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Quick Notes
Congratulations to Darlene Kennedy, Information Technology Analyst, for her 20 years of service at Syracuse University.
Please welcome Elizabeth Teska and Kelly Fallon to ITS and Syracuse University! Both will be Information Technology Analysts working in the Academic Applications and Support Centers unit, providing web services and support to the campus, and bring diverse skill sets along with enthusiasm and dedication.
Beth Teska | Beth was an applications instructor at New Horizons Computer Learning Center before coming to SU. While at New Horizons her main focuses were training on and supporting the Microsoft Office and Adobe suites of products. Before that, she was a student here at SU in the math department. In her spare time, Beth loves to be outside kayaking, hiking or gardening. She always looks forward to getting up to the Adirondacks, especially in the autumn. Kelly Fallon | Kelly comes to SU from St. Louis, Missouri where he worked as a systems administrator at The Genome Center at Washington University in the St. Louis Medical Center. Previous to that he worked as a distributed systems engineer at Con-Way, Inc. in Portland, Oregon. Kelly brings experience implementing and supporting web applications and the infrastructure that provides them. On a more personal note, Kelly lists his two favorite activities as reading and running. He also says he's "Looking forward to the Syracuse winters that I have been hearing so much about, and the opportunity to learn cross-country skiing." Both Beth's and Kelly's offices are located in the AASC suite in 1-205 CST. Beth can be reached at emteska@syr.edu and at x8198. Kelly can be reached at kjfallon@syr.edu and at x1114. Please introduce yourself to Beth and Kelly and help them feel welcome here at SU.
Jono Chowdhury |
Jonathan Chowdhury has been named to the new position of Manager of Online Platform Services and Support in the Academic Applications and Service Centers group in ITS. He comes from the ITS Service Center where he worked and collaborated with students, faculty, and staff. Jono has more than 14 years of experience working in the corporate world, working on web and social networking technologies. Most recently, Jono was instrumental in creating the shared Wiki, Answers, and a variety of other web sites and collaboration services here at SU. Please welcome Jono to his new role! |
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IT Professional Development
Staff on the cutting edge
Joe Foote from Library Information Technology attended the IDS Project Conference 2010 in Oswego, NY August 3 and 4. The IDS project is a mutually supporting resource-sharing cooperative that includes an e-Journal availability service, a customizable set of tools and workflows that will enhance interlibrary loan and just-in-time acquisitions services; purchase request processing; and cooperative collection development efforts. Joe will be the technical lead for the SU library's implementation of GIST, the Getting It System Toolkit. GIST is a customizable set of tools and workflows that will enhance interlibrary loan and just-in-time acquisitions services, purchase request processing, and cooperative collection development efforts. Cindy Barry and Eric Mumpton attended the 2010 Hannon Hill Cascade Server User Conference in Atlanta on September 13 and 14. Tom Downes attended a Blackboard conference in September. Chris Croad attended the SANS Network Security 2010 Conference in Las Vegas, September 19 -27. The conference claimed to bring to attendees the best in network security training, certification, and up-to-the-minute research on the most important topics in the industry today. |
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IT Out and About
Connecting with the campus and beyond
"Uniglory" by Donal Little |
Donal and Shel Little will display their pigment prints in the lobby of the Liverpool Public Library throughout the month of October. Their exhibit is called, "Departures."
This fall and next spring, Mike Frasciello is teaching WRT 407: Advanced Technical Communications for the L.C. Smith College of Engineering. All computer and electrical engineering majors at Syracuse University are required to take the two-semester section of this course, which is linked to their two-semester Senior Design Capstone course. The instruction in WRT 407 is embedded within the engineering processes of the senior engineering design studio. Through "embedded" writing instruction, the students are asked to continually navigate the relationship between writing and engineering, and to consider their technical and professional writing in rhetorical and social terms. The course exemplifies Chancellor Cantor's call to scholarship in action, as it is built on broad collaboration across academic disciplines, and leverages talents and strengths across various departments (ITS included!) in support of student success.
