Dantech

Yes it can be done but you may know that you need a decent graphics card in the server and we are talking around £850 for the right type of card. We spent serious money on our server farm to make it work too.

No problem - hope it helps. We turned some much lower specs into TC's ourselves and re-purposed old laptops which would have been thrown out, so in this scenario it is worth it. I agree with the other peoples comments that if you are video editing stick to a fat client (PC).

Can you not just web manage into the switch and check the traffic on each port - none of then should max out? Run a wireshark on the network segment and see if anything strange is going on.

With respect - not much of a server without a RAID array. I have seen this before but can't remember why. I still stick by recommending doing a clean install - that way you know how the machine has been built and that everything works.

Hi I did a lot of work on this before going for a 10Zig thin client solution. I chose these TC's because they stream sound and video almost perfectly. I even did a test with a WYSE thin client side by side and the WYSE suffered sound being out of sync with the video. I was told that the 10Zig did a lot of the multimedia processing on the client but I could not understand how this worked. However I was that impressed at a demo of them that I bought 50 TC's and did a classroom of 32 and a library with 18. I had a lot of problem having totally trusted the supplier to set them up since at the time I had never teamed NICs in a server or built a terminal server specifically (Remote Desktop Server). We went for a server farm with two HP G7 Servers with 36 Gb RAM in each and could run up to 50 clients on just one server. The clients were load balanced between the two servers and a specific IP was set up to receive the connection to the farm. This resulted in having to login twice since you login to the farm and then into the specific server you are directed to. Yes the servers cost a lot and the 10Zigs were between £300 and £400 each. But the experience was very fast. E.g. Photoshop running on the faster school computer with an i3 processor and 8Gb ram loaded to the working screen in 4 seconds. On the farm it took 0.5 second. We had massive problems owing to the solution using multicasting and ended up having to subnet the entire network and put all the TC's and Terminal Servers on their own VLAN with Internet access routed via the HP Layer3 Core Switch. This solved not just this problem but other network issues and we never looked back. It sounds simple, but you do really need to know what you're doing to go from a single flat VLAN to nine VLANs. It meant having to re-address every single IP device in the school. This was not too hard for DHCP compliant clients but with servers, printers, CCTV camera's etc you have to configure each one. We used port based VLAN's so every single switch had to be completely re-programmed. Yes it would be easier to stick with PC's but them you do not gain all that useful experience! Seriously, if you have students doing video editing or high end CAD or graphics then I think a PC would be better. However 90% of what goes on in schools can be done on TC's. Most organisation use mainly TC's and then have some PC's where they have to owing to legacy software or specialist use. When the server farm and TC's are all set up and working and you fully understand how to manage it will make management a breeze. If you need to add some software to all users you do it once on the server, however if you make a mistake on the server it affects all the users. So net result is if something goes wrong an entire classroom or two cannot work. At least with PC's it tends to mean that you have one or two machines down. I currently work as a deployment engineer deploying thin clients and I have seen staff come in at 9.00 and be able to do no work until 12.00 pm! The beauty of the TC's is the control you have, the savings on electricity, heat generated and the fact that they are very robust. In three years we had one power supply fail that was replaced under warranty. We have no damage to any of the units. Whereas on PC's the kids pushed in the front panels and generally abused them. Our switches were HP and we found that performance was even better when we out all the TC's on their own 1Gb port on a new 1Gb switch rather than 100Mb. In summary I like the thin clients but I think a VDI Solution (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) is much better. The problem is that VDI is even more expensive if you want to provide individual desktops for your users. Just be prepared for a lot of headaches and troubleshooting if the company you employ do not know how to team network cards on an HP switch. Being configured with the wrong protocol caused profile corruptions of five or six every lesson which made me look stupid. Eventually I sorted it but not before I lost respect from the powers that be. Unfortunately the IT manager has to carry the can for third party failures.

If I were you I would buy a cheap APC ups for EVERY switch cabinet in the school. I did this in the school I worked in and it made a huge difference. We often had power cuts which were brief and this had no effect on the switches. A UPS will provide a constant reliable power source. A layer two edge switch (HP) uses very little power so a cheap £50 APC UPS will be more than adequate - just do the maths and work out the maximum power consumption and ensure the UPS can deliver more than needed. You will have to replace the batteries every three years but it will save a lot of problems.

