its in bits

Survey

Results from last issue's survey question: Have you taken your summer vacation yet?

There were 56 responses. 19 said "Yes," and 37 said "No."

Tips From Your Admin

Did you know that University policy requires all purchases of equipment or services in excess of $5,000 to be open to bid, unless we provide a written "sole-source" justification?

Staff Profile

Stacy Lee joined Stanford in September, 2001.

How would you describe your current job responsibilities?

I am a senior member of the Windows Systems Team, providing support in Infrastructure services. Three significant projects I worked on this past year were migrating the GSB SQL 2000 servers from an EMC SAN to an iSCSI NetApp SAN; then as a summer project I built out four new SQL 2005 servers for GSB to migrate to; this spring an interesting project I worked on was an Application Server with a SQL 2005 backend, for H&S Archaeology. The server is used for cataloging over eight years (100GB+) of images from the "Excavation Site" in Çatalhöyük.

My other role is the Lead for the BigFix service. This role has been rewarding not only by providing the University a service to help keep their machines updated but has also brought many schools and departments together to share a common goal. This unity has helped to evolve the service in the areas of inventory tracking, AntiVirus updates, and Application Updates.

Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy the people I work with and the opportunity to work on many challenging projects. The best part is there are always new and challenging projects to work on. I also love the fact I can run out and play Ultimate Frisbee at lunch time and take advantage of the many facilities on campus.

What did you do before you came to Stanford?

I worked as a System Administrator for a Dot Com in San Mateo called Logictier. I had a bunch of stock options and thought I'd make it rich and retire by 30 but that didn't happen. Previous to that I worked as a Graphics Designer for a firm whose main clients were Hollywood movie firms. I had the opportunity to work on images for movies such as the 6th day, Mission to Mars and Saving Silverman. I also was an extra in an episode of the X-Files.

What do you like to do when you're not at work?

I just had a new daughter this past December so most of my time is spent watching and helping her grow up. My other hobby is traveling; it's always great to experience new places and cultures.

What is your favorite movie, book, song?

Movie: Transformers
Song: No one favorite; generally, Alternative Rock.

Staff Happenings

Comings and Goings

The Systems Integration Team is pleased to announce that the Integration Analyst position, open since September 2006, has been filled by Adam Lewenberg.

Adam is scheduled to start on August 20. He comes to Stanford from the University of Illinois, where he held the position of Systems, Database, and Network Analyst. Adam also holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics and has spent most of his career in Academic IT. In addition to Adam's work experience, his broad understanding of systems and technology lends itself very well to this role, and we are confident that IT Services will benefit from this addition to the team.

Big thanks to Heather Flanagan, who helped fill this opening when she spotted a fit for the Integration team after Adam's resume was submitted for an open UNIX SA position!

Please join me in welcoming Adam to IT Services. You are welcome to stop by Polya Hall on Wednesday, August 22 at 9 a.m. during the welcome breakfast to say hello in person.

- Donna Cummings
Shared Communication Services; Application Support

The Application Support Team is happy to announce that Greg Janicki will be joining our team on August 13.

Greg has a unique combination of skills that makes him a great addition to the Application Support team. Greg worked for the past four+ years for Cingular Wireless as a Remedy Application Administrator/System Administrator, making him a nice fit for the support of both Pinnacle and Remedy. Additionally, Greg spent five years as an Infrastructure, Web, and Integrations Quality Assurance Manager. With the new Quality Assurance department in Client Support, we hope that having Greg on our team brings strategic value to the IT Services QA initiative.

Please join us in welcoming Greg to IT Services. Stop by our welcome breakfast at Polya Hall on Wednesday, August 22 at 9 a.m. to say hello.

- Anne Pinkowski
Shared Communication Services; Application Support

The following people recently joined Information Technology Services. Welcome!

Shari Carter (Carolyn Kane)
Nicole Marshall (Carolyn Kane)

its in bits welcomes more detailed employee news submissions from all staff. Please submit to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu

Tech Briefings

Tech Briefings

Fridays
2–3:30 p.m.

Turing Auditorium

August 17: Stanford Desktop Tools

Mark Branom will cover improvements that have been made to Stanford Desktop Tools, as well as the process of moving off of PC-Leland and MacLeland. Everyone on campus needs to move off of PC-Leland and MacLeland prior to April 2008.

August 24: Seven Secrets to High Google Rankings

Stephan Spencer, Netconcepts. During this rich presentation, spanning SEO (Search Engine Optimization) fundamentals as well as advanced tricks and tactics that only the elite SEO experts know, you'll learn how to: check your "Google Pulse;" estimate missed opportunity costs; ensure Google crawls 100% of your site, including dynamic pages; design your pages to dominate rankings; avoid getting banned by Google; wield invaluable SEO tools you've not yet heard of; build high-quality links from trusted sites; boost your PageRank along with your rankings; prepare for changes to come; and much more.

Check the Tech Briefings home page for future sessions and to subscribe to the mailing list.

Technology Training Courses

Upcoming Tech Training classes of interest to IT Services staff.

Thu, Aug 16, PowerPoint Tips and Timesavers, 8:30–12, $150

Thu, Aug 16, Sundial Tips and Tricks, 1:00–4:30, Free

*Fri, Aug 17, Excel Level 1, 9:00–4:00, $275

Mon, Aug 20, Access Level 2, 9:00–4:00, $275

Mon, Aug 20, OpenOffice.org: A Free Alternative to Microsoft Office, 1:30–4:30, $150

Tue, Aug 21, Excel Level 3, 9:00–12:00, $275

*Tue, Aug 21, Sundial Tips and Tricks, 1:00–4:30

*Wed, Aug 22, Excel Level 2, 9:00–4:00

Wed, Aug 22, FileMaker Pro Level 1, 9:00–12:00, $275

Wed, Aug 22, Dreamweaver Level 3, 9:00–12:00, $275

Thu, Aug 23, Blogs: Setting Up a Blog at Stanford, 1:30–4:30, $150

Mon, Aug 27, Excel Level 1, 9:00–12:00, $275

Mon, Aug 27, Adobe Acrobat: The Basics of Using the Full Version, 1:30–4:30, $150

*Mon & Tues, Aug 27 & 28, InDesign Levels 1 and 2, 9:00–4:00 both days, $500

Tue, Aug 28, Dreamweaver Lite, 1:00–4:30, $150

Wed, Aug 29, Access Level 1, 9:00–12:00, $270

Wed, Aug 29, Photoshop Lite, 1:30–4:30, $150

Thu, Aug 30, Excel Level 2, 9:00–12:00, $275

Thu, Aug 30, Webmail at Stanford, 1:00–4:30, $150

*Fri, Aug 31, Photoshop Lite, 1:30–4:30, $150

Thu, Sep 6, Word Merge, 8:30–12, $150

*Class added recently to meet demand.

Classes with low enrollment may be cancelled one week in advance. More information on courses, registration, and training is available at the Technology Training Services site.

- Nancy Baumann
Technology Training Services

IT Employment Opportunities

There were two new job postings for IT Services this week.

Req.#26566–Telecom Technician Leader, posted 8/8/07, Range A40, 100% FTE, Rocco Petrunti, hiring manager.

The Telecom Technical Leader is responsible for leadership in the design, installation and maintenance of the SL 100 voice, local area networks, and cable TV system, providing advanced technical support for Communication Services and other University departments as required.

Req.#26576–Knowledgebase Support Analyst, posted 8/8/07, Range 4P2, 100% FTE, Tom Goodrich, hiring manager.

The Knowledgebase Support Analyst (KSA) is primarily responsible for the input of content into the Stanford Answers knowledge database. The KSA prepares content for publication in the knowledgebase and either submits it for publication by RightAnswers (via the Content Manager) or publishes directly (via Solution Manager).

To view the complete listings or to apply for a position, visit the StanfordJobs web site at: jobs.stanford.edu.

There are other open Information Technology positions at Stanford. To see what other opportunities exist on campus, link to the full list of all open IT positions at Stanford

Quote of the Week

"Summer afternoon—Summer afternoon… the two most beautiful words in the English language."

