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 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.

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.

The Reserveroom tool is only accessible through the department Single Sign On facility at https://www.cs.sunysb.edu:8081/~sso/. Please delete any other references or bookmarks you have to the earlier version on intrawww.

Announcements
New students have until Friday September 3rd to use the automatic sign in and account generation service in Edwina's office. After this date Edwina will need to make special arrangements to have a new account generated. If you know of any incoming students who do not yet have an account please ask them to see Edwina as soon as possible.

The interruption in network service that we experienced during the week of August 23 - 27 was due to an extremely high error rate on the tap from the campus network interface to CS which failed to properly automagically reset. The error was resolved and steps are being taken to ensure that the same situation will not occur in the future.

New/Upgraded Software for Solaris
The Berkeley DB package has been upgraded to version DB4.2. It lives in /usr/local/pkg/BerkeleyDB4.2. Documentation is available in the Facilities area of our department website.

New/Upgraded Software on MS Windows
The Instant Client tool has been installed in both the Translabs and the Graduate PC lab. Instant Client is used to connect to the Oracle database. Complete information is available at:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/oci/instantclient/instantclient.html.

New Grad Lab Printer
A second printer has been installed in the Grad PC Lab (room 1239). Publaser1 will do single sided printing and publaser1d will do double sided printing. Beginning with Tuesday, September 7, all graduate student printing must be done to these 2 printers. Please remember that printing resources are paid for by research money. Printer accounting is turned on and if necessary quotas will be enforced.

PCs and Laptops
Virus/Spyware/Security
It has been reported in the news that one of the most recent internet scams is the hawking of fake anti-spyware programs. These downloadable programs then turn out to be spyware or worse themselves. The department web site has versions of Spybot and Ad-aware available for downloading via the SSO section at http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~sso.

On the Web
Downloads
The software downloads which appear on the side-bar of the CS website will be removed after labor day and software downloads will be available strictly through SSO.

Spam Control - Information for New Faculty and Students The department has a spam control system in place which assures a zero accidental loss of email. You have the option to be either in the spam control system or out of it (in which case all of your mail is delivered to you uninterrupted). If you are in the spam control system, your mail is scanned for possible spam, and messages which appear to the system to be spam are quarantined. Two times per day you will receive a digest which summarizes the spam which has been quarantined on your behalf. By replying to the digest you can choose
to retrieve all or some of those messages.

Please note that faculty by default are not in the spam control system. You need to explicitly change your setting in ~sso in
order to participate in the system. Please send mail to root if you need assistance with this or have other questions.

We have received a further donation of more Symbol PPT 2746 PDA's for use by Computer Science Department Faculty and Staff. They can also be used for classroom or research projects. The PDAs have the following configuration:

Infrastructure Changes and Upgrades
The PCs in room 2129 (the Programming Techniques Teaching Lab) have been upgraded to the following configuration:

A VCR has been installed in room 2129. You should find the VCR remote at the instructor's desk along with the projector remote already there. The VCR is inside the center cabinet of the desk (2 doors). It is important to remember that the VCR remote is IR and needs line-of-sight to the VCR to work.

Put the tape into the VCR, hit play on the VCR remote and use the "video" button on the projector remote to find the proper video input channel the VCR is plugged into. Once you find the channel and get the picture you'll get the audio.

Work is progressing on the renovation of room 1310 into a large conference room. The room will have an overhead projector and both wireless network access and wired port network access.

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.

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.