Engineering / IS Computer Committee Meeting March 29, 2006

Attending: Bryon Fessler, Matthew Kuhn, Peter Osterberg, Sig Lillevik, Paul Erdmann, Owen Morehart, Cory Birch

Bryon wanted to update the committee on progress of the Engineering upgrade project. The paperwork to begin the re-wiring of engineering has been finalized and work will begin on this project very soon. Hopeful completion date is June 15, 2006. Question was asked about power capabilities. IS is working with Paul Luty of Physical Plant and contractors to install brand new racks in Engineering 108 that will have a 480 volt power line to provide power to these new racks. This will be separate from other power sources needed within Engineering. The 3 data closets installed in Engineering have been completed and are now ready to have equipment installed.

Matthew continued the discussion of Section 4 of the 5 year computing lab plan. Bryon had also put together handout of Section 4 focusing on the functional stated need of Engineering with an IS Technical solution or update.

File Storage: According to Bryon, IS is trying to standardize the campus and is looking at having a “P” drive for personal storage and “U” drive for course, lab or professional needs. Bryon indicated that students would not have access to the “U” drive unless they are work study students. For students to access folders for projects, they would have a “drop box” access provided by the professor. The “U” drive will initially be set up to accommodate current Engineering needs with the capacity to increase as needed over time. This drive would also have separate subdirectories for engineering departments such as civil_engineering, mechanical_engineering, etc.. WebDev so far has appeared to be a suitable replacement for ftp, however it is not a file system or replacement for SMB. The SAN drive is not yet ready for UNIX files. The replacement for the “S” drive is still under test and should be ready for users to test shortly. Matthew indicated that Engineering has asked IS for 3 Linux hosts as well as a SAMBA server to talk with the network/SAN Server. This request, along with others, was submitted to Bryon and IS.

Mapping and Mounting of File Server: This is currently still in test and will more than likely use GroupDrive during the transition and cut-over to allow “seamless” access to files and information. At this point, a large share of this service is dependent upon the re-wiring of the Engineering Building.

Authentication on group / class accounts will be done via university login and password.

Remote Access is being worked on so similar office set ups can be duplicated when at home or on the road. VPN (Virtual Private Network) is for external use through a secure tunnel to get into files and folders as allowed. VPN accounts must be justified and approved by IS to be given access. R – Engineering Faculty – provide specifics to IS about what they want and/or need for remote access that will be similar to home/office access currently available.

Printer services are also being worked on by IS. Upsun0 and upsun1 are going away so we need to have a way for UNIX/LINUS clients to print. Question was asked how to get mapped to printers in classrooms, specifically EGR 314. Currently there needs to be a client logged into the machine in EGR 314 to have printer capabilities. Not currently set up for wireless or remote clients and is currently broken. R - IS – solve printing problem for UNIX / LINUX clients to print when upsun0 and upsun1 are taken off-line. R - IS – solve printing problem in EGR 314 and other Engineering labs with wireless clients not logged into host machine.

IS indicated there will be faculty printers installed on each floor for faculty use. On the 3rd floor it will be installed in EGR 316. Not sure yet where it will be on the 2nd floor. QPR in Jamie’s office will remain and when that no longer functions, a request for a new faculty printer for 1st floor will be submitted. IS does not have a refresh plan for printers. They are replaced as needed.

Web Services involves the GroupDrive and WebDev testing. The Lewis and Contrib sites will be going away and these faculty sites will be redirected for a period of time. Initially a 6month – 1 year re-direct time frame was given. Question was asked why there was a limit to the re-direct and it couldn’t be indefinite. According to Bryon, that involves someone having to monitor those redirects and not the most efficient use of personnel or service. Suggestion was made to ask the specific faculty member who would like to have web sites re-directed how long they would like that to happen. R – Engineering Faculty– provide IS with a list of contrib and/or lewis websites that faculty currently have, use and want to keep and for how long to re-direct so IS can help set up re-directs on the new system.

Unix Services will be provided, however the Solaris 4 machine is currently not supported, which is the primary source of LEDIT and PSPICE for Unix. Question was asked if upgraded Solaris machines would be able to provide the same service and software for class / lab use? R – Peter O. / Paul – research and provide recommendation for possible replacement of Solaris 4 machine with comparable machine and/or software.

Sig suggested 3 items that would help lessen the anxiety Engineering will be feeling once the transition is in full swing and after it’s completed: Provide a flow chart on progress of the transition (Owen) Timeline showing transition from today to completion in Fall 2006 Keep asking questions and offer training

Matthew indicated that WebDev, GroupDrive and any other software should probably be installed on machines in Engineering labs so faculty can access at their convenience and help test. Wireless services will be expanded with multiple drops throughout the building.

License services are under review and IS needs to identify which software are token-based and actual costs to upgrade non-token based systems.

MSDNAA services will continue to be renewed by IS for Engineering.

Drive replication services will continue in BC 12 as needed and requested by Engineering.

Linux on Power project will be discontinued with IBM as of 5/7/06.

Respectfully submitted,

Jamie Strohecker Engineering Secretary

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