Hi Does anyone have any work needed doing over the summer? I am willing to stay locally to do the work. I am a highly experienced Network Manager/IT Manager with over six years experience in schools, worked as an ICT Technician for nearly three years in the NHS. I built the school domain, installed Ruckus Wireless LAN, Video Conferencing, managed a Virtual install of SIMS under Hyper V, SLG, SharePoint, installed Siemens VOIP Phones, terminal server farm running Remote Desktop Services. Currently I work as an IT contractor and run my own limited company, so no worries about paying PAYE! All work considered. I am happy to do roll outs, server maintenance or whatever is needed. Please PM me if you can help. Thank you

Hi I'm pretty sure that you cannot expect to put a drive from another server into this server if the hardware is different. Also if the new server uses a RAID array it would have to be configured correctly. If the old and new server hardware and array configuration were identical (same type of server, same RAID controller, same RAID config, same partition sizes etc etc then it may just work. I would suggest backing up the hard drive contents before moving the drive across, putting the drive in the new server and re-configuring the RAID (you WILL lose all the data on the drive if you do this). After this re-install the OS from a backup (if you have one) and add and remove the apps you want deployed on the server and restore the data. This is not a five minute job and needs to be planned very carefully - especially in a production server!

Hi I agree with LukeC. Dabs (BT) are at fault here. You ordered in good faith and if they are a registered authorised reseller should have the clout to contact Ruckus and get you the firmware. I assume Dabs have not been paid for this yet so you could use this as a lever (threaten to send them all back because they are not fit for purpose!). Having bought and installed 50 of these I learnt too about the need for firmware upgrades. After hours of discussions I found CP Ltd (Computer Products Ltd) to be superbe providing me a secure website where all firmware updates and relevant documentation was only a login away. Of course I had to buy the AP's from them but once I did the service was exceptional. Be careful though - don't rush to upgrade to the latest firmware if by doing so some older Ruckus AP's are no longer supported, then you could have half the wireless network down. The ultimate advice is do your research before making any changes. Also - and I learnt this the hard way - take a back up of the Zone Controller config before doing the firmware update! I forgot once and had to completely re-programme the Zone Controller with a paper clip hard ware reset. This is not joke because then you have to often reset some of the AP's which do not auto connect. This may have just been owing to us having older ones which were 10/100 only though and using power injectors rather than full decent PoE switches on those AP's. Good luck

Hi I had exactly your problem a couple of years ago. I searched the internet and struggled to find a simple article explaining the basics of VLANs. I learnt a lot from forums on Edugeek and sought help from colleagues in other schools. Setting up VLANs on HP switches is easy if you know what you are doing! Like anything, it is hard if you don't understand it.

I would avoid the v1910 switches like the plague. They are not true HP switches but re-badged 3COM. IF you mess the IP address up I found I could not find the address out with a fluke tester like I could on proper managed switches (these are Smart switches). I found that I had to dig out the only XP laptop with a serial port just to be able to set up a telnet type session using a 9 pin serial lead to talk to the switch(forgotten the name but it was only there on XP). What a pain! Also the switch came with DHCP turned on and killed my network ( I was not expecting this and wondered why some of my other switches stopped working - be careful with this, you should only have one DHCP server on the same subnet). I did not want these switches (but was forced to buy them by the SLT on the advice of a consultant because they were a bit cheaper) because setting up VLAN's on managed switches is so much easier and you can telnet, web manage or use a command line to access them. Every little change to the switch is down via web browser and you have to wait a few seconds for the web page to update - it just takes ages to do. One other major drawback is that they are noisier than the layer2 managed switches and they are enormous. I found I could not actually fit one into an existing wall cabinet which meant I had to change the cabinet just to install it! Check the measurements carefully these switches are twice the size of modern ones. You will be buying old stock when you buy these since 3COM were bought out a number of years ago. I could go on, but I think you can tell I would only use these for one thing - as a weight keeping the server door open as I take boxes in and out!

What - no - this version should be outlawed! Wake up and smell the Coffee! The world moves on. Microsoft are just shooting themselves in the foot by doing this. Windows 7 and 8 (8.1) are both so much better.

