Zammo

CCS Media here, who provide "Footprint" toners Tried UK Computer Supplies and we had loads of issues with quality

Hello all Does anyone have experience with Android tablets in education? Over the past few years we have experimented with iPads on and off and whilst the feedback has been good, we are keen to try out a few android alternatives before we make any firm decisions. These will be purchased with no *specific* use case in mind, we will be trying them across multiple departments, with teachers & students etc... We are happy to consider pretty much any price or brand Any suggestions will be gratefully received! Thanks in advance

Staff vacancies | Aylesbury High School

Yep. SOLUS3 is a disjointed, badly designed piece of software. From it's blobby, unresponsive interface to its odd way of deploying updates it really needs scrapping and starting again It's frustrating when just about every other piece of software on our network can be deployed via GPO or SCCM but SIMs has to be a completely separate process end of rant

Agreed, we only use them for our SAN but they have been great!

We have been using it for about 1 year now and absolutely love it. Quick, easy to use and we leverage it in a number of ways to install software As well as the obvious we can use it to log off users, force updates checks, reboot\turn off PCs, display messages.... The support is pretty good too

thanks ellsandell, I have spoken to Smoothwall already and obtained pricing. I was hoping a partner would step forward who can help with the install

Hello all can someone recommend me a good smoothwall supplier\partner? Bonus points if they are: a) happy to do on site work in Buckinghamshire b) Happy to work with Extreme switches Thanks!

A shout out here for CCS media... Maybe we just have a good account manager but turnaround time is incredible, and they seem to be able to get hold of anything and everything

Hello We have a number of reports we wish to run weekly, that when generated give data from the previous 7 days. Unfortunately when setting up scheduled reports in SIMS, I can only see how to set a static date or date range. Am I missing something? This seems to be a glaring omission otherwise! Martin

Yes, many times. Although if there is an "order" I should restart some services that anyone knows of, that might help...?

Hello all I am attempting to migrate our SIMs database from SQL 2008 to SQL2012 I have installed the new SQL2012 instance in preperation, ran through the wizard and started the migration. However after about 15mins it fails and rolls back with the message: Backup SIMS Database Failed: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding I have tried: Using both windows and SQL Native authentication, both pass the tests in the tool fine Restating the server Double checked there are no connections from SIMs clients Performing a manual backup of the SIMs database first Setting the timeouts in SQL server management to '0' (no timeout) There is no firewall or antivirus on the server to interrupt the program The event viewer gives no real clues I am very frustrated, so any help would be hugely appreciated! Thanks Martin

Yep - just installed Spiceworks on my laptop, hooked it up to the same Gmail accounts and it worked flawlessly.... So must be firewall or proxy in the school. Am I just looking at the standard ports, or is there something else?? From Google's help I think I need to check: Imap incoming settings: imap.gmail.com Port: 993 SMTP outgoing settings: smtp.gmail.com Port: 465 or 587 But are there other ports that i might need to check?

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Tried all of those things, no luck! I can sign in to the accounts, send messages etc without issue. Only when I try to connect in another way does it cause problems. To rule out firewall, I might install spiceworks at home.... see if it connects!

Hello everyone We moved from OpenHive to Google based email this weekend. The MX records have changed, email is flowing but I am struggling to get devices like the photocopier, helpdesk etc to connect reliably to IMAP for incoming or SMTP for outgoing mail. I have gone through these help docs: https://support.google.com/mail/troubleshooter/1668960?hl=en#ts=1665018,1665144 https://support.google.com/a/answer/176600?hl=en Oddly using the Gmail SMTP server, I can occaisonly get a connection, but seconds later if i test the connection again, it will fail.. for example Spiceworks says: The server imap.gmail.com refused the connection on port 993. Does this sound like a firewall issue? DNS? Any help would be appreciated!

