Quite a bit has been happening since my last post...the main items of interest have been:
1) Wireless network issues. Even after our HP engineer had "fixed" the wireless network, we were still having trouble with the coverage not being consistent, and we found that we couldn't connect to some access points. However, once these were reset (by disabling / enabling PoE to the switch ports) they often - but not always - returned to normal operation. Obviously, with 500+ wireless clients, this was far from an ideal scenario.
A quick email to my HP ProCurve Business Development Manager saw our issues get escalated to engineers in Singapore. Whilst there were a few communication difficulties, largely the guys in Singapore (and our engineers in Aus) were more than helpful, and managed to get our problems sorted after a few days.
There were some other configuration issues with our APs, but the most benefit was when we disabled Automatic Power Control, and set each 802.11n radio to transmit at maximum power (20 dBm).
The next step was to "break" the inherited configuration of some of our APs (those with external antennae - ie those pointing outside) and configure them to use the external antennae, rather than the internal ones. This has improved our network coverage in some of our targeted outside areas.
Now I need to "tune" the 802.11g network to ensure optimum coverage throughout the campus. Given that this network will be used heavily by students with iPod Touches, and students bringing their own laptops to school, it is important that this network is available everywhere. By and large, this tuning will simply be a case of changing transmission power levels...with the odd change of channel thrown in for good measure.
2) A new IT Staff member. Finally! 3 years after an extra person was recommended by some eLearning consultants, the College is employing an additional IT Technician to help with our workload. Primarily, we hope that our new addition will assist with the support of staff laptops, including basic "how to" type training issues. Applications close in a couple of days...lets hope we get some quality applicants. Let's also hope that I can come up with some decent interview questions so that we can identify the best candidate!
3) Learning Management System (Studywiz). It's taken me nearly 2 weeks to get some basic info out of Studywiz support in preparation for the move to 3 servers. There have been some issues with Studywiz over the past few months....with the former company going into receivership, and a "management buyout". Needless to say, these goings-on don't inspire a lot of confidence in the product...particularly when we have paid up-front for 3 years "Premium" support!
4) Video Delivery System. We have completed the installation of our QuickTime Streaming Server, and Library staff are beginning to test it, and copy videos to it. We had some encoding issues...where copying a .REC file from our PVR to an MPEG movie would take 3x the length of the program to convert....but it seems that if we DON'T record in 16:9 high definition, this problem goes away. So, we're experimenting with 4:3 video....and conversion time is about real-time...much more acceptable.
5) Database Development. I seem to be less of an IT Manager these days, and more of a database administrator / developer. So far this year, some of the things I have done are:
a) re-written the detentions system within our Student Records database - in less than 2 days!
b) began writing an asset register database for our Accounts Office (depreciation, asset acquisition / disposal, etc)
c) scripted the import of 1500+ staff and student photos into our Student Records database
d) modified the Fees database to charge music fees over a 9-month cycle (was 8-months)
e) create a system that allows music tutors to send SMS messages to parents when students miss music tuition
I still have plenty of development to do....not least of which is to create a system where 2 teachers can edit report data for a subject (currently is restricted to a single teacher).
Once our new staff member is on deck, I hope to have more time to devote to other projects, such as:
- Investigation of VOIP
- Planning for our new Year 9 campus in 2011
- Mailing list management - enabling staff to manage their own "mailman" lists
- Cleaning up my desk!
- Lots more that I can't think of right now!!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
A new project...and a new blog
This week I commenced the iPod Touch Pilot Project. This project is probably big enough to have it's own blog...so here it is.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Settling in to a new school year
Well, all staff and students are back at school for another year. For the most part, things have gone smoothly (ish). Our one big issue was the wireless network - more about that later!
Some slight hiccups with creating new student accounts...turns out that we couldn't just import the same data that we could in previous years. After several fruitless attempts to import data from text files, we decided to purchase "Passenger" software (designed for just this purpose). Only problem with Passenger was that we couldn't get it to import the passwords for new users. Thankfully we had enough time (and a technician who didn't mind) to manually type the passwords for approximately 300 new users.
