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FEATURE
FROM THE CIOFYI
KUDOS TO . . .CONTACTSNEWS
Public Policy Bldg. will back up OIT Computer Room Most of us have been affected when our computer goes down because of a system crash, busy dial-up modem, or even a cable modem that is on the blink. We all get frustrated by these seemingly minor interruptions because today the Internet and computer access are integral to everything that we do. Now imagine a situation that is more than just a minor annoyance, like a major water pipe breaking in the only UMBC computer room, which is located in the Engineering Computer Science building. A flood of this type would at the very least cause servers to short circuit and would likely result in lost access to the computer room for weeks if not months while the damage was repaired. Just think of how much harm and lost work would result from this scenario. In the past OIT never had a secondary computer room to move operations to should such a disaster take place.
The good news is that with support of campus administration OIT is has been able to incorporate plans for an extremely important computer space in the basement of the Public Policy building. This 700 square foot space will have raised tile flooring, chillers to keep the room nice and cool, power conditioners for the sensitive computer equipment and even generator backup in the event that the campus loses power. Once this space is completed in the Spring time frame OIT will begin moving services to this space to provide greater redundancy. This new space has come at a very important time as auditors have required that UMBC have a full disaster recovery plan that takes into account the fact that the primary computer room could be destroyed. With this new computer room space being located outside of the Engineering Computer Science building we feel confident that UMBC will meet the requirements of the audit. -- Michael Carlin Users' Email Tendencies Change OIT's Email Services OIT has been receiving a number of comments as of late regarding slowness in mail reading. Upon examination, it was found that in addition to a measurable increase in "spam" activity, the usage patterns of our users has evolved significantly in the past few years. In particular, the average size of email messages being stored on our system, as well as the number of messages stored per folder, has increased significantly. When our mail system was originally developed and deployed, message sizes tended to be much smaller, as most messages were text-only, so the efficient storage and indexing of mail folders was not a chief design consideration. Today, it is not uncommon for mail folders that are 10, 20, or even 50 megabytes in size. As a result, we have had to examine options other than the venerable UNIX mailbox format for the storage of email on our systems in order to continue to provide fast and efficient access to email. Unfortunately, some older applications that are being used to read email on the UNIX servers, such as elm and Mail will not support reading the new format, so we must begin to phase-out support for these unsupported applications. "Pine", our supported UNIX-based email reading program will continue to work with the new format. Beginning January 5, 2004, the "elm" application will not be available for use on the central UNIX servers, or OIT supported UNIX lab workstations. After this date, OIT will begin the process of converting mail folders on a user-by-user basis to the new format. No changes will need to be made to a user configuration to take advantage of the features of the new storage format. In addition to increased performance and usability, these changes will enable OIT to offer services such as "shared" email folders between users for collaborative work. If you have questions regarding this upgrade please send email to systems@umbc.edu. -- Robert Banz
Shortly after his historical hardback Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express was printed, author and UMBC professor Chris Corbett was advised by "mainstream publishing people" to create a website representing his book. Admittedly no expert on webpage construction, the fulltime English dept. lecturer (and former Associated Press editor) began phoning professional web design firms in search of a reasonable rate. "What I learned is when you go off this campus, you can spend some serious money - and I don't believe you'll get a better product," Corbett concluded. "UMBC is in a fabulous position to compete in the area of website design, simply because the private sector has priced itself out of the academic market." Eschewing the expense of a commercially crafted website, Corbett decided to try the in-house expertise of OIT's NewMedia Studio managed by Bill Shewbridge. Nestled in a soundproofed Academic IV office that combines a video production stage with an array of high-end Macintosh workstations, the Studio offers its equipment and creative expertise for-hire to members of the campus community with multimedia projects ranging from streaming webcasts to the creation of campus websites - such as Corbett's.
