Present: Mark Aldenderfer, Arlene Allen, Glenn
Davis, Randell Ehren, George Gregg, Bill Koseluk, Elise Meyer, Bruce Miller,
Alan Moses, Glenn Schiferl, Kevin Schmidt, Vince Sefcik, John Vasi, Paul
Valenzuela
It was reported that BEG, newly chartered to advise
the OIT, held its first meeting.
The NGB core and building switches are up and
running in the 7 core locations. Site preparation continues for the
remaining 28 building switches. Some testing of multicasting remains to
be completed. Policies and procedures for operation are under discussion
(e.g., 24 x 7 support).
Auth/Dir reported that student records have been
loaded into the UCSB directory. These records were extracted from
the Student Database and merged with the student records that were already
in place for those students who are also employees. The web application
used to access directory records has been upgraded to better reflect student
specific fields and the origin of those fields has been added to the online
documentation.
Questions regarding the accuracy of the email
addresses from the registration database were raised. This, in turn,
raised the question of the timeliness of backloading the student Umail
addresses from Umail to the Student Database in Adabas. IC will explore
coordination issues.
The Directory Access Router code has arrived and
implementation is in progress. Once implemented, a pair of IDAR machines
will front-end a pair of mirrored LDAP machines to provide desired reliability
of directory services.
The Auth/Dir will now work on the various groups
of "quasi students" who are not registered, but might need to be included
in the directory for various reasons.
It was noted that while PINs are four numeric
characters, the UCSB Directory password resetting routine will require
six mixed alpha-numeric characters. Once this routine is in place,
everyone will be requested to change their password, bringing the students
loaded with four character pins in the password field into compliance with
the policy.
The email@ucsb.edu project has taken another step
forward. Hardy volunteers are invited to blaze the trail, although
documentation is not yet finished. ITPG members are invited to participate.
Two possible additional features are contemplated for the service.
First, it would be possible to feed emails through a virus scanner on their
way through the server and add a warning note to the message header.
Secondly, it would also be possible to do an authenticated relay off campus.
Advice on the desirability of adding these features was requested.
Additional questions included the desirability
of imposing restrictions on the ID names that are eligible (other than
obvious scatological terms). Documentation on how to set the "reply
to" address from a variety of email clients was also desired.
In light of the recent news on rolling electrical
blackouts the group was asked for advice on pursuing emergency power generation
for computing facilities. For example, the JOG group was recently
asked to comment on what might still be running after an electrical outage
lasting three hours, or 48 hours. (The maximum rolling blackout should
only be two hours in duration, but other unplanned outages might last longer.)
It was noted that the campus's Emergency Operations Team has already done
a lot of work on services that need to continue during a blackout.
Someone suggested that it might be appropriate
to tell people to turn equipment off when they leave - to save electricity
and avoid surge problems when power is restored. Others suggested
it might be best to turn off monitors and leave the computers running.
It was noted that Facilities Management maintains a web page providing
information and advice on electrical power issues.
The idea of setting up a mailing list to cover
information regarding power outages was discussed, without resolution.
The Intra-Building Wiring Project is attempting
to gather information necessary to facilitate setting priorities for the
next round of projects. Some proposals provided more complete information
than others regarding the list of criteria that should be considered.
Given that there is pressure to incorporate all wiring jobs into an integrated
strategy for upgrading campus wiring, all units are requested to "honor
the process" and provide all information necessary to set priorities.
A discussion of how much infrastructure should
be installed to meet the needs of requests for wiring isolated rooms ensued.
Problems with using the needs of current occupants to drive future needs
were noted. There is always a tradeoff between the cost per line
(the more wall plates you wire at one time, the less each individual wall
plate costs) and the cost of the project (the more wall plates you wire
at one time, the more money you need up front to do a project).
Stated criteria for what constitutes a "small
job" would help in setting the scope of projects. Utilization of
wireless technology might help in some cases too, although wireless transmission
can be blocked by the same concrete barriers that make wiring installation
costly. Since most of the new projects proposed for this round are
not for entire buildings, but rather to wire the most difficult rooms to
get to, it was recommended that the OIT pay for someone to visit the locations
to develop cost estimates rather than use formula-based cost estimates
for budgeting and prioritization purposes.
The next ITPG meeting will be at 10:00 a.m. on
Thursday, April 19, in the Mary Cheadle Room of the Library.
Back to ITPG Meeting Schedule