The rollover of Mathletics went OK, but we didn't get new usernames and passwords until after lunch on the first day of classes. Meant that a few maths classes couldn't use the program, but nothing major. The Maths faculty have now asked me to set up all year 7s and year 9s in QAX numeracy - another online system for doing NAPLAN-type testing. Hopefully the setup of this system will be finalised tomorrow (Monday 15th).
The upgrade of Studywiz to multiple servers hasn't progressed (my fault - too busy with other things). However, I have managed to get all teacher, student snd subject details into Studywiz without too much fuss. Given the fluid nature of students' subject choices at the start of the year, this is probably a process that will have to be re-done a few times. Must remind myself to do this first thing tomorrow morning!
I had a chat to one of our Deputy Principals on Friday (12th Feb) about the detentions system in our Student Records database. The College has a new Leadership structure, and they want to streamline the way detentions are done. They've given me until 2:30 on Monday to re-define the database tables and re-write all the scripting - this should be fun! Not!!
Our biggest headache so far has been the new wireless network. When installed, Shane (the HP engineer) and I walked the entire campus, and verified that the 802.11n coverage was pretty good. However, during the following week (1-5 February) when all staff were back, things starting falling apart pretty quickly. I was called in to the office at about 2:30pm on Friday the 5th (a day of annual leave), and spent until 11:45pm working with Shane (over the phone) working through the issues. The main symptoms were that we couldn't see any 802.11n networks (even though the controllers indicated the network was up), and that the controller itself became unresponsive, when logged in to the management interface.
At about 4:00pm on the Friday, Shane did a "factory reset" on the wireless controller, and began re-building it from scratch. Things were going OK until Shane enabled MAC address filtering (MAC auth) - suddenly the wireless controller started misbehaving, and becoming unresponsive to its management interface. Luckily, Shane was in contact with HP engineers in the US, who had also identified a Layer 2 transport issue, which would affect the beaconing of our wireless networks. It wasn't too long before a new version of the controller software was downloaded and installed. Shane continued working after I left (via VPN), and by about 3:00am we (supposedly) had a working wireless system. One of our techs went in to the College over the weekend to verify that everything was OK.
However, on Monday 8th Feb, when I arrived at work I still couldn't see 802.11n networks in some areas of the College. This was occurring in areas that we could previously see the network. It was almost like we had some kind of virus...was our wireless network infected with swine flu? Or, more appropriately dubbed by me, HPN1 (HP network, "n" networking on Radio 1)!!
Then, last Thursday, Shane found the specs for Apple's AirPort Extreme Base Station. Included was the information that in the 5GHz band, "Channels 1-13, 36-64, and 149-165 approved for use in Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand". We wondered whether the same limitation applied to Apple's AirPort cards...a quick confirmation from an Apple engineer seemed to confirm this. We also found some information from Cisco that these were the only channels allowed in Australia, however some info from the Australian Communications and Media Authority seemed to indicate that channels 100-140 (which are used by our APs) can be used in Australia, but only if using Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) - which our APs do. So, looks like the Apple wireless cards don't support the full range of channels in use by the APs - a situation we managed to verify by changing the channels on some of our APs.
So, the channels between 100 and 140 have been removed from the allowed list of channels for our APs, and they have had the entire weekend to re-adjust their power and channel settings. Fingers crossed that everything looks OK tomorrow!
Last, but not least...management has given us the approval to employ some additional help for a while. We couldn't find anybody at short notice, so we have arranged to hire one of the techs from our reseller for up to 40 hours. Hopefully, this will help clear some of the backlog!
Some slight hiccups with creating new student accounts...turns out that we couldn't just import the same data that we could in previous years. After several fruitless attempts to import data from text files, we decided to purchase "Passenger" software (designed for just this purpose). Only problem with Passenger was that we couldn't get it to import the passwords for new users. Thankfully we had enough time (and a technician who didn't mind) to manually type the passwords for approximately 300 new users.
The rollover of Mathletics went OK, but we didn't get new usernames and passwords until after lunch on the first day of classes. Meant that a few maths classes couldn't use the program, but nothing major. The Maths faculty have now asked me to set up all year 7s and year 9s in QAX numeracy - another online system for doing NAPLAN-type testing. Hopefully the setup of this system will be finalised tomorrow (Monday 15th).
