FragglePete

Did our Win 11 deployment last year, so this year it's just the 24H2 May release being imaged onto all PCs which we had completed in a couple of weeks. Replaced about 150 monitors around the site, but not much else as budget is low for summer work this year. But, everything should run the same as last. No major surprises on other. Just a good tidy up and sort out of stuff. Pete

We measure it by the amount of Jaffa Cakes, Biscuits, etc we get on the last day of the academic year and also at Christmas time. 😁 Pete

I wrote this guide for myself for our NPS Server. Proved useful as it only happens once a year... I guess documentation is helpful! Our cert is with GoDaddy, so it'll be different if you use another provider.... Snapshot Server Go to GoDaddy account > My Certificates > <CERTIFICATE NAME> If the certificate has been renewed (auto-renew), then select IIS from the Download Zip File section. You should not have to re-key, which involves creating a certificate request if it hasn’t expired. Extract Certificate to temporary location. Convert the .crt file to a .cer file. Locate your downloaded .crt file, and double-click to open it. Select the Details tab, and then the Copy to File button. Select Next in the Certificate Wizard. Select Base-64 encoded X.509(.CER) and then select Next. Select Browse, locate where you want to save your .CER file, and type in a name for your certificate. Select Next and then Finished. Add a Certificate Snap-in to the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Click on your Start Menu, then click Run. In the prompt, type mmc and click OK. Click File, then click Add/Remove Snap-in. On the new window, click the Add button. On the new window, select Certificates and click Add. Select Computer account for the snap-in and click Next. Click Local computer and click Finish. Click Close on the Add Standalone Snap-in window. Click OK on the Add/Remove Snap-in window. Import the Intermedia SSL Certificate In the MCC Console, click ▸ to expand Certificates (Local Computer). Right click on the Intermediate Certification Authorities folder, hover over All Tasks and click Import. On the new window, click Next. Click Browse, find your gd_iis_intermediates.p7b intermediate certificate file and click Open. Click Next, verify that the certificate information is proper and click Finish. Close the ‘the import was successful’ notification. Install the SSL Certificate Click on your Start Menu, then click Run. In the prompt, type inetmgr and click OK to launch the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. Under the Connections panel on the left, click on your Server Name. In the main panel under the IIS section, double click on Server Certificates. Under the Actions panel on the right, click Complete Certificate Request. On the new window, click ... to browse, find your previously uploaded primary certificate file and click Open. Add a Friendly name to easily identify this certificate in the future. In the certificate store option, select Personal and click OK. Assign the certificate to NPS Network Policies Open Network Policy Server Manager Select Policies > Network Policies On each of the policies listed, double click then go to the Constraints Tab Select the EAP Types listed, i.e.. Microsoft: Protect EAP (PEAP) and click Edit Select the new certificate in the drop down menu, ensuring the expiration date shows the new expiration date on the certificate. Click Ok then Apply Do the same for the other Policy listed. Stop and Restart the NPS Service Test, Test and Test Once confirmed all is ok – delete the Checkpoint. Hope it helps. Pete

5406zl at the Core. It's old and is on my radar to replace. Have been replacing aging HP Procurve edge switches with UniFi stuff as we go along. Just done a cabinet upgrade using a couple of the Pro-Max switches. Have running a number of CX 6000 Series switches running as well - would like to replace these but as they are not very old it would be a waste. But, I don't like the CX OS on them and want to replace them over time. Still run some older HP ProCurve 8 Port PoE Switches which we use to run our UniFi Cameras on - again, ideally would like these to be UniFi, but they work, do the job for the CCTV system presently. WiFi is running Cambium which has been just superb since we put it in a couple of years ago. Pete

Trying to remember exactly what I did - but I had to faff around with the Composer utility a fair bit to get everything in place if I remember correctly. Pete

Yes - the original install I did manually on each incremental update (about three in total I think) - when I knew the database was all up to date and backed it up. On the new server that had the GIT installed version with the latest I then restored the database from the original server and everthing came over and all working again. Pete

Just been doing this ourselves over the last couple of days. Initially, couldn't get thumbnails or screenshots from the Chromebooks. Had to be updated to Impero v8.6.32 as this was a known issue. Even then, the update on my desktop PC didn't include all the necessary files so had to do clean install of Impero (remove and re-install) before Thumbnails would show. looks like I need to check all our PCs that would normally be used to monitor Chromebooks by staff now!!! And, also noticed that within Chrome on Windows, the websites weren't being recording in a users 'recent history' within the Console. But, it would appear there is a bit of a lag before this gets updated. Fair play to Impero Support - they've been pretty responsive on this helping me get to the bottom of this. Pete

