networkingNut

Can these be rented at all? We currently have the Fluke Link runner pro extended test kit, but I can only test for gigabit if there is a gigabit switch at the end, (which there isnt in most places). I have been looking at the Fluke Range and am confused between the Cable IQ and the DTX. As in which one certifies the cable to cat 5,5e,6 etc. Thanks nN

Apologies for the delay - Not been well, I think its more out of frustration, and personal lack of self belief. I tend to try and do everything for everyone until I fall over. From what I Can gather its a bit of both Some Switches are daisychained with the fibre closest to the core being OM1 1GB Most Servers are 1GB, with the exception of the Backup Server/file Servers (One of) which is 10GB. The VM Hosts have quad port NICS in them but I couldnt tell you how its set up. We are running Server 2003 /2008 R2 (2008 on the VMware kit). Its a HP Lefthand SAN with 3 HP ESX Hosts To Be honest I really dont know where to start Generally [*]automating software deployments as currently we us Symantec Ghost to do an initial image and afer that everything is done manually. I can do initial GPO deployments, Its any subsequent updates (Flash player for example) that i am not sure how to do. On a personal level I need to learn more about GPO. [*]Automate admin as it currently involves pointing the DNS at the admin server manually to add it to the network and then everything is done manually with the exception of a drive script, which does not always run and we cant see why. No errors are shown. All DHCP leases are given from a single server on curriculum. both Domains are on a single /16 network. Am I correct in thinking a DNS stub zone on the curriculum servers, which points to the admin DNS will get around the DNS problem? [*] Disk and Email Quotas [*]Backups - Currently done to USB 2.0 disks and take a long time (2.0 TB of data approx) In terms of infrastructure I would like to achieve the following: Wired More Backbone redundancy and replace the single 1GB links with Trunks All Managed switches. Make Access point placement easier by having POE capability site wide Remove any Switch Daisy chains and and have a direct fibre link from all outer blocks to the Server room (The library for example) More LAN ports to allow for removal of small, Desktop Switches and allow us to network any current printers, which are connected via USB, (due to the lack of ports) Make use of the workstation's Gigabit capability Wireless This needs to be improved as it is patchy currently. I have looked at Netstumbler and it can detect 9 access points in one area for example, but still gives low coverage (tested using multiple Laptops). We have recently purchased a 16 AP netgear management console (WMS5316), so expansion of this site wide with AD integration to allow student use. We currently have four WAP350s in our main hall, and a mix of Dlink DWL-3200s and Planet WAP4000s. There is lots more that I would like to do but I will leave it at that for now. Thanks everyone

I have been assigned the task of estimating what it would cost to improve our network infrastructure, having invested in VM ware last summer. For the moment I am just concentrating on the wired aspect. Wireless is a mix of managed and un managed. I was just after peoples opinions on the propsals. 1) Do you think swapping the core switch is overkill? 2) What would you suggest as replacement edge switches? Layer two or Layer 3? I would like to stick with HP for consistancy. I am thinking 48 port layer 2 for all areas except the Library, where I am think another 5406ZL Current Setup Our current switches are: Server Room Server room/ Core Switch - 5412ZL VM Switch 1 - HP 2910AL VM Switch 2 - HP 2910AL Outer Cabinets Technology - HP 2524 Library - HP 4108GL Music - HP 2124 Psychology - HP 2124 Acorn - HP 2524 Languages - HP 5406ZL Staff Room - HP 5406ZL Current Number of Machines Server room/ Core Switch - 87 (Approx) Technology - 17 Library - 14 Music - 5 Acorn - 9 Languages - 44 Staff Room - 7 Room 4 - 12 Room 2 - 9 Rooms 3.5.6,7 - 4 (Total) Admin - 25 PE - 2 The Acorn, Technology, Languages and 6th Form are all external to the main building There is no documentation, to indicate how old any 5E cabling is, however we are currently achieving Gigabit where we have already replaced switches (Server Room, Staff Room and Languages). The Category 6 in languages is two years old The only VLANs we have are for the VM hardware (configured locally to the 2910AL switches). I am not proficient in VM ware. My current manager was the main contact during the project. Domains = 2 (Admin and Curriculum) My Proposal Upgrade all current fibre links to OM3 16 Core, 4Gb trunks Upgrade all Switches to 1GB Change the core switch to a Fibre one- Our Core switch feeds The Servers, Two Main IT Suites (room 27 and 28) and the entire second floor. All PSUs in it are fully Populated.I was considering replacing this, and giving each IT Suite its own Switch, trunked to a core fibre switch but it was only put it two years ago, and I am not sure if I could justify the expense. Rooms 27 and 28 are next to the Server Room Add more Data points (Category 6) to technology and Admin as there are a lot of desktop switches in use at the moment Thanks Any feedback is appreciated nN Current Network.pdf Vision for Network.pdf

All I did was physically unplug the hard drive and then re-insert it. This appeared to make the screen come back on.

I had the same issue with one last week. The memory had not been upgraded, just returned for general maintenance. In order to solve it I just removed and re-installed the hard drive. nN

I am having trouble removing windows media 9. I have removed it via add remove components but it still works via start>run>wmplayer. Is there a way to remove it completely. Endless hours spend on google have come to nothing. If I delete the files in the Windows media player folder they just keep re-appearing when I search for them again. nN

Hi After having trouble with permissions I need to re add permission for each user to access their own my documents. E.g give the user bloggsf permission on the folder bloggsf Is there a way to do it in bulk as obviously doing each user may take a while? I have looked at ADModify but had no luck. Thanks nN

When I try and select the 'Configure options' I cant because it is Greyed out. Is this because it is an active DHCP scope?

