mattysmith80

So... Senso, I like it, been using it a while, but does anyone else using feel like there using a beta product ? Especially since the latest update, just seems very frustrating at times to use. I love the ambition of it, what it’s trying to do. But it’s also reminding me of the reason I left impero, buggy software that doesn’t work all the time, and updates that don’t feel ready... Don’t get me wrong I like it but man it’s frustrating to use sometimes

All Ubiquiti APs in the UK actually come from one distributor... we initially went to comms express to buy a couple to test out and they came from MS Distribution UK so we went direct to them and bought them.. got a cracking deal in the end and cut out the reseller

We have just transitioned from Meraki to Unifi.... We bought 240 of the new Ubiquiti Nano HD APs and they are a fantastic bit of kit not to mention there only £120 each

In all honesty we never have had a problem with Meraki and it always worked well. The major problem for us was the initial £30k for the ongoing licence cost... but we also had the majority of the 230 access points being MR16s. The MR16 APs are going end of support in 2021, when speaking with Meraki they advised these would at that point no longer work with the "Cloud Platform". They would also not be replaced under agreement if they failed beyond that point. So we not only needed to consider the ongoing cost but a full hardware refresh too. When adding these two together the cost was mega for Meraki in comparison to Unifi. It really did just come down to costs for us... Meraki had always been a good product it just got to the point where we couldnt afford it. It absolutely does make sense in a Multi Academy Trust if you have switching UTM and Wifi all in one management platform. But Unifi does a very similar job being able to manage switches, wifi and UTMs in the same central dashboard. But is significantly cheaper.

Alot depends on how big your deployment is, if your a single primary school you can purchase a cloud key (https://www.scan.co.uk/products/ubiquiti-unifi-cloud-key-controller-device-management-uc-ck-poe?gclid=CjwKCAiAodTfBRBEEiwAa1haund-EYcduoP1PmbTxgejlE474mdoDFHr0V4wWQPaVQaHEFgDPl7OgxoCSKQQAvD_BwE) The cloud key sits on your network and effectivly manages your APs. It has a web interface which you can actually link to a cloud account enabling management from anywhere. If your a large secondary / MAT then you can do what we did. We spun up a linux VM and installed the management software on it. In essence its the same as a cloud key but far more flexible in terms of amount of APs it can manage. The more APs the higher spec the VM becomes effectively. The process of setting it up once the VM / Cloud key is set up is just like Meraki, you adopt the AP into the management and off you go, just like the Meraki Claim process.

Not sure how far down the route you have gone but we have just swapped out 230 Meraki APs for 230 Ubiquiti Unifi APS across 9 schools (The new 4x4 mimo Nano HD Access Point) and very impressed. Just couldnt stomach the Meraki costs... Cracking product just not for schools budgets anymore

Hi, apologies for not getting back to everyone and saying thank you for everyones advice. We decided in the end to pull the plug on Meraki. We are currently installing 230 Ubiquti APs across 9 schools before Jan so its going to be fun thats for sure. We have already done the largest Secondary and to be honest was spot on. Letting it bed in for a week or so and then cracking on with the others. The ubiquiti software is incredibility easy to use and set everything up and to be honest literally is just like managing the Meraki kit. I still like the Meraki product and always did a job for us but really I dont know how long term their business model can survive in schools. Our licence cost was £30k for 9 Schools and we will be 15 schools soon probably eventually being 36 in next two years so the cost for the licence would have become ridiculous. Not to mention the fact most of our Meraki APs are MR16s the orginal Meraki hardware so would need replacing over the next year so by the time you add the hardward replacment cost to the licence its just crazy. I was able to purchase 230 Ubiquiti Nano HD APs for £27k with no ongoing licence cost. So all in all, a no brainer... Thanks for all your input