The upgrade of Studywiz to multiple servers hasn't progressed (my fault - too busy with other things). However, I have managed to get all teacher, student snd subject details into Studywiz without too much fuss. Given the fluid nature of students' subject choices at the start of the year, this is probably a process that will have to be re-done a few times. Must remind myself to do this first thing tomorrow morning!
I had a chat to one of our Deputy Principals on Friday (12th Feb) about the detentions system in our Student Records database. The College has a new Leadership structure, and they want to streamline the way detentions are done. They've given me until 2:30 on Monday to re-define the database tables and re-write all the scripting - this should be fun! Not!!
Our biggest headache so far has been the new wireless network. When installed, Shane (the HP engineer) and I walked the entire campus, and verified that the 802.11n coverage was pretty good. However, during the following week (1-5 February) when all staff were back, things starting falling apart pretty quickly. I was called in to the office at about 2:30pm on Friday the 5th (a day of annual leave), and spent until 11:45pm working with Shane (over the phone) working through the issues. The main symptoms were that we couldn't see any 802.11n networks (even though the controllers indicated the network was up), and that the controller itself became unresponsive, when logged in to the management interface.
At about 4:00pm on the Friday, Shane did a "factory reset" on the wireless controller, and began re-building it from scratch. Things were going OK until Shane enabled MAC address filtering (MAC auth) - suddenly the wireless controller started misbehaving, and becoming unresponsive to its management interface. Luckily, Shane was in contact with HP engineers in the US, who had also identified a Layer 2 transport issue, which would affect the beaconing of our wireless networks. It wasn't too long before a new version of the controller software was downloaded and installed. Shane continued working after I left (via VPN), and by about 3:00am we (supposedly) had a working wireless system. One of our techs went in to the College over the weekend to verify that everything was OK.
However, on Monday 8th Feb, when I arrived at work I still couldn't see 802.11n networks in some areas of the College. This was occurring in areas that we could previously see the network. It was almost like we had some kind of virus...was our wireless network infected with swine flu? Or, more appropriately dubbed by me, HPN1 (HP network, "n" networking on Radio 1)!!
Then, last Thursday, Shane found the specs for Apple's AirPort Extreme Base Station. Included was the information that in the 5GHz band, "Channels 1-13, 36-64, and 149-165 approved for use in Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand". We wondered whether the same limitation applied to Apple's AirPort cards...a quick confirmation from an Apple engineer seemed to confirm this. We also found some information from Cisco that these were the only channels allowed in Australia, however some info from the Australian Communications and Media Authority seemed to indicate that channels 100-140 (which are used by our APs) can be used in Australia, but only if using Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) - which our APs do. So, looks like the Apple wireless cards don't support the full range of channels in use by the APs - a situation we managed to verify by changing the channels on some of our APs.
So, the channels between 100 and 140 have been removed from the allowed list of channels for our APs, and they have had the entire weekend to re-adjust their power and channel settings. Fingers crossed that everything looks OK tomorrow!
Last, but not least...management has given us the approval to employ some additional help for a while. We couldn't find anybody at short notice, so we have arranged to hire one of the techs from our reseller for up to 40 hours. Hopefully, this will help clear some of the backlog!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
A new school year is upon us
Tomorrow is Monday, 1st February 2010. This date signals the return to work of all our teaching staff, and the realisation that our few weeks of peace and quiet are well and truly over!
Quite a bit has happened since my last post...here is a quick run-down:
We finalised the 2010 budget and spent lots of money! For our money we got:
* 80 staff laptops
* 162 new student laptops
* 3 new Xserves
* 1 new Windows Server (Library)
* RAM upgrades for 170-odd computers
* 6 new laser printers
* New software site licences (Mac OS X 10.6, FileMaker Pro, iLife and Adobe Creative Suite 4)
* A new wireless network
...and the associated bits n' pieces to make it all work. We didn't end up purchasing a 4th year of warranty for our computers...it was waaaaay too expensive. Instead, we've "retired" some desktops to use as spares, and purchased additional laptops to give us enough spares for the student fleet.
Our migration to Google apps has stalled...due to difficulties in synchronising our Open Directory (LDAP) with Google accounts. It's simply not worth it if we have to maintain 2 different sets of usernames and passwords. However, we have done some tinkering with our email server in an effort to make it more stable...fingers crossed.
