IT Ideas

This is how I add subdomains (so basically new schools) to out G suite setup. I've got these steps documented on a scruffy set of notes that I've now got in Keep - so time to document them - for myself as much as anyone else! Steps in order (roughly) Add the new domain Verify the new domain Add MX records to hosting Add SPF record for Google to hosting Turn on email authentication Add DMARC record to hosting Setup custom Directory and restrict students OU to this. Create an admin quarantine for the domain. Configure SPAM setting for the domain. Turn on and off services as appropriate. Map a blank Google Site to the naked domain - if required. Setup some basic groups - allstaff, allusers (for directory) and students with appropriate permissions. Deploy custom wallpapers. So the steps in a bit of detail: Add the new domain & Verify ownership Click on Domains in the admin console: Add/remove domains followed by "add a domain" At this...

I while back I published this blog post about locking down Chrome. The first two policies in that article have now been depreciated and replaced. This quick video covers what has replaced them and a couple of new policies as well.

Your network may generate captcha'a if Google things you are sending too many duplicate requests to them. The end result of this can be Google search stops working or if you use a cloud-based filtering service (like Securly for us) - then your ability to proxy Google searches gets revoked for a time. There are lots of reasons this can happen - malware, use of services like vpns and the tor network. These things should be within your control to manage/block. However, it turns out that one of the key factors is what you put in the Chrome policy " Omnibox Search Provider Suggest URL ". I recently got the following string from Securly who got it from Google: {google:baseURL}complete/search?output=chrome&q={searchTerms} Now, why didn't I think to put that in...... So out policy looks like: If you use the setting suggested in the list of Chromium policies, this apparently generates multiple duplicate requests. Since modifying this policy we have ha...

This coming September 2018 we are going to finally make 2 Factor Authentication mandatory for all staff via security key. This is now easy to do via the management console and the settings look like this: We have a free gift for all staff at the first INSET day back: Relatively small cost for the added security for those not already on 2FA. Lots of little green lights on the INSET day!

S/MIME has recently become available for G Suite for education. This offers digital signage of emails and enhanced encryption where supported by the recipient. There are a few steps to setting this up. Enable on the Admin Console for users Generate pfx certificates for users (or get them to do it) Upload pfx into GMail settings - either the user does this or you can do it with GAM GAM command:  gam user jim@acme.com add smime file jim.pfx password p@ssw3rd default The password is for the certificate - not the user's password. Optionally force the use of S/MIME via a content compliance rule for certain recipients. Useful links: GM Commands Commodo - one source of certificates How to make a pfx

We run a 1:1 scheme where parents have the option to buy a Chromebook. However, to make things run smoothly we have always insisted that the Chromebooks are managed and only domain accounts can be used. For some parents, this has been a barrier to buying as it prevents them from using a device they have paid for. That has now all changed with the introduction of timed access to private accounts and guest mode. In device settings, you can now specify times that a Chromebook can have sign-in restrictions lifted. To keep things secure, you must always sign-in and out with a domain account for this to be visible. We have offered this to guardians where they have paid for a Chromebook and have had a high takeup so far. The settings we use are: Demo of what it looks like: