Chris_Cook

I think kiosk mode is what your after. What sort of problems did you have with it?

Also using 3cx, now at 3 sites. Works well. Nice and flexible. Provisioning should work across VLANs. What have you got in your option 66? Should be something along the lines of "http://:5000/provisioning/<11 digit random site code>", at least for yealink phones

It could be they have guessed the admin password. If its the same as we had years ago, it wouldn't take many guesses. They also could have plugged a keyboard in and done Ctrl+Alt+Del/Win+L. I think its possible to reboot from the sign out screen, but that should auto log back in. I'd try restarting, and checking that auto-login is still working. It could also be that it locks when in standby, maybe if the power button has been changed to standby rather than shutdown. Their support can probably help you out.

Depends on the file sizes. The Google drive app (was drive file stream) works ok for large files (like videos etc) but not for lots of little files (word docs etc) as there is throttling and a certain amount of overhead per file. Rclone works well for everything else. I just let it run in the background as it can take time.

We tried and failed. I managed to get it on windows 7, but even that was a pain. Once its working, you need to keep it plugged into the same USB port on the PC. Does yours have a USB port on the back? There are some drivers here, it mentions version 10, but I don't know if this is the same version we are running. Its been a while since I looked at it. https://www.technologysupplies.co.uk/mercuryii-drivers-manuals

It depends on the number of disks in the array, and how critical the workload is. For small arrays or critical loads, I'd try and push for a new set of disks and switch them 1 by 1, or re-build from scratch. for large arrays or non-critical loads, then I've had some luck with getting a more recent disk from the same manufacturer that's as close as possible. The disk size needs to match or be bigger. Disk access speed should be close. If the new disks are much bigger, then you can often increase the overall array size by going from 1Tb to 4TB for example. You only get the new size when all disks have been changed. What you need to consider is how likely the rest of the disks are going to fail in the near future. If the disks are properly EOL, then the risk is quite high. Even 'new' disks may have sat on a shelf for years. Lubricants and capacitors can all degrade over time as well as usage. Boxes get dropped and put back on shelves etc. You also need to check with your raid controller as to what it supports for both size and speed.

We're loving the unifi stuff. We've got 37 switches across 3 schools. Its simple, centralised, low cost and does what we want. Not problems with reliability so far. Over the years, we've had quite a few 3com/HP switches develop faults, although HP have taken care of all the ones we've reported. Even a fairly old 3com switch got replaced. The little 5 port POE-powered poe switch was really helpful when doing a cctv project last year. Perfect for putting cameras in areas where there is limited cabling/power sockets and running new is time consuming. The 10Gb options on the 48 port switches are also great and really well priced. For core switches and routing, we had HP switches in place so haven't replaced them yet.

If you know the manufacturer of your DVR, you may be able to google the RTSP feed URL, and put this into another system. This lets you use a DVR as an encoder, with the option of a backup recording. We have about 6 or 7 DVRs and NVRs going into the free version of Milestone XProtect.

£3000 is quite cheap. try some Nordost Odin 2 cables - more like £16,500 https://www.analogueseduction.net/mains-cables/nordost-odin-2-mains-cable.html or the speaker cable to go with: https://www.analogueseduction.net/terminated/nordost-odin-2-speaker-cable.html

I've got Elecom Huge Trackballs at home and work. I've got a Das Keyboard 4 at home, but I'm not sure its that much better than the ones you get from Dell or Lenovo these days. Standard keyboards have come a long way over the last few years. Not saying its bad though, I just don't do enough typing/coding any more.

I'm not sure, but I don't think queues show up in the search, The other way you can do this is to setup a second extension (without a handset assigned to it). This then has forwarding setup, and custom hours to change where it forwards to. This can then be hidden.

We get our Hik cameras from broadband buyer. We have an account setup with them. We use a selection of Hikvision NVRs, dvrs, and some unbranded DVRs. All this is hooked up to Milestone xprotect. 1 school has a licence, but the other uses the free one which only supports 8 devices. Luckily a 32 channel DVR/NVR only counts as 1 device, so you can get a quite a lot of cameras on there.

Or load Neverware on them - make them chromebooks.

this sort of kit is expensive, but I would get a few quotes, and have a really good idea of what it needs to be used for. For assemblies, you don't need much, for full on drama events, that's probably not that overkill. If events are infrequent, some if it might be cheaper to hire in. You can even hire crew in to setup etc. It also depends on the size of the venue. Ours are quite small, so that would be way overkill. But things like LED fixtures, a better desk etc are on my list as things break. You basically have 3 options 1. Buy cheap, buy twice/three times when it doesn't do what you want/expect 2. Buy the basics (desks, power distribution, data cabling, LX bars, etc), and then add/hire over the years. 3. Buy everything in one go, because the school prefers to spend big chunks of money than spending bits each year. We've used a company called David Fitch Services who beat other quotes by lots. The FLX is a nice desk, and price is reasonable. I'd certainly recommend not cheaping out on the core components just to get the extra toys. Things like the Subs, and the moving head lights might be considered overkill, but they are nice to have. They could be hired when needed. On the other hand, who is setting this up for events, and who is changing over the sound kit? Having all this stuff pre-rigged saves loads of time - you probably would halve the number of tech staff needed. Pre-lockdown I had a student operate lights for a drama performance and that worked really well as they could sit though all the rehearsals and nail the queues. Staff did all the rigging etc, and I was supervising, so it was plenty safe enough.

