garethEds

+1 for Format Factory

In all honesty we are a small school - 800kids with only 300 machines. Like I say @rich_tech does all of the technical work. I'm just the 'Manager' which really means - only decisions. I do occasionally help out with the servers (like when I broke MDT2012). I'm a strong believer that sometimes the Network Manager needs to be someone who has had/is currently in the educations setup. I know this might be controversial here on Edugeek but being able to see both sides of the fence and understand what teachers need helps shape the network and helps me with my job - There is no communication issue between two seperate people if they were in those individual roles. (Did that make sense?) Although I do argue with myself a lot. IT Coordination takes a back seat during the year until this half term - then I try and run around like a fool meeting staff and trainign them in what they need. Head of ICT - That is the job I work hard for. Gareth

You are indeed correct and I'm sat here at the moment writing year 9 reports. Year 7 are next week and Year 10 after half term. I'm also prepping/improving my Moodle courses for September and preparing a Year 10 exam paper for next week. I have a revision session tomorrow evening from 3:30 until 6 and over half term there is a revision session for Year 11 (10 - 3). It's not all relaxing :-) In addition I'm trying to finish the NAACE SRF for this year/next year. Appreciate the fact that techies are ramping up as @sonofsanta mentions - I wonder what projects everyone has on the go. YOu ask how I manage it? @rich_tech is my wingman here and keeps everything running smoothly. Always helps to have someone to bounce ideas off. The only issue I have is with being the only 'specialist' ICT/Computing teacher - nobody to bounce ideas off and no time to be innovative. Gareth

@rich_tech send me a link earlier to free Microsoft eBooks. Here they are.... Free ebooks: Great content from Microsoft Press that won Gareth

Thank you witch. Regardless of what people say about teachers, the last month of coursework is tough going - a lot of paperwork and chasing kids. I'm not moaning (before anyone starts on me). Now it's time to switch hats and plan projects. What do me and @rich_tech have on the go...... 1. 64bit Windows 7 2. HyperV 3. OneLan training for our admin staff and some more that I cannot think of now. Two Magners in and it's time for bed Gareth

These two applications go together like fish and chips. We use MDT 2012 for our deployment and WDS for our PExe boot. Works a dream. Best advice is to read the sticky at the top of the forum for all all the advice in the world. Gareth

There is nothing better than the weekend after you send your last piece of coursework away. GCSE, AS and A-Level have all gone to the moderators after hours and hours of marking, standardising, marking again etc. Now that it's all gone I can finally get out to the garden during the nice evenings instead of barricading myself into the study. Year 11 have started their exams, Year 12 are in the middle of theirs and Year 13 are about to start. A bit of free time in work to look at network projects for the next half term - Hyper V being one of them. It's the one time of year where having three job titles is good. It is the smooth that comes with the rough. Summer's coming guys - let's all crack open a cider and enjoy the sun - just in case it leaves us. Gareth

Um!! I have no idea what you are thinking. G

I'm not saying anything as I use my real name on here :-) Gareth

This was amusing on the Guardian's website...The Secret Teacher writes an honest letter home | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional Gareth

I thought about selling my domain name - but I doubt anyoine would want it. I purchased indigo-cube.co.uk many moons ago - way before Barclay card launched indigo-square GJE

During free lessons I have whatever is on my phone - currently listening to the Tron Legacy soundtrack (and have done for months). I find it relaxing. Otherwise it will be Jarre, Einaudi or something else peaceful. If I am working in a loud area then I will plug in my headphones and listen to the music. Nobody minds here. I have had music on in the classroom when the pupils are working (mostly ALevel pupils). This tends to be Jarre - nothing too loud our beaty. The kids often ask can they have their music on. On rare occasions I have let them - especially if it is a new album that isn't too loud or beaty for a classroom. Norah Jones is always received well in my alevel classes as is Alicia Keys. I love music when I'm working. Gareth

We are starting to look at Office 365 - especially as the LEA Exchange server is creaking. Why not let Microsoft take the strain. I'm not bothered about online storage as the LEA have remote access for pupils through their Sharepoint portal. I wonder how long we will have to wait. I've signed up to the business trial and it seems ok. The SSO is a worry as it would mean asking the LEA to do it. Gareth

Thanks everyone. Does SCCM2012 need the AD schema changing? Our LEA are running Windows 2003R2 but have an AD Store for Windows 7 GPOs. If we installed it to a server here will it affect the whole AD? Gareth

@sparkeh - Cheers Pal - any refrence websites or books you can tell me about? Gareth

Morning, A quick question regarding SCCM2012 - it seems to do everything we are looking for in a product as well as integrating several of the things we already do. However is it true you can only have one SCCM server per enterprise domain? Our LEA has each school running as an OU (with delegated admin rights) within an enterprise domain. We were told that only one instance of SCCM 2010 could run per domain, but that 2012 would remove that limitation. Does this product deliver on it's promises? Those who use it or previous version - is it okay? Anyone got an opinion on this? Cheers Gareth

I wish I had the option of Virgin Media or BT Infinity. We will never be offered Virgin Fibre and Infinity will be a distant dream. Still I have a reasonably ~6mb broadband so am happy with that for now. Sky Anytime+ works through it. I've used PlusNet and was very happy with them. I'm currently with BT and all is good. Gareth

Our LEA refuse the use of Skype for the exact reasons - you cannot track it due to it using higher end ports above 1024, The LEA doesn't allow these ports - not even for staff. It was brought up today in a meeting at Swansea LEA. It also opens up the issue of child protection (which is outside this topic). Gareth

Hi Tim, Welcome to the party. Gareth

Hello again, First bit of advice - at the top of this forum is a sticky with all the links to MDT websites. An amazing resource of links. Second - Get hold of this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deployment-Fundamentals-1-Johan-Arwidmark/dp/1451570031/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335951310&sr=8-1 Then maybe get this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Windows-Deployment-Aidan-Finn/dp/0470600314/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335951378&sr=1-1 The first book is one of the best and the author has answered a few questions for us on Twitter. I believe the first book and some websites will sort you out. Good luck with it all. Gareth

IN our school we have one image with all software. One WIndows 7 Enterprise image. We use MDT and let MDT choose which drivers to install during the installation. WDS is used for the pExe boot. I personally would use MDT - especially if you have different machines which require different drivers. Regards Gareth

Evening, As I sit here wondering around the site I wonder who else is online and how it would be nice to speak to them. I'm sure there used to be a chat client as part of Edugeek - but how about integrating one into the site? I don't know how easy it is to do but this looked interesting: PHP chat software, Footer chat, In-page chat software | CometChat and it works on vBulletin. I'm sure there are other methods around as well. Regards Gareth

Ahh yes. I agree totally. Gareth

Take them all for a beer. GJE

hi ChrisH App-V - can you tell me more about this? Maybe a PM with how it effects your school and workload? What license do you need? We have ESS with Microsoft but does that cover App-V? We are moving to HyperV in the next six months so this seems like the next thing after that, regards Gareth