- Henry James

News

A Note From Bill...

Here we are almost at the end of the year and the start of a new academic year. The past year has been packed with hard work, projects, and activities. As I look back, I think we have all shared some amazing accomplishments.

What comes to my mind first is the Client Survey. Not just because the results were good, but more because they reaffirmed a change I had already sensed in my conversations with our clients. The tenor of those conversations has changed over the past year in particular. It feels once again like we’re partners working with our clients towards common goals. This was confirmed by the data in the survey. Our clients recognized IT Services for the reliability and uptime of our systems, for providing services that are valuable, and for becoming more responsive.

Next I think about the Employee Survey, and I can’t help but be proud of how hard all of us have worked to make significant change to IT Services over the last three years. We have made important (not frivolous) changes to the organization; we have improved our workflow and processes; and we have made some key new hires. My thanks to all of you for the work you have done to improve our effectiveness as a service organization. The great news is that we have done all of this, and the employee survey results showed that morale has improved immensely. While there is more work to be done, I think we are heading in the right direction.

Last week, we had the annual IT Services summer picnic with a twist—we invited our families and children to come and enjoy the afternoon with us. I was amazed at the turnout! It was so wonderful to see so many families and children there talking, eating, playing, and sharing. Because we’re knowledge workers, we seem to spend almost as much time with our colleagues as we do our families. Rather than trying to find a separate work-versus-life balance, I think the solution is to have it all flow together. That’s exactly what I saw at the summer picnic. And, it was really fun!

As we look forward to the new year, we still have big challenges ahead of us. We need to build a new data center, implement a new integrated email and calendar system, improve our order times, lower our rates, install major upgrades to our systems, develop business continuity, support research computing, and improve further our reliability, availability, and security; and that’s just some of it. However, I know that we are up to the challenge. I know we can exceed the expectations of our clients and the standards of Stanford University, as long as we continue to collaborate together to create excellence.

- Bill Clebsch
IT Services

Ten Years and a Million Tickets

Our production version of Remedy turned ten years old on Tuesday, August 7. Way back on August 7, 1997, we generated our first production HelpSU "ticket" using Remedy's Action Request System software. Since that time, we've handled more than 1.1 million customer requests.

The use of Remedy has grown from its original twelve consultants, in what was then ITSS Customer Assistance, to more than 1,500 consultants spread across more than 250 groups. In fact, most of the new groups/departments that are being rolled onto the system are hearing about HelpSU/Remedy from their peers and customers who are encouraging them to make their lives easier.

We had 522,333 tickets stored in our Stanford-developed Remedy application prior to May 1, 2004. Since May 1, 2004, we have stored 596,444 tickets in BMC Remedy's Help Desk 5.5 application.

The Remedy Reimplementation team will install and configure BMC Remedy Service Desk 7.0 by Spring Quarter, 2008. We now have an Application Support team with significant Remedy experience and are pleased with our in-house skills and abilities. As part of the Remedy Reimplementation effort, we are also building the Remedy infrastructure to critical-application standards: separate dev, test, and production environments with load balancing, 7x24 monitoring, and vendor support. Due to the criticality of this application to the campus community, we are working to strengthen our support model and infrastructure.

- Anne Pinkowski
Shared Communication Services; Application Support

New IT Services Staff Directory

Last week, a link to the new IT Services online staff directory was added to our Internal Resources for IT Services staff page. The directory, which can only be accessed by IT Services and our HR staff, was created so that we can easily and reliably contact the staff who support the many critical services we provide to the University. Information includes office phone and email address, as well as Stanford-supplied cell phones and pagers. Additionally, IM user names can be added for work groups who rely on Instant Messaging.

A link at the top of the directory page goes to a form where you can request additions, changes, and deletions to the directory. The form sends the information to our Admin staff, who are responsible for keeping the directory up-to-date. Note that the directory is updated weekly, so the changes that you submit will not appear immediately.

