SYSTEMS STAFF MONTHLY UPDATE - March 2007

Daylight savings time updates
Sunday March 11, 2007 is the new spring forward date for the U.S. People operating WinXp and OSX systems should refer to the Department downloads area of SSO for information about patching their systems. The major negative effect is your system time will be off one hour until April 1st 2007. Using a network-time protocol (NTP) synchronization server will not help since the time is transmitted in UTC format and then to the local timezone on the fly as required.

Things affected could include: Remote file access, Make, CVS (remotely accessed), Lotus Notes, Calendaring software (where automatic adjustments for DST are required). Current versions of FreeBSD and Linux (Fedora 6, RH9) are not affected. RH7/8 require patching of the timezone files as would your WinME cellphones and PDA's.

Software updates in the Trans lab
Mathematica is now available in the Trans Labs. All machines in rooms 2129, 2114, 2126, 2110 have access to Mathematica. The staff deployed IBM Rational Software Architect 7.0 and Modeler 7.0 in the Transaction processing lab. MYSQL has been added to the Trans lab Database server for use by cse308 this semester.

Software upgrades in the grad PC lab
 Updated JDK to 6.0 and Netbeans to 5.6 <http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~gradlab/software.html>

Microsoft VISTA available
 Microsoft VISTA Business Edition is available for download from MSDNAA. Microsoft has not included the Vista Ultimate Edition in MSDNAA. Students registered for CS courses and faculty can download VISTA from <http://msdnaa.sinc.stonybrook.edu> using their SB id number for access.

Microsoft Office 2007 available from MSDNAA
 Microsoft Office 2007 is available for download from MSDNAA by CS students and faculty at <http://msdnaa.sinc.stonybrook.edu>

Web updates
The CAREERS website has been established and the SPLAT lab (Prof. Johnson) has an official www.cs.sunysb.edu page.

ONGOING WORK

MySQL in Trans lab
 Due to requests for MYSQL support this semester, the staff is testing a MySQL installation in the trans lab. The current configuration should provide the basic support required for anticipated projects this spring and expanded features in the future.

New POP mail servers

The popmail server will be upgraded the week of March 12, 2007.

Webmail system
 The webmail system is in final testing. We expect to put it into production the week of March 12, 2007.

FUTURE PLANS

Geneva Logic Vision for Windows to be loaded in Trans lab
 Vision for Windows will allow the professor to display any Windows desktop in room 2129 to the podium or projector. Vision is useful for sharing solutions from one student with the student's class or to allow the professor to give remote help to a student during an in-class exercise.

Revision control system server to be deployed

The staff will deploy a revision control system for general access. The staff is targeting a system with a web front-end.

CEWIT to move to CEWIT machine room soon.
 The rehab work for the CEWIT IT room is nearly completed and the machines should move in by the end of March. Once the CEWIT machines are moved to the CEWIT IT room the complete inventory of systems can and will be booted up.

REMINDERS

Staff hotline
 2-2772 (CSSB). It will ring all staff phones and has voicemail.

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>.

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: <http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~secwreq>.

Previous Newsletters


Campus Events