SYSTEMS STAFF MONTHLY UPDATE - April 2007

ANNOUNCEMENTS

45 ways to patch your Apple OS X
As a result of the "Month of Bugs" campaign Apple has published 45 patches for Mac OS X.
See:   http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305214

Software updates in the Trans lab
 Geneva Logic's Vision for MS Windows is available in the Trans lab room 2129

Software upgrades in the grad PC lab
 Mathematica is installed on the PCs in the grad PC lab.

Updated information for MicroSoft Office 2007
 Client support expects Office 2007 to be available for state owned equipment around the end of April. For non-state owned systems, client support expects Office 2007 to be available around mid-May. We are being told the mechanism to obtain Office 2007 will be the same as currently used to obtain Office 2003.

a. Lab of state owned computers:
 The lab coordinator will send a wreq request to borrow the installation CD for up to seven days. The lab coordinator will need to execute a campus license agreement for the lab prior to receiving the CD. The signed agreement is returned to Client Support.

b. Individual state owned machines
The assigned user of the machine will log a WREQ request for software and the staff will schedule the installation of MS Office on that machine.

c. Non-state owned equipment
 Access is limited to faculty/Staff/RA/TA/GA using MS Office for their official state duties from their home PC. The user must to fill out a Work-at-home agree- ment and pay $11 via a Material and service request (see Kathy) or $12 via personal check, SBF, CPMP. Forms must be completed and sent to Client Support, S-5410 Melville Library, z=3382. CD's will be delivered to the requestor.
Forms and more detailed information available at: http://clientsupport.stonybrook.edu/staff/office/home.shtml.

d. Registered students
 All registered students have access to Microsoft Office. Please refer to: http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/Techfee/microsoft/FAQanswers.shtml#cost MS Office 2003 is free for all registered students from the Seawolves Marketplace or the HSC bookstore.

5. Web mail systems online
 You can access your email from your browser at this link: https://webmail.cs.sunysb.edu Use your dept login and password to access. An faq page is being developed.

6. Web updates
 The official web page for the Sensor Networks Lab (Dr. Gao) has been setup.
See URL: http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/facilities/research/SensorNetworksLab.html

ONGOING WORK

1. CEWIT machines getting OS update
 The CEWIT machines are having their version of Rocks upgraded to version 4.2.1.

2. Revision control system server
 The staff is deploying a revision control system for general access. The system has a web front-end.

3. MySQL in Trans lab
 The MySQL installation in the Trans lab is being refined to support other courses besides CSE308. Some of the refinements will include integration with Active Directory, remote access, online documentation.

FUTURE PLANS

1. Power interruption April 21st
 We anticipate a power interruption on April 21st at about 6am until noon April 22nd. Electrical switching equipment mostly associated with the emergency generator and building lighting require emergency repairs. The department has requested deferred essential maintenance to the building transformers and power distribution system occur at the same time. There have been numerous system failures related to poor electrical service. The maintenance should eliminate most, if not all, of the causes of poor quality power in the CS building.

2. CEWIT moving to CEWIT IT Infrastructure room soon.
 The contractors should complete their work soon and we expect to move the CEWIT systems from their temporary home to room 1313 April 15, 2007

3. JBoss application server
 The staff will deploy a JBoss application server in the Trans lab and faculty/student network.

REMINDERS

1. Staff hotline
 2-2772 (CSSB). It will ring all staff office phones and has voicemail. Business hours are 8am-6pm M-F except State and Federal holidays.

2. CEWIT
 The CEWIT reporting website is: http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~cewit. There are now 16 32-bit compute nodes (Dell, Xeon cpu) named compute-0-0 through compute-0-15. There are two HP 32GB RAM 4-CPU nodes available (compute-1-0, compute-1-1). A number of additional nodes are assigned to "Planet Lab". If you are interested in projects for CEWIT or Planet Lab contact Dr. Mohr (amohr) or Dr. Ajay Gupta (ajay). Specific requests for support (add software, problems, questions) should be submitted using WREQ.

WREQ Problem Reporting Tool
 Work requests and problem reports must be submitted to WREQ and not to ntadmin/root or individual staff members. This helps us track the progress of work requests better. We suggest using the Web interface to submit wreq requests at the URL: http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~wreq. You can email wreq at cs dot sunysb dot edu but the web is preferred. Do not send MIME mail or attachments (send attachments in a separate email to whichever staff person takes on your request) and send email from your CS department account.

SECWREQ Problem Reporting Tool
 You are encouraged to use SECWREQ for requests such as requisitions, course room changes, office supplies, grade changes, room reservations, payroll issues, tuition issues, reimbursements and building management issues (heat/cooling/ lights/leaking roof). The SECWREQ tool is located at: www.cs.sunysb.edu/~secwreq. You can send mail to secwreq at cs dot sunysb dot edu however do not send attachments or mime mail. Send email from your CS department account.

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