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| Quick Notes
ITS Staff Milestones
Congratulations to Kathleen Pollard, Office Coordinator II, for her 20 years of service at Syracuse University.
Announcements
ITS's CIO and administrative offices have moved to 1-133 and 1-130 Center for Science & Technology. This relocation provides new offices and work spaces for Chris Sedore, Andy Clark, June Szymanski, Tia Hardee, Sharon Darling, Cindy Barry, Chris Finkle, Anna Hermann and Kim Kopp. |
| Updates
Keeping current with software, systems and devices
Blackboard 9.0 Released
Release 9.0 of Blackboard Learn (TM) (formerly the Blackboard Academic Suite (TM)) was released on January 27, 2009. This latest version, according to Blackboard, Inc., introduces a range of powerful capabilities to meet the challenges of engaging increasingly diverse populations of learners in and out of the classroom. These capabilities include social learning tools to Web 2.0 innovations, as well as integrated components that significantly increase the openness and flexibility of the Blackboard® platform, enabling, among other things, the Sakai Connector developed by ITS here at SU. Details on the plans under development for upgrading SU's Blackboard system to release 9.0 will be discussed in future editions of IT Connections.
Wireless Update
We have topped 2,000 access points on campus! Looking forward, we'll see a few hundred more in 2009 from Network Master Plan (NMP) project-related installations, as well as departments requesting individual access points. Recent NMP build-outs include Link Hall, CST, and the Newhouse Complex, and we'll see buildings like the Hall of Languages and HBC get their NMP-funded 100% wireless coverage in the months to come.
Other items of interest related to campus wireless:
- On a typical day at SU we see between 5,500 and 6,000 simultaneous wireless users at peak times
- Wired network usage in our 100% wireless residence hall space has dropped off by about 80%
- We have seen the number of self-installed rogue wireless access points drop considerably.
- ITS continues to test hardware and monitor the emerging 802.11n wireless standard. As a reminder, despite the media fervor, there are still several months before 802.11n becomes a standard, and all hardware being sold right now is "draft."
ITS Website Ideas
ITS is assessing its website in preparation for a major site redesign project. You're invited to submit ideas for site content and features. Please send your thoughts and ideas (including, if applicable, the URLs of other sites that demonstrate the type of thing you're suggesting) to Chris Finkle at cfinkle@syr.edu. | |
ITS Out and About
Connecting with the campus and beyond
Cheryl Bonn, AnnMarie Kottmann and Denise Erwin from Telecommunications participated in a Learning Opportunity session entitled Sharpening Your Telephone Communication Skills. They helped the audience understand how the University's telephone system could help improve the efficiency of operations. Telephone features were discussed along with voice mail FAQ's, long distance dialing, cell phone options, conference calling as well as additional services offered by the Telecommunications Department.
Chris Finkle was a guest instructor for SPM 300 Technology in Sport, a course in the Sport Management program in the College of Human Ecology. The course is a survey of technologies that provide advanced communication and management tools in the sport industry. Chris provided an overview and demonstration of graphic communications and design technologies and software for sport team and venue management.
January 17, 2009 was the midpoint of Dave Tiedemann's coordination of Medical Associate presentations for the Toggenburg Ski Patrol this season. Medical Associates are practicing physicians committed to helping patrollers keep up to date by lecturing on topics related to the National Ski Patrol Outdoor Emergency Medical Care curriculum. The January presentation, Behavioral Emergencies and Blunt/Penetrating Trauma, was the second of three continuing education lectures this season. It is interesting for patrollers to learn from the physicians how patients sent to the emergency room are treated once they leave Toggenburg.
Two other ITS staff, Cindy Hoalcraft and David Harris, are also active members of the National Ski Patrol. |
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IT Professional Development
Staff on the cutting edge
Dawn Havill and Steve Leonard attended Oracle Identity Manager (OIM) training in Reston, VA at the Oracle training center. This course covered the basic architecture of OIM and featured numerous lab exercises that demonstrated how accounts could be defined and provisioned to resources such as Active Directory. OIM is the core component of the recently purchased Oracle Identity Management Suite and is where the Identity Management (IDM) team's efforts will be focused in the early portion of the IDM Next Generation project. All digital identities are housed and managed within OIM and OIM also provides the GUI for self-service and distributed account management. Michael Konrad attended the Oracle Application Server 10gR3 Java Programming course in Sacramento, CA. The course focused on Java programming with respect to Oracle's JDeveloper Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and covered Java Classes, Inner Classes, Exceptions, GUI, JDBC access to an Oracle database, and a Java Web Start deployment. It examined the basics of using the JDeveloper IDE to set up an application, a JDBC connection, and to create a Java Web Start deployment. Based on this class, we know that Jdeveloper is well integrated with the Weblogic application server that will be used in the NextGen project. Dan Lowe and Liz Moore participated in the Internet2 Commons H.323 Video Conferencing Site Coordinator training on January 22, 2009. The training was an overview on the I2 network, Site Coordinator duties, Gateways, MCUs and H.320 ISDN vs. H.323 IP. Also discussed was video conference etiquette as well as setting up end units through the Gatekeeper to the I2 Commons. The I2 Commons is a network consortium, which helps users test and apply new technology for use in video conferencing throughout the world.
