Introduction
Welcome to another school year at HAST. Things obviously look different this school year and it’s been a while since I have done one of these reports. There are a number of things to be addressed in this report, but first and foremost I hope everyone had a safe and healthy summer!
State of Technology
Disaster Recovery Plan
Prior to going on lockdown and 100% virtual learning in March, I completed a Disaster Recovery Plan for Technology at HAST. This document creates our procedures for technology disaster recovery in the event of certain emergencies, broken down to the steps needed for each system to get us back online as soon as possible. In the event of an emergency situation, modification to these procedures may be made as necessary.
Our mission is to ensure all of our technology systems are back up and running with very little down time, data integrity and availability, and to ensure the continuity of business/education. We actually made use of this plan for the first time last week.
Virtual Learning Plan
At the beginning of August we announced our intention to go virtual for the first quarter. I have been extremely impressed with how well everyone has responded. Of course we would all rather teach and learn face to face and there have been some hiccups; however, the fact we were able to convert so quickly is an indication of the dedication of HAST staff and students.
As a reminder, staff are in the building during the entire school day. They are teaching students online, assisting students who come into the building for help, and continuing to function in a normal capacity.
If a student would like to come into the building on a day (Monday-Thursday), he or she can reserve seats using the link on our main web page.
As far as Tech Support is concerned, we are doing things the same way we did when students were in the building. Teachers and students should fill out support tickets and we will respond. It is important students respond to our ticket responses. We cannot assist when you do not reply to our questions or suggestions. Most of Tech Support is troubleshooting and problem solving. If we need to talk to you, we can arrange an in person meeting or a zoom meeting so you can share what is going on.
Our plans for Q2 will be announced once they are decided. If we continue to go virtual, we will follow the same plan that has been working.
MDM Server Cloud Migration
In July our Mobile Device Management Server was converted from an on premise server to a cloud based solution. This process took about 8 hours, but ensures we will always have the most up to date MDM server, 99.9% up time, and backups off site. Since the update, the server has worked much faster and more efficiently. A majority of our problems in the past year with our MDM server were due to problems after updates. We should no longer face these issues.
iPad Collection
Due to school shutdown and going fully virtual, iPad Collection was conducted on several days during the summer. The process was long, at times frustrating, but overall effective in collecting all iPads. Every iPad was returned. Thank you to Ms. Mace and Mrs. Lucito for their help during collection. Depending on how the rest of the school year looks, our plans for iPad Collection may be different again at the end of this year.
iPad Upgrades and iPad Distribution
This summer we purchased brand new iPads for all students. The iPads are iPad 7th Generation with a slightly larger screen than it’s predecessors. All students were provided an iPad the days before school started so they had a device to complete their work. These new iPads will be in circulation for the next 3-4 school years. Our old iPads were sold to an education reseller to assist us with the purchase of new ones.
Current Tech Issues
There have been a couple tech issues we dealt with the first month of school. Both seem to be resolved at the moment.
Issue #1 – Google Meet <==Pending Resolved
On the fist day of school many students found they were unable to get into Google Meetings with their teachers. The App would say there was no internet on the device. While trying out different options, we found the app was not functioning correctly and the only way for students to get into Google Meet was to use the link for the meeting. Teachers were instructed to post the link in their Google Classrooms and students needed to copy and paste the link into Safari. It did not work in Google Chrome.
This also meant a number of Google Meet features were not available. Many teachers have opted to use Zoom instead. Recently, an update to our web filter app may be the solution to the problem. With the most recent update, the app is supposed to be fully functional again. I have tested on two devices and so far both devices have been able to connect using the Meet App. I am testing on teachers this week and will roll out to students next week if all goes well.
Issue #2 – Network Outage <==Resolved
The other big issue we faced the first month of school was a huge one. On September 4th our network went down at around 10:45am. After confirming no outside line issues, we determined the issue was our firewall had locked up. Unplugging the firewall and plugging back in brought everything back up. At 2:50pm, the network went down again. I was unable to reach our firewall. I power cycled again and brought everything up. I then was able to connect directly to the unit to upgrade the software. Over the next three days everything was fine and I monitored the situation from home.
On Labor Day (September 7th), the firewall went down again at 5:57am. I came into the building and tried to connect to the firewall to no avail. I power cycled and even tried setting it to factory defaults through the on board reset button. No success. The firewall was not functional.
The next day I had a phone call with a network engineer we use for projects and he determined our firewall to be dead. We quickly ordered a new one and had it overnight shipped.
On Thursday the firewall arrived first thing in the morning. We hooked it up, but we were unable to connect out to the Internet. I contacted our Internet Service Provider and they were not able to communicate with our fiber box. Since it was close to 6pm, Comcast was called to come out in the morning.
When I arrived Friday morning, Comcast was already on site. After a quick drive around the building, they found the fiber line outside was not hooked up high, but instead on the ground. The storms a few weeks back must’ve knocked the line down. Additionally, a small animal had chewed through the line.
While I waited for Comcast to repair the severed fiber line outside, I was able to upload parts of an old backup of our previous firewall to the new one. This was to ensure we could get on the Internet once service was restored. At about 11:14am, Comcast had restored service and I was able to get everything back up inside the building. From there I was able to find a more current cloud based backup. Unfortunately because the device models were different, I could not directly upload the backup to the new firewall. Instead I looked through the backup and manually inputted each and every setting. By 12pm, I was done and everything was back to how it was before the outage.
We are ordering a second firewall so we will always have a backup as well as converting some older servers to linux machines capable of running many of the firewall services on them.
Support Ticket Breakdown
Reminders
- Please remember to fill out support tickets for support issues.
- Take care of your devices.
- Visit HAST Tech Store for chargers, screen protectors, and to pay iPad deductible online