Anyone know of any IT work for an experienced IT Manager who has done everything from designing the AD to installing the servers, virtualising them, setting up VLANs on HP switches, configured a terminal server farm, etc etc. Problem is I live in Lincolnshire and IT jobs are some distance away! Currently working as sub-contractor for HP deploying thin clients in job centres around the country, but work is only a few days each week and ends middle of 2014

Interesting comment "loinsl2005". I have lots of experience but after 6 and a half years as an IT Manager in a school find myself suddenly looking for work again (can't go into details for legal reasons - just made a mistake). I have studied towards an MCSE and done a database admin course, various other SIMS courses, a Microsoft AD course in Leeds for a week etc., but because I was in an excellent job which took total commitment never took the actual exams. Now I find all the job adverts insist on the qualifications! You could try writing to school IT managers to work for free for 6 weeks. I took someone on like this and we employed him for 6 months after that because he was good. After he left I gave him an excellent reference in a local school where he works as a full time technician now. The experience will be excellent for your CV and you get involved in real IT support not just book theory. In my experience you need both - when faced with a difficult problem that things you have learnt come back to mind and help you solve problems quickly. I still think you can't beat practical experience - just wish the employers could look beyond writing on a CV.

Hi nicholab, thanks for that. I was advised to use wireshark, but am a bit new to it. I had forgotten I could just plug a laptop straight into the ZD and then I saw how useful wire shark was. It showed me the address of the ZD and that it was trying o reach my DNS server to resolve an address. You were dead right about leaving it on vlan1 - I don't understand tunnelling yet and messing with setups when most of the lessons rely on wireless is not something I do lightly! I had to put a change request in just to make this change (has to be formally in writing with a plan saying what I would do if it goes wrong). Once I reprogrammed it again and left the ZD in vLan1, all the AP's started to come back, but this time because I had tagged all their ports to VLAN 8 (WIFI) and untagged them on the default they all came up with a WIFI VLAN address as they should. Interestingly because some of my ap's have power injectors, some have netgear unmanaged 10/100 switches and some have decent HP PoE switches, many of them needed the power restarting to rejoin the network. I finally left at 7:10 with only 5 I could not get restarted because the buildings were locked and inaccessible. I found one little trick though - on the HP PoE switches I just disabled the PoE and a few seconds later turned it back on. It didn't work everywhere and those ones will need a hard reset. Hope my experience is a lesson to others to TAKE A BACKUP! If I had backed up the config I could have had it back in ten minutes. I suppose because there was no mention of this in the help file and because I did not think it would happen it did not occur to me. Still, I now have all my AP's in the right VLAN and therefore my clients will get the WiFi addresses and therefore the traffic is properly segregated which is the whole point.

Yes I have a dhcp helper address from my Layer 3 core switch. Fortunately I have an in-line fluke tester and was able to see it had retained the original address which was an address in VLAN1 (default) but was Native to VLAN8. I got help from the good guys at c-p-ltd who we bought the kit from and have a contract with, but in the end I decided it was quicker to set the controller back to the default since all my ap's would retain their settings, but just get a new IP address. Because the old address was in the wrong VLAN the only way would be via the console cable (and I have never done this and can't find it!)

Hi I spent the last two days logging the MAC addresses, IP addresses and Port Numbers that all our our 36 active Ruckus access points are joined to in order to complete the work started last summer. I had everything working but on the default VLAN, VLAN1. The AP's were on VLAN 1 and so was the Ruckus 3000 Controller. I followed the help instructions and configured the access points to VLAN 8 which is the IP address range I want my clients to be issued an address in. I entered 8 in the Management VLAN in "Access Point Policies" and I entered 8 in configure system/device IP settings for the controller as well. After restarting the controller I cannot ping it at all. I have every port that the AP's are plugged into untagged on the default VLAN (1) and tagged on VLAN 8 (WIFI). The Zone Director was untagged in VLAN1 and Tagged in VLAN 8. I cannot ping on the fixed address assigned to the controller. I even tried changing the port to untagged on the default VLAN and restarting the box. I took my fluke tester and connected it directly to the Zone Controller whilst disconnected from the network and I got no IP address. Foolishly it dod not even occur to me to back up the config because I did not expect there to be a problem. Can anyone help - I'm holiday tomorrow and have to have it for lessons on Monday! Mark

Hi Everyone This just gets better - the guys buying the switches bought the HP V1905 PoE which is only a 10/100Mb Smart switch! This means that my four brand new Dual band Ruckus 1GHz AP's will not be able to pull the 850Mbps down that they do in the rest of the school - 100Mb will be the top, so performance will be pants, especially as this is the main start of BYOD deployment in a sixth form block. I also don't think these switches support RIP v 2 which is deployed out from my Core Switch. Not sure if this will cause a problem but will be interesting to see if routing will work properly. I'll know next week.

Hi Everyone Two years on and things are totally different. I would not have anything else but Ruckus. My wireless is rock solid reliable and this last year we have had no problems at all. What made the difference I guess you are saying? 1. I VLAN'd the network - no more broadcasts flooding my network on one flat VLAN 2. I was allowed to put new Dual Band AP's in each classroom where they were really needed (the old ones were put in corridors serving three classrooms. 3. I discovered steel re-enforced concrete floors in libraries and other blocks may give 5 bars on the signal but actual throughput of data was terrible with only 3 to 5 laptops working. 4. Fit your AP's (one per teaching space) in the middle of the ceiling (mine were put in the void sitting on the ceiling tile itself) beaming down ontp the lids. So they effectively all have line of sight. 5. Get your Microsoft deployment image done right - the Microsoft way. 6. Provide an optic fibre feed direct from the core switch to the PoE Switch powering the AP's - don't piggy back off of a switch with 46 computers on! This is how Nexgen set it up originally and it is just asking to fail. Mark Many thanks to the UK MD at Ruckus for saving my job! Also above advice from the top radio guys recommended by Ruckus who we paid (reduced rate) to do a days survey and recommend the changes.

I am happy to copy and paste mine in for my layer 3 switch if it helps. Again, I paid someone else to configure this switch because it had to work properly straight away - especially as the core switch cost £7K!

Hi This seems to have got off the original post but - you are brave doing this without help! You need to use a subnet calculator to ensure you don't have overlapping IP ranges for each of your subnets. Just google it. On the Unifi Wifi - I just fitted my first one last night for a local charity and discovered the WLAN controller software will not install on a Small Business Server 2011 essentials! So I installed it on my laptop and then discovered you have to be logged into the same user profile to get it to work at all. Since I had changed the domain I was connected to to configure it it meant a lot of work unjoining the domain, restarting and rejoining the domain. I was impressed with the Unifi AP and it only cost £54 including the celingin and wall mount brackets and the bespoke PoE adaptor. It was only single channel n ready so I only got 64 MBps but this was better than beofre and tonight I discovered I got a five bar connection in another room where I did not expect it to be good. Very impressed.

Thanks psydii I think my AP's should dump the clients onto the Wireless VLAN but we never quite finished setting this up last summer and they are still in the default VLAN. This is something I need time to sort in the next long holiday. I have limited my maximum number of IP connections by AP (which I assume is the wireless collision domain) to 50 on the advice of Ruckus consultants. They should take up to 100 but to have one fail and lose 100 connections would be worse than losing 50. Ruckus spreads the load between adjacent AP's automatically. I have only ever seen 36 devices on one AP anyway.

Thanks for your advice. I appreciate the explanation.

Hi snoerre You obviously understand this more than me. What is the real effect of only 256 entries in the ARP table? I imagine we will not have quite this many connecting to the switches in that block but it could be possible as soon as other students get near it and their wireless phones are assigned an IP address ( and therefore their Mac Address is retained). I'm not sure if the ARO table is populate by only authenticated devices of not. This 6th form block is located such that every student and teacher in the school walks past. I noticed that the very fact that a mobile device comes into range then there is a DHCP assigned address even if they are denied access. I can see this in my Ruckus WLAN controller and this caused the VLAN addresses to run out! This means having to reduce the lease time to a very short one to free up addresses. If the RP table gets filled what happens then?

Well I have to disagree with you there. I noticed a real difference in the places where I did have 1Gb to the desktop. I cannot believe anyone working in a school thinks that there are only a view people trying to run video over their network. We run a streaming server and are moving old DVD'd and VHS tapes onto this format. Therefore the need to run video is becoming the norm