A Note From Bill...
The recent events at Virginia Tech staggered all of us. We are concerned
for the victims and their families and friends, as
well as our colleagues, many of whom IT Services staff
have worked with for many years as part of the Common
Solutions group made up of research universities. When
these senseless actions happen, it is common to review
the events and to blame individuals and agencies after the fact.
A more constructive approach is for those of us at Stanford to
study what happened and ask, "What can we do now that would
enable us to respond quickly and efficiently if needed?" I would
appreciate it if you would let me, your manager,
or your executive director know if you have any ideas
that could improve our ability to respond to a similar
emergency at Stanford.
The University has been working on this
since the tragic events of April 16th. What is absolutely
clear for Stanford, and other universities, is that
IT plays a central role in providing an effective
institutional response.
When communication to the entire campus is urgent,
the University looks to IT Services to provide a solution.
The University’s response in these situations must
be broad-based to include all of our various constituencies
around the campus. It must be delivered across multiple
communication channels to reach people as they move
through their daily schedules. An email message
or voice mail is not sufficient in
an emergency.
The channels of communication that we believe should be available
for Stanford are:
- Email delivered in less than thirty minutes
- Redirect the Stanford Home web page to an Emergency Response page
- A crawling message across the bottom of the screen on all
Cable TV channels
- Text messages to registered student cell phones
- Voice mail placed in every voice mailbox
- A (Big-Fix) message on everyone’s computer screen
If you have other ideas about how to improve our emergency response
I urge you to talk to me, your manager, or
executive director. Should such an event ever occur
at Stanford our faculty, staff, and students
will look to IT Services to help the University provide
immediate and efficient communication.
- Bill Clebsch
IT Services
Apple Collaboration Team
We have created an Apple Collaboration team. The team is made up of
workgroup members from across IT Services and two representatives
from Apple: Silvia Herrero and Wyn Davies. The purpose
of the monthly meetings is to work more collaboratively
and partner with Apple on current releases, issues,
projects, and understanding of their future direction.
Topics of discussion will include:
- Client touch points
- Current concerns and issues
- Purchasing portal/Apple Bundles
- Agreements, licensing & support
- Product/Service updates
- Changes in service
- What's rolling out
- Integration issues
- New technology/tools
- Initiatives and projects
- K4-K5
- Backups
- Encryption
- Tech briefings/training subjects/tools
- Road-shows
- Strategy roadmap
Members include Noah Abrahamson,
Mark Branom,
Jim Brown,
Jan Cicero,
Robin Cohen,
Wyn Davies,
Silvia Herrero,
Chris Pickle,
Linda Pilkin,
Dave Ream,
Kent Reuber,
Tony Silveira,
Jay Stamps,
Tim Torgenrud,
Lori Wisneski, and
Karen Zack.
- Jan Cicero
Client Support
To OrderIT or not to OrderIT?
With the release of OrderIT, some things that were previously ordered
through an Account Manager or by arrangement with the
fulfillment group can now be ordered and billed directly
through OrderIT. Other things are still ordered the old-fashioned way,
but how do you know which is which?
A new decision
guide (PDF) has been created to help facilitate
placing an order. The guide is also available on
the OrderIT Help site.
Meanwhile, the web site project team is set to release
a new department home page and service catalog at the
end of May. It will display a correctly-routed order
link with each service listing. A preview
is available.
In general, the OrderIT site is used to place orders for phones, cable
TV, cellular service, network access, wiring projects,
and data center requests such as adding additional
storage or setting up a new server. The services
listed below are ordered outside of OrderIT:
- Ammy Hill
Campus Readiness
Integrated Email and Calendar
The Integrated
Email and Calendar project is moving forward
toward making a recommendation. RFP responses were
received and eight candidate solutions have been
analyzed. Three leading candidates were identified
as having the best fit with Stanford’s requirements
and testing is underway to evaluate the three products.
The leading contenders are Zimbra, Google, and Microsoft Exchange.
Classroom-based functionality testing took place April 19th through
the 24th with staff representing schools and business
units from across campus. Three candidate tools—Exchange
2007 using Outlook Web Access, Google Mail and Calendar,
and Zimbra—were evaluated at the testing sessions. The online
survey results from the sessions are currently being reviewed, and
an extended test is about to begin. In the extended testing, the team
hopes to gather additional input as well as augment existing staff
feedback with evaluations from students and faculty.