We have managed to set up a QuickTime streaming server in conjunction with the 3 PVRs we purchased at the end of 2009. We will probably allow some staff to access this service (so we can test thoroughly) before unleashing it upon the masses.
During the last week or so, a network engineer from HP has been with us setting up our new wireless networks. We have upgraded to HP ProCurve's MSM422 access points, and 765zl controllers (which plug into our core switches). We have currently set up 61 new access points, and for the most part, our coverage looks pretty good. Since the vast majority of our client machines have 802.11n capable wireless cards, we have concentrated on the "n" deployment throughout the College, with a "g" network offering thin coverage for non-"n" clients.
There will be some tweaking to be done, with some access points to move, a couple to add, and we are waiting on some antennae which will improve our outdoor coverage. Once this is all done, we will get our resellers in to do a "post-implementation survey" to verify the network coverage.
Just before Shane (our HP engineer) arrived, I managed to bring down about half the network. I was "simply" configuring some new edge switches in the network, when I gave one of them an MST (Multi-Instance Spanning Tree) priority of "0", not "10" - 1 character can make a whole load of difference!
Nett result of this action was that the new edge switch saw itself as root of our MST implementation, rather than our core switch. Traffic was being sent to the wrong switch (and then dropped, because the switch didn't know what to do with it). Fortunately, with Shane's help, I managed to find / fix the problem.
After a bit of effort, it seems that I have had a win with the Principal's calendar. Until recently, we have been using Meeting Maker for his appointments. Problems began to arise when the Principal bought a new phone (an iMate Jazz) a couple of years ago. It simply wouldn't sync to a Mac, and it was clear that a better solution was needed.
About 12 months ago, I flagged the possibility of using iCal and synching to an iPhone. The Principal was happy for me to test this. We installed some workarounds so that Meeting Maker could sync to iCal, and then to his iPhone. This worked OK, but obviously not an ideal solution (I didn't want the Principal's PA to have to re-enter all appointments for the year...minimizing downtime was crucial!)
This issue came to a head during these holidays...the Principal was getting an upgraded laptop, and Meeting Maker will not run on the new machine. Being the end of the year means that it is the perfect time to make these major changes. So, last week I upgraded the (previously) Meeting Maker server to Mac OS X 10.6 server. After a couple of calls to Apple in Austin TX, I was finally able to configure iCal service, and publish some iCal calendars to the server. I also successfully tested delegation - which means I can control who can see (and modify) my online calendars. Last, but not least, was to deploy a new SOE on the Principal's PA's laptop, so she has the newest version of iCal. Tomorrow will be the day that this all works, or all falls in a heap (I'm confident that it'll be the first option!)
Of course, we still have quite a bit to do before students arrive back at the end of this week. First of these is to arrange the upgrade of our Learning Management System (Studywiz) server. We're going for a multi-server deployment to cope with increasing numbers of connections. We're also hoping to have the system automatically interrogate our student records database for all staff, student and subject changes. This should make administration much easier.
We also need to create accounts for new students. Hopefully (fingers crossed) this will just be a matter of importing a specially-prepared spreadsheet. Creating the accounts is the easy part...getting tutors to hand the password slips to students is the difficult bit!
While I'm setting up new accounts, I also need to roll over the users on our online Mathematics program (Mathletics). Again, a specially formatted spreadsheet should do the trick!
There are still some computers waiting for new homes:
* Several staff laptops (about 30-40)
* Library circulation desk PCs
* Laser printers
...this is before we get any support calls from staff. Looks like another busy week for the IT Department!
Quite a bit has happened since my last post...here is a quick run-down:
We finalised the 2010 budget and spent lots of money! For our money we got:
* 80 staff laptops
* 162 new student laptops
* 3 new Xserves
* 1 new Windows Server (Library)
* RAM upgrades for 170-odd computers
* 6 new laser printers
* New software site licences (Mac OS X 10.6, FileMaker Pro, iLife and Adobe Creative Suite 4)
* A new wireless network
...and the associated bits n' pieces to make it all work. We didn't end up purchasing a 4th year of warranty for our computers...it was waaaaay too expensive. Instead, we've "retired" some desktops to use as spares, and purchased additional laptops to give us enough spares for the student fleet.
Our migration to Google apps has stalled...due to difficulties in synchronising our Open Directory (LDAP) with Google accounts. It's simply not worth it if we have to maintain 2 different sets of usernames and passwords. However, we have done some tinkering with our email server in an effort to make it more stable...fingers crossed.
We have managed to set up a QuickTime streaming server in conjunction with the 3 PVRs we purchased at the end of 2009. We will probably allow some staff to access this service (so we can test thoroughly) before unleashing it upon the masses.
During the last week or so, a network engineer from HP has been with us setting up our new wireless networks. We have upgraded to HP ProCurve's MSM422 access points, and 765zl controllers (which plug into our core switches). We have currently set up 61 new access points, and for the most part, our coverage looks pretty good. Since the vast majority of our client machines have 802.11n capable wireless cards, we have concentrated on the "n" deployment throughout the College, with a "g" network offering thin coverage for non-"n" clients.
There will be some tweaking to be done, with some access points to move, a couple to add, and we are waiting on some antennae which will improve our outdoor coverage. Once this is all done, we will get our resellers in to do a "post-implementation survey" to verify the network coverage.
Just before Shane (our HP engineer) arrived, I managed to bring down about half the network. I was "simply" configuring some new edge switches in the network, when I gave one of them an MST (Multi-Instance Spanning Tree) priority of "0", not "10" - 1 character can make a whole load of difference!
Nett result of this action was that the new edge switch saw itself as root of our MST implementation, rather than our core switch. Traffic was being sent to the wrong switch (and then dropped, because the switch didn't know what to do with it). Fortunately, with Shane's help, I managed to find / fix the problem.
After a bit of effort, it seems that I have had a win with the Principal's calendar. Until recently, we have been using Meeting Maker for his appointments. Problems began to arise when the Principal bought a new phone (an iMate Jazz) a couple of years ago. It simply wouldn't sync to a Mac, and it was clear that a better solution was needed.
About 12 months ago, I flagged the possibility of using iCal and synching to an iPhone. The Principal was happy for me to test this. We installed some workarounds so that Meeting Maker could sync to iCal, and then to his iPhone. This worked OK, but obviously not an ideal solution (I didn't want the Principal's PA to have to re-enter all appointments for the year...minimizing downtime was crucial!)
This issue came to a head during these holidays...the Principal was getting an upgraded laptop, and Meeting Maker will not run on the new machine. Being the end of the year means that it is the perfect time to make these major changes. So, last week I upgraded the (previously) Meeting Maker server to Mac OS X 10.6 server. After a couple of calls to Apple in Austin TX, I was finally able to configure iCal service, and publish some iCal calendars to the server. I also successfully tested delegation - which means I can control who can see (and modify) my online calendars. Last, but not least, was to deploy a new SOE on the Principal's PA's laptop, so she has the newest version of iCal. Tomorrow will be the day that this all works, or all falls in a heap (I'm confident that it'll be the first option!)
Of course, we still have quite a bit to do before students arrive back at the end of this week. First of these is to arrange the upgrade of our Learning Management System (Studywiz) server. We're going for a multi-server deployment to cope with increasing numbers of connections. We're also hoping to have the system automatically interrogate our student records database for all staff, student and subject changes. This should make administration much easier.
We also need to create accounts for new students. Hopefully (fingers crossed) this will just be a matter of importing a specially-prepared spreadsheet. Creating the accounts is the easy part...getting tutors to hand the password slips to students is the difficult bit!
While I'm setting up new accounts, I also need to roll over the users on our online Mathematics program (Mathletics). Again, a specially formatted spreadsheet should do the trick!
There are still some computers waiting for new homes:
* Several staff laptops (about 30-40)
* Library circulation desk PCs
* Laser printers
...this is before we get any support calls from staff. Looks like another busy week for the IT Department!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
2010 draws ever closer!
It's scary to think that it's November already! For our team, that means the Christmas rush is little more than 6 weeks away. 6 weeks to order (and get delivered) all new equipment ready for rolling out in January, ready for the new school year in February.
