Windows 2000 in Education Scott Gosling MCSE MCT

Windows 2000 in Education Scott Gosling (MCSE, MCT, Compaq ASE) Senior Systems Consultant Professional Services May 2000

My Background § § § Member of Network Services Team Windows 2000/Exchange 2000 Specialist Project Managed St Peters Windows 2000 Project Attendee at Exchange Conference, Atlanta USA (Nov 1999) Attended Exchange Airlift at Microsoft, Redmond, USA in (Apr 2000)

Agenda – St Peters § Background of Windows 2000 Project § Architectural Review § Lessons Learnt § Implementation Experiences § How has it helped them?

Background of Project § Disparate systems consisting of; § Netware § Apple Macintosh (Client/Server) § Apple AIX § SCO Unix § Windows NT Server § IBM AS/400

What Was Delivered § Final Solution was; § Windows 2000 Server § Windows 2000 Professional § IBM AS/400

The Desktop § The Desktop SOE Consisted of; § Windows 2000 § § Professional Internet Explorer 5. 0 Adobe Acrobat Reader § Office 2000 Premium § Word 2000 § Excel 2000 § Power. Point 2000 § Access 2000 § Outlook 2000 § Publisher 2000 § Photo draw 2000

Non-Core Apps § The 40 Non-Core applications were repackaged for the client by Sunrise § Packaged using Win. Install. LE § Distributed via Group Policy § Intended to deploy some applications via SMS 2. 0 § These applications now ‘heal’ automatically (like Office 2000)

The Servers § There were six Windows 2000 Servers; § 2 Messaging Servers § Microsoft Exchange 5. 5 Servers (1 Mailbox, 1 Public Folder) § Management Server § Microsoft SQL Server 7. 0 § Microsoft Systems Management Server 2. 0 § 2 File Servers § Internet/Proxy Server § IIS 5. 0 § Proxy Server 2. 0 § Intranet Server § IIS 5. 0

How We Added Value § We wrote a Visual C++ Application to automate the population of the Active Directory § Based on an Excel spreadsheet, created 20, 000 objects in the Active Directory with one mouse click § Included Printers, Print Queues, OUs, Users and Groups

Login Script § The login script is now based on VBS § Based on the OU location of the workstation, we automatically mapped the closest printer, while still maintaining the ability to custom-map printers as well

Mapping Printers § § § Mapping printers in Windows 2000 can be achieved via an IE front-end Much easier to train users More user-friendly UI to achieve this task

Quotas § § Disk quotas were implemented on student home directories, limiting them to 50 MB Functionality built into Windows 2000 Found it to function quite well When a student right-clicks their home directory and selects properties, the total volume size is only 50 MB, and NOT the entire volume size

Roaming Desktop § § The Desktop for the user truly ‘roams’ with them, including the My Documents folder Desktop lockdown is flexible and works well

What Did We Learn? § § BEFORE you implement, get your staff trained Plan your Active Directory structure carefully prior to implementation § The AD Structure will cause questions about your § § org chart and structure Audit your hardware and software and ensure it’s compliant The product is as stable as Microsoft claims, especially on the desktop and notebooks

So What’s the Result? 1. Estimated 20 -30% reduction in support calls 2. Nature of call has also changed from break/fix to functionality questions 3. Macintosh users are quite comfortable with the new SOE 4. IT Staff are impressed with the stability 5. Moving from ‘firefighting mode’ to proactive support planning

More Information 1. www. powerlan. com. au/qld 2. www. microsoft. com/windows 2000/guid e/server 3. www. microsoft. com/windows 2000/guid e/professional