Vendor demos are being scheduled for the week of May 7th in Turing
Auditorium. Each vendor is holding two sessions. The
first is geared toward business needs like features
and functions, migration planning, and product road
maps. The second session is geared toward a more technical audience,
covering things like integration, interoperability, and open standards.
May 7, 2007: Microsoft
Business Presentation 9:30 to 11
Technical Presentation 1 to 2:30
May 9, 2007: Google
Business Presentation 11 to 12:30
Technical Presentation 1 to 2:30
May 10, 2007: Zimbra
Business Presentation 8:30 to 10
Technical Presentation 10:30 to 12
- Ammy Hill
Campus Readiness
Managed Machine Room
Previously, the network in the machine rooms in Forsythe, Sweet
Hall, West ECH, and East ECH were provisioned and managed
by the Systems Administration group. The Managed Machine
Room project
(MMR) was initiated in the summer of 2006 in an effort
to replace and
upgrade the aging switches in these locations and for
Networking
Systems to own and maintain the network infrastructure
in all
data center areas.
The project involved procuring, configuring, and installing 52 new
network switches—each capable of providing 1Gbps
to every server—and
migrating close to 400 servers from the old network
infrastructure
onto the new MMR network infrastructure. The server
migrations were
done in nine phases, with the first migration starting
in November of
2006 and the last migration occurring on March 14 of
2007.
This project exceeded all expectations and its success is the result
of an excellent team effort that involved multiple
IT Services departments. Thank you to the team for
making this project a great
success. Drew Saunders, the lead network engineer
assigned to this
project from Networking Systems, was responsible for
the design and
configuration of the network switches. Pat Luma, Allen
Penny, and Ryan
Quintos from TFAC provided the cabling, racking of
the network
switches, and countless weekend hours during the maintenance
windows
to perform the server migrations. Mike Horansky from
the UNIX
SysAdmin team verified that all the services were back
up and running
after the migrations. Kelly Dang of Networking Systems
was the project manager for this large-scale effort
and kept things on track and moving.
A special thank you to Steve Tingley for pitching in
and helping
resolve a technical issue during one of the migrations.
- Mark Miyasaki
Shared Communication Services; Networking Systems
WebEx Training
The use of WebEx at Stanford continues to expand. More than 175
individuals have secured WebEx licenses which
permits them to use
the WebEx portfolio of
online tools.
In addition to the May 4th Tech Briefing overview session in Turing
Auditorium from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., there are a number
of focused training sessions offered online through
Webinars as described in the
Spring 2007 Training Opportunities guide. Individuals
interested in
a more detailed exposure to these tools can enroll
via STARS (login
to axess and click on the "Training" tab.)
WebEx Meeting Center Jump-Start!: Monday, May 7, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00
a.m. (online via WebEx).
Sign up for Course TOD-3501.
WebEx Record, Archive, and Replay Webinars and Meetings: Thursday,
May
17, 11:00 a.m. to noon (online via WebEx). Sign up
for Course TOD-3506.
WebEx Training Center Jump-Start: Wednesday, May 23, 11:00 a.m. to
noon (online via WebEx). Sign up for Course TOD-3502.
WebEx Support Center Jump-Start: Wednesday, June 6, 11:00 a.m. to
noon (online via WebEx).
Sign up for Course TOD-3503.
Recent negotiations with WebEx have more than halved the toll-free,
long-distance rate to $0.0975/minute/participant. Toll
rates (using the local 650-429-3300 number) remain
at $0.05/minute/participant, and the VoIP cost (if
all participants have microphones/speakers) is
$0.02/minute/participant.
- Chris Lundin
Client Support; Help Desk Services
Windows Products Available
Software Licensing and Windows Systems have teamed up to license Microsoft
products for IT Services staff. IT Services-owned computers—including
training lab computers and other shared machines (except
servers)—are covered by this agreement. Office Suite
and Windows Operating System are the only products
licensed. Clients of IT Services and their machines
are not covered by this agreement.
Stanford has two main types of Microsoft Agreements
on campus—the Campus Agreement and the Select Agreement. IT
Services, Chemistry, and GSB have Campus Agreements,
each of which provides a single department with a
limited selection of software. Other departments
that want to consider a Campus Agreement should contact Stefani
Fukushima in Procurement
for more information.
All other Microsoft products
are covered under the Select Agreement. Individual
or volume licenses are purchased directly from Procurement
on a CWA order.
The Windows Systems team has installed Vista and
Office 2007 on servers available to the CRC team that
supports IT Services staff. Requests for installation should
be made via HelpSU ticket. If submitting a request via the Web,
select Category “Software Downloads and Upgrades” and
Type “Software installation assistance.” The software may be
installed on IT Services-owned machines only.
