matt40k

Capita (in terms of the software, not the hosted solution) it doesn't support clouds, it doesn't support virtualisation, it doesn't support your pc or your network or your server. Capita supports running their software on top of other software, ie Windows with Office. They recommend hardware spec in order give an idea of hardware requirements for best performance, but really, they dont support your hardware. They don't even support the software they on top of, they just tell you what they require. You don't phone them if you have a problem activating windows do you? So it really annoys me when people ask which virtualisation system does Capita support? The answer is none, just like they don't support physical hardware. It also highlights they don't understand virtualisation, the idea is that it presents the OS level and lower with the same environment as if it was physical. How will SIMS know it virtualised? It wont! Thats the point, it doesn't need to care, it just needs Windows, how you give it that OS, it doesn't matter!! Oh course you get the folks who dont get virtualisation and get SIMS errors which translates to SQL errors that translate to Windows errors which translates to oh look you've setup the storage incorrect, its the physical equivalent of putting a 1TB 5400rpm laptop hdd in your new 96gb 40core server and you wonder why your getting problems. Cloud is no different to virtualisation, only its someone else's tin your virtual server runs on.

Wonder if you could get away with using marked registers as determining staff attendance and link it to pay. No mark-y, no money

Drop them an email and ask them then!

Hang on, which bit of Azure are you talking about? Databases? So Azure db? That can backup to blob storage as often as you want, its only real limit is the size of your wallet. If we're talking about files, so onedrive, you have file versions. If we're talking emails, so Office 365, you can have recover deleted emails - again this depends on your policy. Microsoft are pretty good with their alerts and seriously folks, Microsoft are pretty chatty these days - if you post on stackoverflow, don't be surprised if they appear. If there is something missing, tell them, they will listen and if its a good idea, don't be surprised when they actually do it! I trust Microsoft more then onsite staff, don't get me wrong I've worked with some great techs and on a individual bases I'd total agree with the statement of yes, don't bother with azure, but I have had too many "I'm sorry but you've lost your data and you didn't have any working backups - and you didnt opt-in to our backup service, even after we phoned you and said are you sure you've got a working backup??" and realistically, good techs leave and they are not always replaced with good techs (also different heads/etc with different ideas can affect the story/money/resources). So yer, I trust Microsoft more, because they are transparent, but also because I know if they did loose my data, like genuine large scale data loss kinda thing, not single email someone deleted 4 years ago I could bring them up against the SLA (which is pretty lame), take them to court for damages, sell my story to newspapers, then move over to Google and become a Google case study - the damage to Microsoft would be far greater. Most large orgs scale Office365 up and down monthly, so if tomorrow morning the CIOs reads about Microsoft loosing data, you can sure as hell know next month they'll ported over a large chunk of users over to Google Apps - which would affect Microsoft revenue stream and Microsoft share price - Microsoft would be quick to shed of any team that was associated with this too. So neither at a individual level or a high level at Microsoft do they want to loose data. Its not like reg123 where you could just go f it and go work down the road doing pretty much the same thing, there arent that many companies like Microsoft and I doubt you'll get a job at one with that black mark over your head, so you're gonna have to take a pay cut for starters. Anyway enough of my rambling

@nathan - Highly recommend mythic-beasts.com. They're activity using IPv6 - https://youtu.be/91hN3PvYUrc, also they sponsor things like Gwiddle (https://gwiddle.co.uk/blog/post/4) - who offer free hosting for students. Its worth dropping them a email (tweeting them @ Mythic_Beasts) and having a chat, you should be able to get away with a shared hosting package then they'll help you grow to VPS (or just start with a VPS). They've also just enabled HTTPS with a few clicks, for free, so DNSSEC, they also do domain privacy for as well - important for any personal sites, otherwise your details get spammed across the global. If this is for work - they also do PO orders

Eh? Its a managed service, surely one of the reasons you outsource it is so you dont have to worry about backups?

Pretty much just killed Call of Duty off

Must have missed the memo about ram being expensive. Pretty sure my mums 5+ year old machine has 4gb ram. Also not sure teaching a pure anything is good for education. Fine there are companies that use chromebooks or macs but most use Windows - I think the schools setup should reflect that. You should have Windows PC, macs, chromebooks, ipad, raspberry pi and so on. Windows is a pretty good as 99% of software works on it, especially now Windows 10 supports Ubuntu user mode - https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2016/03/30/run-bash-on-ubuntu-on-windows/ The only thing that cant do is mac only software

How big is your SIMS.mdf?

Is this for an LA? Cause that would be overspec for a school! Also, whats the usage? You could cut the infra costs in half if you switched it off out of business hours. Capita charge something like £500 for a primary school - and thats the infra costs, backups and maintenance costs (the latter being the most expensive)

Afraid not, you could bulk import the correct one, then you'll have to run a report and manually remove them individually.

They all price match. Still Microsoft tends to throw free credit at you as part of your schools agreement

Yet to find a MIS system that actually holds all the data let alone be able to export it into a readable format - and no a 500 column spreadsheet doesn't count as readable!

I would guess the default Microsoft one - https://www.remoteapp.windowsazure.com/en/clients.aspx

Yes, its very effective at running up the old credit card bill and eating Azure commit (Sorry couldn't resist)

Whilst you wait, you might want to look at SalamanderSoft. As they've been doing this (and more) for a long, long time.

Potential has always been there, its why folks have switched to other MIS systems and non-Microsoft software

For your school?

You missed the bit where I said I can't find it on other sites - like on the UK gov site - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/ (the LA or the LGSS)

This just raises more questions When was Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire in Wales?, why can't I find it on other contract sites "opportunity to explore in-sourcing many of these services" - eh? So they're going to built a MIS? Why is it called "Capita SIMS." - it lists "secure email"

LOL!!! You'd hope they don't set their reserve dns whois record - it would be like updating your LinkedIn with your promotion to double agent.

Most likely its a spoof ip

Ditto - Looked on https://www.lgssprocurementportal.co.uk/ - can't find anything. Looked on Gov.uk site, found - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e7394dff-b7f6-48e8-8e66-8cff068a9bd4, but that's not SIMS. Also not sure anyone would bulk buy MIS licenses now the government has said every school has to become an academy, it just sounds like away to get lumped with a large bill. Also not sure how LGSS will be affected with the Devolution - so Cambridgeshire is joining up with its neighbours - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508115/The_East_Anglia_Devolution_Agreement_FINAL_with_signatures_and_logos.pdf Will see

Well for Mythic Beasts its two fold, one for greater good - they sponsor a few good causes already - the other is they evolve into paying customers. Gwiddle I guess it builds up experience, profile and can evolve into a business from referrals for those bolt on like domain name and customers who move to paid platform

Just saw this on Twitter that might be interest to folks - https://gwiddle.co.uk/ and https://gwiddle.co.uk/blog/post/4 Free web hosting for young people and students