Latest Update

The Tech Department is half way through in its site visits to each location prior to the new school year. We have had mixed success at the locations completed to date. While 3 schools ran smoothly with leaving only minor issues to resolve once classes begin, the others will force us to have to return to assist as equipment were not in place or even not in the classroom to setup. At these schools, please be patient as we complete our rounds and we will have staff return to complete the anti-virus install and verify network connectability. Hopefully we can develop a system in the next year to curb these repeated issues every new school year.

Additionally, like to update that land has been dug and fiber cables laid connecting ACE to the rest of the BOE/Annex campus area, as well as HMS to HHS. SMS and SHS will also be linked but I have yet to be informed about its progress. This will streamline the point of access of the network to these regions of the district as we continue the fiber enhancement throughout the new year.

Thank you for your continued support.
Tech Dept

REMINDER - E-Mail Maintenance

Attention all CCBOE Staff

Please be reminded that email services will go offline this Friday, July 24th, between the hours of 8:00 and 13:00 hours for system upgrades.

Thank You

Network Update

We are happy to announce that earlier today the central office installion of fiber was completed. This now allows for quicker accessibility to and from the office into the internet. The Educational Annex, which is linked to the central office, also now has the speed capacity fiber provides. It is planned to have Ashland City Elementary link with these locations in th enext few weeks. Additionally, by weeks end all three of our high schools should have been upgraded back to T1 speeds, and egressing threw the central office. All other school locations are scheduled for similar upgrades before classes beginning, barring any complications. We will keep you updated as they come online.
Thank you for you support

Preparation for the 2009-10 School Year

The Technology Department Team will start visiting ALL location to verify and assist in getting systems back on the network after the summer break. With recent changes affecting the entire network, the staff wants to make sure that everyone will have a smooth start to the new year. Further directions will be provided by your local principal and supervisors. Please note the dates for each location the Tech Team will be visiting listed below.

Thank you for your support.

7/21 ECE 7/22 PVE 7/23 SMS
7/27 SHS 7/28 PES 7/29 HMS 7/30 HHS 7/31 KSE
8/3 ACE 8/4 CHS 8/5 CMS 8/6 WCE
8/7 make-up day if neccessary

Hot Topics - Part 2 - Individual School Websites

Ten of our twelve school locations had their websites hosted by an outside firm. In mid-June that company was bought out and their servers converted to Linux boxes. The design protocols for these websites work better with a Microsoft Windows based server, therefore it was decided to transfer them to the same server that hosts the main school system's website.

This past Saturday, Leo (who owns the design rights), visited with the Tech Department and we installed the necessary files to the server. We have encountered a problem with data access authorization between the website design and the SQL database, but we are trying to correct the problem as quickly as possible to bring these websites back online.

Thank you for your patience as we try and resolve this hurdle.
Tech Dept

Hot Topics - Part 1 - Network Speed and Email Latency

As of July 1st, 2009, the school system changed service providers back to Education Networks of America (ENA). Many of the problems encountered last school year were a result of our network perameters that did not mesh with the other provider correctly. In order to meet the federal funding timetable, known as E-RATE, the connections at all our locations were temporarily setup with DSL level speeds at that time. Because of this lower connectability speed, many have been experiencing latency when attempting to access email via the internet, especially during normal business hours. This will be corrected later this week, when the Central Office will get a fiber connection installed. As of yesterday - Friday, July 18th - this has almost been completed. To put it in perspective, the Central Office had a binded T1 connection. In terms of speed, T1 lines operate at 1.5 Mbps. Fiber transmits data at speeds far exceeding current DSL or cable modem speeds, typically by tens or even hundreds of Mbps.

The plan over the upcoming school year is to bring fiber connections to all our school locations. This will bring us up to par with current technology capabilities to access content online and have similar infrastructure to other local school systems in the area, like Davidson County.

We appreciate you patience and support as we build and improve our infrastructure in what we have titled "Revitalization Project."
Tech Dept.

Introduction

The Technology Department for the Cheatham County School system has developed this BLOG to help improve communication regarding all the changes being made to correct and repair - enhance and expand - the county school's computer network for a more consistent and reliable system for the upcoming school year and beyond. Many different aspects and areas are being looked at and handled. To prevent confusion on the process, a single point of reference is being laid out here. We will update this section with important information periodically with details of where the network is at and/or where we are headed. Check back for these updates.

The staff wishes to thank you for your continued support.
Tech Department, CCBOE