Studio web developer Aaron Weidele spent two months of "pretty smooth sailing" working on the text, arranging color schemes and composing Wild West-style typefaces to match the book's cover art. Despite contributing to a steady stream of university webs projects this year - "probably six to seven at least," Weidele periodically appends updates to the Pony Express site to reflect current publicity. According to Corbett, the "vivid and appealing website" put together by Weidele and the Studio has generated a positive reaction from readers and reviewers as the book's popularity continues to grow (Orphans Preferred has been reviewed in numerous print and broadcast publications, including CNN, C-SPAN and National Public Radio). "Bill and Aaron put this bad boy on the road for a rock bottom price," Corbett reflected. "Every cent was worth it." -Vergil Bushnell OIT's Inclement Weather Policy Generally, OIT will follow UMBC's Inclement Weather Policy, but because students and other part-time workers operate the Help Desk after normal university operating hours (Sat & Sun; Mon-Fri 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.), consultants have been advised to do the following if a university announcement has not been issued:
Note to OIT Employees: The full text of OIT's Inclement Weather Policy (with contact numbers) is available on the OIT Blackboard site (see "Documents" --> "Emergency Operating Plans"). Best Practice Spotlight: Ram Hosmane & Spam Filtering
About one month ago, Chemistry professor Ram Hosmane sought a solution to the dozens of unsolicited "spam" email messages clogging his inbox each day. After having limited success with Netscape's mail filtering feature and a commercial anti-spam program, Dr. Hosmane turned to OIT's Chief Information Officer for a solution to his spam woes. "I got so frustrated; I sent an email to Jack." Suess recommended OIT's automated spam filtering system (available from myUMBC). Consisting of a server cluster running the open source SpamAssassin program (set up by sysadmin Rob Banz) and a secure web interface linked to myUMBC (implemented by SysCore's Tim Craig), OIT's automated spam filtering service has been available to AFS users since the spring semester of 2002. According to Banz, a significant amount of UMBC's incoming email is spam. On December 3, 2003 (for example), 45% of all email messages destined for umbc.edu addresses were tagged by OIT's spam filtering system with a ranking of 5 (on a scale from 1-5, 5 representing the likelihood a given message is spam). Following instructions written by Helpdesk consultant Kendrick Hernandez, Hosmane configured his UMBC email account so that incoming messages would be filtered according to a predefined threshold and suspected spam shunted into a designated folder for later inspection and disposal. "I saw the difference the very next day," Hosmane remarked, noting that OIT's spam filter weeds out about 50 unwanted emails a day with a false positive mixed in "maybe once in three days." "Whoever designed this, it's a wonderful thing." -Vergil Bushnell Business Services Handles myUMBC "Internal Server Error," IRS Compliance Issues In response to the increased demand on the myUMBC service during Advance Registration (as described in a Dec. 2, 2003 Retriever Weekly article), Business Services has initiated a number of changes to help balance the load on myUMBC for the upcoming round of Advance Registration next Spring. Specifically, Business Services is working with UMBC.s Enrollment Management staff to extend available Advance Registration hours while reviewing hardware and procedural options. The "Internal Server Error" message displayed by myUMBC has been adjusted to more accurately state that the system is busy.In addition, Cheri Putro of Business Services (in conjunction with UMBC's Financial Aid and Bursar's offices) has been working overtime to ensure the university complies with the IRS's 1098-T reporting guidelines. These IRS reporting requirements were recently adjusted to include student financial aid and charges, necessitating a major effort on the part of UMBC staff to remain in compliance. -Joe Kirby FEATURE.
