Getting a company to setup and install your network will always be easier than planning and deploying your own network solution, but if you have the time and are willing to learn then you can save your school some money.  This guide will attempt to help you to setup a Windows Server 2003 Domain for your school network.

DHCP is a service that is responsible for assigning IP addresses to computers on your network.  Using DHCP takes the hassle out of managing your network IP addresses.  DHCP is an essential part of using the PXE boot feature of your computers network card.

The Microsoft Windows Image format (WIM) is a file based format used in Windows Vista and can also be used to deploy legacy Windows XP workstations.  Because the format is file based, there are several advantages associated with this.  The image can be applied to a FAT or NTFS partition.  The format also offers Single Instance, meaning that a file is only stored once in the entire WIM image. 

There are many new features in Exchange 2007 that Schools may benefit from.  There are plenty or articles and bits of information about Exchange 2007 already on the Internet.  But there is not really a basic Migration guide, so I have tried to fill in the gaps so that at least School Network Administrators can have some heads up before leaping to Exchange 2007. 

Since ICT has become a major part of the school curriculum, the use of computers and IT resources has grown exponentially.  Almost gone are the days of running a few standalone PCs, or running a Peer to Peer Internet enabled network.  It is time to embrace the centralised server environment.  It isn't as complex as it seems.  This guide will help you to plan for your new network and give you some things to look out for when discussing a network with a third party company.

No doubt you have tried using Virtual Machine technology to allow extra services within your school.  For example you wanted to try Moodle, or perhaps setup a test web server to try something out.

There comes a time where your SIMS database has something wrong with it, that will ultimately require a custom patch to fix the problem.  Traditionally once Capita request your data, you would have sent it on a CD/DVD or uploaded the files to their FTP server.  However there has never been any requirement to Encrypt the data before sending it.

If you connect to Terminal Servers quite regularly then you will most likely use the latest version of the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection tool.  The current version is RDP 6.0 and was released some time in 2006.  One of the neat features it has is the ability to log in using stored credentials, great if your Administrator has setup the Terminal Server to deal with that, otherwise it is a real pain, as you have to enter user details twice before logging on.