Thanks to Brian Young in Client Support's Documentation, Design, and Delivery group for creating the staff directory page, and to Cholada Chenhansa in our Admin group for agreeing to take on page updates.

- Jan Cicero
Client Support

Conversion to Lightweight Access Point Technology

As part of FY07 wireless initiatives, IT Services has begun converting older, autonomous wireless access points to newer, lightweight protocols. This will allow easier management and monitoring of the more than 1,800 access points around campus. In certain areas, the new access points will also provide increased performance, with automatic load balancing. In other areas, the new access points will be able to recover from hardware failures by automatically increasing the wireless signal of neighboring access points.

SULAIR has decided to transition its wireless service to the IT Services wireless network to take advantage of the increased capabilities that the Light Weight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP) affords. Meyer Library has already been converted to IT Services' new LWAPP technology, and the Green Libraries will finish conversion before the start of the new school year. The "satellite" libraries will also be converted during FY08.

IT Services is also currently physically upgrading the original install base of older 350 series access points to the newer 1130 series lightweight access points. The new access points will bring higher wireless bandwidth and manageability to areas such as the Main Quad, Museum, and Clark Center.

The back-end technology for the Wireless Guest system has been upgraded to provide better supportability. While the functionality of the Wireless Guest system (including the need to sponsor guests) remains the same, the web login page has been modified to present guests with the acceptable use policy.

More information on Wireless Guest access can be found at: http://www.stanford.edu/services/wirelessnet/visitors.html. As mentioned in the January 24th issue of Speaking of Computers, IT Services has been working on expanding outdoor wireless coverage. The following outdoor areas now have wireless coverage: Main Quad, Memorial Court, Rodin Sculpture Garden, Canfield Court, and Koret Park. Additionally, these areas will have wireless coverage by the fall: Dohrman Grove, Kennedy Grove, White Plaza, Roble Field, and the Artificial Turf Field. IT Services is also continuing to investigate solutions for bringing wireless coverage to The Oval.

For information about the University-provided wireless network on campus, including a map of wireless locations and how to connect your computer, see wirelessnet.stanford.edu.

- Alvin Chew
Shared Communication Services; Networking Systems

Oracle RAC

Earlier this year, the Database Administration Team began working on a project to provide a new service offering to our clients. The purpose of the project was to provide a more robust back-end infrastructure, with fault tolerance, for the Oracle database application. This approach would allow the team to offer our service in a more cost-effective manner, while providing a higher service level to our customers. Oracle RAC (Real Application Cluster) was selected for this purpose.

The hardware and software infrastructure needed to test the databases was installed, and the discovery phase of the project has proceeded well. We began with functional testing on a few of our smaller internal databases, like NetDB, and validated our approach. However, we also discovered that some of the applications we support, like Pinnacle and Remedy, do not support Oracle RAC on the current version of those applications. Trying to support both the new Oracle RAC environment and the legacy installations would not be practical.

At this time, we have completed the documentation describing our methodology and implementation of the Oracle RAC sandbox environment, and have suspended work on the project. After the completion of the Remedy v7 upgrade in the spring of 08, we will again evaluate our and our customers' readiness for this project and decide on a course of action for Oracle RAC.

- Bryan Wear
Shared Communication Services; Application Support & Database Administration

Spy Sweeper

IT Services has completed an evaluation of Webroot's Spy Sweeper, and several competing anti-spyware products, and decided to renew the campus-wide license for Spy Sweeper for a final year. In evaluating other products, we found that many did not offer the same level of protection that Spy Sweeper provides. Those that were comparable had similar or greater demands on system resources.

Next year, our license for Symantec AntiVirus is due for renewal. We'll be conducting a similar evaluation of anti-virus products and hope that we will find a single anti-malware product that will provide protection from viruses and spyware in a single package.

The vendor, Webroot Software, has implemented a few customized solutions that we hope will eliminate some of the issues the campus has had with Spy Sweeper. A single license code with a common expiration date is installed with the versions of Spy Sweeper available on Essential Stanford Software (ESS). That expiration date should automatically be extended when our license renewal is completed (Software Licensing is working on this process at present). Previous versions (prior to December, 2006) had license codes that were set to expire one year after installation. If you have an older version with a license that is expiring, please uninstall the older version and install version 5.3.2, available on ESS.