Your pledge to the United Way will help support SU's "Live United" campaign. Through participation in the annual Central New York United Way Campaign, SU is able to contribute to the efforts that benefit more than 100 local programs and services through 38 agencies. SU's 2009 campaign contributed more than $200,000. Please return your pledge card, or make an e-pledge at www.unitedway-cny.org/pledgenow.html. Look in your mailbox for emails from e-UW@syr.edu (on 9/23 and 9/30) for your User ID and password, or click "forgot password" on the e-pledge website. |
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Tech Updates
Keeping current with software, systems, issues and devices
Wireless Updates
- ITS has finished upgrading Bowne Hall's wireless network, and the building is now 100% covered. Thanks again to the technicians in Wiring.
- Also newly covered: the Manley South parking lot and Coyne Field soccer facility. And, the Marion parking Lot has become a new outdoor hotspot.
The ITS wireless locations web page is all new and the place for updates: http://its.syr.edu/connecting/wireless/locations.cfm Your help, please! As we continue the march towards truly ubiquitous coverage on campus, it is worth reminding everyone that we do have buildings that are very much NOT 100% covered. If you get wind of a complaint about problematic wireless signals, please refer the client to the locations page. If the area in question is not on the list, there is not much that we can do until we get to that area under the Network Master Plan, or the space owners opt to fund more access points (which is fairly common). If the area of complaint is on the list of covered spaces, we need to know about the problem. Your help to verify that it's not a client issue first would be great. But the bottom line is that if it's on our list, and performance is in doubt, we want to know about it, along with all of the specifics required to troubleshoot any network problem.
by Lee Badman
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Open Enrollment 2010 begins Oct. 25, participation is required
Open Enrollment will commence on Oct. 25 and end on Nov. 12, 2010. This is the only time of the year when faculty and staff may elect or change their coverage for many benefits, unless the employee undergoes a "qualifying life event," such as the addition or loss of a family member, and certain losses of benefit coverage.
Importantly, this year all benefits-eligible employees (faculty, staff, GAs) will need to participate in "Positive Enrollment"-a process by which they must actively make choices and provide updated information. Choices from last year will not simply roll over from the previous year.
To ensure all employees have the time to examine their benefits options carefully, this year the Open Enrollment participation period has been extended to three weeks. There will be no make-up period, however, after Nov. 12.
In the coming days and weeks, Human Resources will issue a series of enhanced communications campus-wide to highlight the benefits options available during Open Enrollment, as well as provide opportunities for employees to meet with HR benefits staff to discuss this year's process. For more information, visit http://openenrollment.syr.edu. |
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ITidbits Facts and figures about IT @ SU
On October 13 Blackboard topped the 3,000 mark, with 3,003 courses made available for this semester. This is an increase of 236 courses from all of the Spring 2010 semester, an increase of 8.5%.
Windows 7 is moving onto campus at a frenetic pace with almost 2,700 new desktop clients in seven months. This high adoption rate speaks to Windows 7 as a usable, mature, and likeable platform. Some wireless stats, just for fun:
- We are fast approaching 2,600 wireless access points on campus.
- 802.11n is taking deeper root on campus- almost 700 access points deployed so far
- We recently hit an all-time high for concurrent wireless clients on campus - 6,941
- We are measuring peaks of almost a Gigabyte aggregate downstream traffic (to the clients) and half a Gig upstream through our wireless controllers when the network gets busy
- Campus wide, on a typical day our clients break down along these lines: 802.11g, 60% - 70%, 802.11a, 25% - 35%; 802.11n, 8% - 15%
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Green Data Center Migration Update
Blackout recovery test/procedure successful; redundant fiber installed
Physical Layer Update
As reported in the last update, the vendors have been working on the setup and testing of the Micro Turbines and Tri-Generation System, and have completed the work they set out to perform. Some minor items requiring remediation were found, but the completion of the work will be non-intrusive. On Saturday, October 2, a Blackout Recovery Test/Procedure was successful.
Network Layer Update
Success! The redundant fiber leg has been successfully installed and tested between Main and South Campus. This task took a great deal of time and effort to pull off due to requirements and permits. While many assisted in this activity, Dennis Punch was awarded the ITS Kilimanjaro Award for his perseverance following this through to completion!
