Day Fifty Four

I spent a few hours working on the Web iPhoto system today as well as clearing our the shared drive on the network. 

Might need to change the Media backup system settings. If encryption is enabled, hardware compression is disabled, meaning you can only fit 200Gb on a tape that could hold 400GB.

Priced up more storage for the other backup server - £650 for 6TB! Me and The Other Tech agreed that its going to be quicker backing up to local hard disks than over the network to NAS boxes.

Met up with the ex-Web Guy today and talked about improving our Moodle and display screen systems, which was good. Also thought about setting up a VPN for localised WiFi access for a bunch of Asus eeePCs we have.

Had a go at joining a 10.5 laptop to my Server 2008 test domain. I remember reading that Macs don't like joining a .local domain, which is what I have running, so I'll need to do some work on that before I can safely say 2008+10.5 work well.

Finally, I went up to Languages to install some software on their classroom PCs.

Day Fifty Three

Spoke to some builders today, well, it was the same builders as yesterday. They've extended the Cat5 runs where there used to be a wall that they had to knock through. Went round with my trusty cable tester - found two points that didn't work so I told them to fix it. Which they did.

Worked on the Server 2008 test machine today. I've managed to get an XP laptop joined to my test domain, mounting a home folder, and logging in. Will need to test Macs next.

Carried on with my purge o'trash from the server room. It makes sense to chuck things now rather than wait until we have to move out of that block during refurbishment, having to move it all.

Went through my home folder to consolidate my video editing work to free up space. Got rid of a lot of temp work files from last year's EAL projects.

Set up ChemSketch on our Citrix servers and published the application for network use. Should make the chemistry dept very happy.

The Other Tech worked on the other site today sorting out bits'n'pieces.

Spoke to the Business Manager about the new extension that's nearly finished (!) - asked what is happening about the IT infrastructure in that block. He told me that The Big Boss and the Last Guy were in all the meetings with the architects etc, and that they have decided everything that needs to go in and that it's all under control. This is good, as The Big Boss was saying how I have to meet with the architects and discuss things....I'm slightly confused, but we'll see what happens.

Day Fifty Two

I met with some builders (?) today. They are taking a wall down as part of our expansion project and needed to chop through some Cat5 cable, extend it, and run it through the roof. As Network Manager, I said this was fine.

Finished setting up my iMac. It has 1.2GB free space after moving all my stuff on to it. How rubbish! My old G5 did have 500GB though.

Worked on a new PC for the site officer to replace the 866MHz PC he has.

Started working in the server room, getting rid of redundant trash. Highlights on the purge list were a dual 333MHz Pentium II server on wheels, and retail boxes of iLife '05. We just don't need them!! I've decided to use an old iBook and CD jukebox to catalog all the software in the server room. It will also be a handy inventory station.

Tomorrow I need to do some work on the Citrix servers.

Day Fifty One

Migrating my work to my shiny new iMac did not work, so I wiped it, set it up fresh, and copied my stuff manually. The Other Tech noticed we were short of staff emails accounts, so he cleared a few old ones out, and I checked the staff home server and cleared out 35GB of dead files.

We both went to the other site and removed some redundant PCs from the library, then moved those and a pile of redundant CRT screens in to storage ready for disposal. Moving infinite amounts of retro IT equipment never gets old....

Tried to service 4 old UPSs today. We have two large ones with dead batteries - 1 clicks and one does nothing. Another smaller one which does nothing, and an even smaller one that does nothing. I've decided to bin the 2 small ones - we have a working one in stock which hasn't been used, and I'd rather get the larger units running than spend money on the little ones which aren't too useful.

Set up the art technician's Mac to be network based, rather than portable as the issues associated by syncing weren't outweighed by the negligable performance decrease of working on the network.

Finally, it is a sad day...the Quadra 950 is destined for the skip.

Day Fifty

Fifty days of fun.

