u8dmtm

Hasn't anyone noticed that the more you pay for a VLE the worse it tends to be.

We use iPupil - a homegrown solution. It is always available, flexible enough to do what teachers actually want it to do and cuts out the useless - as well as being fully integrated with user accounts (i.e. no additional logon). We started well ahead of the game in our area but because its home grown our VLE has kept pace with the market without the cost of commericial stuff

Its not there! Am I being stupid? :?

We bought it new, via the LEA

It's not even going through POST though

We've just acquired a 3Com 3824 24 port gigabit switch which we want to use to replace our existing 10/100 core switch. According to the documentation it should pick up an IP from the DHCP within 2 minutes of being turned on and from then can be configured by web interface but should also work straight out of the box. When I turn it on all I get is one light to say that power is connected. If you look in the DHCP it isn't picking up an IP (since the MAC address isn't listed) and even though I have servers and switches plugged in to it all the port lights are out. Does anyone have any ideas? PS. Am going to try serial link but this shouldn't be happening ... should it?

We are adding some laptops which were previously standalone to our domain and I am replicating the local group policy settings of the standalones into a group policy in the AD. This has been fine except for one setting: On the Local Group Policy in Computer Config > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options you can use Network Access : Do not allow storage of credentials or .Net passports for network authentication which means that when users log in to SSL websites they cannot accidently save their password which can then be used by someone else (all users are using the same login). Where is the equivalent in the AD group policies?

Could you not modify the Computer Configuration of the relavent policy to Make Proxy Settings per machine rather than per user and then just reboot machines?

Then my next question is what sort of server spec should I be going for? Is a dual Xeon with 2GB unneccesary?

Yes, it will be hosted locally.

Surely they can't expect me to pay for any RM licencing if it's just an Intranet server which isn't anything to do with CC3 except that it's in the same domain! I think I can ignore the fact that CC3 is on the network since within the same domain we are also running vanilla domain-member laptops and stations which have nothing to do with CC3 and just have CALs. By the way, I want it to run ASP (and some ASP.NET) for our quite large intranet (which includes booking, timetable, reporting, progress tracking, internal mail (not email), VLE, Support portal and associated (Access but moving to SQL Server 2005) databases.

Before I start I should let you know that we are using RM CC3. I am looking for a new server to move our IIS hosted Intranet to (currently on Forest Root). I went to RM for a quote and they are trying to sell me an additional CC3 DC with "commisioning" etc - total cost £10k 8O (£3.6K for server the rest is licencing and "commisioning". I sugested a member server which is £6.5k all in (same price server). If I went to another supplier I recon I could knock thousands off the price - after all all I want is a 2003 server running IIS6 which will authenticate users using Integrated Authentication from the CC3 domain - and just join it to the existing CC3 domain. Any advice about this?

There is a very good O'Reiley Actionscript book which is useful at all levels.

There are quite a few filtering products out there which allow you to have filter lists that vary based on user group or workstation location (or time etc. etc.).

There is something seriously wrong if you can't get a 3GHz RM One to boot and login in 4 minutes on CC3, we have similar stations which can do so in well under 2 minutes: - is this true even for a clean station and clean profile? - what is your infrastructure like? - how heavily loaded are your DCs?

Thats the problem, manual export/import is always going to be messy. Which is why I wondered about direct connection. Perhaps scheduled reports (maybe XML?) could be done and a program written to import them into another data system?

I'm not saying CC3 is better than vanilla. I know it certainly isn't - but only if you have the time.

I've heard of SIMS.NET Business Objects which perhaps can be used in .NET apps with some degree of safety. Information is hard to come by though.

In answer: - When I started in this job they were running Connect 2.4. So my first exposure to RM was not good. However I still chose CC3 over W2K/XP vanilla. Its an out of the box solution that suits the needs of schools. a) We are NOT paid to think of everything, we are paid to deliver the most educationally focussed ICT facility - reinventing the wheel is a waste of time. b) Unpicking a vanilla network assumes that the person who picked it did a reasonably good job of it. If you know AD you can easily work CC3, so that idea that you need training before doing anything with it is wrong. It is true that CC3 is not the magic potion it claims to be and if you do have a "clue" then it is easy to see that it is simply an additional layer, but a useful layer that saves time and does an efficient job of it. I would like to know when vanilla users got the time to start from scratch whilst also being nagged to do all the other jobs that people want them to do. I don't know about other people but there are plenty of other things to be doing. For me that includes coding, training and all the usual hardware and user stuff.

Does anyone know if it is possible to connect to the SIMS.NET database from your own software (using a data connection, say in VB) in order to perform queries to get data and update other systems with it?

It may be too late to post this but here goes anyway. We use a home-grown ASP/SQL solution which suits us. However another school in our LEA uses OARBS - which is a free online booking system: http://www.oarbs.com/

It is quite easy to spoof a MAC address - pretend to be something on your allowed list but is better than nothing. Couldn't you also use WEP / WPA or 802.11.x? WEP will work most widely but is the least secure. WPA requires that all your clients support it.

Couldn't you use basic authentication in IIS and SSL?

I was suprised at how well the QCA Testing DPS software works, even on 1Ghz P3 with 384 RAM, and even (dare I admit we own these ) 1.1GHZ Celerons with 256 RAM. Its actually quite amusing to watch the ICT teachers turn pale as they realise that kids are supposed to learn how to work out how to use stuff not just be battery publisher users - this software should sort that out with no hiding place.

Isn't problem with Vanilla networks that: a) you have to think of everything b) as far as the school is concerned 'your' network may not easily be picked up by your succesor if you leave c) more time is spent on doing things that CC3 does automatically Also, on the Printer Queues question - just give the staff Print Operators, or do what you would in vanilla - which still works just fine in CC3.