Many thanks to the team members who helped make this service possible:
John Baltierra, Debbi Barley, Pat Box, Robin Cohen, Barry
Magsanay, Jay Stamps, Brian Wankel, and Ross Wilper.
For more information or if you have a question, contact Software
Licensing at 724-2424 or software@stanford.edu
- Robin Cohen
Client Support; Software Licensing
Webmail Upgrade Released
Many thanks to the UNIX Email team—most notably Jon Robertson, Hua
Zheng,
and Xueshan Feng—for the successful rollout of the
new and improved
WebMail.
Besides the features and improvements in the user interface, the
infrastructure includes five Webmail servers
with hardware load-balancing and a new
MySQL back end.
- Steve Loving
Client Support; Project Management Office
Can I Recycle This?
Are plastic bags recyclable?
Yes, plastic bags, bubble wrap, shrink wrap, air pillows, and
other similar "bag" material can be recycled in the mixed paper bins on
campus. Putting this material in the mixed
paper bin keeps it clean and dry, and it allows us to use our existing
collection methods to bring it to our yard to recycle it.
We do not accept cellophane or
any plastic wrapping that is "crinkly" sounding
like cellophane (more crinkly sounding than a plastic
grocery bag) and also no frozen food bags; these have
nylon in them that is incompatible with the new product
manufacturing.
Can I recycle styrofoam?
Reuse it if you can. Polystyrene (also known as
styrofoam or #6 plastic) packaging materials (peanuts
or large blocks) are not accepted in Stanford's recycling
program. Call 1-800-828-2214 or visit
our web site
for a list of places that accept polystyrene for reuse
or recycling.
One thing you can do to help is to
let companies that send you goods in polystyrene packaging
know that you don't want it; that you would prefer
it was packaged in something that can be recycled on
campus (like molded paper, egg cartons, bubble wrap,
or air pillows). As more companies hear that
message, the more likely they will be to change their
packaging choices.
- Julie Muir
Peninsula Sanitary Service, Inc.
Emergency Contact: StanfordYou
StanfordYou now has an entry for Emergency Contact information. This
is available only for faculty and staff at present
(excluding SLAC and the Hospital). Students will be
able to view their emergency contact information in
StanfordYou, but will continue to maintain it
via Axess.
This is a new option on the StanfordYou home page, where
users will be able to add and maintain their emergency
contact information. This feature was added at the
request of HR and the Office of Emergency Management.
Current plans are to implement a policy in the near
future requiring that all University affiliates have
updated emergency contact information on file.
For now, this is a "soft" release. There
is no deadline for entering this information. Any
existing emergency contact data in PeopleSoft will
be visible via StanfordYou, so employees can find outdated
details if the information has not been updated recently.
To add your information, log in to StanfordYou and
click on "Maintain your emergency contact information" on
the bottom of the StanfordYou main page.
- Jennifer Vine
Administrative Systems
Speaking of Computers
Be sure to check out the spring issue of Speaking
of Computers.
This eNewsletter highlights the latest news in technology-related and computing
activities, services, and resources on campus.
You'll find articles in the spring issue that cover such topics as:
CourseWork
v5, Stanford's course management system,
which replaces the current version of CourseWork (v3)
this summer.
Free
remote Internet access to Stanford faculty and
staff via iPass through August 2007.
How to
add
a Socrates search box to your browser.
A
new Information
Center web site that offers quick
reference help, including iChat reference.
SULAIR's
Copyright
Renewal Database, a useful tool for anyone
researching the copyright status of U.S. works.
Free
images for scholars from the Metropolitan Museum
via ARTstor.
Microsoft
Office 2007 and how to make files created
with it compatible with previous versions of Microsoft
Office.
News about
what
Academic Technology Specialists are doing to help
faculty in various departments.
Recently acquired
electronic resources, including
Eighteenth
Century Journals II,
House
of Commons Parliamentary Papers, and
Chemistry
resources.
Note that there are links at the top of the newsletter's
home page, and at the top of each section's home
page, to make browsing and printing entire sections
easier. You can also browse the table of contents
and read the articles of your choice online, or you
can print "printer-friendly" copies of individual
articles.
"Speaking of Computers" is published at the beginning
of Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters by SULAIR Publications.
A publication announcement for each issue of "Speaking
of Computers" is
also distributed by subscription
request.
Please send any questions or feedback to Eleanor
Brown.
- Eleanor Brown
SULAIR