Computer Science Department - Systems Staff Monthly Update

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.

WREQ Problem Reporting Tool for Administrative Requests
There is now a WREQ Problem Reporting Tool for work requests directed to the department secretarial and administrative staff. You should use secwreq for requests such as requisitions, course room changes, office supplies, grade changes, room reservations, payroll issues, tuition issues, reimbursements and building management needs. This tool can be found at http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~secwreq or you can send mail to SECWREQ at cs dot sunysb dot edu.

New/Upgraded Software for Solaris
The ImageMagick suite of image processing tools has been upgraded. ImageMagick includes applications to create, write, edit and compose bitmap images. Included are: animate, compare, composite, conjure, conert, display, identify, import, mogrify and montage. There are man pages available for each of these, and they are installed in /usr/local. You can also view the on-line documentation on our website documentation page (see under "Facilities").

GDB, the GNU Project debugger, has been upgraded. GDB allows you to see what is going on `inside' another program while it executes -- or what another program was doing at the moment it crashed. See the manpage for complete information.

FAQs have been added to our website that detail solutions to two common Unix printing problems, "How do I print pdf files from a Unix host?" at http://www/~faq/UnixPDFPrinting.html and "Can I print an A4 document on the department printers?" at http://www/~faq/UnixA4Printing.html. These FAQs give information on the various utilities available to view, convert, and print pdf documents and documents formatted to A4 paper size.

Translabs
Both translabs (room 2126 and room 2114) will have their hardware, software and servers upgraded this summer. We will keep you informed via the newsletter as to when the upgrades will take place, including times that the labs will be closed while work is done there.

Graduate PC Lab
Software in the Graduate Windows Lab will be upgraded on May 19th. Rooms 1239 and 1204 will be closed from 9am to 1pm. Software upgrades will include

1. Rational Rose Enterprise 2003
2. Firefox 1.0.3
3. Real player 10
4. Quicktime 6.5.2
5. Symantec Antivirus v10

On the Web
The downloads area of our department website has been modified to require login via SSO only (changed from the old double login system). Other recent new features available through SSO are the building wireless configuration information and the graduate application for graduation form. Soon we will add to this area a news posting system that will allow department members to post news items to the web site.

We have 180 former students now registered in our alumni database. Registration in the alumni database will help us to keep alumni up to date about events in the department and allow alumni to keep us up to date as their careers develop. Please direct any alumni you are in touch with to http://alum.cs.sunysb.edu/~alumni/register/index.php to register themselves in the database.

Virus/Spyware/Security
Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition 10 is now available on the downloads section of our website. This edition includes protection against spyware and adware as well as viruses. It is recommended that all PC users upgrade to this version as soon as you are able. Be advised that you will need 25 Megs. of free space to install this program.

The W32.Sober.O@mm virus is spreading rapidly through both the internet at large and the campus itself. You must have virus definitions updated as of 5/02/05 or later to be protected against this virus. Check that your anti-virus software does automatic updates on a daily basis.

On April 12, 2005 Microsoft reported multiple vulnerabilities that if exploited by an attacker could result in a denial of service or in some cases give an attacker the ability to cause a compromised system to remotely execute code.

HOW TO REPORT A PROBLEM or MAKE A WORK REQUEST
First you should check the FAQ pages at:
http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~faq

There is also a link to an index of FAQs.
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/

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.

Your problem report must include the following information for us to be able to help you promptly:

The room you are working in, either room number or lab name.
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).
The sequence of things you did just prior to having the problem as best you recollect.
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: