GeekyPete

@FN-GM That's much more elegant... and would save time when adding new vlans.

Thanks @Sagima Exchange isn't an issue, We use O365 and we are not breaking the current federation (RM Unify) so we are setting up DirSync. SCCM, I would like to install this, they don't use it though and seem to do everything from either GPOs or Impero. Having not used SCCM I wonder if there are any issues setting it up just in a child domain. I think they licence their whole forest for things like Smoothwall and Impero so I'd need to check who holds the licences.

It doesn't, it doesn't need to. It just needs to know the DFG, the VLAN doesn't know what's on the other side of the gateway, it just needs to know where the gateway is. You can have your L3 switch or you can have your Router on the other side of it or your Smoothwall. The VLAN doesn't care. But whatever you have on the other side it need to know what to do with the traffic when it comes out. L3 switch will route it according to the static routes you set up. If you are going directly to a router, Smoothwall or any other such device they'll need an interface setting up on the VLAN which will be the DFG. That's OK on a flat network, but if it was a flat network we wouldn't be talking about VLANs. The most elegant solution is to have one upstream interface from your core switch to your router or filtering solution of your choice. Static routes from each VLAN to the upstream interface.

The situation: I work for IT supplier A who's contract ends in Sept. I'll then work for the school. The school have decided to go with IT Supplier B. Because I still work for A I have been excluded from all design aspects for B's solution. Now that the summer is here and they are starting migration I've found out that B are not setting up a School domain but are instead making the school's network a child domain of their Domain. They can then access their own mapped drives, manage the school from their own AD at their offices. We will have a DC on site but they will have the forest root at their offices. All this doesn't sit easy with me as I like to be in control. My main concern is if we lose contact with the forest root. We might decide to go with supplier C, B might go bankrupt, their offices might burn down etc. From what I understand the network would carry on as normal for the most part. We wouldn't have two FSMO roles, Schema Master and Domain Name Master. So providing we didn't want to change anything major we should be OK indefinitely. We could re-connect to the domain as long as it was within the tombstone period (60 days by default). If we wanted to regain full control of the domain we'd have to set up a new Forest root server and a new domain and migrate to it. My questions? Am I over reacting? Am I being a control freak? Will it effect any day to day operation is we lose contact to the FR? Does not connecting to the FR for a period longer than the tombstone have any impact on disaster recovery? Is there anything else I've missed that I really need to be aware of from a business continuity angle? Cheers

Single forest makes sense. What's your IT support structure? If you have someone at each site I'd go for a Child domain at each school. You can devolve admin to each school while retaining overall admin control from your own DC. Bear in mind that if a school breaks away they'll have to set up their own Forest Root server and domain. Which will involve a full network rebuild and migration. But as they'd be moving away from you it's not really your worry.

Are they moving to none AD tablets entirely? If so what are they going to use DIRSync with? You still need an AD site to use DirSync. Are they using the Paid for version of RM unify and want to save money by moving away? If they are using the paid for version of RM unify they'll have access to AD Sync (really DirSync but with a little customisation). It should be just a case of removing AD Sync and setting up Dirsync. As long as it's the same domain you should be OK. You need to be very careful if you've changed domain. If DIRSync runs and the GUIDs don't match up it could well "de-provision" the existing email accounts, security Groups etc... TBH I'm a little woolly on the Federation and if you'll need to re-federate. Anyway, What's the relevance of the Tablets? The effect is the same if you are accesses via a domain computer or your BYOD iPad.

You don't have to offer a warranty as such but if you are not selling as a private individual then the goods must follow the sale of goods act. They must be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose. The buyers need a reasonable time to fully test and see if there are any defects, generally that's 90 days and why almost used goods come with a 90 day warranty to cover that period. make sure that any you sell are PAT tested before they are sold. If they prove to be unsafe at the point of sale and harm someone you will be responsible. PAT testing allows you to show they were safe when you sold them. The computer gift and donation are separate. If one is dependant on the other it's a sale. If the vendor is VAT registered they need to collect VAT on any sales they make on any goods or services that are not VAT exempt (some children's food and clothing for example). If donations are conditional and the proceeds are not entered in to the school accounts then the VAT man may indeed take an interest. You will end up dealing with any returns and queries under "warranty", you will have to Prep the computers for sale, making sure that there are infringement of DPA or any digital rights/IP issues. You will need to take advice on licences. For the time and effort I find at best there is a nil return, with the risk of it costing us. And after all that you still haven't got rid of them. The buyers are legally entitled to take them back to the vendor when they are finished with them for you to dispose of. Send them to a recycler, get rid asap with as little hassle as possible and get on with the 1001 other things on your list. Actually you probably did pay the VAT but it would have been claimed back.

People with an overactive imagination. Yes she did suck Angel Delight off her finger... Nothing flirty about it though.

Let's get rid of all the red tape (safeguards to you and me) That's got to be good we all hate red tape. Genuine independence now there's something the people can get behind that doesn't sound bad... It's not like he's saying that they'll be unaccountable to anyone at all. And when all that costly stuff is out of the way he can sell the prisons to his old school chums to run at a profit. Why is it only me that sees stuff like this?

