| |
|
| |
Desktop Maintenance |
|
 One of the "holy grails" for
school computer co-ordinators is the efficient distribution and maintenance of a common software
installation on a large numbers of computers.
Why?
A common base software
installation makes it easier for students and teachers
to access computers anywhere in the school, professional development activities
can be more focussed and malfunctioning computers can easily be restored/replaced.
|
- Regardless of the mechanism
used to maintain a consistent software "look and feel" throughout
the school, you must first develop an "image" of a "master" computer.
This may take some time, and should be developed in conjunction with
all stakeholders in the school. Remember that the image you develop
will need to be all things to all people.
Of course, the technical maintenance aspect of
the image development and it's application must be in sympathy with, and responsive to, the needs of the users. This is particularly important in a dynamic school environment, where teachers and students need to be exploring the latest technologies to enhance and support their classroom activities, and should not be overly restricted by the technology support structures.
It is likely that in a larger high school you would need to develop multiple images - one image for
the Art lab, one for the English lab, another for Industrial Arts, etc - but be careful not to make
too much work for yourself.
Once you have developed an image that meets the needs of your school community, you then need to consider options
for storing, deploying, maintaining and updating the image.
There are basically two options for storing and maintaining your image:
- locally - storing
the image on a local partition on each machine, or on
a portable external HD, using image restoration software
to reinstall from the partition/HD;
- centrally - storing
the image on a server, then deploying
the image via the network, using image restoration software.
- Each option has pros
and cons.....
The portable external HD option is simple, easy to setup and maintain,
and doesn't require a fast network. You may require a number of portable
HDs for multiple restorations, and someone will need to need to physically
move from computer to computer to carry out the restorations.
The central server option depends on a solid network infrastructure.
Anything less than a 100mb switched network is unlikely to support
image broadcasting, and even then the network is likely to slow considerably
for other users while multiple restorations are taking place. (A 1000Mb network is now preferable). Once setup, restorations
are relatively easy.
The following pages provide links to software suitable for image deployment and maintenance, support sites that provide information about related management processes, and some quickstart notes for basic re-imaging operations.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