Since my last post, there have been some positives as far as the budget is concerned. Apple decided to drop the price of MacBook Pros by about $400 each...meaning we can fit all our purchases into the nominal capital budget. At a meeting with Apple reps on Thursday, we have also found out that Apple is offering a 4th year of warranty...looks like they're starting to take notice of what their customers are saying (finally)!!
Plans are underway for the wireless network upgrade (sort of!). Just waiting on final quotes from the electricians (who are installing the Cat-6 outlets for new WAPs) and from HP (who are doing the implementation). I still need to check the calendar to find out when students finish for the year, so I can plan the de-commissioning of the current WAPs, and get the cablers in. Hopefully all cabling can be completed before Christmas, so we can get into the wireless implementation first week back in January.
Sometime before the wireless network upgrade, I need to extract the digit and get MAC address authentication (with dynamic VLAN assignment) working on our network switches. Hmmm...might need to install Windows Server 2003 on a "spare" box during this week.
Migration to Google Mail / Apps is progressing...albeit slowly. Currently testing whether we can use our existing authentication directory (Open Directory) to provision our Google Apps domain. Hope to test this in the next day or two...if all goes well, a migration to Google Apps may be only a week or two away.
Print cost recovery system testing is going well. We're currently testing in one of our labs...so far, so good. Some minor issues, but hopefully Stan (my technician who's doing the testing) will get those resolved.
Upgrade to the Learning Management System hasn't really progressed. Studywiz people are not particularly quick at responding to questions...maybe purchasing "upgraded" levels of support will fix this!? I hope so, because we can't increase our reliance on the product if the current levels of "support" continue!
At different times over the last couple of years, we have spoken about digital video delivery for staff and students. A very popular product among schools is ClickView, which we had seriously considered implementing. However, the lack of support became a serious issue before the project even got off the ground. Since then, we have had brief investigations of QuickTime Streaming server, and using our own PVRs to record free-to-air TV. However, the lack of Mac compatibility with the PVRs made the job too difficult.
However, we have discovered a new Topfield "Masterpiece" PVR, which gives us the Macintosh connectivity we've been craving. So, using a Mac, we can download recordings from the PVR, do basic editing (cut the ads out!), and then export the recording to a QuickTime Streaming server. An added bonus is that the PVR will accept composite inputs, meaning we can also record from Austar, VHS or DVD (subject to copyright restrictions, of course!). A further added bonus, is that using the QuickTime server, we can "catalog" the videos in the Library system, complete with URL. Therefore, anybody searching a topic on the library catalog can simply click a web link to view the video.
Seems a bit strange that we keep making more work for ourselves...I suppose that's what happens when you're continually trying to improve the quality of service! :)
Since my last post, there have been some positives as far as the budget is concerned. Apple decided to drop the price of MacBook Pros by about $400 each...meaning we can fit all our purchases into the nominal capital budget. At a meeting with Apple reps on Thursday, we have also found out that Apple is offering a 4th year of warranty...looks like they're starting to take notice of what their customers are saying (finally)!!
Plans are underway for the wireless network upgrade (sort of!). Just waiting on final quotes from the electricians (who are installing the Cat-6 outlets for new WAPs) and from HP (who are doing the implementation). I still need to check the calendar to find out when students finish for the year, so I can plan the de-commissioning of the current WAPs, and get the cablers in. Hopefully all cabling can be completed before Christmas, so we can get into the wireless implementation first week back in January.
Sometime before the wireless network upgrade, I need to extract the digit and get MAC address authentication (with dynamic VLAN assignment) working on our network switches. Hmmm...might need to install Windows Server 2003 on a "spare" box during this week.
Migration to Google Mail / Apps is progressing...albeit slowly. Currently testing whether we can use our existing authentication directory (Open Directory) to provision our Google Apps domain. Hope to test this in the next day or two...if all goes well, a migration to Google Apps may be only a week or two away.
Print cost recovery system testing is going well. We're currently testing in one of our labs...so far, so good. Some minor issues, but hopefully Stan (my technician who's doing the testing) will get those resolved.
Upgrade to the Learning Management System hasn't really progressed. Studywiz people are not particularly quick at responding to questions...maybe purchasing "upgraded" levels of support will fix this!? I hope so, because we can't increase our reliance on the product if the current levels of "support" continue!