• Today I did an upgrade to the school's email system. It worked perfectly! We're now running the latest version of our mail server, and the webmail supports Firefox 3. I'm very pleased.
• I rack mounted Aldi, the backup server in our big 42U rack. I installed network shutdown software on that and Elroy, so when there's a power cut, they'll both shut down properly.
• Deleted all students' ~/Library folders to resolve the issues with 10.5 and network homes.
• Installed a PC for a year assistant lady.
• Made a pile of redundant equipment ready to move to storage.
• Started migrating my docs and apps to my shiny new iMac
• Switched all our kiddy computers to use the internet banning system - The Other Tech is adding all the machines in to the management lists.
• Blocked the BBC iPlayer! Kids will no longer be able to say no to work in favour of last night's EastEnders. That'll teach them.
• Installed a new server version of our Careers software for the careers lady.
• Installed some ChemSketch software in Chemistry.

I'm on fire.

Day Forty Nine

Today I worked a little more on the iPhoto server, then moved it and the new backup server in to the server room. Ran a backup of the iPhoto server too. The Other Tech looked at the staff and student backup, but it's still running and has many hours left. 

Set up our Win 2008 test server on the bench and installed Active Directory services on it. Have yet to connect any clients to it but I will dip in and out in the next couple of weeks to do some preliminary testing. I'll also have another look at Flash streaming on this box.

The class whose /Library folders were deleted had zero problems today. They could all access their Apps! We're going to try and delete everyones Library folders next week. Success.

Got an email from an old teacher today. She was saying her son has finished Uni and is looking for a second job during the day time and was interested in Macs and IT support. Seeing as we have a vacancy, I ran the idea past The Big Boss. He asked me what exactly this person would do. I was somewhat confused as the advertised position had a job spec, and had assumed he would be doing that....so I explained that assumption. The Big Boss then said that the classroom assistant and IT assistant (aka The New Guy) could do menial IT tasks. I was left confused as if this was the case and our current staffing was suitable (which it is not), why did we advertise for a 3rd technician with web skills in the first place? The ball has been left in my court as I would need to see what this guy wanted from the position, but, it seems like The Big Boss is not overly keen to support it....?....

Day Forty Eight

This is rather good. So I set it up today. I cleaned a printer and made a poster, too.

Day Forty Seven

Today, I researched A3 photo printers, as the one in art decided to not print correctly, then jammed and gave error messages on its screen. The Other Tech managed to fix it in 20 seconds after we'd both looked at it confused for ages. It's gone back to the room now, but next time it breaks we're going to send it back and get a different one. 

Set up the UPS on the mini backup server. It threw a fit, restarted, clunked, and corrupted two backup drives. The SATA controller wouldn't recognise them properly, nor would Windows which identified them as 'missing' when they were clearly installed. Had to remove the caddies, and plug them in to my Mac via USB. The Mac saw them and let me reformat them as they were corrupt. UPSs are meant to protect data, not break drives.

Sent an email to all staff today to get back a few machines which need the backup client installing (two of which belong to The Big Boss), and to tell them if they have a laptop which they do not use, give it back to us! Will be interesting to see who checks their laptop to see if we need it back, and who ignores the email. Anyway, those laptops which were on the network were added to a 'proactive' backup script, so they will backup. Did I mention I was the king of all backups?

Started setting up a PC for a teaching assistant lady today. She wants to trade her laptop for a desktop.

Looked out my instructions for the email server upgrade which I'm doing on Monday. If that server decides to spontaneously break during the upgrade, I will have to consider suicide.

Had an 'o4 class which had problems in the new IT suite today. I went through another '04 classes folders and deleted their /Library folder in preparation for their lesson tomorrow. If they have no problems, and the L6th photography classes which I did the same to have had no problems, then I'm pretty sure this is the cause of the weirdness in that room. If tomorrow's class have no problems, then we'll have to delete 1000-ish kids' /Library folders over half term.

I still am not being paid correctly, and I still hate Moodle.

Oh, The Big Boss seems to have invested in one of those digital photo frame gadgets. It's on his meeting desk in his office, showing how ICT is used in real life on a rolling slideshow. I don't know if it's in there for testing, or for trying to 'sell' ICT to other teachers, maybe. Seems a bit strange to me.