The Green Data Center Migration (GDCM) uses this 4-layer approach to provide structure to the complex project. | Infrastructure Layer UpdateThe phase one migrations are currently being planned and the migration of these systems to the Green Data Center (GDC) is scheduled for mid-December. The first phase includes test virtual environments. When phase one migrations have been completed we will begin a more aggressive schedule of migration. Application Layer Update
The PeopleSoft Financials Middle Tier upgrades for both the production and test environments were successfully implemented at the GDC. The physical movement of additional equipment from Machinery Hall to the GDC is being planned as part of Phase 2; this planning is underway. Look forward to progress reports in future IT Connection Issues. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Colleen Van Camp at x1623 or cavancam@syr.edu. |
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ITS Connected Clinics Get Off the Ground
Service Center staff starts student outreach
October 5 saw the launch of a new outreach program by the ITS Service Centers when their first Connected Clinic was held in Day Hall. Designed to raise students' awareness of and knowledge about a variety of computing issues and services, the clinics are conducted by a team comprised of student consultants and ITS professional staff. Clinics are held on a rotating schedule, primarily in the large residence halls with relatively high numbers of first year students. He's got backup! | "Our goal is to help students get the most out of their computing experience here at SU," said Jon Wright, Support Analyst, who organized the program. "We're taking a light-hearted yet concerned approach that will not only attract attention but get students interested and engaged." Stepping off from the Service Center's popular "Got Backup?" video, the first clinic program invited students to attempt to back up on a tricycle, and then made the pitch about the importance of backing up data. Future programs will deal with a wide variety of topics, including SU's Expressions blogging service, and cautions about avoiding malicious downloads. For more information, contact Jon Wright at jowright@syr.edu or x3041. |
Network Master Plan Update
Busy summer brings good progress, new work underway
Work continues to design and build in the Archbold and Flanagan facilities. This project has required extensive re-design to avoid hazardous materials, and has been moving cautiously. To date, the project has completed work in the new Recreational Services space as well as the balance of the Archbold Gymnasium (south building). Also installed were several connections for video surveillance. It is hoped that cameras will be a visible crime deterrent, as well as capture video of any illegal activities. Construction crews will be moving into the Archbold north building this month. It's anticipated that work will start on the lower floors of the building and work up from there. This will be a very difficult build given the building's vintage (1903), construction style and the considerable number of renovations that have occurred there over time. Smith Hall was completely rewired this summer in preparation of the move of VPA staff and students to the building at the start of the fall semester. This building was provisioned with 802.11n and now has 100% wireless coverage. Bowne Hall has been going through an extensive renovation project for some time under the direction of CPDC. Though a challenging building in many respects, its network upgrade was successfully accomplished without seriously impacting the daily operations of the departments housed there. And, like in Smith Hall, 100% wireless connectivity was provided as part of the upgrade. In September construction got underway at 621 Skytop. While the main focus there is the Institute for Sensory Research and Parking Services, the upgrade will provide new wireless infrastructure for the entire building. Looking Ahead
Work has started on upgrading the wireless connectivity in both Maxwell and Eggers Halls. Design work is competed in Eggers Hall and construction will begin this month. Maxwell, being a bit more complex, will have a longer design and implementation window, with construction targeted to begin in late November. Designs for Heroy Hall are nearly complete as well. Some of the key stakeholders in Heroy have unique needs, including the delivery from ships around the world of audio and digital images of the ocean floor. Very cool stuff! Construction will begin in November, though arrangements were made to provide this ocean floor coverage to some areas of the building in time for Homecoming Weekend. Carnegie Library will also be undergoing a fairly significant renovation to restore the building and main entrance to its former grandeur. Starting in December, work will start to build out the main network infrastructure and have all new telecom rooms built and backbone infrastructure in place ahead of the multi-phased renovation schedule. It's anticipated that the renovation will continue through the summer of 2013. Design work will start soon for Crouse College, the Women's Building, Steele Hall, and, if possible, Bird Library. Stay tuned to IT Connections for future updates and, as always, if you have questions, visit the Network Master Plan website or contact Dennis Punch at dtpunch@syr.edu or x3245. |
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IT Connections is published monthly by Information Technology and Services at Syracuse University. Please submit story ideas and news items to Chris Finkle. |
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