This is Starting to mess with my head, just humour me, Are these internal or external ports? What is port 1 now used for? Why are you using port two for the internet? Which port is the NTE (the ISP's router or similar device) plugged in to on the Smoothwall. Which Ports are physically connected to the core switch and what vlans are they on? What VLAN is the workstation on you are testing it with? Is it on the same one as the Smoothwall interface. If not can you test it from a workstation that is? If your connection from Smoothwall to Core is a \30 ip range you won't be able to set one up but atleast you know that every VLAN needs a static route. Do you have static routes from the DFG in each vlan to the interface on the core that is directly connected to the Smoothwall interface 2?

1-2 watts for the PC and again for the monitor. Shutdown won't switch the monitor off. Say 14 hours per night (18:00 - 08:00) x 4 for the week nights, plus 62 hours for the weekend. That's 116 hrs/week. 1 Unit (about 15p) is 1000 watt hours (or KWh). 116h x 2W =232Wh/week. Roughly 15p saving for every 4 computers per week. But you only make the saving on the ones that the system actually switches off. So if 100 computers were left on then the saving would be just over 23 KWh per week which works out about £2.45. Unable to quantify cost for loss of production. Too many variable to make sensible assumptions. But even working on Minimum wage alone it could cost £100s. No but there are still some technical staff that are not confident enough editing GPOs.

Yes, build your own lists or find someone with the time to export theirs as a starting point. Also divide the list up. I have 27 rules A-Z and Numeric. If you get a bounce back it can be hard to track down the offending word. The NDR gives the name of the rule that failed, if you only have one rule it's not very helpful. I had one recently where it was bouncing mail because of the L rule. I finally tracked down to someone mis-spelling Middlesbrough. They put an extra o in so it read Middlesborough. This gave an unfortunate five letter word starting with the L. I would NEVER have tracked that down if I only had one word list with thousands of words in it.

I thought Mac "just worked"

We've had Hog Weed along the Tees for about 20 years now. Made the news at first now everyone knows to steer clear. interesting list from @JATSO, I never knew that narcissus was Daffodil and that poisonous.

I think it's important to understand that this is not the work of Prof Tanya Byron. In essence I agree with her. Pupils should be taught how to use social media safely and responsibly. However I don't think this should be the responsibility of the schools. It should be the responsibility of the Social media sites. When you sign up you should be guided through a CBT module and the features of the site unlocked as you complete the relevant training. In truth the author of this poorly executed document doesn't seem to have put their name to it. The only one who seems willing to identify with it is Huw Lewis AM, Minister for Education and Skills. For me such public support should cast doubt over his suitability and qualification for his role. However this is Government where the popular people get the jobs not the ones who know what they are doing.

Nothing has made me smile more that a Yay for Wales from "Soviet Russia"... I just love that!

Staff can't play angry birds or candy crush (games) but they can gamble which is really only gaming with real life consequences like financial ruin and addiction. Idiots. Facebook allowed for 13+ yet SMS and webchat is blocked for KS3, KS4 and post 16??? Who needs SMS or webchat when you have access to Facebook? Again! Idiots.

Tell them the clocks on the wall are only a guide, They need to go the computer clocks to be really accurate and make sure NTP is working. Win 8 you can even add the time to the log on screen and there are apps to add it to win 7.

So you keep the same DFG as all traffic passes through it anyway. All the routing points all externally bound traffic to the internal interface of the filtering device which you also set as your proxy server whether you set it up transparent or otherwise.

Your DFG has to be in the vlan you are setting it for. Think about is as "which door to use to get out of the house". It has to be a door that's actually in the house, you can't use next door's front door to leave your house. Where it goes to after that is a routing issue. So set up a static route between your DFG and the Filtering device on your layer three switch. Alternatively assign an interface on your filtering device an IP address in your vlan and set that as the DFG.

Read this, Make you own mind up, for reference I don't.

Doh! Ofc... I thought it might have been like a Profile reset on RM Networks...

He's right, Kinda... https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1570/it_asset_disposal_for_organisations.pdf See this at the bottom of page 2. However, it's good to remember that this is only the case if you are passing on devices which hold Personal Data. So, for example the computers I dispose of hold no user data at all. Just the OS so this is OK and not covered by the DPA. Also you can get round all that by destroying the data yourself before arranging collection. Again, contract method statements etc are not required. I usually insist on a certificate of data destruction anyway.

I like the AD Account reset tool. Do you know what the reset button does? There's scant little documentation.

If all you want to know is how people feel about it then just ask "how to you feel about it?" and give than a response of 1 - 10. You'll then get a baseline to work with. I'd at least add a comments box. But this all comes down to what do you really want to know? If you are thinking, Shall we upgrade the wireless, internet or workstations next, you could target the questions to see what would be of most benefit. Personally I'd keep the measure (how do you feel) simple and one that will still be relevant now, next year and in five years time so you can show progress. The text box you can use to identify trends. People will also be more likely to respond than if they have 20 questions to answer.