KK20

to be fair the last "problem thread" NS optimum post was in 2009. I have only bought a dozen or so PCs from them and have had no reall issues. I have never sent a machine back - I simply get them to send the replacement parts and fit them myself. I do the same with my Dells too.

For quick backups just use a large USB drive attached to the server using the normal "windows backup". This is good enough for our usual "help I deleted a file yesterday" restores and may well be good enough for a bare metal restore (it worked when tested). We also backup our servers to an openfiler NAS located in another building using BackupAssist - I use the mailbox and SQL options. Dont forget to TEST your restore - especially a bare metal restore (try using a workstation - a backup solution you choose SHOULD be able to restore to different hardware)

To confirm; this works. Existing compressed folders are still compressed and accessible. No further compression is allowed although you can still uncompress a previously compressed folder (phew!).

Dr Cheese: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/nix/7797-can-squid-pass-ldap-info-user-group-name-dansguardian.html#post401992 I still use the same script on working day hourly cron. Obviously it will need adapting to your needs. Sorry for thread stealing

i'll reboot it tonight and see if that sorts it (which it should after googling the command). thanks!

The little monsters have found a new ruse, enabling compression on a read only directory! Obviously when a few of them do it in a room the server soon bogs down. They have traverse, list and read rights only yet they can still enact a compress entire contents! This also works on their network shares which have the same NTFS security. Is there a way of disabling compression on the server side? I dont mind switching it off as there are very few compressed folders (probably ones I havent found yet). I have looked in GPOs to disable on the client but can find nothing. any ideas? Has anyone come up against something similar?

Squid and DG is not "easy" if you have no linux knowledge. If I am honest I got a debian, squid and DG "working" within a few days and I was a linux virgin but it took a few months to get it finely tuned - mainly due to my lack of time and knowledge in linux. Now I have 4 groups - junior school, senior school, staff, unfiltered all using seamless NTLM with a script scraping my OUs every hour putting the logon names in the correct filterlist. My advice is to use debian and compile squid3 and DG using NTLM options. That is the most stable for me and has worked flawlessly since I did it. This was my guide to get NTLM squid. Adding DG was easy enough after this: squid with ldap_auth and squid_ldap_group... help needed [Archive] - Ubuntu Forums I customised mine (in the end) to use a network bridge - that way the client gateways do not need to be changed. bridge-utils and brtables were used to force traffic along. You will also need a blocklist from somewhere. I use http://urlblacklist.com/ on a "1 per week" pricing. It has worked well enough for a "raw blocklist" but over time I have tuned the page scanning in DG to be more than adequate.

And mac OS is a qualifying upgrade path should they wish to get rid of MAC OS on their MAC (for some odd reason).

I thought EES was "education solutions" as in Enrolment for Education Solutions (It seems that EES is the overall scheme name, OVS-ES is the internal name for less than 1000 FTE it seems). The note underneath states "Academic" includes Education Solutions so that document is correct. Thats how I read it anyway.

someone been messing with the bindings? application pools?

Try computer -> admin -> windows components -> I.E. -> Prevent performance of first run (go to home page). Also IE8 is a real sod inregards to proxy settings and local CUSTOM settings. Local CUSTOM settings are applied "on launch" therefore overriding your GPOS. GRRR! Also if someone has a local cached profile that was wasnt mandatory (.dat) then the following could happen: they login, the .MAN is copied but the previous .DAT takes priority, hence the .MAN is never used. Worst still, the .DAT is migrated back when they log off. GRR!

As per previous. What infrastructure do you have at the moment? Exchange 2010 will only work on x64 and is a fair memory hog too. I imagine with 100 users you wont have a SAN or virtualised environment so your existing hardware may need a decent upgrade or even replacement. I gave up with coexistance with our 2003 and migrated in the holidays. It took 1 day to set up the new server (2008 x64 on quad xeon, 900gb raid 6 with 6gb RAM - hindsight says more RAM but budget wouldnt allow it), 1 morning to migrate 300 mailboxes then decomission the old server. I had no experience with exchange 2010 or 2007. I initially used this guide (which talks about planning) Upgrade Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 and also used Upgrade to Exchange 2010: Exchange 2010 Help as a reference to the different tasks I needed to do. https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/ can be used to test your site externally afterwards. Best practice analyser is a good idea too (although it does freak out with the wildcard certificate) We also use exchange 2010 with a wildcard certificate - it can be done. Our wildcard certificate (free from IPSCA I wasnt paying for a SAN one) is *.mydomain.com whereas our internal domain and primary SMTP is mydomain.mycounty.sch.uk.local (mydomain.com is a secondary SMTP) it is all how you name the certificate as a "friendly name" and also get ISA (TMG) to pass the requests backwards and make sure you have internal DNS zones sorted out correctly. It all worked for us without any issues (OWA, IMAPS works fine). In fact I would say this was easier than moving sophos from one server to another - which was a nightmare.