I am trying FOG at the minute and while installing ubuntu I am following the FOG wiki but the Scope options> Configure options on my server 2003 DHCP server is greyed out. Is this because it is an active DHCP server? I was a bit dubious about de-activating it encase the clients, which are currently in use by students drop off the network. The network is flat with one DHCP server allocating to two domains, hence my hesitation

I have successfully managed to re-image a single machine using clonezilla. Can anyone provide any guidance please on how to set up Clonezilla Server for mass deployment. I was planning on using Ubuntu. Thanks nN

I have created a new Ghost Boot USB pen (Kingston 4GB) with USB support and it is still not detecting my drive onto which I want to image (Seagate 2TB) I will look into the other options. I have looked into FOG in the past but struggled to get it going. Thanks NN

I am trying to do a disk image using Symantec again at the moment. The machine is a HP DC7800 SFF. I am trying to place the image on an external USB hard drive but I can only see the C Drive and the Optical drive when it asks me where to save the image I cant even see the second partition. I am going: Local> Disk> To Image. Thanks nN

We are currently trying to set up an environment, which can be used for controlled assessment. We are preping a machine which has two partitions, one for our main curriculum and another for the controlled environment (which we are considering putting on a separate domain for ease of admin). The problem we are facing at the minute is how to image a machine with multiple partitions on. We normally use Symantec Ghost but I can only get it to detect one partition. The requirements for the controlled environment are: The Internet will be required initially but not for later assessments No Email No Spell Checker No grammer Checker No access to any other documents in their area during the assessment (hence the separate domain) No Media Player. I think the new domain is a bit overkill but at the minute it is the only way I can think of doing it. Can anyone help me with any better ideas on how to set it up and how to image a machine with multiple partitions. Thanks nN

I am currently in the proess of trying to upgrade from Office 2003 to 2007. For some reason some machines work without fault but some just keep saying "outlook must be online to complete this action ...". When I goto mail under control panel on the troublesome machine it says "Your exchange Server is offline". I can Remote desktop to the server fine so I know its running. I can also connect to OWA. I have unchecked cached exchnage mode but that made no difference All the machines are HP. The ones that don't work are DC7600 SFF (P/N: EC839ET#ABU) and the ones that do are HP DC7800 and HP DC7900 SFF. Both are Windows XP SP3. Both are up to date with Windows updates (The DC7800/7900 seem to have a lot more office 2007 updates, I dont know why.) Both machines have to cross domains to reach the email server, exchange 2003 (The server is on curriculum but the outlook is on Admin). I believe there is a trust between the domains (unsure how to check). After many hours of Internet searching I am at my whits end with it. I have even uninstalled both 2003 and 2007 and now even 2003 is giving the same errors. Any help is appreciated. Nn

I am currently trying to prepare the latest google earth for deployment VIA GPO. so far I have found the MSI and removed every language pack with the exception of 1033. I would also like to remove the desktop icon which is automatically created and also disable automatic update checking. can anyone please tell me how to do this? I have seen people saying create an mst? I know what one is and can apply it using the advanced GPO option, I just have never created one from scratch or edited one before. At the minute most of our new software installs are done manually (ones left off the image). Are there any good guides on creating, transforming packages? The manual way is a bit teadeous and I am looking for a way to try and speed up new deployments/ upgrades. Thanks Nn

I have installed the advanced proxy mod and added the following line under 'standard ports' and I still get the page cannot be displayed. 8443 # Plesk Panel Thanks nN

Is there a guide on how to edit the conf file to allow a port anywhere please? I had a look in the smoothwall administrator guide and I was not able to find anything in there. Thanks nN

Thats why I am a bit hesitant. Is there any other way you are aware of?

I am not able to see anything about adding a port on the GUI. Does it involve SSH ing into the box? Thanks nN

I am using Smoothwall Express 3. I am going through the smothwall on port 800. As soon as I select 'no proxy' in both IE 8 and firefox it works fine. The Smoothwall proxy is enabled and not transparent Thanks nN

Traffic on green is currently set to 'allowed with exceptions' under Networking>outgoing

Hi I am trying to access my Plesk panel and it says page cannot be displayed. Can someone please tell me how do I open port 8443 on smoothwall? I have pinged the IP and I am able to get a reply Thanks nN

This morning admin staff attempted to get into Nova T4 and it said "Data lock in use, click to reset password." Although it has now resolved its-self without me touching it can anyone tell me why this would happen/ what would cause it? I dont use t4 personally, more 'fight the fire'. nN

I have been with them since their days as NTL and have never really had any problems. I have only ever had the broadband.

Can anyone provide me with any advice on what certifications would be good to help me get into a career in structured cabling installs/ device configuration. Although I am ok with the support aspect of my role I much prefer laying data points and the more hands on aspect of the role. I have been having a look on the Internet and have come across CSCS cards CSCS - Construction Skills Certification Scheme, which from most of my research most structured cabling positions require. The questions is which one would I apply for? Any advice is appreciated Thanks nN