A customized web page was put in place to prevent users from obtaining versions of Spy Sweeper directly from Webroot. Anyone who clicks on the option in Spy Sweeper to check for new versions of the program will be referred back to the ESS page where they can obtain a version IT Services has tested.

There is currently a Spy Sweeper version 5.5 offered from Webroot, but we ask that you not upgrade to this version, as it has the potential to prevent you from sending mail, especially if you have other programs installed that include an email-scanning feature. If you have version 5.5 and are experiencing trouble sending mail, please uninstall Spy Sweeper 5.5 and install version 5.3.2 from ESS.

If you have any questions, please submit a HelpSU request.

- Chris Lundin
Client Support; Help Desk Services

Summer Picnic

Last Thursday, Jordan Quad was filled with the rocking sounds of Chris Lundin and his friends in Danz Band at our annual summer picnic. We would like to give extra special thanks to the entire Admin Team for chipping in on Picnic Day to smooth out some of the rough edges in the background.

Want to re-live the magic? Pictures from the event are available at: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/its/events/2007/picnic/. (Thanks to Cholada Chenhansa and Brian Young for making these candid shots available).

From everything we have heard (and witnessed) it appears that a fun time was truly had by all. Let any member of the planning team know if you have suggestions for future events or additional feedback regarding the picnic.

- Your Picnic Planning Posse
Jan Cicero, Joyce Dickerson, Jay Kohn, Barry Magsanay, Nan McKenna, Christine Soldahl, Nancy Ware, and Prescilla Young

Forsythe Deliveries: Loading Dock Closed

Due to the construction project in the Forsythe computer rooms, the Forsythe Hall loading dock area will be closed from August 13, 2007 through January 31, 2008. Because of this, the Technical Facilities department has revised the Delivery/Pick Up instructions for Forsythe Hall.

The temporary instructions are available online (MS Word document). As of today, please attach a printed version of these instructions for all orders that will be delivered to Forsythe Hall. Please instruct Procurement to forward these instructions to the vendors to be used for delivery to the Forsythe facility. If there are any questions or concerns about these instructions, please feel free to contact me.

- Sally Davis
Shared Application Services; Technical Facilities

Do YOU Know your STAP Funds Balance?

Your Staff Training Assistance Program (STAP) usage and balance will be available online this fall. You will be able to view all of your training activity funded by STAP in the Stanford Training and Registration System (STARS) via Axess.

Starting September 1, go to Axess and click on the training tab, go to STAP, then to STAP Balance.

Eligibility and information on the STAP program are available online.

- Nilda Bonet
Human Resources

IT Services Cart Parade

On Friday, September 14, 2007 at high noon, we’ll have the first ever IT Services Cart Parade!

Imagine our IT Service carts decorated, festooned, and slowly moving through the Jordan Quad…imagine the smiling and waving co-workers…imagine a free lunch.

Intrigued? Learn more.

- The Cart Parade Committee

Parking Permits

Parking and Transportation Services announced 2007-08 parking permit rates in the August 6 edition of the Stanford Report. Current parking permits expire Friday, Aug. 31, and there will be no formal grace period, so permit holders will need to display their new stickers beginning Sept. 1. You can apply online for your 2007-08 parking permits on the Parking & Transportation Services web site.

About its in bits

A regular summary of IT business, news about personnel, and pointers to other information of interest to IT Services staff. Coordinated, compiled, and published by the Communication Strategy and Standards Team. its in bits is published on the first and third Wednesday of the month.

Submissions are due by Noon on the Friday before the scheduled issue, to itsinbits-submissions@lists.stanford.edu for consideration. its in bits is distributed via email to its-all-staff@lists.stanford.edu and the subscription list itsinbits-subscribers@lists.stanford.edu People outside of IT Services can self-subscribe via mailman.

The next its in bits will be published on Wednesday, September 5, 2007.

its in bits | IT Services | Stanford University | Computing & Communication