SYSTEMS STAFF MONTHLY UPDATE - November 2007

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Windows security announcements

a. Windows Defender is available on the SSO downloads area.
As a matter of department policy, all Windows PCs should have an
anti-spyware package installed in addition to anti-virus software.

b. Symantec Antivirus for Windows v10.1.6 plus patch 10.1.6.6010 are
available on the SSO downloads area.

c. Microsoft released 4 critical patches and 2 important patches for
the month of October 2007.
Please make sure your computers are up to date by visiting Microsoft
update (http://update.microsoft.com).

d. A security flaw exists with Lotus Notes for Windows third-party file
viewers for Wordperfect (.wpd), Ami Pro (.sam), Micrsoft Word for
DOS (.doc), and FrameMaker (.mif).
An attacker could send specially crafted file attachments that could
allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code. All flaws are known
to be fixed in Notes 7.0.3 and most are also fixed in Notes 8.0. See

<http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=899&uid=swg21271111>

e. Adobe Reader and browser plug-ins for Windows has a flaw which
enables cross-site-scripting.
This attack allows the attacker to make a browser display content
from a website of her/his choosing and not the site in the browser's address bar.

f. Support for MS Windows 95/98 and Win2000 is being terminated; the
few remaining Win2000 hosts in the department are being upgraded.
Supported MS Windows versions include XP and 2003 server.Support
for Vista is limited at this stage, as Vista is fairly new and
the campus itself is still evaluating it.However, limited experience
with Vista appears fairly promising.


2. Apple Mac OSX security updates

Microsoft issued one security update for Mac versions of MS Office.


3. CEWIT updates

The CEWIT Cluster has recently been upgraded to Rocks version 4.3.
The following packages have updated versions:

a. CentOS release 4 update 5 and all updates as of July 4, 2007.
b. Base: Anaconda installer updated to v10.1.1.63.
c. Base: Database indirects. More flexibility with Rocks variables.
d. Grid: Globus updated to gt4.0.4 with web services.
e. Condor: updated to v6.8.5.
f. PVFS2: updated to v2.6.3.
g. Java: updated to v1.5.0_10.
h. Ganglia: updated to v3.0.4.


4. Software upgrades in the Transaction Processing Lab (TRANSLAB)
(rm 2110, 2114, 2126)

The following packages have been updated based on instructor requests:

a. Mathematica 6
b. Matlab R2006B
c. IBM Software Architect and Modeler v7
d. Quark
e. Torque Game Engine
f. Eclipse 3.3
g. Altova MissionKit 2008
h. Java 1.6.0, Acrobat Reader 8.0
i. Mozilla 2.0.0.6.


5. New department laser printers

All of the old HP laserJet4 printers have been replaced by new HP
LaserJet P3005d. The new printers have better resolution, larger paper
capacity,larger toner capacity and are rated for a CS dept workload.No changes
to your environment are required.

6. Laptop room (rm 1203) online

Room 1203 went online for use as a study area or for connecting to the
department network using wireless and wired access. There are 10
cubicles available for student use. This addresses the growing popularity of
students bringing personal laptops whom they want to hook to the dept.network.

7. Web updates

Information about room combinations was added to the faculty-only area.
Announcements about Dr. Sion and Gupta's grants were run on the main
dept page. SPM08, SMI08 and Stony Brook Modeling Week sites were created
and updated.


ONGOING WORK

1. CEWIT

ROCKS Bio-Role, 64bit ROCKS and Condor are being tested and configured.

2. Backup server

A new backup server is being setup to address backup needs including
research labs and CEWIT. It is expected to become available by the
Spring 2008 term.

3. Mail/Spam

The staff is working to setup newly purchased servers to serve as our
anti-spam, anti-virus, and email servers. They are based on X86/Linux
systems.


FUTURE PLANS

1. Production MySQL database server

A MySQL server is planned to take over production DB support to replace
the current shared (between educational and production tasks) server.

2. Dynamic provisioning of CEWIT systems

The staff is working on mechanisms to dynamically allocate portions
of the CEWIT cluster. We're exploring some new software from CA.


REMINDERS

1. Staff hot-line

2-2772 (CSSB). It will ring all staff office phones and has voicemail.
Business hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon-Fri except State and Federal holidays.

2. CEWIT

The CEWIT reporting website is: <http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~cewit>.
There are 110 compute nodes (Dell, Xeon cpu). There are two HP 32GB
RAM 4-CPU nodes available (compute-1-0, compute-1-1). There are 46
storage nodes online with 50TB of scratch space via PVFS. A number of
additional nodes are assigned to "Planet Lab". If you are interested
in projects for CEWIT, Planet Lab or have specific requests for support
(add software, problems, questions) please use WREQ to send the request.

3. 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 also email wreq at cs.sunysb.edu but the Web interface is
preferred. If you send email, please send plain text (without MIME
attachments) and send from your CS department account.

4. 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>. You can send mail to secwreq at
cs.sunysb.edu; please do not send MIME mail or attachments there. Send
email from your CS department account.

Previous Newsletters


Campus Events