I upgraded ours recently when I migrated it on to a new server. I had to do incremental upgrades as going from an older version to the latest would fail - especially on database upgrades. Wasn't the easiest of things that I've done. Newer install that our current version is running I put together with Git so hoping future upgrades will be easier. Pete

Since moving to local profiles (was redirected folders to on prem storage) along with utilising OneDrive and redirect key folders to that, our first logon can be anything from 30 secs, usually no more than a minute depending on the spec of the PC. It then takes a few secs longer for the OneDrive client to sync up. Pete

The concept in prem exchange was creating a public calendar but that approach has been dropped by MS many moons ago. As mentoned, it's a case of sharing a calendar from an account and editing the permissions of who can see it and who can edit. We too have a 'calendar' account that a number of calendars are created within and permissions tweaked as necessary. You can also create a public html version of it that we use to publish on our website. Pete

CPOMS... down..... again!!!! FFS! Getting all too common issues with CPOMS at the moment. Pete

Yup. It has been my mission to remove anything to do with Parent Pay Group / ESS from this school and will never go back here or any other school I may end up working with. I've just got Reading Cloud to do next, and that's on the books for next year as unfortunately just signed up for another year as it slipped under my radar. However, they did try putting us on a 3 year contract and you had to 'ask' for the one year price which was some 30% higher per year than previous years. Pulling the same old trick. Pete

"Notice had to be provided via hard-copy letter sent through the post (rather than email)." Damn sure we did not give a hard-copy letter - just an e-mail to a specific e-mail address. Pete

Never bother capturing anymore, just deploy with the latest ISO and remove, tweak, add as needed as part of the Task Sequence. Pete

+1 for Bodet here also, have had it in place for a couple of years now. Works well, main observations to note: The desktop software is a bit clunky, but does the job just takes a while to understand it. You upload .mp3 to 'slots' to each sounder (you can have up to 30 slots) which are triggered via Multicast - the upload process you can do in bulk with the software via FTP, but I find we have to 'reset' some sounders that don't always respond when uploading these files. The Trio's have been the most troublesome - remote reset resolves the issue. Because it uses Multicast, make sure your network is configured to support it. We had to switch on IGMP Snooping on the Unifi Switches as some sounders just stopped responding after a while but this resolved it. We have it on it's own VLAN and the desktop software needs to be on the same VLAN as the sounders to get full functionality. We use the Voice AI Generation tool in Canva to create the audio annoucements - we used it to create annoucements such as 'Lessons have now started' in English, French and Spanish as the Headteacher felt that as we teach these languages why not use them in annoucements? Added a couple of IP Boxes recently in each reception here which have the ability to sound the lock down alarm/annoucement from one push of a button. Along with an evacuate alarm/annoucement. Does have the ability to be able to trigger this if the fire alarm is enabled on the Master Clock but we haven't got this done just yet. It's on my to do list. External Sounders require 240v to power them - will need an electrician to do these - thankfully, the network installer we used to add additional network ports to support the install had a qualified electrician as part of his team. You can stream audio from the desktop application which has been useful for things like Last Post, Christmas, ad-hoc messages, etc. Sigma Master Clock has an external GPS Antenna (optional, but we bought it) to get it's time data from which can then be used as a time server on your network. We purchased from Bodet directly and they came onsite to do a site survey to recommend the placement and numbers you need. Was helped that the sales guy at the time was relatively local but I think he has since left the company. Overall, it's been a great system since we installed it. Pete