One
Day at the OIT Helpdesk Note: When he wrote this article, Vergil worked as a Help Desk consultant. He now works as a content developer in OIT's New Media Learning & Development unit providing support to campus Web developers. I clock in slightly ahead of schedule, using the extra minutes to top off my plastic coffee cup and setup my laptop in one of the Helpdesk's six work stations. This arrangement - two rows of three compartments (each similarly equipped with a beefed-up beige phone, GX-series Dell desktop and assorted manuals and directories - forms the nucleus of the Helpdesk, referred to as "the Floor," in much the same way other high-traffic facilities (stock exchanges spring to mind) use the term to refer to their own epicenters of frenzy. I pull down a slug of coffee, launch a local copy of Remedy's "Action Request System" (OIT's call tracking software) and ask the other consultants for an informal status report. The caffeine mixes with morning adrenaline; harmonizing my heartbeat with the staccato pulse of incoming calls (1 pulse per ring, on campus; two, off). Within seconds, I'm cradling the receiver of a Rolm handset between my left ear and shoulder, carefully instructing a patient professor on how to subscribe to individual email folders using Netscape Messenger, an email client he swears by despite its being rendered obsolete by several years worth of evolutionary iterations. Although I personally prefer the stark simplicity of Pine to outdated, graphical email clients, I keep a copy of Messenger loaded on my laptop because of its popularity with UMBC faculty/staff members. I glance up momentarily after solving the problem. Student consultant Max Brandy is unwinding a tangled length of phone cord from the Helpdesk's sole analog jack to troubleshoot a customer's PPP dial-up connection. Another consultant is busy distributing freshly inked batches of paper during his one-hour, rotating shift in the Helpdesk's Print Dispatch, a small, semi-autonomous region housing two institutional class laser printers. Our first major problem of the day arises in part from the PD. Typically, printouts originating from terminals in the ECS computer labs are collected in the PD's queue and released by username by the scheduled consultant on duty. During most of the morning, the queue (managed by a program called "Pcounter") has accumulated dozens of potential printouts: PowerPoint slides of Biology lectures, PostScript engineering line drawings and (since it's the nearing the end of the semester), resumes. At some point, print jobs from the labs stop arriving. Almost immediately, frustrated students flood into the Helpdesk. We manage to crank out a few pages for a handful of harried students on tight deadlines by letting them load document laden floppies on an unoccupied Helpdesk terminal and printing by IP, bypassing the unidentified network obstruction. I collect customer volunteered error messages, hammer out a Remedy ticket (cranked up to "Urgent" given the scope of the problem) before bumping into OIT's LAN Coordinator Steve Ostrove in the hallway and briefly describing the problem. Steve quickly resolves the ticket after a server reboot. Although students can once again transform their digital documents into hardcopy, the Helpdesk doesn't become any quieter. We dole out advice on dealing with flaky ResNet connections, use small black & white terminal windows to illustrate the affect of core files on AFS disk quotas and inspect floppy disks gone bad. Many of these requests are routine, and occur with such predictable frequency that we've posted thorough, relevant documentation on the OIT website. Y When given the option of scrolling through step-by-step, screenshot laden OIT guides, many customers prefer the reassurance of having consultants verbally walk them through the same set of instructions. To many members of the campus community, the Helpdesk is the human face of OIT -- a small group of recognizable, (mostly) sympathetic voices associated with an otherwise baffling array of electronic services and servers. We take calls, receive walk-ins, fetch printouts and respond to the daily accumulation of email addressed to helpdesk@umbc.edu. A respectable portion of requests are typically solved by consultants either immediately or after a few minutes worth of tinkering from WebAdmin or the Unix command line. Other types of requests -- proposed domain name modifications, for example, or network jack surveys -- are received at the Helpdesk and quickly routed to appropriate OIT departments. I've always thought of HelpDesk staff as being OIT's eyes and ears, a collective early warning system that constantly filters information streaming in from multiple sources, searching for telltale indications spelling the difference between isolated, localized problems and system-wide shortcomings. Consultants regularly use numerous methods to gauge the health of university servers, including access to the comprehensive Nagios monitoring service and Intermapper, a web-based graphical representation of UMBC's network. Experienced consultants can accurately diagnose many potential problems by combining an intuitive understanding of campus servers, data gleaned from customers and monitoring services and on-the-fly conversations with OIT second-tier personnel. Back at the Helpdesk floor, the now resolved printing problem is a preview of coming attractions. Just before 11:30 AM, our phones reach a pulsing electronic crescendo. Nagios's Service Problem panel displays a towering stack of angry red "CRITICAL" flags, one for each unreachable server. The campus portal, myUMBC is inaccessible, shutting out students intent on registering for next semester. "gl" cluster Unix servers aren't allowing remote logins through SSH, preventing CompSci majors from finishing last-minute coding. Furthermore, multiple mail servers are offline, student userpages won't load and the university's homepage - www.umbc.edu - can't be viewed. Customers are steadily calling in, some frustrated (one student huffs that we're "unreliable") because they can't access projects and university records. Most callers, however, sound distinctly relieved once they learn that the problems are campus-wide in scope and not attributable to their own computers. All we can tell them is that we're aware of the problems, and that OIT system administrators (visible down the hallway running in and out of the server room) are diligently working on the solution. It's quite frustrating handling calls coming in this rapidly and not being able to solve the problems prompting them. I feel a curious sensation while watching our consultants scramble for calls. I think it's pride. .
