Technical
 Technical resources, guides and weblinks. 
11 May 2012 Northern Grid has signed a 5 year contract with BT and will be providing new, fast, affordable and robust broadband connections to schools across the North East of England. The update reports are intended to keep you informed about what to expect during the installation process and the services that will be included.
09 May 2012To Our Customers:
Please note that there will be a change freeze activated on the 1st June 2012. No further firewall changes will be accepted after the 31st May 2012. This change freeze will stay in place until the end of the current contract with Easynet which is the 31st July. On the 1st August firewall rule changes will be managed by BT and the new process will be sent out to you before that date.
Thank you
19 March 2012Northern Grid has signed a 5 year contract with BT and will be providing new, fast, affordable and robust broadband connections to schools across the North East of England. The update reports are intended to keep you informed about what to expect during the installation process and the services that will be included.
14 November 2011A guide for ICT Team Leaders
Cloud Storage - is it safe to use?
Cloud based storage and online synchronisation offers individuals many benefits, one of which is removing the need to carry flash pens and portable disks around. The question that needs to be asked is what issues are raised by this increasingly popular and free service.
Google Apps and Live@Edu have storage space available as part of their email offering. An increasingly popular trend is synchronising online storage. Dropbox and SugarSync are currently two of the more popular. The services mentioned are all available at no charge but with limits be it limited storage, non-existent Service level agreements or limited control over the functionality or how it changes.
The main concern with Dropbox is the significant risk of breaching the Data Protection Act. Staff wishing to store personal information should not use a service that does not comply with the EU Safe Harbor agreement. The EU Safe Harbor agreement requires that personal data is stored in the EU or in other countries where we have set agreements. Dropbox is hosted in the US is non-compliant!
There are also security issues with free services, in June 2011 Dropbox confirmed that a programmer’s error caused a temporary security breach that allowed any password to be used to access any user account. If you decide to use this service it’s highly recommended you encrypt your files prior to synchronisation.
Web Browsers – Upgrade to Internet Explorer 9
IE9 is the most secure and best performing Microsoft browser it therefore is recommended that schools upgrade. Websites designed for earlier versions may not display correctly to resolve use a feature called Compatibility View.
To ensure IE9 can view all webpages correctly an icon titled compatibility view has been added. The icon normally looks like ![technicalArticleIcon1]()
24 March 2011On the rare occasions that there are problems with the Northern Grid network we want to ensure that we are able to keep users informed. We have just launched a notification system that will be used when we have important announcements about service affecting issues. Examples of this would be a disruption of service or notification of an upgrade. It will not be used for day to day announcements about content or events; these will continue to be circulated through our mailing list.
The alert system is able to send SMS messages to mobile phones, send emails and call land lines. In order to benefit from this system you will need to send us contact details for all relevant members of staff. Please complete and return the attached spread sheet.
This information will not be shared with any other organisation and you will be able to unsubscribe to the service by emailing admin@northerngrid.org
14 March 2011Please carry out the following checks. If any of the tests fail then your Cachepilot configuration is not providing adequate protection. Contact Easynet Support on 08453334568 for further advice and assistance.
Google Safe Search
Open your browser and type the URL www.google.com a search windows will open click on the search settings link top right. If you can view and change the SafeSearch Filtering options SafeSearch in not enforced.
YouTube
If you have decided to allow access to YouTube for a CachePilot user group, login as a member of this group and access the URL www.youtube.com a green banner titled "Enabled Safety mode" should appear directly below the YouTube search bar. After any video is selected check to ensure that viewer’s comments are disabled. They would normally appear directly below the video.
Blocked Categories
From your workstation’s browser access the following URLs. All of the following URLs should be blocked if they are not your browser will be automatically redirected to the Smoothwall home page. If any sites are not blocked check you’re filtering for configuration errors!
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www.smoothwall.net/blocktest/intolerance
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www.smoothwall.net/blocktest/drugs
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www.smoothwall.net/blocktest/porn
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27 January 2011
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UPDATE:
Northern Grid has a new Service Provider - BT. The following services will be changing soon. Stay tuned to this page.
Find out more about the New Service Provider
If your school purchases broadband from Northern Grid make sure you are accessing all of the services included in the broadband price. Our Services Guide gives an overview of the services and products Northern Grid offers in the following areas:
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02 December 2010
Why use the E-Security practitioner’s toolkit?
The security toolkit provides clear and relevant practical advice to schools to ensure the safety of network users and protection for the network itself. The toolkit addresses those topics that are key to any sound security and risk management strategy. The content will be maintained and updated to ensure that it remains current and reflects the needs of the school sector.
Target Audience
- Network Manager & Technicians responsible for deploying school network solutions
- IT Managers and Coordinators, who manage, administrate and maintain IT solutions
- School SMT responsible for the schools IT strategy, policies and procedures.