I gave a CD-ROM of Chemistry materials to The IT Assistant a couple of days ago. There are 2 CDs inside. One for installation on a PC, and the other for installation on a Virtual Learning Environment - read, Moodle. I asked him to have a look at installing the Moodle version on Moodle and see how far he got. He came to see me today to tell me that the box says "this software will not run on a Mac". I then had to point out if he read a bit further down, it explains that there are two CDs, one for Windows, and one for Moodle, and that as I had said, we want to be looking at the Moodle version. This was an enlightenment to him, but a cause of pain and distress to me.

Day Forty Six

Had a meeting at 10am. I was told all about a Head's ICT meeting with the LEA. The LEA want to implement a central records / email / messaging / eportfolio system by 2010. It doesn't sound particularly feasable with respect to resistance from schools. It wasn't relevant to me but The Big Boss thought I should know anyway.

He then talked about Parent Portal where parents can see all about their kids' behavior / reports / grades online. He mentioned that this isn't going to be hosted by us, nor managed by us, so again another self-admitted irrelevant point.

We then covered what I'd been working on. He'd forgotten the problems we'd had with the backup system, printing and student Internet banning, so I reminded him of that. I was also asked how things were coming along with student remote access - I pointed out that he had told me to bring it up in the larger IT meeting next half term so we can discuss numbers of users on the system. Until then I can't get quotes, so we can't budget, so we can't do anything. I'm not sure what input, if any, the other members of the larger meeting will have on determining the number of users on the system?...

Worked on the backup system - new drives and a SATA RAID controller arrived today.  Also started work on the iPhoto server (1000GB of searchable photo storage!). Having problems searching by 'keyword', but otherwise it looks very promising.

Did some work on a pro-sumer A3 printer. I think it's completely broken, so it will have to go back. 

Still not being paid the correct salary. Oh - I was asked if I thought the job advert for the new technician was wrong and needed amending to attract applicants. I pointed out that no one will work 52 weeks a year, and have specific web skills for £11k. This point was glossed over, so I don't know what we're doing now.

Day Forty Five

I set up my empire of backup servers to backup to tape today. It was very exciting*. Also looked at a web based, free iPhoto server. Looks really good under testing. Have 2x 1TB drives coming tomorrow, so those will go mirrored into a G5 tower, which can serve up the photos, thus clearing space in Public which is almost full!

Built a final PC for science today, and finished off testing Cubase for Music. Also did some web authoring.

*it wasn't really. I was just surprised something worked for once.

Day Forty Four

I am the king of all backups. I worked on 'Budgens' today. Turns out large drives aren't visible through the SATA controller straight off to Windows. You have to assign them to an array first, then Windows can see them. So, Budgens has 3TB of storage for Media Studies and, soon to be set up, Music. Aldi is working perfectly, and should backup tomorrow at 6am to a NAS box. Woop.

The Other Tech checked the staff backup server today and it turns out it choked on it's backup days ago and hung. With all the work to set up the new backup system and Censornet, I didn't notice. Bad. That should be working again now, but I intend to ditch that this year and go with the same sort of system as Aldi.

Worked on a very broken XP install, and looked at Cubase on Mac OS X (for music) - seems to work fine. Busy busy busy.

Day Forty Three

The stupid NAS box is STILL formatting.

Today I worked on the Wiki, updating the documentation for the backup and servers mainly. I also completely reconfigured the hard disks on Supserstore, set up new RAID, reinstalled Server 2003 and called it Budgens (it's like a superstore, only more expensive to shop at, and doesn't hold everything you really want). I'm waiting for 2 more 250GB drives to arrive, then it's going to be two iMacs in media backing up to each of the 4 drives. Bosh.

Reinstalled Censornet today, too. It works. Just have to add all the machines in. For some reason, importin a CSV file of MAC addresses and machines does not work, at all. Changed line endings, changed format of the MAC...won't work! Once this is all done, we can ban kids' Internet access, as well as turn off access for whole rooms. Those pesky kids will be pwned.

