tomo1095

Get yourselves on a few MCSA courses for server 2016. It's easier than you think to bulk manage users... You've already got all the tools on the servers like Active Directory and Group Policy - Have a look around them, just don't make any changes if you're unsure. A vanilla networks not much different, infact most find it far easier and less time consuming. Plus any issues you come up against will have solutions easily found on the web, rather than relying on RM support.

Haha, love it! Well done on the Ofsted results too!

Burn it down and start from scratch! On a totally genuine note though, we're considering this here too. Can you create a new DC? - The way I think I'd do it is to pretty much to start from scratch, with a new DC and a small selection of PC's being imaged from scratch. Then a gradual move over once everything seems fine. Drive and printer mappings won't be hard with group policy and log on scripts.

Most ISPs will already block IWF listed sites. Even with the relative short list though, it's probably worth blocking yourself even if it's just for your own peace of mind. Along with the other lists.

Jeez, it looks like you really are having a 'mare with this new fandangled technology!

What? You've avoided windows server environments for the past 15 years? How? - Any advice? But joking aside, get your head around Active Directory and Group Policy and you'll be fine! I believe in you.

Only reason I can see for uploading to vimeo over YT is the fact they're less stringent on copyright protection. People might assume it's more for "commercial/corporate" videos than youtube as well I suppose. - Also sometimes I think it's easier embedding from vimeo than youtube on some web platforms. I'd always use youtube though. Tried and tested, with adult content adequately blocked and the ability to just unblock certain videos with smoothwall.

Sat listening to this in the office with everyone around me thinking it's a brilliant idea... Not sure our SLT would appreciate it though!

Yeah, there's not really many ways around the things you've said. Kids bringing in photos and showing their mates is really nothing new though, there shouldn't be too much backlash on you guys, unless they access the photos through the wifi which smoothwall should filter and report on. The main things probably going to be setting clear boundaries, making sure they (and parents) agree to access rules and are given E-Safety lessons before they're all given access to the wireless network at all. - If you're only just implementing it, the AUP's might need changing to include own devices. Think about setting up some way of students authenticating individually to the wireless/smoothwall so you can track which student has been accessing what and to allow blocking of individual students devices. Do you let staff on the wireless at the moment? Maybe select a trusted few to use as dummies for a while to get your head around the filtering/reporting after you've got smoothwall setup and working.

No need to make it complicated more than it already is... You don't need any USB devices, just an IR receiver that can plug into the motherboard in place of the usual power button connections, that comes with a remote control.

I second this. We've used Smoothwall for a while and made the decision recently to start giving students slightly more freedom with their personal devices, on the proviso that it's through our wireless and filtered by Smoothwall. I found it strange at first seeing so many 'dodgy' domains (dating apps etc) from random apps staying connected and updating.

I don't think I can get away with 'showing off' my photoshop skills in work time, but check out DRM Media. I studied media production and do quite a lot of design work (everything from 3D animations to photoshops and logo designs) in my free time. - I won't even charge you, as long as I get to use the finished product in my portfolio!

The interface we use for the proxy for students accounts uses NTLM authentication... I've never had trouble with Chrome authenticating in the past. How can I check it isn't being bypassed? I presume it must be authenticating and putting the students into the right group seen as the account I'm blocking everything for is the one I'm getting proxy errors on, as if Smoothwalls just refusing the connection? We have an authentications exceptions category, but that only contains the Office 365 domains and the policy is way further down the hierarchy than the Block everything for the specific student? The only other way I'm aware of to bypass authentication is by using a different proxy port which is set to just authenticate as staff, but it's only used on staff devices.

That was my first question when I got the phonecall, but no. Definitely his own, I saw it with my own eyes.

Alright, so we've had a situation, which has made us go down the route of disabling the internet for one user. Proxy settings for smoothwall are pushed out via Group Policy and not changeable for students. I've put the user in question in a filter policy to block the 'everything' category. When I've tried to log in to the students account on the computer I couldn't access anything on the internet (I get a proxy connection failed error) and couldn't change the proxy settings. But I've been stood watching him access BBC bitesize and games on Chrome. Then when I tried again 5 seconds after I got the same error. I'm at a total loss as to how he's managed it, any help would be brilliant!

Cheers for all the suggestions, in the end we went with Siteground and it's been perfect so far.

What does everyone use to host their wordpress sites? - Self hosting won't be an option. I've some experience with using wordpress.com to create pretty basic sites and hosting it there. But a friends asked me to help him set up a website, so I'll probably be going down the wordpress.org route and hosting it elsewhere.

Great, that's my plan of a 'secret' nuclear bunker out in the open! If I had the money I'd have bought that, as an escape from everyday life... And somewhere to hide when it hits the fan.

Totally agree with you! I once logged a support call for this very reason, thinking it would be quite simple and was utterly baffled that they never included it. The annoyance comes when SMT think it's just you being awkward and not wanting to spend time to figure out how to access such logs.

If you're only broadcasting it internally why not just set a laptop up with something like Yawcam - Yet Another Webcam Software - That's capable of streaming a cam to a web browser and is free? And then use something like Camtasia to record?

All the issues mentioned seem to be the same as you'd expect with any other similar system imo. You're never going to get away from the browser/smartphone compatibility, the problems with their internet connection or their ability to remember passwords.

Bring on the snow! Until it gets here, at which point the country will be bought to its knees with no one able to get into work and we'll be hoping for a bit of sun...

None of you are helping the "geek" stereotyping that goes on around here...

In a pretty much identical situation (Moving from CC4 to vanilla), though luckily we already have most of the equipment needed including: HP Procurve switches HP Proliant servers running VMware For backups I'd definitely look at Veeam. The only issue I'm having is finding companies willing to offer support at a reasonable cost, we'll only really be needing them for the high end, technical support. - Anyone any experience with any companies who offer a set amount of support calls for a reasonable price with an option to top them up if needs be?

Has anyone any idea whether including just the actual domain name in a category should also affect all sub domains? As an example and trying to explain as best I can... I've added "deviantart.com" to the student allowed category - Which is above any policies that could possibly block it. But "http://www.techgnotic.deviantart.com" is showing up as blocked even in the policy tester. I guessed you'd be able to do some kind of wildcard (Eg "*.deviantart.com")... But it won't even let me add that.