SYSTEMS STAFF MONTHLY UPDATE - JULY 2003

Announcements

The Graduate PC Lab (room 1239) will be closed for renovations this Friday through Monday, August 8 - 11.

WREQ Problem Reporting Tool
Email work requests and problem reports are now being entered into the WREQ problem reporting tool. You should submit all requests directly to WREQ and not to ntadmin or individual staff members. You can do this by posting a request through the web interface at: http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~wreq or simply by sending your email request to WREQ at cs dot sunysb dot edu.

When you use WREQ for your request it goes to the entire staff simultaneously, so that the person best able to help you sees it immediately. It is logged in a central location so that it cannot accidently be overlooked in someone's mailbox. You will automatically receive updates by email when the problem is either resolved or updated along the path to resolution. Finally, you can look it up online yourself at any point to see its status and any notes a staff person may have made.

New or Upgraded Software for Solaris

Some useful software for converting to html from other formats has been installed for Solaris.

The txt2html tool converts text to html. It is available both as a perl module and as a script. For information see "man txt2html" or HTML::TextToHTML".

The lpr2html is an lpr to html converter will translate backspace-overstrikes and other line printer tricks generated by nroff to html. Its author says "Simplistic, but does a suprisingly decent job of converting manual pages and other documents." It does not have a manual page but "lpr2html" will show you usage options.

The program man2web is for converting manual pages to HTML on the fly. Use "man man2web" to see documentation.

A reminder that the gcc compiler suite has been upgraded to version 3.2.2. Please note that there are significant changes from the 2.x versions and your code may require tweaking to compile under 3.2.2. Please visit gcc.gnu.org and look through the documentation and FAQs available there for more information.

New or Upgraded Software on MS Windows

Email was sent out to all faculty with a listing of software which will be available in the Transaction Lab starting 9/3/2003. If you are teaching in this Lab please review the list and send mail to NTADMIN at cs dot sunysb dot edu as soon as possible if you need software which does not appear on this list.

VMware

VMare accounts are available for students who would like to try out the Linux interface and user software. Email VMWARE at cs dot sunysb dot edu if you would like to set up an account.

Web

The development of the new department website is nearing completion and we would like your input regarding the site. The new website can be viewed at http://sbtestwww.cs.sunysb.edu/. The anticipated launch date of the new website is the week of August 11.

Please send all comments and suggestions to WEBADM at cs dot sunysb dot edu.

Infrastructure Changes and Upgrades

Labs

The RAID fileserver in the Visualization Lab has been upgraded to 1.8 terabytes of storage.

Upgrades

The PCs in the Programming Techniques Teaching Lab (Roomt 2129) have been upgraded in memory, CPU, and disk. Six additional machines will be added to the lab to make a total of 47 student seats.

The Multimedia Lab Imacs are being upgraded to G4s. This upgrade should be complete by the start of the semester.

The TA Helpdesk room across from the Teaching Lab on the second floor is being renovated, and the PCs for TA use will be upgraded in August.

New Network Facilities

The new Conference Room (room 2311) has become laptop-friendly with wireless access throughout and electrical outlets at every seat. Please see the file /var/adm/sysinfo/info/wireless.connect for connection information.

Wireless access in the downstairs Seminar Room (room 1306) will be available on Friday, August 15. Please see the file /var/adm/sysinfo/info/wireless.connect for connection information.

PCs and Laptops

The state-wide SUNY system has a contract with Adobe that provides SUNY with a 65% discount on Adobe's standard education prices. The contract is handled solely through SUNY Buffalo and applies to software for departmental use only.

Pricing and ordering information is available at UBMicro's website: http://www.ubmicro.buffalo.edu/partners.shtml

Pricing for home installations is available on our sales website: http://www.ubmicro.buffalo.edu/software.shtml. Requests for software that is not listed here can be sent to ubmicro@buffalo.edu.

If you have any questions about the products and services available or how to place an order, please contact UBMicro as follows:

Donald Wallace
716-645-5819
dwallace@buffalo.edu

Microsoft Critical Updates
We have had several reports that computers on campus that have the vulnerability outlined in Microsoft Security Bulletin 03-26 (http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-026.asp) are being actively attacked. The main symptom is that a box pops up on the screen that svchost.exe has aborted and the computer does not function properly after that. You should make sure you have the referenced critical update patch installed on your Windows computer as soon as possible. If you need help with this please email NTADMIN at cs dot sunysb dot edu.

#New PC Worm Alert - W32.Mimail.A@mm, WORM_MIMAIL. W32.MIMAIL.A# A new mass mailing worm using its own SMTP engine has emerged over the last few hours in significant numbers. It has as an attachment - a zip file containing an html file referencing an internal exe file, based upon the 'Self Executing HTML vulnerability'. The mail to you will look like this:

Subject: "your account" followed by a variable. Attachments: message.zip
Message body:
Hello there,
I would like to inform you about important information regarding your email address. This email address will be expiring. Please read attachment for details
---
Best regards, Administrator

You can download Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition from our downloads website at
http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/Downloads/index.html . To access the downloads, get the login information from /var/adm/sysinfo/info/downloads.password from any of the unix machines in the department.

Make sure that your virus definitions (for Norton Antivirus) are upto date. You can either use LiveUpdate feature installed in the Norton Antivirus Client or download the virus definitions manually from http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/defs.download.html.

The Stony Brook Community

Work continues on the Graduate On-Line Application system.

HOW TO REPORT A PROBLEM or MAKE A WORK REQUEST

  1. First you should check the FAQ pages at:

    http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/FAQ/index.html

    There is also a link to an index of FAQs.

  2. If the answer to your question is not in the faq's you should use wreq to report the problem or make a work request.

    There is a short blurb on wreq in the faq area (search by index)

    Wreq lives at:
    http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~wreq/

  3. You can also send email to: WREQ at cs dot sunysb dot edu from your dept account, or campus account. The subject line should cover what is wrong or what you need. The body of the email can supply any details.
  4. Your problem report must include the following information for us to be able to help you promptly:
    1. The room you are working in, either room number or lab name.
    2. The name of the host you are working on (hostname command in Unix, machine number in 1239, the number written on the bookshelf by your desk in the student offices).
    3. The sequence of things you did just prior to having the problem as best you recollect.
    4. The exact text of any error message you see on the screen, or a complete description of the problem that occured.
    Please report problems promptly as they occur so they can be investigated under the same set of conditions as far as possible.

When in doubt, feel free to send email to: Unix and network problems: ROOT at cs dot sunysb dot edu PC problems: NTADMIN at cs dot sunysb dot edu

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