Hi all, We've been slowly killing off Macs here as they just were not being used, with the exception of one member of staff who uses Pro Logic X on an aging iMac. It's showing it's age, and I would like to kill off the old Mac Mini running Server that we had installed to look after the suites of Macs we once had. But, I've been told to keep this one member of staff on Mac so we've got hold of a shiny new Mac Mini and I'm playing with getting it setup and trying to understand things better but hitting a few brick walls with it due to my lack of understanding on these devices. It all seems overkill for just one member of staff, but from a technical curisosity point of view and again while only just one device I really do want to do it 'properly' from a professional stand point also. Also, the device will be used by a few other students as well so it's not like it's a 1:1 device so not wanting students accessing it using a staff members logon. Device is enrolled via DEP into our Apple School Manager from our reseller, as we use a number of iPADs that are enrolled into Mosyle as our MDM for these devices. My options that I'm playing with at the moment are: Enroll it into Mosyle and manage it in that, but to utilise the new Auth 2 so I can get Single Sign On to work using Microsoft as the Indentifier involves upgrading to their One K12 level from Premium which while not a massive cost increase ($5.50 per device/year to $9 per device/year) you have to have a minimum of 30 devices which seems stupid as I only want one device. I played about a bit with it enrolled into Mosyle Premium but need to sort of SSO bits and although I could join it to AD we're not using On Prem storage anymore so woud like to tie it better to M365, OneDrive etc. Or, lets see what InTune can do, so have setup the link with ASM to InTune and all the necessary tokens for ASM, Intune, VPP, etc and all seems good after resetting the device so it's no longer part of Mosyle. Management profile gets forced onto device when erased/reset and get's joined into InTune ok and following a few guides setting up Config Profiles for SSO enable me the ability to log on to the device using M365 credentials which in turn creates the local user and keeps the password in sync. Part of this process is installing Company Portal but the profile that this wants to install when you sign in throws up an error about not finding the profile using the Encryped Profile Service. Do I actually need this as InTune obviously installed this but is it actually required if the device has been added via DEP? Am I just going round in circles? I feel while InTune is limited, as long as I can get it working from the user ease point of view and get all the hardening sorted out later. InTune is sort of the future right? I get the impression MacOS integration is improving all the time so want to really Appreciate any help, I'm doing a lot of reading trying to get myself up to speed, but appreciate a few pointers to get me in the right direction. Pete

Have this system with a HP Procurve 5406zl at the core, and a mix of UniFi/HP/Aruba on the edges. Key thing was have it all on a dedicated VLAN as it uses Multicast to trigger the devices. I remember I had to set a specific setting on the UniFi Network to ensure they worked correctly, I believe it was IGMP Snooping. Pete

Datacard SD260 card printer here - had it quite a few years now and chugs along quite nicely. We generate our templates in things like InDesign and mail merge, along with a photoshop template we use. No fancy card printing software in use. Pete

Currently in the process of migrating to Wave9 - just had notification that the circuit has been handed over a couple of days ago ready for our Easter switch over. Process so far has gone very smoothly but ask me after the Easter break how things are! Pete

Dell PowerEdge here too, have a couple of R740xd units. However, just had a mainboard replaced on one of them as the iDRAC unit essentially failed which resulted in the Fans running at 100% all the time - very loud! From looking into it, does appear to be a common issue on this particular model. I had extended third party warranty on it, so up and running again the next day. It's the first Server 'failure' I've had in the 18 years I've been in this job with the exception of hard drivers every now and then. Used to have HP, but prefer Dell now due to Boot times being so much quicker and not needing a support agreement in place to retrieve BIOS updates (looking at you HP !) Pete

Would seem not - again, teachers bringing to my attention to the time on all the phones being incorrect again for this week. It's not like they've had a year to fix it now is it..... oh wait..... Pete

I updated not that long along to the latest version, application version is showing as 3.6.3.0 and we are running the Professional Version. I had seperate door AD Groups depending on level of access. Students is quite straight foward, and then I have seperate Staff groups depending on specific access to some doors or different time access. By default they get put into the basic Staff Door group, but then I may move them to another group, for example Staff with Minibus access (for PE Teachers primarily) who have the ability to open the main vehicle gate out of hours when returning from a sports fixture, etc. Pete

After asking for a Yearly price, which they still currently do, it costs £268 per year more than doing on a 3 year contract. Plus, they now charge £120 to do a Wonde Extraction from Arbor. Pete

I've just been forwarded an e-mail from our Librarian which shows our Reading Cloud renewal on their 'easy to use' portal. ESS have their claws in this now and are trying to force 3 year contracts - although pricing is available upon request for 12 month pricing - no doubt at an inflated rate! I have requested this. Also, the document that the link sends you too has a number of options already pre-filled by default, things like training, extra scanners, etc that would have trippled the price if somebody blindy accepted the quote. This was on my radar to replace (as I don't want ESS having anything to do with this school anymore) - what alternatives are people using these days? This'll be a project ready for next year to sort I'm hoping. Pete

We just use a local supplier who we have an account with here: https://adeptnetworks.co.uk/hdmi-active-male-male-lead-cable-fibre-4k Yes, they are expensive but I see it as a trade off with time wasted trying to get these things to work and just paying for one of these cables and it works. Job done. Pete