Techie2000

Will the SafeSearch enforcement still work? We currently enforce this school-wide for staff and pupils.

At the moment I am using an old HP 2610-24 as my Core Switch... It does the job for now (just about!) - in terms of redundancy though, I have a backup of the config! What are people using for their Distribution Switches? I currently have some D-Links, our most recent has been swapped out 3 times in the 12 months we've had it - the first time the fans failed, the second time the PSU died and last time it just kept rebooting itself every 30 - 90 minutes (even D-Link don't have the answer!) - any recommendations for better and more reliable units would be appreciated. Although, we have only paid around £400 for gigabit PoE switches (get what you pay for and all that!).Walked in this morning to find the switch rebooting randomly yet again! Had so many issues with late firmware fixes from D-Link that I'm losing faith with them.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your responses. I think many of you are in the same boat as I am! We currently have a gigabit core switch that has 7 VLANs but no redundancy. Personally, I would be running to PC World Business and picking up a cheap replacement - fortunately I think I'd even have a spare at home! I also agree with @mjk about our Firewall appliance, I am going to look into a VA redundancy for that though.. I keep several copies of your config backups just in case.

Hypothetical question - lets say your Core or a main distribution switch failed, what would you do? Do you have a redundancy in place? I work for a primary school with only one Core switch and I always wanted to ask, what do others do? Would you simply just swap the switch for an access switch (feature dependent)? Wait for the 24 hour warranty replacement? I prefer to be proactive opposed to reactive, however when you are limited by budget, I wonder how others manage? Fortunately I would be able to get a redundant unit if needed, but I just wanted to hear other solutions/ methodologies.

Does anyone know if schools part of the Lancashire Grid for Learning still get discounts on software such as Clicker 6 and Espresso? I recall seeing an email a few years back but I haven't seen anything for a long time. Typically I now need it as we're looking to purchase both of these packages!!

In response to location tracking (apologies if this should be on the new post) - I made a staff device policy which speculated that location tracking was a compulsory requirement for insurance and security purposes of the mobile device. They also had the option to leave the device on the school premises at all times should they wish to remain 'anonymous' in terms of tracking outside of school. I had a couple of issues with staff complaining, but once it was cleared up within the policy that the tracking is only for security (of the device; not user) they soon changed their mind.. Usually the leaving the device on school premises changes their mind too - I'm a strong believer in securing assets in the event of loss or theft over the freedom for staff to use it as a personal device - after all, it is a school device and should be treated as one. Likewise, if you need to write a new policy for it - I would include social networking, storage of photos and personal content (just to safeguard yourself before an incident arises).

Personally I use Apple Configurator to image the devices (set the screen settings/ layout/ background wallpapers etc etc), I then skip everything under the setup tab and configure the Device Enrollment settings (on the Configure Settings... button) and create a profile under the settings tab for the WiFi/ Proxy - I then use Meraki (which devices are automatically enrolled via the device enrollment URL setting) - I do not set any restrictions via Apple Configurator as I find that Meraki enables me to finer tune my restrictions (such as preventing App Store purchases) which can be modified and amended at any time without having to reimage the device. These changes can quickly be pushed to the device on the Meraki home page, selecting the devices, Command > Sync Profiles. One thing to note: I found that when trying to push restrictions from Apple Configurator and Meraki MDM - they seemed to clash and some restrictions didn't work at all; therefore as Meraki gave me more options (wish are very quickly deployed); I chose Meraki to deal with restrictions. Meraki MDM is free and works extremely well with our current 200+ iPad and iPod devices. (Another thing to note; I wasn't able to push the Meraki enrollment URL for auto enrollment via Apple Configurator on anything below iOS 7 - these had to be done manually). I'm a little biased as I haven't used many other options, but this one seems to work fine for me! Hope this helps

I know 3 schools currently stuck in TLC contracts with no option to get out other than to pay the extortionate amount in full. Plus like others have said- it's very limiting.

Is there a best practice or a recommended method of increasing a DHCP scope within Windows Server DHCP?

Top Gear won't last 12 months without Clarkson..

Does it still wobble without the VGA converter? I have this issue when using our Apple TV's through a converter - everything has a slight wobble to it (particularly around the edges of the screen). Fortunately our projectors have a HDMI input - when testing without the converter, the wobble vanishes. At another school I experienced a wobble which the Epson engineer informed me was due to a faulty fan bearing - when the fan was running, the faulty bearing was shaking the internals of the projector.

Sorry to jump on the previous thread - @Stuclark - have you experienced better Apple TV connectivity when its on its own VLAN or is this just for good practice? Do you also have an exclusive SSID for Apple TVs?

Did anyone successfully get the Twitter app configured? I have created the access API & Secret but nothing appears to happen with the module.

We currently have a SonicWall at two schools - both work well (somewhat) but the issue we face relates to HTTPS traffic, particularly YouTube and Google (although we have currently solves the Google issue at a DNS level - without the SonicWall). This is also the case when using DPI-SSL, have you found a work around for this issue?

Did you resolve this issue? I currently have a SonicWall also... Its a general pain!! What settings are under your SSL-VPN > Server Settings page? Also, which zones have your enabled the SSL-VPN on?

Thanks! I think we will need some newer wiring first - the current wiring is date stamped Cat5 1999 (even I was in school back then!!!). Thanks again, your advice is much appreciated.

Sorry to jump on this post - I am looking at replacing our current D-Link system (which is intermittent and now somewhat dated) with a Meraki solution - At home I have an MR18 being used for personal use - but I don't have the means to stress test it with several devices. The issue I have at school is the number of wireless devices in a small area - within 50feet we have 5 - 6 APs with over 200 devices connecting - with everyone's experience, how would the Meraki MR18's handle with this? Our current D-Link system seems to drop connection when trying to find the next available AP - most of the time with users experiencing issues in reconnecting.

Mega.co.nz offer an iOS app and also free 50GB per account - the app also features PhotoSync which automatically syncs photos. The only downside is that each account has a maximum bandwidth of 10GB (per day I assume) - however I highly doubt you'll be uploading 10GB of photos each day from iPads! Hope this helps!