I first started using computers in 1985. I started with a Commodore C16 then moved on to the Commodore Plus 4. I programmed both of these machines in Basic until I moved on to the Commodore C64. After staying with this computer until about 1990 I moved to the Commodore Amiga. Unfortunately the Amiga market soon became crippled after Commodore went bust & the Amiga was sold to Escom, who soon folded. At this point I thought enough was enough & took a distance learning course in PC repair & upgrade. After passing this & obtaining my diploma in 1999, I began repairing, upgrading & making computers for family & friends. I have since changed my job from being a school caretaker to an I.T. technician, where I am responsible for a network of 80 thin clients & 25 PC's. We have a user base of about 1000 for which we are using 5 servers. Hopefully this will expand to include more thin clients & a printer server.

(June 2003) I have now configured a print server & have print quota management enabled. We have also added more thin client machines that are a big improvement on the current ageing clients.

(September 2003) We have had ADSL broadband installed (2mb) & the Windows servers have been upgraded from NT4 server to Windows 2000 server.

(October 2004) My job title has been changed to the more appropriate 'Network Manager', Unfortunately this didn't come with a large salary increase, but you can't have everything. More thin client machines have been added to the network & also more PC's & network printers. The network has been extended to incorporate all the new clients, so therefore we have more managed switches installed. I have personally been working on a project to make use of any old PC hardware that we have lying around. This involves installing network cards into the old machines & making use of an excellent piece of free software that I found on the Internet called ThinStation. This is a Linux based piece of software & requires configuring & building on a Linux machine. If you are interested have a look at the above link. A live CD is now available.

(March 2005) The PDC (Primary Domain Controller) died on me. We purchased a new PDC, as the old one was beyond economical repair. This is now up & running. Gradually ironing out small problems.

(September 2005) We have now upgraded our application servers. We have four application servers, all using dual Xeon processors. Windows has been re-installed & we are now running Windows 2003 server. Citrix was also upgraded to Presentation server 4. The old servers have been re-assigned, one has taken over as the print server & the other is the web server (Unix). Small problems are gradually being sorted out.

(September 2006) More thin client machines have been added to the network, all with 17" TFT hard panel monitors, These new clients boot in half the time of the old machines.

(September 2007) Even more thin clients have been added, but these are only to replace very old Acorn NC machines. The new clients can be found here: Precedence Technologies.

(November 2007) Just added a task management system to our Intranet site, to try & make my life a little easier. Just need to implement it & let user know that it is there. The software I used can be found
here: OneorZero.

(December 2007) Trialling some print management software on our print server. From what I have seen so far it looks very good. It is called Papercut NG & can be found here: Papercut. When the trial gets near to the end, we will see if it is worth paying the licence fee.

(January 2008) Just updated the Intranet site using Gunther, which is a PHP based website builder (also used for this site). I find it a very useful tool & enables me to update my site easily & quickly. Gunther can be found here: SmallRooms Software. It hasn't been updated since 2005, which is a shame. I have tried contacting the author, but have not received any reply as yet. I now have the task management software implemented & it can only be accessed by the staff. Added a few things to the Knowledge Base on the task management software, part of which includes a program for the users of laptops to enable them to switch between our server settings & their home network.
The trial of Papercut Print Management software has now run out. I have had to remove it from the server, because the management side has become disabled. The trial proved to be very useful & we will be purchasing the full licence once our new budget is available.

(February 2008) The new building is nearing completion. Had a look around to see what networking has been installed. From what has been installed, I have made some decisions to what hardware to purchase & what servers we will need to upgrade or replace. This will be adding even more machines to the network, so the Citrix servers will need to be increased in number. I hope that the money is going to be available for this. Installed some room booking software on our webserver. It is working in general, but there are a few things that are not working correctly. Been in touch with the developer of the software & he has been very helpful. Once I have ironed out the glitches I can make it available for use by the staff.

(June 2008) Some new machines have now been installed in the new building. Need to order the extra Thin clients, Servers, Network printers & network switches etc.

(June 2008) The software mentioned in January, for switching the proxy settings on & off by users has been discontinued as it was not compatible with Windows Vista. I have found a much better way around this problem, which does not require the users to switch the settings on/off. The use of an Automatic Configuration Script (PAC file) does a much better job. All the new thin clients, Servers etc. have now been ordered, just have to wait for it all to start arriving. The two new servers will be IBM X3550 2.0ghz Quad core with 4gb Ram. The print server will be retired & the older Application server will take it's place, making way for the two new servers to become application servers. All being well, this work will be carried out during July. All the new thin clients should be installed & ready to use by mid July. Once all the networking is finalised I have loads more work ahead.

(August 2008) Some of the above work was held up due to stock of the clients running out, but the servers got installed during July/August.

(September 2008) The new clients arrived & have been configured for the network, as have seven new HP printers. The old print server has been retired & the oldest application server has been re-installed & has taken it's place.
Brackets to hold the thin clients to the back of the TFT monitors have been ordered & will hopefully be delivered early in October. This should tidy things up.

(October 2008) Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 has been upgraded to Presentation server 4.5. This will hopefully correct a few glitches that we have been having with the Thin client network.

(November 2008) Citrix Presentation server has caused a major problem since the upgrade. Citrix SP3 has caused the servers to be very unreliable. This has been un-installed & has stopped that issue, however the licence server has been more of a major headache, but the support team have worked on this & hopefully this has been resolved. Still awaiting the delivery of the TCX brackets (disappointing).

(December 2008) The TCX brackets arrived later in November & I have now fitted them to all of the monitors & got the Thin Clients out of the way. Looks very tidy now.

(February 2009) Ordered two new servers. one is going to take over the role of domain server & the other is going to be virtualized & become the print server, secondary domain controller & Citrix data store. This should take place in early April.

(April 2009) The two new servers are now installed. A slight change of plan on the rolls. The existing print server has now become the domain controller. The machine purchased for this roll, is now the web server. The second machine is the first Citrix Xenserver, running three virtual servers. One being the print server, another the Citrix data store & the third is a secondary domain controller. One application server has been found to have a hard drive fault, so a replacement drive has been purchased & the server will be re-installed & cloned on to existing servers to improve performance. Hopefully this work will be carried out soon.

(June 2009) The new hard drive has been fitted & all work carried out on the servers. All running better now.

(July/August 2009) New thin client machines have been purchased to replace troublesome clients in one room. Once the room is decorated I will be fitting the new machines.

(September 2009) New client machines now installed & ready for use.

(April 2010) Clearing junk from existing office & boxing up equipment. Getting ready to move in to a temporary office in June for about six months until two new computer rooms are built above existing rooms & my new (larger) office is finished.

(June 2010) Work has started. In my temporary office now. A few glitches when moving the network about, but these have been sorted out.

(September 2010) Actually got a technician to take some of the load.

(March 2011) The technician got a job else where, we have now employed another, but I think she will stay.

(July 2011) Been in the new office for a while now. Great fun moving everything about.

(November 2011) Had more servers installed along with a SAN. Some older servers got retired & we are mostly running virtual servers using XenServer from Citrix. Have also bought in to the new Microsoft EES

(January 2012) Been looking at FOG server for creating images of machines & for deploying these images. Still got work to carry out on this project, but it looks real good. Find out more here: FOG Project

I have built a lot of custom computer systems for various people & have created a CD so that our users can gain access to their work that is on the network from the comfort of their home, without any extra access to our servers. I also have some clients that call me on a regular basis to help them with their computer problems. If I can help them over the phone I will do so without any charge.
You are probably wondering why I am writing all of this, well so am I, but I thought it might give you an insight of what I do. You may think that I am a NERD or a GEEK, but I don't think that I am. I just enjoy anything computer related & enjoy solving problems.

What I want to achieve with this website is to help people with any computer related problems that they have. I am not saying that I know all of the answers, but there again who does? What I will do is give my knowledge freely. So if you want to contact me please feel free to do so by clicking the Contact link above.

Disclaimer

I cannot, however be held responsible for loss of data or damage to a system from information received from these pages or via e-mail.