strong. It integrates well with our active directory and I think it
supports Novell's eDirectory. The bandwidth shaping has worked well.
Teachers have priority over students but students have a larger share of
the pipe since there are a lot more of them then teachers. Certain
websites that the teachers and students use for school take precedence
over other websites. The only problem that I have encountered is with
the workstation directory utility (cymdir) sometimes dropping
communication with the cymphonix box. If the box can't identify you
then you are automatically put into the default (student) group. This
will generally resolve itself within a few minutes, or the user can log
off and back on again. This doesn't happen as often anymore. Overall
we have been satisfied with it. The tech support has been great.
Bruce Montgomery
Network Administrator
Lakeview Academy =20
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of CHRISTOPHER BUTLER
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 9:59 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Anyone using Cymphonix
Greetings -
I've been evaluating this product for the last month. I had already
tested
the Marshall-8e6 product and in a few days I will be testing the St.
Bernard
Software iPrism box.
The biggest problem we had with the Cymphonix was distributing the local
cymdir executable that takes care of the single-sign-on process. The
distribution was fine, but we had some problems and it took us a while
to
figure out that we had a problem with our Group Policy Object. All the
while, the Macs behaved just fine.
I like the interface (but don't like that it doesn't yet support Firefox
or
Safari). I like the granular reporting and the ease of finding what I
need
in the reports without having to wait too long.
I like the filtering and ability to associated filter policies to
different
groups and users. I like that there is a web-based login to fallback to
if
the SSO is not working (and for non-domain members on the network). I
like
the bandwidth throttling, but I haven't really tweaked this yet. I
haven't
found any showstoppers.
Right now, I strongly prefer the Cymphonix over the Marshall-8e6
solution.
And, for what it's worth, their initial quotes (for a three year
agreement)
were within $100 of each other.
We'll see how the iPrism does...
Christopher
--=20
Christopher Butler
Academic Technology Director
St. John's Preparatory School
http://www.stjohnsprep.org
On 3/25/09 9:47 AM, "Hennel, David" <henneld@notredameprep.com> wrote:
> Hello All,=20
>=20
> =20
>=20
> We are looking at Cymphonix Network Composer (www.cymphonix.com) as a
> solution to help shape our internet traffic and maximize our limited
> bandwidth.
>=20
> Our main goal is to prioritize teachers and educational web use over
the
> non-educational web traffic (streaming media ,ect) that is currently
> taking place on campus. Ultimately I would also like to retire my
linux
> web proxy (squid) and would look to this device for our content
> filtering as well.
>=20
> =20
>=20
> If anyone has a good or bad experience with this product could you
> please let me know. We are planning on demoing the product if anyone
is
> interested I would be happy to give my feedback as well.
>=20
> =20
>=20
> David Hennel
>=20
> Network Administrator
>=20
> Notre Dame Prep School
>=20
> Towson, Maryland=20
>=20
> 443-921-2855
>=20
> =20
>=20
>=20
> [ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
> Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons,
attribution,
> non-commercial, share-alike license.
> RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons,
attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
