Newbie

[cprofitt]

Chris:

Welcome to the list. I would like to get some more information before I
offer some advice. If you want we could arrange to meet and discuss
these items on IRC instead of continuing an email thread; I leave the
choice to you.

See my responses below:

On Sat, 2014-09-13 at 07:18 -0400, Chris Howey wrote:
> I'm brand new to using Edubuntu. I have installed it as the operating
> system for the small, private school I work for.

How many computers is it installed on? If your fleet of devices is large
you will want to employ some configuration management system to automate
deployment, patches and settings. Managing 30 computers is feasible by
hand (though inconsistencies due to human error are still possible), but
managing 4000 computers by hand is not feasible. Even if you have a
small number of computers using a configuration management tool can have
benefits.

There are choices like Landscape (1), ZenWorks (2), Puppet (3), Chef
(4), Ansible (5) and Salt (6).
> 
> I am looking for suggestions as to how to make better use of this
> amazing distribution - especially as it pertains to securing computer
> labs.

Using the aforementioned tools for configuration management is one step
towards securing the computing resources since it will ensure patches
are applied. In order to offer more suggestions I would need to know
what your concerns are for securing the computer labs. I do have the
following questions though:

      * Do you have an identity management solution in place (Active
        Directory, Open Directory, Novel Directory Services, OpenLDAP,
        ApacheDS, 389 Directory Server, OpenDJ)?
      * Do you have file servers or other network accessible resources
        you need to secure? (keep students away from SchoolTool, etc)
      * What operating system is used by faculty and staff?
      * Are you concerned about students changing configurations on
        computers?
      * Do you currently have any ability to collect logs from your
        client computing devices and server infrastructure?

I have 15 years of experience in a K-12 school and currently manage the
core infrastructure (servers, virtualization, disaster recovery, Active
Directory, etc). When I first started I was responsible for everything
from the desktop to the server infrastructure. Based on that I would
focus on configuration management, identity management and logging of
events/activity.

I would be happy to get deeper in to your particular environment.


Charles
> 
> 
(1) - https://landscape.canonical.com/
(2) - https://www.novell.com/products/zenworks/endpoint-management/
(3) - http://puppetlabs.com/
(4) - http://www.getchef.com/chef/
(5) - http://www.ansible.com/home
(6) - http://www.saltstack.com/
> 
> 

-- 
cprofitt <cprofitt at ubuntu.com>