I was going to suggest Bela Interactive, but they have a rather high price on this cable. Do you know anyone good with electronics who could make you one? Otherwise, I don't know if this is the right size plug, but you could try this. I think its probably too big: https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-power/ppw00026/lead-dc-power-2-1mm-plug-to-plug/dp/PW03425?st=dc%20plug

We use Zoho Vault (we also use their helpdesk). This has a handy chrome plugin for auto filling/generating.

I think Applocker is what you are after for blocking execution. You can probably be quite strict with what you block, and then just add exclusions for the odd things that you have checked and approved. If you use drive filestream, you probably want to block execution on that as well.

We have it banned as a school policy. Banning it completely with technology is somewhat complex as there are always going to be edge cases - cameras in media is one. Some older devices also need them - AV stuff in the hall uses them. What has worked well for us is making sure there is an easy + reliable alternative. Google drive and drive file stream have been much easier for staff to use. They don't have to worry about forgetting it, losing it, breaking it, plus they can work collaboratively without versioning hell when sharing, and if something gets deleted or overwritten, its just a mater of going in the version history. They can even moan at the person who did it. There's always a few users though that insist on the old way, however once most staff saw the benefits of using it they moved without too much fuss. If they desperately want office, then they can use file stream and its the same as a memory stick or network drive. We also limit our support - We would help copying stuff up to google, setting up encrypted devices etc, but we would be reluctant to support broken devices. We used to get lots of broken memory sticks with the only copy of work. The policy obviously needs to be backed by SLT and line managers. These days staff need to be getting up to speed on security and backups. We can't hand hold all the time. We do have a 1Gb internet connection, but uploading videos works reasonably well. Google drive uses similar technology to youtube, so playback can be scaled as appropriate. When we first moved, we used RClone to do big uploads for some staff. We had local network drives full of videos, so once staff had organised what was there, we could just leave it running overnight from a Server or PC with USB 3 if it was a portable drive. I'd say there isn't much difference in speed between google drive and usb storage. If anything google is probably faster. At a minimum, we expect staff + students to put a copy on their google drive, even if they work on it locally. They don't get much sympathy if they haven't backed it up.

Make sure you save the config. Repeatedly. Enable LLDP/CDP Save the Config Label patch panels and cables with room numbers or something that won't change. Using staff, office or department names will probably lead to problems down the line. At some point in 10 years, some poor soul is going to pull their hair out trying to work out who 'Wilkie' was and which office(s) he used when he was here... Label your power connections to - especially where you have more than 1 device in a cab. Save the config Double check any ip routing setup. Save the config again. Make sure your network map exists and is up to date. put a copy in each cab, with the date it was last updated. Get called out at some horrible hour of the day because someone didn't - you guessed it - save the config... I'd also recommend keeping things as simple as possible. I'd keep some sort of offline copy of the config as well. Having a standard config across your switches helps to.

yep, that's on the console

We pre-print our vouchers and leave them with reception. Are you after a way of logging who got which voucher? There are options to set how long the voucher lasts for, and how long it works for after first use. There are also options to limit the number of devices it can be used on. For us, we set the lifetime of the voucher to 5 years, and 1 day from first use. We also did some 5 day ones for guests who are with us for more than a couple of days.

For us, if we want to buy something, we have to do it on our personal ebay accounts and get the school to re-imburse us. They don't trust ebay and I don't really blame them as you don't know who you are dealing with without vetting them. I've sometimes found that businesses on ebay have other outlets selling the same things. For selling, we did look into it a few years ago, but never had the time to arrange it and deal with after-sales issues. I know some have got in trouble in the past from selling without schools permissions. We also had to be able to demonstrate that you got the market rate for the item. Its normally easier to send for recycling as its mostly junk by the time we are done with it. It would cost us more in someone's wages than we would get back if we go the ebay route. If I were to look at this again, I'd probably work with a recycling company and see if one was willing to do a deal. Or send of something of value to pay for something hazardous that we have to dispose of. We've done that with old CRT TVs before - a couple of ancient macs covered the cost of transport and fees. That, or find another school willing to make a donation.

Vitesse take ours - compatibles + originals, but not sure if you have to buy from them. They've been a pretty decent toner supply company all round. Very few issues with there compatible toners, and if there is they've always sorted it quickly. https://www.vitesse.plc.uk/

I believe they are M4, and the holes about 5-6mm deep. You will need to allow more bolt length for your mounting bracket + spacers etc. Won't be M5 or M6 on a small projector. You might occasionally come across M3 on a projector, but all the ones I've seen are M4.

We have a cambium system, and have vouchers printed and left at reception. You can specify an expiry date, how long the voucher is active once used, how many devices it can be used on, and whether its locked only to those devices. All quite swish and easy to use. We've done 3 types of vouchers - 1 day, 5 day and let-ins. Underneath, its on its own vlan, and users get the default student filtering, so if a student gets a card they can't do that much. We only allow some students wifi access on personal devices.