pmassingham

EXACTLY!!

I joined ATL last week.

I apply the basic rule: If I have not said it to their face (i.e. the relevant person(s) in the school) and it is confidential, I don't say it here. That way, no one should be surprised. I do concede however, that some people have to use this forum to sound off as they cannot get a hearing or they are accorded so little respect that their views are ignored. I joined a union last week.

Whoever you pick, make sure you consider virtualisation. We have 14 VMware servers on 5 blades (3 Tb mirrored SANs). Been running for 2 years - what a time saver!

The cost of not being able to connect up 280 of our laptops to the network is lost time. The additional costs include: screen repairs (up to £175 and we fit them), replace missing keys (we do that using spare keyboards from wrecked laptops), new keyboards (up to £63 each and we fit those too), replace DC sockets (only £10 but the time to desolder and solder after dismantling is about 45 minutes). That seems OK, I expect some will say. But I think to have replaced 22 screens last year (no desktop monitors replaced), 16 keyboards (missing key replacement is usually 4 machines per week) and 16 DC sockets, is excessive. Oh and by the way, batteries are now dying after 18 months and they are about £60 each. I will be replacing about 17 in the next month and that is for starters. Needless to say, my input (NO LAPTOPS - a 2 year trial here made it quite clear that they we were a mistake) was ignored. But hey, it keeps my technicians employed and gives them new skills. The bottom line is - staff and students don't give a damn about the damage they cause - why would they, it is not their own property and it is not their money!!

Essex LEA is the 'provider' over Siemans/Updata Up to 8 Mbps over copper 5:1 contention 670 clients of which about 50% usage per day But more importantly - up time up to 99% over the last year. Plans are in place for a major improvement within 12 months. Some of the 'slow' speed is LAN related as there is contention there given the amount of data usage.

Students are allocated from 33 to 100 credits per week depending on year group. Mono page = 1 credit and colour = 4. Staff have 100 credits per week. I tried to implement a policy of charging for excessive usage, but SMT lacked the courage to support it.

5 Intel blades with 14 VM 2003 R2 servers (incl DC x2, Exchange, Web, Print x2, SQL (for SIMS), Back up, RIS, File, Anti-Virus and WSUS 3. 655 clients (inc 180 student laptops, 60 staff laptops, 40 admin desktops and the rest curriculum desktops) 54 wireless APs, 63 printers and 49 projectors/whiteboards. 1800 users on site. Me (NM) and 2 full time technicians. And we usually get 2 boxes of chocs and half a dozen Christmas cards during the season of goodwill! I am retiring in 2 years, so good luck to 'em!!

Thanks for the replies. I did look at network attached storage but I am looking for something more recent as NAS is changing very quickly. We have mirrored 3 Tb SANs and we offload most critical folders to removable USB 250Gb storage. I want to save locally/on site to ensure access to data and I need AD implementation on the NAS. I am focusssed on NAS as the cost is much lower than SAN for the limited purpose I have in mind, i.e. to gradually replace the USB removable drives as the only external backup.

I am considering some additional back up solutions and have been looking at NAS. Is anyone using these devices? Any recommendations (1Tb plus)? Any pitfalls? THanks for any help you can offer.

Capita won't release the patch to me. They told me to apply the upgrade. This is ridiculous!!

Same here.

We have 5 physical servers running 15 VMWare servers. There is no need for a mangement server. VMWare is free. We have 2, 3 TB SANs, RAID 5 and mirrored for full redundancy. Your new servers look OK for part of the task. Cost looks top end. Try some other suppliers. We used ERGO. We migrated the whole lot in one go. ERGO did the whole thing during a summer holiday.

The Essex 'provision' is e-Folio by Netmedia. We have decided to run with this as it is low cost and simple to use. Long term, there will a consolidation of suppliers and as the market becomes less fluid, prices will come down and VLEs will become more focussed on T & L needs. At this point, having cut our teeth on e-Folio, we can look around if need be. Does any one else use e-Folio? What have been the main headaches? What is the road map for enhancements and core additions, e.g'. SCORM compliance, MIS interface for carer access? Has anyone found it to be good and supportive of independent learning? Do you have any ideas to share? Thanks.

In System Manager, try Global Settings | Internet Message Format | Default | Advanced. There are some settings in there.

I have recently updated our software protocols. It now states that suppliers must provide an msi from which an admin install can be created and we must be able to get an undertaking from the supplier that if the admin install does not produce a GPO deployable package, they will gives us a refund or if a trial installation works it must be convertible to a full install with a license key. I know I am probably blowing in the wind, but I am fed up with "I have just bought this great little piece of software and I need it on all 650 machines tomorrow". Staff have to fill in a software purchase request that I follow up with the supplier before approval. No approval = no installation!

If it is an msi, just run an admin install using msiexec, e.g. msiexec /a"\\servxxx\makemsi$\AdbeRdr812_en_US.exe" then roll out as a software package to the relevant OUs.

Presumably you are running the installation through SOLUS? If so, there are no instructions - it just installs. In our case, the first time success rate is about 50:50. Have you got the FMS update yet?

Liberum http://www.liberum.org/ Free and easy to set up on a web server.

You are in Exchange System Manager and you can see the Connectors Folder in the left navigation pane, but there is no SMTP connector showing? Does this apply if you log on to the server as different user with administrator rights? I had a an issue with some features not showing up when logged in as a domain administrator. They all appear when logged in as another user with local admin rights. I am no expert, but may be worth a try.

Probably you! Teachers will only provide the content.

Trouble is - all of these comments are serious!!!!

The old cleaner's cupboard that houses the 5 servers/14 VM servers has a black fire extinguisher. I would have to use my jacket as a fire blanket if that failed to work. I am hopeful that the thick layer of dust would stop a fire from spreading. We do have face masks though, so we don't inhale the dust!

We use Content Keeper. Comes in its own Linux Box. Scalable and can lock individual users down. Huge degree of control. Good value for money. http://www.contentkeeper.com

I only bought the Toshibas as the cost was lower than buying in more Ergos. We have 180 student laptops and apart from key board abuse, the next big issue is dodgy power connections on the system board. HP worries me generally. We had a failed HP printer - K850 - and after taking a week to even agree that it was still under warranty, it took another week to replace it. Maybe all help desks and technical support are the same? Having said that, I am starting to implement FITS here and having installed a single point of contact for all help requests, the next strep is SLAs. Perhaps these companies could learn something from us!