Gibson335

In the interests of fairness, you have no idea who these people are because I wasn't generalising as you were, I had specific people in mind, and in my opinion they are idiots...if opinions are stil allowed.

I'll tell you one thing BSF won't cure: idiot users who report a fault with something only for you to discover that it's either (a) not plugged in, (b) not powered up, © cables are loose or missing, or (d) network cable is not plugged in. Most of you will know that many of the people in schools who complain the most and liudest about ICT support are the worst offenders.

This main video strikes me as nothing more than propoganda. I recall my old place was one of the first to tie in with AAL, and when the 'independant' people came round to interview us all and monitor the progress, they were told point-blank what the good bits were, but also what the bad bits were. They did not publish a single word about the bad bits, and I sense that in this video. Of course it's going to be that way, let's not be naive, but let's not get completely suckered in, either. By the time BSF comes to my area I probably won't care if I'm thrown on the scrapheap, but whilst its intentions are good and there's no doubt that run-down schools and systems will benefit, there are schools with excellent networks who may just rue the day BSF came to town.

We're currently considering backing up to disk overnight and then exporting the backup file off-site during the day for safe keeping. Alternatively, you could copy the data to a terastation or something similar.

Now that's what I call detailed. Many thanks.

Does anyone have any current information about what's going on in this area? I'm getting some confusing information from internal sources, but whilst I believe we're due to start 2012/2013, and that my particular area is not in the first wave for the county, I can't help but wonder whether the wheels are in motion as yet. I assume they will all proceed as planned unless someone pulls the plug on the money, but I did wonder whether the recent Government cash-splash had pushed BSF any closer. Cheers.

I genuinely thought I'd tried that and had not been given those choices, but tried it just now and it did. Cheers. I was sure it had to be in there somewhere, and thought I'd checked every option...somehow I missed it.

Having massive problems with backups at the moment. It's taking an age to go through the million-and-one things that might be causing the problem, from BE, to drivers, from the SCSI card to the device itself, and in the meantime the only way we get consistent daily backups is to restart prior to the job. It's only temporary while we sort out the backup problem, but it's necessary for a couple of weeks perahps.

Does anyone know of a decent free server restart tool that will work with 2003? I use a scheduled batch file at the moment, but unless I'm missing something really basic, I can't schedule to do it only on week days. I've had a look at something called Reboot Buddy, but it's shareware rather than freeware. I just want to be able to schedule a restart Mon-Fri. Help!!

To be honest, finances often dictate this anyway. I'm all for load-balancing as much as possible, and even have our user data spread over 4 separate servers. In your case, whilst providing a wireless facility for that many users is a considerable job, it does always end up back at your backbone and servers. My advice would be to spread the load as much as you can afford to. Don't forget, also, that your data is likely to increase significantly, so not only do you have to plan ahead for future growth regards storage, but also your backup procedures may need addressing.

It depends on how you're set up to begin with, because if you have wireless already but then suddenly a large x number more clients attach, then of course you'll be losing bandwidth. If you have no existing provision for them, then yes you'll have to do a lot of planning to get it right. The one thing I always do is never assume your senior management have thought of everything. I know from experience that whilst they may figure on laptops, perhaps even recharger trolleys, they seldom consider licensing - MS, AV, even some faculty stuff if it's not site-wide - and of course this can add tremendously to the overall cost. Some might think it's not our job to point this out, but I'd argue it's one of the main reasons we're there.

Yes, that's the one (though I thought Voyager was also an academy). The person responsible for overseeing IT at Deacons when it was going in is my old boss, and having been an avid fan of laptops when he introduced them here, he went right off them when he saw (a) how little they were used by so many teachers, (b) the damage and associated maintenance costs, and © that other options were available and, potentially, better. It was a notion that the main consultant didn't disagre with.

Well at least we agree on something! And yes, when I know our staff are going to conferences my heart starts hammering twice as fast, because I know they'll each come back with 'the next best thing'.