Articles and Publications
A paper by Mike Frasciello will be published in the February/March issue of Academic Exchange Extra. Entitled "Localization Practices for Online Courses: A Case Study for Contextual Considerations" the paper presents current online course localization practices that fail to address contextual elements, such as culture and language. The paper explores possible reasons for this failure, and proposes alternative techniques to improve localization practices for faculty, instructional designers, and course developers.
Conferences & Forums
Dennis Punch went to the BICSI Winter Conference in Orlando, Florida January 18-22, 2009. BICSI is a professional association supporting the information transport systems (ITS) industry. ITS covers the spectrum of voice, data and video technologies. It encompasses the design, integration and installation of pathways, spaces, fiber- and copper-based distribution systems, wireless-based systems and infrastructure that supports the transportation of information and associated signaling between and among communications and information gathering devices. |
Dell "Big Buy"
Group effort saves money
For the past several years, a number of IT units have been coordinating their Dell purchases in order to take advantage of greater discounts. By approaching Dell with a large commitment of purchases over an agreed time period, all units can take advantage of the same discounts regardless of order size. This buying opportunity is colloquially referred to as the Dell "Big Buy." This year, special discounts will be applied to anything purchased from Dell between March 23, 2009 and April 17, 2009 through the Dell web portal in eProcurement.
You can get access to the Dell web portal by making a FAST request for the eProcurement module in the PeopleSoft Financials through your Information Coordinator. To access the big buy quotes, find the section titled "SU Promotional Pricing March 23 - April 17" located on the first page of the Dell web portal. There you will find several standard configurations of systems, laptops, desktops, printers, and monitors that can be customized to meet your needs. If you can't find what you need, email Stanley Ziemba with special requests. If you plan on ordering 25 or more of an item with a special configuration, please send me the quote in advance and it will be added to Dell web portal.
Another "Big Buy" will be organized later in the summer for units who prefer to purchase at the beginning of the fiscal year.
By Stanley Ziemba
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Network Lab Imaging Test a Success
Link 102 test promises faster imaging of public lab computers
Learning Environments and Media Production and NDD have completed preliminary testing for multicast imaging of the Public lab computers across the SU network, and the results were excellent!
This new process is much more efficient than the one we currently use. From the Ghost console in our office in Newhouse II we located the computers in Link 102 on the console, clicked "Send", and the image was underway. The multicast speed was at 620Mb/minute and took about 30 minutes to fully image the machines. This is 100Mb faster than physically going to the lab to push the image. For this test only two lab machines were selected; we will test all 26 machines in Link 102 during the Spring break.
Our current method of imaging larger labs involves bringing two 24-port switches, forty 25' ethernet cables with inline connectors, a laptop containing a Ghost console and images, a router to provide IP's, and AC power strips to plug everything into. The ethernet cables are plugged into the two 24-port switches; all lab computer ethernet cables are unplugged from their respective network ports (70 computers in Kimmel); ethernet cables from lab computers are plugged into the inline connectors going to the switches; the router and laptop are plugged into one of the switches and we're all set (if all goes according to plan). After we push the image, we disconnect, and reconnect everything in the reverse order. This whole process requires 2 - 3 hours.
Link 102, 110 and 115 Physics labs have been upgraded so far as part of the Network Master Plan and thus allow multicast imaging. We are looking forward to upgrades in other large labs since we've been anticipating this breakthrough for many years.
by John Capozzolo
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MySite Now Available
New personal web site hosting service to replace web.syr.edu
After several months of development MySite is available to members of the SU community. MySite is a personal web page hosting service for students, faculty and staff. The new service will be replacing web.syr.edu.
MySite provides 50 megabytes of storage space for personal web content, including documents, images, and media. Content is administered using WebDAV, an extension of the HTTP protocol.
Other features include:
- Self sign-up in seconds
- Website address of http://netid.mysite.syr.edu
- Accessible via WebDAV (support for both MAC and PC)
- Regular HTML as well as ASP and ASP.net (medium trust)
- Ability to manage websites via mysite.syr.edu
- Ability to redirect mysite URL to another http://*.syr.edu website or another 128.230.*.* IP address. This is great for putting on business cards and other printed pieces. As an example, http://netid.mysite.syr.edu can be redirected to a much longer URL on another server such as http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/econ/staff/netid/bio.htm so that the printed address is short and easy to remember.
MySite is personal web space for individual SU students, faculty and staff and is not for group websites.
Web.syr.edu users will need to migrate their data manually to MySite by June 1, 2009 since the UNIX-based web.syr.edu server is scheduled for removal in the second half of 2009.
Visit http://its.syr.edu/mysite/ for more information and to sign up.
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R.I.P. Ruckus
Music downloading service closes shop
The Ruckus online music service closed down without notice on February 6, 2009 and is no longer available. Ruckus had a relationship with Syracuse University and many other colleges and universities to provide free music downloading services for students. The company offered no reasons for the closure; their only statement appears on the home page of Ruckus web site: "Unfortunately, the Ruckus service will no longer be provided. Thanks." It appears that songs students have already downloaded from Ruckus will still play until each song's next file license renewal date. Expired licenses can't be renewed since the Ruckus servers are no longer available. Other music download companies are negotiating with Ruckus' parent company to see what if anything can be salvaged or purchased as a means of continuing the service, but it is not clear what if anything will come of these discussions. For details, see the articles in The Daily Orange, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post.
For a comprehensive list of legal music downloading services, visit the RIAA website. | |
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IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services. Story ideas can be submitted to Chris Finkle by the first Monday of each month. |
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