DTA needed Mac Help

Since 1992, Device Technologies has been dedicated to improving patients lives through leading edge technology and services.

Successfully supplying hospitals and healthcare professionals with the finest medical solutions for their patients, Device Technologies continues to grow, with over 200 trusted brands and 850 highly skilled staff Australia and New Zealand-wide.

Leading the way in the medical technology field, Device Technologies provides the highest calibre of medical supplies – with innovation and client care at the core of its values. All products distributed by Device Technologies are compliant with quality regulatory requirements, with in-servicing and ongoing support provided as part of the trusted partnership between Device Technologies staff and healthcare professionals.

The Brief

With about 20 Macs in an office of around 400 Windows PCs, the Device Technologies desktop support team knew their way around their Windows PC, but continuing problems with their Macs was frustrating them.

Their Macs wouldn’t integrate into the Windows Active Directory environment, so Mac login credentials would differ from their server credentials. Simple things listing a folder’s contents on the server was frustratingly slow for Mac users, VPN for Macs just wouldn’t work, and printing for Macs was a disaster.

iHelp IT was called in to help resolve all the issues, and pass knowledge onto the local support staff.

The Solution

We worked out that every Mac had been incorrectly configured to work with the Windows AD, reconfigured every Mac to the correct AD settings, and migrated all local user accounts to be directory accounts. Login credentials were now consistent.

Working with the desktop team, and bringing a Windows server on-site we worked eliminated a number of possible issues with SMB on the Macs, and determined the problem to the the server, thereby resolving that probelm.

We then resolved the VPN issue – being a question of configuration, and finally fixed the multiple printing issues, including troubleshooting software issues with the Fiery RIP.

The Outcome

Mac users were finally on a par with their Windows counterparts. Staff were able to login to their local machines and the server without password conflicts, and password policies could be maintained. VPN access worked consistently, and Mac users could take full advantage of the significant internal print resources.

We wrote documentation to guide the internal IT staff on all the solutions we had deployed, and trained the staff so that they could manage the Macs moving forward.

While there, we also gave the support team general tips regarding Mac support, improving their ability to directly support their Mac users.