Desktop Maintenance

One of the "holy grails" for school computer co-ordinators is the efficient maintenance and distribution of a common desktop interface on a large numbers of computers.

Why?

A common desktop interface makes it easy for students and teachers to use all computers in the school, professional development activities can be more focussed (and simplified), malfunctioning computers can easily be restored, and maintenance time can be dramatically reduced.

Regardless of the mechanism used to maintain a consistent desktop "look and feel" throughout the school, you must first develop an "image" of the "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 must be in sympathy with - and take second place to - the needs of the users.

(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, 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 local partitions 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 restorations are taking place. (A 1000Mb network is now preferable). Once setup, restorations are relatively easy.