At different times over the last couple of years, we have spoken about digital video delivery for staff and students. A very popular product among schools is ClickView, which we had seriously considered implementing. However, the lack of support became a serious issue before the project even got off the ground. Since then, we have had brief investigations of QuickTime Streaming server, and using our own PVRs to record free-to-air TV. However, the lack of Mac compatibility with the PVRs made the job too difficult.
However, we have discovered a new Topfield "Masterpiece" PVR, which gives us the Macintosh connectivity we've been craving. So, using a Mac, we can download recordings from the PVR, do basic editing (cut the ads out!), and then export the recording to a QuickTime Streaming server. An added bonus is that the PVR will accept composite inputs, meaning we can also record from Austar, VHS or DVD (subject to copyright restrictions, of course!). A further added bonus, is that using the QuickTime server, we can "catalog" the videos in the Library system, complete with URL. Therefore, anybody searching a topic on the library catalog can simply click a web link to view the video.
Seems a bit strange that we keep making more work for ourselves...I suppose that's what happens when you're continually trying to improve the quality of service! :)
Sunday, October 18, 2009
2010 Budget
2010 budget submissions are now complete. As I thought, it has become unaffordable for the College to continue on the 3-year replacement cycle for student computers. With the chances of getting an increased IT capital budget at zero, our only option was to keep student computers for a 4th year. However, I did manage to convince the powers-that-be that in order to revert to a 4-year life cycle, we would need to:
a) keep 5% of spare desktops (7 in total for 2010) in case computers break down
b) replace batteries in 3-year old student laptops
c) keep 10% spare student laptops in case of breakdowns
Even with the keeping of student computers for a 4th year, we are still about $50,000 over the nominal budget figure indicated by the Business Manager. So we have to hope that:
a) Apple give us a good discount on about 80 staff laptops
b) We can get more money out of the College, or
c) We have to cut some things from the budget
I have to compile a "shopping list" to send to Apple, in the hope of meeting option (a). Options (b) and (c) are largely in the hands of the Business Manager.
There are a couple of other projects that we are investigating / beginning to implement:
1) Print Cost Recovery.
Our current system sees students print to a laser printer in each computer lab (unrestricted), while all student desktops can print to our Colour Laser - which requires IT staff to enter an admin password on the client computer. Whilst technically, this system has served us pretty well, there is a lot of wasted paper in the b/w lasers in each lab, and typing the password for the Colour Laser can take quite a bit of time, especially during periods of heavy use.
To change all this, we're looking at installing PaperCut. This means that we should be able to give students access to all printers (including the Colour Laser), but "charge" them a cost per page. We would give students an allowance for printing each year...once they've used up their credit, they can purchase more from the Accounts Office. In theory, this should make students somewhat accountable for their printing, and enable us to recover some of the costs of student printing. Time will tell...
2) Move to Google Mail (and Apps)
Ever since we upgraded our Email server to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Server (a change that was forced on us by the purchase of new hardware) our server has been unreliable. Almost every day of late, we have to restart the mail server because of currupted accounts or "zombie" server processes. We looked at other solutions (such as Kerio Mail), but at about $32,000 they were a bit out of our reach.
Then, thanks to St Brendan-Shaw College (Devonport), we discovered that Google offer free email and apps to Education customers. After a bit of testing, I have recommended that this is the way we should provide email to staff and students. Now I just have to come up with an implementation plan - and time is running out before the end of the year! An added bonus is that the current email server can be re-deployed as a PaperCut print server...win/win!
3) Upgraded Learning Management System
Currently, our LMS (Studywiz) will support up to 800 client connections. Thanks to the DER, we can expect more than 1100 computers on campus in the next couple of years. Therefore, we plan to use some of our "on cost" funding to purchase additional servers for Studywiz, to the point where we will have separate Web, Application and Database servers (all 3 roles are performed by one box currently).
Doing this should also give us some additional advantages...currently, our Head of eLearning wants the Studywiz server to directly connect to our Student Records database to get updated data on students, teachers and subjects. Not a good idea, in my opinion, for a server accessible to the entire Internet to have access to our Student Records database. Under our new Studywiz architecture though, I should be able to host the Studywiz database server inside the network, from where it can (securely) connect to our Student Records database. Fingers crossed that this is how it pans out.
