Laptops

= = = Return to projects page = = = = Overview =

Every summer the laptop carts throughout the district have to be updated with various applications or software so that they are able to work to the utmost of their capability for the following year. As a part of the infrastructure aspect of my internship with the technology department at Dover Area School District, I was responsible for assisting the computer technician in completing this task.

This summer was unique because there is are a few extra steps involved. Our district is transferring to the windows 7 server, which does not recognize the current naming configuration of the hardware. Currently, the laptops are named using underscores (i.e HS_CART1_LT2). Windows 7 does not communicate with this name, so all of the laptops have to be renamed using dashes. Additionally, the Zenworks has to be updated and the wireless is changing to a new domain.

= Action Steps =

1.Locate laptop cart 2. Remove laptops and power cords 3. Log on with tech username and password 4. Update laptops 5. Shut down 6. Return to cart and location within the building

= Procedure Details/Documentation =

Updating laptops 10. Complete nslookup command to determine that the domain has recognized the new laptop naming configuration 11.Contact the senior computer technician once all laptops in the cart are complete to push out the new Zenworks. 12.Restart 13. Check the configuration location for the laptop for the new name and the location (HS) 14.Shut down *Physically re-label computers using the labeling machine = = = Conclusion =
 * 1) MacAfee Virus Scanner
 * 2) Windows updates
 * 3) If not automatic- force through the internet
 * 4) Java updates
 * 5) Flash updates
 * 6) Restart
 * 7) Change laptop name to reflect the Windows 7 server acceptable format (i.e. HS-CART1-LT2)
 * 8) Restart
 * 9) Change wireless domain from DASD to DOVERSD
 * 10) Restart

This type of updating was very time consuming. Depending on the age and make of the laptops, one laptop cart could take all day to complete. While waiting for the laptops to run the updates, I would complete a variety of other tasks so that time was not wasted. For example, one day, another computer technician was working on inventorying new netbooks for the Dover Cyber Academy. They all needed to be unpackaged, batteries installed, labeled appropriately, and put into the system. Having this experience gives me a whole new perspective of how much work the technology department has to squeeze into a summer. There are a lot of demands placed on them and it is very difficult to complete all of the projects while teachers, and most of the rest of the district, will not be impacted.