"It's certainly.... "rustic".... "

Hello everyone We are in the final stages of removing RMCC4 from our network, and have managed to replicate almost all of the features we need. One thing that is bugging however is password changes. In RM there was a button the students could press that would allow them to change their passwords. Is there something similar we can use in vanilla Windows? At the moment they can press ctrl+alt+del and then change password, but for some reason the little ones seem to find this a big struggle All of the tools I have found are to change other users passwords, or offer self service that needs security questions etc Thanks in advance

Hello We have a problem with offline files. We use group policy to redirect the users home folders to an N:\ drive. We also have the GPO set to automatically make available offline any redirected folders (so Documents, Music etc.) However this isn't working flawlessly. Instead some files are being made available offline, and others aren't. In order to get these files made available offline, if the user opens the file (whether it be word document, excel sheet etc.) and then closes it, the next time they work offline it will be available. Can anybody explain why this might be happening? The event logs show little and the sync centre reports no issues We are running Windows 7, with Server 2008 R2 Many thanks

Thanks guys, that worked a treat!

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone can help me with a GPO\Reg Fragment for the following scenario(s): a) Teachers\Staff members can lock workstations, students cannot b) Anyone can lock a workstation, however they can be unlocked by teachers\staff only. At the moment I have worked out how to stop *any* user locking the system, but ideally I would like to allow teachers to be able to lock any desktop they sit at. I understand I could have two policies, one for teacher computers and one for students however their are a few machines that are used by both. How to hide the start menu lock button? is the closest solution I have so far We are using Windows 7 across the school, and Server 2008 R2 Thanks

I expect: a) A reasonable level of notice and information as to how and when the changes are taking place. Being told during the transition is not good enough in my eyes. b) The warranty that the school purchased to be honoured. This is currently not the case. I don't believe my expectations are unreasonable. If you think they are, than we will have to agree to disagree...

Sorry Plexer but I don't agree with that at all. If RM were going bankrupt then yes I would be grateful that the warranty was safe. But being as RM are in fact still touting for business in other areas (services\software) they should be doing their utmost to keep their existing customers happy. Unannounced changes to existing warranties makes me question whether they can be relied upon to deliver what their contracts promise.

As most of you know RM decided to stop selling hardware towards the end of last year. The announcement was sudden and my experience of the partnership RM set up with Misco to ease the transition hasn't been brilliant. Anyway, as we still have a large amount of equipment under warranty with RM, imagine my surprise when I get this message today after logging a call with them for a PC that has failed for the 3rd time in as many months: "Please be informed that we are not currently processing hardware support call as we are transiting over to a new support provider, you will be contacting on the week commencing the 14th with more information." Now being as the warranty on this device clearly states "Next working day on site repair for faults logged before 12 Noon" - I am absolutely livid A little digging around has revealed that RM appear to be transferring their warranty service to a 3rd party of some sort. I will be finding out more details from our account manager tomorrow. So this post is just as warning to others who have RM kit under warranty - I dread to think what would happen if one of the servers was to go down whilst RM are "not processing hardware support calls"

Hello people! I have been given the go ahead to start some tentative moves towards a vanilla network from CC4 I have done a little research, and see that there are three ways I can do this: 1) One big jump from CC4 to Vanilla - This is almost a complete no go for the amount of disruption and the need for bringing in extra help at substantial cost 2) Creating a new domain, setting up a trust relationship and then moving groups of computers across room by room. 3) Keeping the existing domain, but starting new OUs (with inheritance blocked) and moving the various machines and users across this way. At a glance, number 3 looks like a low risk\easier method, but is there any advantage in going for a brand new domain? Also for those who have done this before, is there any major gotchas I need to be aware of? Thanks in advance

Thanks guys So just to confirm, if I set up regular VEEAM backups to the QNAP, and then had something like this: Hewlett Packard ProLiant DL385p Gen8 Rack Server (F0B21A) - www.misco.co.uk in waiting, with ESXi installed, I could be back up and running with our core services just as quickly as I can copy the VMs across? (please don't judge me too closely on the server I linked to, I just pulled one out of Misco's website) Thanks!