The Data Manger guy came in today to ask if was ok for staff to use our Windows Terminal Server through remote access for data entry. I said it should be fine - it's a beefy machine and entry is only though Internet Explorer.

No one rang up with issues in the new IT room.......is it true that deleting ~/Library will fix it?

Day Forty Two

Word.

The backup server (Aldi) finished creating it's RAID mirror over night, so today I installed and began to configure Retrospect. I've just checked now, and the two backups I've scheduled are running! Hurrah! I will set these to copy once a week to a NAS box in a different location for redundancy. There's just one small problem....the server is advertised as having 8 to 12 hard disk slots. This is true. What they don't tell you is that the first 4 are run from an embedded controller, the next 4 are run from an optional PCI-e add on card, which you have to buy for £160! So, looks like I will be shopping again tomorrow. I found this out after downloading the user manual online. Said NAS box is going to take about 6 hours to wipe its RAID array....

The Retrospect client does not work with Debian Linux. We have 3 Debian servers. People on Internet forums have suggested hacking together a working client, but it's rubbish that Dantz don't make one for out of the box installation.

Did a lot of user support today as there was an open evening, so lots of staff were flapping around.

We also have two servers in our server room which I was told, do not work with a KVM switch. It turns out they DO work with a KVM if you plug the keyboard an mouse connectors in to the right sockets! Doh!

A photography class were having those random problems in the new IT room. I got class lists and deleted every student's /Library folder. We'll see if that helps. Any users from post 2005 who do not have them, and get the made fresh seem to work fine. Users from pre 2005, when we first ran Network Homes seem to have issues. It's worth a shot!

Day Forty One

9am today, our main Active Directory server stopped authenticating users properly. We restarted it and all was fine, except, the staff home folder server had then stopped authenticating against the AD server, which we didn't spot until 10 mins later, so we restarted that too and then everything worked. It seems to not be outputting video to the KVM, but it's fine via Remote Desktop. So that was an exciting start to the day.

Re-linked all of the History video on demand today, so they are happy. Had a look at Flash Streaming Server again but it looks like it needs the entire 207 page manual to be read before you can use it :( bad times. This has been put on the back burner because the massive new backup server arrived (pictured). I've left it building a RAID 1 mirror overnight on it's boot drives. Once that's done I'll install Server 2003, Retrospect 6.5, and then we will have 4500GB of central backup space, mirroring weekly to a remote NAS server. I plugged one of the new 750GB drives in to the old backup server but it didn't recognise it, so I am guessing the BIOS or SATA controller needs some sort of firmware update first. This doesn't matter really as I only intend to put 250GB drives in that.

Trained the ASDAN team on how to use a projector and play a DVD today. They were very happy.

Installed the science PCs and TFTs in science. They might be happy, although I expect they will be happier when the machines have some actual science software installed on them. Once my self-purchased RAMBUS RIMMS arrive they can have another couple of PCs, too.

Day Forty

Today I managed to find a very outdated config.dat for Retrospect on the backup server. I ran it up, and it was all on about copying data from servers to god knows where, so I shut that down. Oh well, the new hardware should come this week then we can have a new spanky server.

Ran out of RAM for the machines which were were donated, so I hopped on eBay to get some more. It's silly RAMBUS RIMM modules, which cost a fortune new, so I got some used and will claim the petty cash back.

Started installing TFT screens in one of the science labs. Will give them new PCs on Wednesday when the room's free.

Spoke to Sage again to finally sort the problem with spool files and the lack of disk space. Turns out the last guy set the SQL database to backup to a new file every day, which filled the drive. The Sage Man sorted this out, ditched the ancient backups and this means finance are happy.

Found a job advert at another school who want a basic IT tech to look after helpdesk and Win XP who will pay £15-£16k. I passed the advert on to The Big Boss as he thinks we can get a basic IT tech, competent with web design for £11,907. I think not!

Finally, I dragged us kicking and screaming into the modern day by starting to test Flash Media Streaming Server on Windows Server 2008. It's on a 3GHz Pentium 4 test machine with 1GB RAM, and it feels SLOW. The new Explorer interface is very Mac OS - it gives you a home folder containing Documents, Pictures, Movies and Music folders....I wonder how they came up with that?

Day Thirty Nine

First thing this morning I ordered 4.5TB of backup storage server. Storage is so cheap these days. This new server will be named Aldi (spend a little, backup a lot). Will need to plan the new backup schedule before this comes.

Went to the new IT room to sort out it's networking. I'm sure that there's some sort of network bottleneck on one of the switches in that area, so I replaced it with a semi-decent HP switch. Will see how that goes. The Other Tech and I experimented with Local Homes today in that room, so if the switch doesn't solve the problems, we'll move over to LH.

Built another PC for Science and worked on some user accounts. Also visited a class to get some first hand experience of the issues in the new IT room. Random doesn't quite cover it!

Day Thirty Eight

And for the hat trick, today the backup server broke! It stopped backing up to LTO2 tape, so I restarted it. After restart, Retrospect corrupted it's config file meaning it lost all scripts, backup set info and schedule info. So as of 1pm today, no servers are being backed up. User data is fine as that's on another server.

Left work early to come home and research backup options. I'm opting for new server hardware with 5TB of storage which is more than enough. Backup daily to that, take weekly snapshots to a LaCie NAS box, then backup to LTO2 tape for off site archives. Cheap too at £2200. Also looked in to Internet backup, but thats £2500 for only 1TB. The 5TB solution will centralise the storage of backups too, instead of spreading them round a load of Buffalo NAS boxes.

So lets recap:

1) The print server breaks Friday due to a corruption when the other tech installed a driver. Fixed that Saturday.

2) Censornet, for banning kids' Internet access, refused to let any students access the web, then said it couldn't connect to it's internal database on restart. That will not be fixed until 1/2 term.

3) Superstore, for server backup, stopped backing up to tape, then trashed it's config file on restart. Apparently according to Dantz/EMC, this isn't uncommon. To be fixed ASAP, if not, sooner.

To think, 12 hours ago I was updating the firmware on some dataloggers blissfully unaware what was to go wrong next...

Day Thirty Seven

Today was kicked off with a meeting. The Big Boss says:

1. Make a website login for The New Guy
2. Investigate stopping simultaneous logins, which we couldn't do last year, so there's not much milage in working on it now, especially as our servers are being upgraded this school year.
3. Don't worry about new projects, as we're running a stable system....even though our servers are being upgraded this school year.
4. Add a link to the website for Gifted and Talented students

Apparently this will see me through the next two weeks until the next meeting.

Made a start on building new PCs for science, installed a new PC in reception, and a new colour laser printer in reprographics. Then worked on a semi-broken mobile account for the art technician who's iPhoto has gone wrong, with its 25000 photos.

Day Thirty Six

Road trip!!1!

Went to the University today to pick up some of their offcast computers which they are replacing. It's pretty rubbish stuff like 2.5GHz Pentium 4 computers and 18" flat screens (!)

Finished off building a G4 for a mini IT room, and a new PC for the receptionist as hers is a bit mental.

Had to copy some video files to the media studies suite ready for tomorrow, and try and fix some issues with a mobile account in the art department.

There was lots of little things to sort out today, so most of the day was taken up with that.

Problems with Sage are ongoing. Turns out SQL server is backing up to the same drive that the spooler is writing to....which is full. The woman off of Sage is going to connect in to our network on Friday to have a butchers.

Day Thirty Five

Today, the server running out kiddy Internet banning system (Censornet) broke for no reason, trashing its database. I had to switch all the kiddy computers from going through that, to our cacheing server. How entirely rubbish. One day soon it will get rebuilt. But really - two servers breaking on two consecutive days? Who needs that?!

Staff remote access was also down over today and Sunday, but that's not our problem. Hurrah. Contacted LEA support to get that one fixed.