That's a little obtuse. IT is with us and here to stay, and with Internet and apps use of course you can see that as a tool it will help...the question is whether putting a laptop in the hands of all students is effective enough to justify the costs involved? Now, that may depend on whether you have already kitted your school out well with computers, whether it's a new build, etc. But many teachers who once wanted laptops here balked at the idea of managing trolleys, ensuring chrging was carried out, the inevitable time lost in starting up and shutting down (in non-IT lessons), and clearly saw it only in its glossy terms. A large academy (the largest at the time, perhaps still) in Peterborough not only supplies no students with laptops, but neither does it provide its staff with them. Many academies that I know of don't provide laptops for students. If the evidence for them was clear, surely it would have been done? Who knows? A decent debate, though.

I do understand what you mean. In my own position, I have to play Devil's Advocate, reigning in all the outlandish ideas and trying to make sure that the practical ones can be carried out and managed. It's not always a matter of undermining strategic decisions, more a question of advising as to whether or not those decisions are practical from a perspective that few teachers or even senior management have: an IT one. What appears to be undermining to some is just sound common sense to others once they have all the factors to hand. As for putting laptops in the hands of students: in an ideal world, why not if it can be justified and afforded? But could that money be better spent? Hard to judge unless the evidence that students with access do better than those without. Does it improve teaching and learning? Can it be managed and supported and, more importantly, can all of that be sustained? It's a tough call, and it's never really ours...senior managers always make those decisions in the end. I provide the pros and cons in relation to what can be achieved and how much it will cost, and even though it's not my money I hate wasting budget on fads and gloss over substance.

Of course. But what you're describing is a perfect world, not the one I live and work in. We have a huge damage turnover on staff laptops, and having experienced it for myself, I know what it can be like when students get hold of them. Yes, ideally you'd have sound leadership, responsible parents, responsilbe students and technicians to spare - not to mention the costs of purchase and replacement - but how often do you get all those things? And where exactly is the evidence that it improves teaching and learning?

I am almost - but not quite - lost for words at the contempt within this reply. Sounds exactly like some of the teachers where I work who despise anything being 'locked down' but would be the first to complain if a workstation wasn't available because a student had been able to misuse it. It's all about providing a system that can be managed and used by all, and the best way to manage it is to try and make sure it can't be misused, and not to have to devote hours of valuable tech support time mopping up after the inevitable spillage. They are not our 'toys'. Instead they are systems on which hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent and which we are responsible for, including keeping it stable and maintained. Not everything that teachers and students want to do is a good idea. It's not a question of putting up barriers. It's about doing the best job for ALL users and not just pandering to the next whim or knee-jerk indulgance.

How many of you have a close working relationship with your Curric ICT Co-Ordinator/Head of ICT? How much of a say does the above individual have over your own network development plans? Do you develop according to what you believe is the right direction, or do you work by a long-term whole-school ICT plan? How many of you know that the school ICT development plan is?

Hmm...I guess it depends on your interpretation of the word 'innovative'. I remember when AAL was the most innovative thing around, yet what a pain to manage when it first kicked off...and did it ever grip the nation as Microsoft predicted?

I love rants like this...as if Labour and the Libs don't have ex-public schoolboys in their ranks. Actually, I quite like the thought of educated people running my country...unfortunately, politicians of all colours are mostly not interested in what we as a nation want or need. But I've had enough of Scots running my country thank you...two on the spin is more than enough.

Cheers. Unfortunately, all of that's been done. Ran a test with some Quantum software that came up with 2 errors, so it may be the drive, but support only available in US and waiting for a call back from a tech...not holding my breath, though.

Anyone else have or had a problem with the job rate suddenly plummeting? We use Backup Exec 10d SP3, with a Quantum SDLT600 via a SCSI card. All was fine until suddenly the job rate started dropping from 975 MB/Min to around 205. We shut down the server, pulled the power on it and the device, started back up again and all was well again. This has happened several times, and worked great for weeks. Now, however, it's only working for a couple of days before it drops right back down again, despite there being no change in the job, no change in resource order. Because it's Admin we can't shut it down too often, so making any changes is really hit and miss. Any thoughts other than drivers, SCSI issues? Cheers.

Cheers. I was aware of the rule regards staff, etc, but as you rightly say, if you speak to even MS themselves you can get a whole variety of answers, which could cost you between nothing and tends of thousands of pounds for the same licensing...they really should sort this out for schools.

Thanks for that - sounds much better.