Reliable network access to students
Baxter Springs needed reliable, secure connectivity for more than 2,200 devices. Both school-managed and BYOD devices are used to access online learning content, so any downtime would negatively impact the classroom.
However, the district's existing Apple DNS and DHCP servers are no longer supported. With no more updates for DNS and DHCP from Apple, Baxter Springs Technology Director Ross Davies knew internet access would become insecure, slow, and at risk of failure.
Apple ceased support for DNS and DHCP in 2018, leaving many Apple-based school districts at risk, and in need of a low-cost, easy to implement, replacement solution. Like most schools, Baxter Springs feared commercial-grade solutions would be overcomplicated and wouldn't match education budgets.
Ross defined the district's needs as straightforward:
- For DNS: add local server addresses for secure LAN-side resolution of private IP addresses.
- For DHCP: assign static IP addresses based on MAC addresses, and dynamically assign BYOD addresses on the district's flat network, weekly.
Thankfully, Ross discovered DNSBOX. He instantly appreciated the easy-to-use interface, simplified administration, and advanced levels of security, and was excited to find he could deploy both DNS and DHCP on a single server.
"The DNSBOX is working great! I recommend ApplianSys to every school district
that talks to me about DNS or DHCP. It is a very reliable product.
Ross Davis, Technology Director