Took an eMac from the other site today as it kept freezing. Opened it up to see it was suffering from bulging capacitor syndrome. Swapped out it's logic board with what turned out to be a second, dead logic board, so, put the whole Mac and two boards in the bin. Rubbish.

My array of iLamps is looking nice in the library though.

Oh, we also had a random new guy start today. He's on a two week trial....thing is, we've never had anyone on a trial before...I wonder what that means?

Made some more notes on student remote access, but that's all hinging on a meeting with some bosses.

Updated lots and lots of Remote Desktop clients, as well as updating some Firefox action.

Day 34.5

Went to work today to fix the broken printing server. It took 4 hours! Managed to restore the configurations and stuff from backups, although Windows decided not to restore any print drivers which were not "digitally certified for Server 2003" or some such bollocks. So we have to add those manually. There are about 7 printers not left on the system but we'll fix those Monday (the other 100 are fine!).

While stuff was restoring and whatever, we installed a new gigabit switch in the server rack and removed a lot of temporary cabling from last year. So a lot of stuff is now on gigabit networking, including the Moodle server. Pulled out a second redundant switch too, from the days of Acorns - 4 ports are trunked (can't get hold of the configuration software to un trunk them) and another port is marked as dead, so we're binning it to save confusion.

Bosh.

Day Thirty Four

• Today iMade some iMacs.
  
• Today another iMac blew its fuse, then wouldn't PAT test correctly, so I failed it.
  
• Some kids had some problems, but I think most of them were being stupid.
  
• The main print server broke, and wouldn't repair, so I'm in tomorrow fixing it (grr)
  
• I spoke to some guy at another school about kiddy remote access.
  
• I arranged a donation of some 2GHz PCs from a local University. 
  
• I was also asked "how are you coping?" by some teacher. Coping? After 7 years of working there, training the last guy, setting up half the systems, do they REALLY think I'm a n00b that has no idea?

Great.

Day Thirty Three

The woman off the library on the other site rang up to complain her computers didn't work. They are old Windows 2000 terminals. I checked them today and they worked fine, but I said we'd banish them to hell, so they are going to be removed and replaced with iMac G4 machines. I put two of them in today - a couple of kids came over and were really excited and asked if they were new. I said no they weren't - well, they are of 2002 vintage, but the kids thought they were brand new.

Nearly fixed the very broken XP machine from the other day. Its actually useable now. Kept an eye on some classes to check that everything worked as normal, checked over the backup (it worked).

Went over to the other site to set up a couple of projectors, laptops and mics for an open evening, and that's Thursday done.

Oh, also wrote to the head of Drama to say we need a Drama Technician. She said my email was amazing and that she wanted to forward it on to the Head. Check me out. I'd love someone to work with on plays who wasn't 1) not arsed, 2) not 11.

Day Thirty Two

Today was kicked off with a meeting. There was no agenda, it was more a chat. We discussed kiddy remote access, but came to no firm conclusions. I was then asked to set up an email account, consider if we should install colour printers in staff rooms, and find two more computers to put on the other site's IT room, even though there isn't enough power to run them. That's my work plan for the next two weeks (!)

The throw a six to start backup system seems to be not working properly for staff data, which is bad. If I was in charge, I'd spend money on a server with a shit load of hard disks and get Retrospect to back up the data to the local server HD space. This would be more managable than having the backup server copy data on to network storage drives spread around the site. Oh, I AM in charge.....

I tried to fix a fault on a laser printer to do with the optical sensor on the paper output path. Printer thinks it jams, even though it doesn't. Couldn't fix it permanently, so I've ordered a new fuser for it.

Did lots of video on demand fixing - there were lots of old QuickTime videos which needed relinking to the newer Flash version. Can't wait to sort the streaming out and buy a new hardcore server to host all the video files. Got more links to fix tomorrow, then once that's done I can retire the Power Mac G4 that's serving the redundant QuickTime stuff. It does have 1TB of storage, so I might turn it into an iPhoto server....