Morning, Im after some advice, after using Meraki for several years for our Wifi setup across our Multi Academy Trust its at the point where our Meraki licence renewal has come up. The pricing from our renewal has really made me wonder should I be doing something different. Alot of the Meraki hardware is over 5 years old, so when you actually look at it we need to renew the licencing aswel as the hardware. Enter Ubiquiti... been playing with Ubiquiti for a bit now and we are very impressed with it. The hardware is good, no ongoing software licences, easy to set up and can manage everything from one page just like Meraki. Now before jumping in feet first has anyone made this jump ? We currently have 266 APS across 9 schools so quite a big undertaking if we do make the switch. Nothing too daunting mind to get rid of a long term licence subscription. Thanks - I welcome your feedback

Did anyone ever get a fix for this ? I dont have Netsupport but do have the issue where Excel 2016 crashes when trying to run a report. Looking for some advice

In terms of fire, in our schools the admin team are signed into a web console on the computer and they just click the print fire register and it prints the list of visitors on site. In terms of internet, if internet goes down you have to refer to manual signing in. However that is no different to the Inventory PC failing. We have 3 secondary schools all using it for visitor sign in and 4 out of our 6 primary schools doing just the same. One of the secondary schools also use it for staff sign in sign out with QR codes on their ID badges... this doesn't link back to Sims but they are more than happy with it... Mainly because its not an expensive solution... I think if your a school looking to explore sign in products its an ideal starter.... as even if you decide its not for you the kit can still be re-used, the ipad just becomes a curriculum device or something along those lines.

If its simply just for visitors which in most cases it is, then we use vPass - website is vpass.io Its an iPad App that costs £17 a month... It has limilations like not being able to sync with Sims but alot of schools dont require that level of integration. The only investment is an iPad, Brother printer and a stand for the iPad to live in.

hi there, Over the summer we implemented a central Fortinet with Fortianalyzer across our Multi Academy Trust. I was wanting to touch base with someone in a similar position or someone who is using Fortinet. Id like to speak with them to see how their using Fortianalyzer in particular. Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks Matthew

Yeh well after reinstalling I found it seemed to be stable most of the day then suddenly.... boom comes back

was wondering if anyone has experienced any issue with Chrome crashing recently. It seems some random users are having an issue where when in Office 365 it keeps hanging and then the Kill page or wait box pops up and you have to close and reopen chrome. Internet explorer works totally fine. Have updated to the latest distribution of chrome and I thought that had done it but it came back. Also disabled hardware acceleration in chrome but again still there. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Multi Academy Trust of 3 secondary and 7 primary here, use Meraki across the full lot and to be honest, it just looks after itself, very hands off

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We use Chrome and the entire site is on IE11... No tried the licence one, good call, will try that one... I might have a dig about on the ADFS box see if something weird is happening

Hi, On the 6th Nov we were having an issue where several users were having problems getting into the Outlook Web App, it would simply log them in and through a page up and say "Something went wrong" with sad face. Checking the portal it said engineers had identified an issue where users may experience problems access exchange online... Ok, great that seems to be my issue, and then gradually the affected people managed to get back in... In the days afterwards one or two are still facing the issue. However the behavior is a bit random. One minute is fine and the next min they get the "something went wrong" i problem. Microsoft support arent being great, and I did have this issue some time ago when the same issue was reported in the portal and gradually it just sorted itself out. Basically just wanted to see if anyone is having a bit of a hang over from the issue that happend on the 6th Thanks Matty

Just bought 26 of the dells for a chromebook experiment. Initially I wanted some Samsung ones but all the suppliers I spoke to said Samsung were pulling out of the chromebook market, which made me wonder about the future of chromebooks

Had the same problem here.... Figured out kids were installing chrome extensions and bypassing the filtering... Quick import of the latest ADMX files and then blocked all extensions by putting a * in the blacklist.... Job done

And wouldn't you beleive it, the pulsar.exe fixed it... Many thanks

Hi, just wondering if anyone has successfully got sims working on Microsoft Remote App Publishing ? I've published several apps that work really well but Sima just fails to launch. just wondered if anyone had had a similar issue. running Server 2012 on the remote side

Deffo go for it, I have 60 meg soon to be upgraded to 100 meg connected to my sky box and I can fault it. Works brilliantly

PM me :-)

Many thanks for your help I'll give it a whirle