Network Manager & Technicians responsible for deploying school network solutions.
IT Managers and Coordinators, who manage, administrate and maintain IT solutions.
26 November 2010
Northern Grid's accreditation from Becta has been renewed.
The Becta Accreditation of Internet Services enables schools and other establishments to make an informed choice of a managed internet service provider or web content filtering solution. Accredited products and services must meet and maintain specific standards in web content filtering and service performance.
The standards of assessment have been developed in consultation with partners in education and industry to ensure the provision of reliable and relevant information. The scheme re-launched during Safer Internet Week in February 2009, following a review. The scope of the accreditation has been extended to include a wider range of standalone products designed to protect internet users not just in the school environment, but which can also be employed in other environments where children and young people have access to the internet.
A managed internet service provider is a provider to education that can supply a range of internet safety services. An individual web content filtering product or service supplies specific solutions to internet services providers.
For the full list of accredited service providers visit the Becta site
22 November 2010As part of Northern Grid’s fully, accredited manage service, the Email provision delivered to users should provide the following as a minimum set of requirements to meet Accreditation standards.
- At least one mailbox per person within the end user organisation
- Mailbox size has to be a minimum of 20 MB
- Attachment size has to be a minimum of 5 MB
- Address Anonymity has to be available [e.g., full names and year details should NOT be used. Example: j.bloggs@school.org.uk is fine but joe.bloggs@year1.school.org.uk is unacceptable
- Incoming and Outgoing emails messages with inappropriate words in either the subject and the message body must be filtered
- Email Messages sent internally with inappropriate words in either the subject and the message body must be filtered
- The Inappropriate words list must have the capability of being updated as and when its required either centrally or locally
- Emails infected with a Virus or virus infected attachment must either have the infected file removed or the entire email blocked.
These standards identify only the minimum requirements for an appropriate accredited email system for schools and Northern Grid recommend that you do not accept less than these standards. Using an email provision which does not meet these minimum standards infringes and negates the approved managed service standards of Northern Grid for Learning.
If you are having difficulty achieving these standards with a chosen email supplier please contact Northern Grid on 0191 4611844 for advice on suppliers that easily meet these standards.
 Download this...
12 October 2010 Northern Grid can offer a range of e safety services to its partner and non-partner schools as well as the independent sector.
Northern Grid for Learning has a national reputation for its range of support and materials. Resources are available for organisations with a responsibility to care for and protect children and young people.
Northern Grid has worked extensively with national bodies including Becta and DfE to develop policies and documentation to support schools. Northern Grid officers regularly speak at regional and national conferences held by the National Education Network, LSCBs and Becta.
Download our portfolio of E-Safety services below.
Not a Northern Grid member? Have a look at our Non-Member E-Safety portfolio and Join Us if you're interested.
08 October 2010Northern Grid has produced this document to assist you in checking that your CachePilot is configured correctly. It contains a list of sites with instructions on how to test your configuration settings correctly and any actions that should be taken from performing these tests; in addition to these test instructions it also contains a list of FAQs to help answer any questions you may have about the CachePilot system.
Further information available in the document below.
29 September 2010What features do schools require of a broadband supplier?
A local or regional authority may be considering a public service network serving schools as well as other partners. A school may ask if a commercial provider could provide appropriate educational broadband services. This paper provides an overview of areas that need to be considered when designing broadband networks.
This paper is intentionally short. For further information, please contact admin@northerngrid.org
17 September 2010
The Technical Service Review is a combination of a remote diagnostic network assessment, the completion of a five minute electronic questionnaire followed by an onsite visit to carry out network audit. The onsite visit also allows discussion on any support related issues or technical questions the school may have. The audit and discussion is designed to ensure that the school is maximizing their existing broadband connection and the additional services delivered by Northern Grid.
The onsite visit is expected to take approximately two hours but this is negotiable and dependent on the results of the remote diagnostic assessment. Prior to the visit a two page questionnaire will be emailed to the technical contact to identify key information this will speed up onsite testing and any subsequent problem diagnosis. The focus for discussion will be on the network’s health, performance and security so that we ensure that we align out services and support to offer the best quality service at the lowest possible cost.
Network Performance is often misunderstood leading to unsustainable expectations. An example of this is the use of a popular web speed test tools i.e. speedtest.net The results from these tools are inaccurate on a true broadband network comprised of fibre point to point circuits with no last mile contention. These tools are designed for measuring low bandwidth copper adsl circuits to the home. If schools wish to have a network assessment arrange a TSR.
The following list of topic areas will be the basis of the technical service review meeting. It’s important that the meeting is relevant and useful to the school so it is envisaged that the scope of discussion will be led by the school...
22 July 2010 Northern Grid wishes to engage consultants to support the next procurement of their regional broadband network.
Documents below detail the consultancies for the required technical and legal services.
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© 2012 - Northern Grid for Learning
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