Gibson335

At my last school we were hailed as one of the AAL leading lights, and if you went by all of the school, Microsoft and various educational articles, AAL was the best thing since sliced bread. But I recall being interviewed, and when asked about problems I related several thorny issues to them...and it came as no surprise that none of these comments made the final copy. Sandwiched between the apparent Utopia of Essa on one hand, and the pile of rubble at Honywood on the other, lies the real truth I suspect.

My main issue with it is I keep reading it as SIM SPERM!!

Another vote for Impero here. Has got better with each release.

For those who have been through it, or have taken steps towards a merge, what do you consider the pros and cons of a single AD, a single network strategy? And how has it worked out in practice? Cheers.

I'd ask them to point out where in their own specs they see anything to arrive at such a figure.

Yeah - ours ran OK on 4Gb - had more CPU issues than anything else. Gave it 16Gb when we virtualised.

Sounds way over the top to me - we allocate 16Gb and it is completely stable with more users and a bigger database.

I will be finding out more shortly, but if - as I fear is the case - they have the same convention as us, which is the construct from year of intake plus name, then it makes it awkward because when combined the year of entry will relate to two different age ranges?!?!

I'm thinking specifically of student user names...

For those who have been through the process - what did you do about user naming conventions? Did you change them all to meet one standard, did you keep them as they were, or did one standard get changed to reflect another?

I think staff will remain the same, but the roles are likely to change - mind you I am having to make assumptions at this stage, which is dangerous. This is 'supposed' to be a full on merge, forming a single academy with a new name - and as such my ideal would be to treat it very much as a single academy that just happens to be split into two sites. However, a whole lot of politics and sensitivities to wade through like treacle if we're to end up there. Many thanks for comments thus far.

There are 2 x support teams, and we're starting well ahead of time...we just need to set the ground rules for the development, and that may take longer than the actual work!! I think we're likely to end up with something similar, with a data store at each end...but ideally we'd want to work with a single AD.

OK - so we currently have 100Mbps link, which we'll be looking to expand, size depending on where we end up storing everything - centrally or virtuals at each end...have considered the radio link and may still go down that route but initial survey wasn't promising...as for continuity, well that may come down to funding and how much redundancy we can build in...I have to say at this stage we are in very early talks, so none of this has been decided and I am trying to see it from all angles. Ideally I think we'd like to store centrally, but I'm aware of the bandwidth pull and the continuity, so we may end up with data stores at both ends. Concern centres around the practical rather than the technical, as the staff-related issues and the politics and sensitivities are not only beyond my control but also potential barriers to meeting deadlines.

Leased ethernet terminated circuit.

We are on the brink of merging with another academy. The goal will be for a single, seamless network across two sites separated by probably a couple of miles; one of the existing networks integrating into the other; a single AD; a shared Broadband service. Has anyone on here been through a merge, and if so would you mind listing a few pitfalls/less obvious considerations. Obviously I've been going through it all myself, but the devil is in the detail and I want as little to fall through the cracks as possible when I put the project plan together. Thanks in anticipation.

Depressingly, I am old enough to have played in bomb sites - in the early 60s there were still a few around in places like Stepney.

I never used to find the whole Capita/Synetrix support thing a problem, to be fair. Mainly because stuff mostly worked, and when it didn't we used to get pretty rapid responses. The whole system seems to have ground to a halt since the changeover.

Mail seems to be flowing freely now.

One critical item of hardware often overlooked is the UPS - check how old it is and consider replacing, especially if adding hardware. One other thing - if you end up going down the EES route you get their security facility FOC, so you can consider using this as and when your next AV renewal comes up.

It seems absurd that we are not allowed to process for ourselves an inbound mail that has been quarantined due to the system not liking its file type, yet apparently we have all the control we need to potentially set up a mail rule capable of taking down the mail processing service...but that's just a minor gripe compared to the support provided so far. My dealings with both Capita and KCOM since the changeover have left me feeling completely frustrated and disenchanted with them.

Really? Should that even be possible? I thought the local control rules were just that - local rules?

None of us know it all and none of us will ever stop learning - it's the nature of the beast. I do sympathise with the view that, whilst those around us at work seem to make terrible mistakes and appear to get away with it, we are held to higher standards. Ours, by its very nature, is a field where accuracy is paramount, and being 99.99999 % accurate won't get the job done. Nonetheless, the very least we can do is not beat ourselves up when things go wrong.

Yes - their mail system is backed up following the changeover, so I would advise only ever calling - at least that establishes a ticket quickly, even if they drag their heels afterwards. Be warned - their new tactic is to request screenshots, at which point they put the job on hold. I advise calling them asap after you've sent them the screenshots to tell them the mail has been sent and ask them to take the job off hold - oh, and always include the ticket number in the subject line.

Many of us have been there, I reckon. It's easy to doubt yourself and your career choice. Come Monday morning it will likely all look and feel very different. May I ask what led you to this.

Does the SAN have a dual controller? Can be a pain if the controller link fails otherwise.