the old fake password screen is a pretty old trick. There used to be e few programs that did this back in the days of RM 2.4. If we caught a pupil doing that I'd push for it to be taken to the highest level and potentially get the kids parents in and possibly suspension or after school detention. Hacking of that kind is a serious criminal offence. Just imaging if the pupil had got their hands on a teacher password (or worse a system admin password) by using that tool. You need to make a serious example of them IMO

If you do go with the external HDD option you really need to buy a separate drive for each individual tape you'd have bought in order to give you the same level of resiliency as the tape drive solution.

Our school's recently just purchased a new building on the same site and we're trying to decide on the best plan for adding it to our exisiting network. The contractors are going to run an 8-core multimode fibre from our server room to the comms cabinet there so we can connect it. Currently in the rest of edge switches are 3com 4400s running in stack setups (usually 2 or 3 48-port switches). These switches used dedicated stacking modules plugged into the backplane of the switches but most companies (3com included) seem to have ditched the dedicated hardware stacking module approach in favour of virtual stacking over existing ethernet ports. Don't know if this is better or worse? I'm guessing that if you stack over a gigabit link the throughput will probably be sufficient? The new wing will have slightly over 100 network devices so I'd want a stack with a port density of at least this figure which means at least 3 (48-port) switches I'd guess to allow for expansion in future. In terms of networking I think there are probably 3 options :- 1) Buy 3 x 48-port switches running in a virtual stack and fit a fibre module to one to run back to the server room. The switches could then be connected (via daisy-chain) to each other using local gigabit ethernet links. 2) Buy 3 48-port switches but fit a fibre module to each swich and run a dedicated fibre for each switch back to the server room. This would give each switch (and the 48 ports on it) a gigabit of bandwidth direct back to the core switch. 3) Buy a modular switch with enough capacity for 100 ethernet ports and a fibre module (possibly with 2 connection for resiliency) for connecting it back to the server room. I think option 1) is probaly the most likely route we'll go down (as I dont think we'lll need the bandwidth provided by the setup in 2 and the modular setup looks like it may be too expensive for an edge switch) but does anyone have any thought's/recommendations on the above setups? TIA

Ideally I think you would do the above as long as the devices you're connecting all lead back to the same comms cabinet/patch panel location. Most of the PCs in our school are in different buildings from where the core switch/cabinet is located with fibre links connecting them (between seperate buildings) hence the need for a core and several 'edge' switches. I'm sure a lot of other places will be in the same situation. Many of the modular switches that take substantial numbers of fibre/ethernet connections are also fairly expensive so if funds are limited it might be cheaper to buy a stack of several lower cost switches.

Without wanting to sound like a killjoy are you not skating on thin ice by trying to proactively bypass filltering that LGfL have put in place!

Cajun Squirrel FTW

That's why it works then (did you actually read my last post that you quoted btw)! The problem seems to be specifically if you publish your Exchange Server OWA (whether it's Exchange 2007 or 2003) through Microsft ISA 2004. IIRC ISA 2004 has a built-in publishing rule for Exchange OWA whereby (rather than actually just forwarding the port like a normal firewall would) it acts as a 'go-between' so that clients outside don't actually get direct access to the exchange server itself . I'm guessing this more secure method of communication is what 'breaks' Blackberry's method of connecting. TBH using OWA a means of synchronising email sounds pretty dubious anyway but then I guess MS aren't going to be to keen to start letting RIM run ActiveSync on Blackberry's anytime soon!

Are you running Microsoft ISA 2004 as your firewall?

Just to update this thread it looks like the problem is related to that fact we're running Microsoft ISA 2004 as our proxy/firewall. No fix available or planned by the sound of it Error message received when integrating a Microsoft Outlook Web Access 2003 or 2007 account Doc ID : KB04804 Last Modified : 12-02-2008 Document Type : Support Overview When trying to integrate a Microsoft Outlook Web Access 2003 or 2007 account with the BlackBerry Internet Service, you receive the following error message: A connection could not be established to /exchange/. Please check that the servername is correct and that the server is available. You are unable to integrate the account. Note: In some cases, the account may integrate and become invalid shortly after the initial integration. Cause The Microsoft Outlook Web Access source server is using a Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server 2004). This feature is causing the failure to validate. To check if the Microsoft Outlook Web Access source server is using a Microsoft ISA Server, 1. Go to the web address of the Microsoft Outlook Web Access account (for example, https://webmail..com/exchange). 2. Once you are redirected to the Microsoft Outlook Web Access login screen, the web address will change. If you see /CookieAuth.dll has been added to the web address, an ISA Server is present. Resolution This is a previously reported issue that has been escalated internally to our development team. No resolution time frame is currently available.

Am I the only one who read ALF and immediately though of this http://www.tvshows.de/alf/poster/alf-po3.jpg

What about a Subaru Impreza STi? Should be able to get a 3 year old example for about £10k and it's a good bit faster than any of the other cars you've mentioned. Running costs could be pricey tho!

I'd have no qualms about paying for access to a website. However being forced to install dodgy 3rd-party IE toolbar plug-ins isn't something that should be done on a network for the sake of access to a single website. The risks of it causing issues are too high IMO.

Different drivers possibly? Either that or something you've built into the RIS image that shouldn't be there when you captured it maybe?

Mine just RROD'd yesterday I've had it for nearly bang on 3 years and it's run without any issues up until yesterday when it just wouldn't turn on. Just away to return it to M$. Hopefully I'll get back an updated Jasper Model with HDMI. Worryingly that's nearly every single person I know with an xbox360 that's had it fail at least once since buying it!

They're making a new one-off special ! Red Dwarf finally returns to Earth • The Register Will probably watch it but given how bad the last season was I'm not holding out much hope of it being any good. Guess it's a bit of nostalgia though.....

I assume they meant for junior school kids where the letters on the actual keyboard are in lowercase (it makes no difference to the keyboard itself other than the physical appearance). Apparently some of the early primary years are taught lowercase characters first so dont understand the standard keyboard as all the alphabetical letters are in uppercase!

Another issue you might have is that OpenOffice doesn't come with an email client so you may also need to look into a replacement for that (.ie Outlook)

What's the point in making kids sit exams which are then graded based on their ability if that grade turns out to be meaningless because all of the pupils aren't sitting the test under the same conditions ? Surely the whole point of exams is to discrimintate against people depending on their level of ability!

I'm not agreeing with his comments but I'm concerned that we are making too much of an issue of trying to diagnose people with 'conditions' to make up for the fact they're finding something difficult. It worries me when it comes to exams aswelll. For example when two pupils sit an exam but one of them is dyslexic so is given a laptop, spelling checker and an extra 30 minutes in the exam! If both these pupils get the same grade could you honestly say that they're both of equal ability given one had an advantage over the other? Surely their level of ability should be reflected in the grade they recieve in the exam?

I actually tried the U3 removal tool on the last stick I encountered but it didn't appear to register the drive as being a U3 model so I couldn't remove the 'read-only' CD partition. I think it might be a different kind of drive though it looks like it works in a similar way.

We've seen this before and it's pretty concerning TBH. USB is something I'd like to block (and think it's we'll probably ultimately be forced into in future given data protection issues and the exploits for it) but there's no way SMT will allow it at the moment without months of discussion. Even then it probably won't happen! How'd you manage to convince SMT to allow you block all USB devices! Do you just block it on pupil PCs or for staff aswell?