Of course, to cope with Google Apps usage, and to enable students to access Studywiz from home, we will need to improve our Internet connection speed. Getting pricing out of Telstra is like pulling teeth, so I don't think we'll be looking at anything faster than our current ADSL2 connection (10Mbit/1Mbit)...the pricing will be waaaaaay out of our league. Instead, we'll possibly be looking at aggregating several ADSL2 links to deliver higher bandwidth, at a fraction of the cost. A further advantage of this scenario is that if we use different ISPs for our aggregated links, an outage of 1 ISP will not kill our connection entirely. This plan is still in its very early stages...so watch this space.
a) keep 5% of spare desktops (7 in total for 2010) in case computers break down
b) replace batteries in 3-year old student laptops
c) keep 10% spare student laptops in case of breakdowns
Even with the keeping of student computers for a 4th year, we are still about $50,000 over the nominal budget figure indicated by the Business Manager. So we have to hope that:
a) Apple give us a good discount on about 80 staff laptops
b) We can get more money out of the College, or
c) We have to cut some things from the budget
I have to compile a "shopping list" to send to Apple, in the hope of meeting option (a). Options (b) and (c) are largely in the hands of the Business Manager.
There are a couple of other projects that we are investigating / beginning to implement:
1) Print Cost Recovery.
Our current system sees students print to a laser printer in each computer lab (unrestricted), while all student desktops can print to our Colour Laser - which requires IT staff to enter an admin password on the client computer. Whilst technically, this system has served us pretty well, there is a lot of wasted paper in the b/w lasers in each lab, and typing the password for the Colour Laser can take quite a bit of time, especially during periods of heavy use.
To change all this, we're looking at installing PaperCut. This means that we should be able to give students access to all printers (including the Colour Laser), but "charge" them a cost per page. We would give students an allowance for printing each year...once they've used up their credit, they can purchase more from the Accounts Office. In theory, this should make students somewhat accountable for their printing, and enable us to recover some of the costs of student printing. Time will tell...
2) Move to Google Mail (and Apps)
Ever since we upgraded our Email server to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Server (a change that was forced on us by the purchase of new hardware) our server has been unreliable. Almost every day of late, we have to restart the mail server because of currupted accounts or "zombie" server processes. We looked at other solutions (such as Kerio Mail), but at about $32,000 they were a bit out of our reach.
Then, thanks to St Brendan-Shaw College (Devonport), we discovered that Google offer free email and apps to Education customers. After a bit of testing, I have recommended that this is the way we should provide email to staff and students. Now I just have to come up with an implementation plan - and time is running out before the end of the year! An added bonus is that the current email server can be re-deployed as a PaperCut print server...win/win!
3) Upgraded Learning Management System
Currently, our LMS (Studywiz) will support up to 800 client connections. Thanks to the DER, we can expect more than 1100 computers on campus in the next couple of years. Therefore, we plan to use some of our "on cost" funding to purchase additional servers for Studywiz, to the point where we will have separate Web, Application and Database servers (all 3 roles are performed by one box currently).
Doing this should also give us some additional advantages...currently, our Head of eLearning wants the Studywiz server to directly connect to our Student Records database to get updated data on students, teachers and subjects. Not a good idea, in my opinion, for a server accessible to the entire Internet to have access to our Student Records database. Under our new Studywiz architecture though, I should be able to host the Studywiz database server inside the network, from where it can (securely) connect to our Student Records database. Fingers crossed that this is how it pans out.
Of course, to cope with Google Apps usage, and to enable students to access Studywiz from home, we will need to improve our Internet connection speed. Getting pricing out of Telstra is like pulling teeth, so I don't think we'll be looking at anything faster than our current ADSL2 connection (10Mbit/1Mbit)...the pricing will be waaaaaay out of our league. Instead, we'll possibly be looking at aggregating several ADSL2 links to deliver higher bandwidth, at a fraction of the cost. A further advantage of this scenario is that if we use different ISPs for our aggregated links, an outage of 1 ISP will not kill our connection entirely. This plan is still in its very early stages...so watch this space.
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