Primus

My issue is that not having user level filtering is a big problem - if you'd said it doesn't have user level and you will need to add this with another product it would have been clearer. Not everyone is always aware of all the requirements with regards to filtering and monitoring so a colleague may think that filtering without user level filtering or reporting was ok as a result of your post - it came across to me like that - that you ony filter Chromebooks like that. I just wouldn't want someone to rely on advice on here that wasn't fully clear.

That isn't what you said though: "This works fine but doesn't give user level reporting." If you're recommending doing that but then getting your user level reporting from somewhere else you need to be explicit otherwise someone following your suggestion is liable to cause themselves issues.

Your original post said you didn't have user level reporting....

Well it's not fine is it as if you can't report on which site was accessed by which student your filtering and monitoring is only filtering - you're meant to monitor too.

Or you could embrace the point of the forum - instructions documented here benefit everyone whereas instructions sent by PM don't.

Sounds legit!

True, but for the money you save by going Unifi you could rip it all out and replace it again when they have their 6 APs and still come out ahead! Their 6 APs aren't far away either.

You don't need to buy anything - the free version has all the functionality you'd need anyway! I'm assuming their threat is not an empty one plus you're using software that's now so old you cannot predict how it will react to future Windows 10 updates. If you're moving away from Smart boards entirely do you have a plan for converting Notebook files?

They said that 11.4 won’t activate anymore so they’re trying to force people to move forward.

Obviously. However the original point was no support. I was pointing out a lot of stuff can be done remotely.

Yes obviously if they have COVID-19 with symptoms then you're in a pickle!

Just to be clear - onsite support might cease, there's no reason remote support couldn't continue. Once again it's hard being black and white when you don't know the exact circumstances, if the office is tiny then yes if one is off with suspected symptoms you're probably going to have to send everyone home and get them tested. However if the office is huge and has good ventilation then this isn't necessarily the case. It's really hard being categorical when every circumstance is different and this is why a risk assessment has to be done by each school or MAT. If you feel the risk assessment hasn't covered certain areas then flag it (ideally through your union).

Yeah I know Securly have a solution I want the kids and staff to sign in - I'm trying to encourage them not to use the same password for everything and being signed in and having it suggest and remember passwords is my strategy!

We have about 100 APs and about 40 swithches. It works beautifully.

I manage both G Suite and O365 across our schools - G Suite is very straightforward to manage. O365 just adds complexity on top of complexity and has so much functionality that is irrelevant to a school. Teams is very much a business product being shoehorned into education. Locally schools that went G Suite saw huge uptake with staff and students with minimal CPD. Schools that went O365 have not seen huge uptake as the products are more complicated to use from an end user perspective.

All of which is just as easily or more easily done with G Suite.

The national guidance and legislation requires each school to conduct a risk assessment and it also encourages not isolating teachers because they are meant to stay 2m+ away from students. If you want to be cynical it's because in a secondary school a handful of cases would see the whole school close due to teachers seeing so many different groups. As an employee you have to follow the school's risk assessment - if you're not happy you challenge through your union but there is no legal requirement that teachers self isolate if a class they taught has a positive case and the same goes for support staff. You cannot tell people what they can and can't definitely do unless you're referring to their legal entitlement, every school and scenario are different so you need to be careful telling people they definitely shouldn't do something as if they simply refuse without going through the proper process it's going to cause them issues. Perhaps a better way of wording it would be "in my opinion we shouldn't be going into classrooms while they have classes in them to provide technical support" since it is just an opinion.

If staff are using G Suite now then now is not the time to change platform. My personal view is that G Suite is far easier to use and manage.

What's the problem you have?

Once again, it depends on what your risk assessment says. Staff are not being told to self isolate if a bubble does as a matter of course. It's an individual assessment/judgment based on whether they have been able to keep their distance or they feel that they haven't.

There's no definitely about that - it depends on your school's risk assessment.

The problem with all of these things is that if you push them out using G Suite's admin console then users who sign into a personal Chrome device or just the Chrome browser will get the extension and be filtered event though it's their own device - unless I have missed something Smoothwall? A lot of our staff and students sign into Chrome so as to get password sync, bookmarks sync etc.

If you're using multiple DHCP servers for redundancy then make use of a properly redundant DHCP system where they exchange records constantly so you only need to maintain the records in one place. Best practice definitely has to be hard set statics on key infrastructure like switches and DHCP reserved addresses for devices such as printers. If for any reason you ever need to change scopes or re-IP your entire network then you've got a major job on with all those hard set IPs.

We've always used GeTech and been really happy with the service. Ask for Becks.

You can do it all through the admin console.