FROM THE CIOWhy Higher Ed Needs to Improve Cyber Security In November I was asked to co-chair the Educause/Internet2 Network Security Task Force, created in 2000 after several incidents (called Denial of Service attacks) crippled major e-commerce sites eBay and Amazon. Designed to bring CIO's and other higher education leaders together, the task force's concern with cyber security took on renewed importance following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Could terrorists disrupt critical services through cyber attacks?Given the demands on my time with PeopleSoft why would I agree to take on another task? The simple answer is that I believe cyber security may be one of the critical IT issues in higher education over the next few years and I believe this is an opportunity for UMBC to be a national leader. The federal government and private industry have made it clear to the task force that unless higher education improves its security practices there will be pressure for federal regulation to mandate practices I believe will negatively impact higher education. For example, one idea floated by an industry group was to require higher education institutions assure that every computer used by a researcher with a federal grant is administered by a professionally certified IT administrator. For UMBC, like many schools, this would be a tremendous problem. Many departments use graduate students or faculty themselves to admin their lab machines. There is no way they could get a Microsoft windows certification. If that fell on OIT we would be saddled with lots of extra work or the institution would have to outsource this responsibility. An alternate proposal would require each institution to have an approved security plan on file with each agency before grant funding was awarded. For many higher ed institutions, the task force believes this will be a tremendous challenge reconciling different agency standards for security with campus IT security plans and procedures. The goal of the task force is to work with the federal government and private industry, and also collaborate among many different higher education stakeholders to improve security. For example, we are working closely with the American Council on Education (ACE), National Association of Business Officers (NACUBO), the National Higher Education Auditing Association, and the National Association of State University Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) to coordinate our message and plans. Finally, one of the key initiatives all institutions of higher education will need to undertake is a program on security awareness. UMBC is doing a number of things to incorporate security into our network and institutional computers, but that doesn't help faculty and staff at home and doesn't help our students, especially in the residence halls. One of our major tasks in 2004 will be promoting security awareness for faculty, staff, and students. Robin Anderson of OIT will be leading this effort, but we need everyone's help to be successful. We need you to offer ideas for promoting security and we need you to help us reach constituent groups you are involved with. Working together we can improve security and more importantly allow people to use the Internet safely and securely. FYISecure Your Computer and Save Energy by Turning Off Your Computer This is a reminder, with the holiday break approaching we want to remind everyone to power off their computer and monitor before leaving for the holiday break. This will protect your computer from potential attacks and help conserve energy and save money. Winter Training Includes Blackboard, PeopleSoft Workshops If you want to refresh your current skills or explore new territory, OIT's training schedule for January has recently been updated to include workshops on Blackboard and PeopleSoft. Topics include:
To register, visit http://www.umbc.edu/training or contact Debra Arnold at 5-3234 or darnold@umbc.edu. .
KUDOS TO . . .On November 20, 19 OIT staff members were officially recognized by UMBC for their commitment to the university during a Service Awards ceremony in the UC Ballroom.
The OIT Newsletter (www.umbc.edu/oit/newsletter) is provided as a service to UMBC students, faculty and staff, and to help keep OIT staff updated on the work and interests of their colleagues. For more information or to suggest story ideas, contact John Fritz at 410.455.6596 or fritz@umbc.edu.
Office of Information Technology (www.umbc.edu/oit)
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