The 2025's are expensive to run (this printer uses cheap V7 cartridges too) but a decent choice, we have one and it has no issues, it is quite quick waking up from standby but it depends on how pedestrian you mean; you could always turn off the sleep functions. Using the cashback I would go for the N model - better now as you cannot retrofit (with reasonable cost anyway). We bought 2x 3525dns using the £200 cashback for £215 each. They are pretty quick and although not as cheap as our ancient 3550n to run they arent too bad. They arent compact though and weigh a ton. This might be a consideration if you wanted to move a different printer around to accommodate.

Although technically universal they are not all constructed equally. I have found ASDA leads to be the most compatible. LG to be the least and phones tend to be very picky. I havent taken a multimeter to the micro usb cables yet but I intend to one day to find out why my samsung cable wont work in my mp3 player or LG phone, mp3 one works in mp3 AND samsung but not LG and LG works with itself only. The ASDA one works in all 3. This is using the same mains-> USB charger point (from the LG).

that setup is BEGGING for more monitors.

indeed. I would shop around for those EES prices. Unless that 3K includes all your server licences et al and not just your EES

We use backupassist. We back up to NAS. I also have a local USB drive using normal windows backup to act as a bare metal restore (Test that your USB will work with the 2008 media!). It backs up remote SQL and local exchange. We purchased the add-on to backup local exchange mailboxes too (not just the datastore).

Ho hum. The part times ones we do have work a few hours a week yes - especially the peri music teachers who are in maybe one day a week (5 hours a week under this scheme's reckoning). There is also a specialist who comes in to tutor a student off timetable, they work less than 5 hours a week too.

Well if they are all GX270's then you are quids in. Those motherboards had an inherent capacitor problem. Replace away!

Alternatively try using a HP system restore CD. I know for dells & fujitsus that ANY dell XP CD will work in pretty much any dell (and our fujitsus) so long as the BIOS is intact. I guess HP is the same.

Almost the same boat as us except we have office 2003. We decided to move to EES in order to licence office 10 (this summers job) and move to windows 7 next year. Dont forget your CALs too (which will be included in EES - except external connector if you need it) and how do you pay for server licences? Would they not be cheaper under EES umbrella? Granted our EES is a similar price to yours but we have close to 300 PCs. It does mean you can recycle the old PCs to "lightweight roles" on the network. Certainly now I use old PCs are glorified print servers (in our Art department where I have set a desktop machine up with 6 inkjet printers)

Interestingly enough, our Bursar thought that the 200hours for FTE was spot on and quite generous since our teachers are contracted on a 37 week year not 52 - although support staff are contracted on a 52 week year hence a little more calculation was necessary. The threshold for "full time staff" is lower than 200 hours with respect to inland revenue. Our EES halved our costs ,pretty much all staff were included as we have very few part time staff but we have a very high level of PCs - it worked out great for us!

Used to live down the road from here (On Lea road). It is a little out "in the sticks" from the town. The 88C bus is best for getting there (and will drop you off outside the center) use the 88A to get back - they are contra orbital buses. Both these buses go from the bus station and pass the train station. 88C will also take you from the center to garstand road which is about a 2 mile walk to the IBIS along a single (large) road. They had just built a canal when I moved from there so you can use your barge and moor up if you wish (I'd like to see a pink slip for that expense going to the bursar). If adobe are there it might be worth a visit to see if they have any ideas on reliable ways to get adobe connect (player only) installed on domain user account with limited rights (install per user my arse)

I managed to get it to a state where it would "log in" using their AD credentials. Dont expect GPOs to work.

Incidentally, could you somehow get ISA to perform the authentication/export/lookup? ISA (and and option for SQL) has per processor model therefore would negate the need for CAL monitoring. Most schools qualify and get the "free grant" in that respect anyway (http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/schools/software-licensing/licences-for-schools.aspx)