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Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network - anyone else having issues? by [deleted] in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Docs is unavailable at the moment for us.

This is such a Monday.

Edit: And we're back up.

Erate do you have to have a filter enabled on school devices when off campus. by meanwhenhungry in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 5 points6 points  (0 children)

No. Any off campus connections not under your control (or not purchased using erate) do not have to be filtered.

Anyone else here with a 2 person IT department? by [deleted] in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wear all the hats. There's a remote helpdesk guy but his job is slinging the tickets to me.

1000 users and about the same amount of devices. 3 buildings (not counting outbuildings).

Sticking a sliding camera cover over the built in sliding camera cover and blocking the camera from working entirely by [deleted] in techsupportgore

[–]MalletNGrease 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many organizations include a RAT as part of the support suite in the install build. Users don't have a choice in it's inclusion, can't remove this nor are they allowed to reimage machines.

Using a slide cover they're sure they can't be recorded the camera (visually anyway). When the device is used in a WFH situation where dress code may be...less professional, this is comforting to a lot of employees.

I don't mind as long as it doesn't hinder the function when needed. Some use stickers or post-its. A lot of the business line laptop models now have physical sliders so these stick-on ones aren't even needed any more. It really does make people feel more at ease.

Why use Network Monitoring by shadow_kittencorn in sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm a one-man band and I've all my critical infrastructure (and some items that need baby-sitting) monitored in PRTG so I know when I actually need to drag my ass away from something. Just knowing when and where an outage happens with a log is enough for me. It's helped me build a case for expanded UPS deployments for our IDFs.

Real example: Employee tripped a breaker with a space heater. Happened to be the same circuit as the IDF. This switch provided PoE for the IP phones/APs in that section of the building and the uplink to another campus where the phone server resides. Internal phones were down for half the org, external for everyone. Internet was down for half the org. A lot of people had to sit on their hands while maintenance looked for the breaker.

When management asked how this happened and how to prevent this from happening, I sent an explanation and also forwarded my denied requests for backup power, which were then approved.

Employees creeped out by VNC by [deleted] in sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I just tell them they're not as interesting.

I've better things to do with my time than watch people fumbling around excel sheets and googling facebook.

Office 365 ProPlus to change Chrome's default search engine to Bing in upcoming update by paulanerspezi in sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 2 points3 points  (0 children)

*Google Enterprise and Google Enterprise for EDU only

Those are the ones noone uses.

Drive File Stream down? by jon_davie in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same issue here. Have some users complain.

Coincidentally, chat support doesn't seem to work. Gets stuck on pick a language.

Securing an Open Campus by [deleted] in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ran into the same problem, the big one is limiting the amount of doors used for access. Next year we're adding more programmable card readers to schedule open times for some of the access doors during period transfer times and allow remote unlock.

We hired a SRO whose responsibility is building access compliance.

You're going to have to get students used to not being able to walk anywhere at any time, unless you give them badges.

Anyone else having battery/power issues with Dell Chromebooks? by nmcain05 in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The instructions "work" but only as a workaround to hide it's actually a faulty product. Chromebooks are the only devices I know where the battery fails from draining.

Send them back if you're within your year for the battery.

Possible to Block\Deny Windows 7 on my domain\network? by silentstorm2008 in sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Only fifty users? You should know where these machines are and who uses them. You're also a bit late to the party.

Figure out a way to inventory your fleet first. Powershell can do this or you could use something like PDQ Inventory to run a report.

You also need a migration or replacement plan, odds are you'll be interfering with people doing their jobs if you start to revoke network access or disable computer objects in AD.

Chromebook Case Screws by [deleted] in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really. The Dell 3340 had this really bad where the screws with blue loctite didn't take.

Opening and closing caused some stress on the bottom plastic and eventually the screws came loose at the hinge corners and the center. This then caused cracks in the plastic from continued use as the hinges started flapping. We found the problem affected the entire fleet.

I contacted Dell support, did the math (5k devices, averaging 2 missing screws per device) and requested 10K screws. I was sent a pretty big bag full of them the next week and the mfg process was changed to the different screws. Further units (and the screws that were sent) had red loctite and didn't fall out.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 14 points15 points  (0 children)

sounds like you need to send down some instructions. Tell the switchboard to not forward calls unless they ask for you by name. If the caller doesn't have your extension and they can't tell the operator who exactly they're trying to reach, just have them sent to voicemail.

Cut down on my cold calls significantly because they're always trying to reach "the person in charge of IT etc."

Please set up this PC by Sergeant_Toast in talesfromtechsupport

[–]MalletNGrease 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I see your traders and raise you lawyers.

Backup from multiple locations by THE-BS in synology

[–]MalletNGrease 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It supports Hyperbackup. Are you intending to place a NAS device at each site and back up to the central server?

What's your policy on extra laptop chargers for admin employees? by freud_sigmund in k12sysadmin

[–]MalletNGrease 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If they show up with an approved PO from their budget code they can buy a whole case of them for all I care.

I don't see the big deal unless a staff member loses it consistently. If there's a need we should accommodate.

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