Survey

Will Santa say you've been Naughty or Nice this year?

Naughty
Nice

Results from last issue's survey question: Will you participate in the Holiday Giving Tree this year

There were 37 responses. 25 said "yes" and 12 said "no."

Tips From Your Admin

Have a great Holiday break!

Staff Profile

Jay Stamps

Jay Stamps starting working at Stanford in 1992.



How would you describe your current job responsibilities?

I'm a programmer in the Desktop Systems Group, working with Tony Silveira and Jim Brown. We write custom software—mostly utilities—or we customize existing software and installers for the benefit of Mac OS X and Windows users at Stanford.

It's our job to make it as painless as possible for members of the campus community to install, configure, and use desktop software in order to get their jobs done. We're also in the business of helping system administrators manage desktop computers securely and consistently.

Which aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

Programming is an intellectual challenge and as such, is inherently a joyful pursuit. Writing good code demands a mixture of creativity and logical thinking that's very satisfying. If the results of my labor benefit others, then I count myself as fortunate. I love my job, and my work helps people—at least a little bit. It's great when everything goes well. But fixing software bugs is fun too!

What did you do before you came to Stanford?

I joined Stanford's English Department as a 21-year-old Ph.D. student in 1988. Before that I was a pretty serious pianist, but also just a kid. I've been here nearly half of my life now, in one capacity or another, and have felt completely at home since the first day I arrived. My life before I came to California from rural Tennessee seems very remote to me these days.

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

I like spending time with my wife, Daphne, and our friends. I enjoy reading and listening to music. I most enjoy chamber music performances of works by contemporary composers, or experimental and electronic music of various kinds.

A couple of weeks ago, for example, we went to hear the SF-based Del Sol String Quartet. It was a great program, but the highlight was a piece for string quartet and didjeridu, written by Peter Sculthorpe, with Stephen Kent on the impossible-to-play Australian aboriginal instrument. I live for those kinds of musical experiences.

What is your favorite movie, book, song?

I read too much to have a favorite book. If you'd asked me this question when I was 17, I'd have said Gravity's Rainbow. But I've been meandering through a bunch of great novels this year after not reading much fiction for a while. In translation: Soseki, Machado de Assis, Grimmelshausen, and others.

In English, I've only just gotten around to reading the best-known work of one of my favorite authors: Alasdair Gray's Lanark. Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds blew me away. And a few weeks ago, I acquired Ulrich Merkl's stunning collection of Winsor McKay's Dream of the Rarebit Fiend comic strips from the early 20th century. McKay is best known for Little Nemo. The Rarebit Fiend work is even better.

Staff Happenings

After months of searching, we are pleased to announce the filling of two positions within the UNIX group.

Tim Skirvin comes to us from the University of Illinois-UC where he has been part of a team handling over 300 Linux systems. His initial responsibilities here will be the management of our Usenet infrastructure—acting as secondary for some infrastructure support services—and acting as secondary admin for a few clients. He started December 3, 2007.

Blake Barnett is moving down the coast from Seattle, where he has been working for Groupee, Inc. We're particularly excited about his skills in managing Puppet, the Linux configuration and build system also used by the UNIX team. His initial responsibilities will include significant time improving our Puppet environment. Other assignments are still being worked out. Blake's first day will be February 4, 2008.

Tim and Blake were both referred by IT Services staff. Thank you.

- Heather Flanagan
Shared Application Services; Systems Administration

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
2:00–3:30 p.m.

Turing Auditorium

...will resume in January, 2008.

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

Tech Express

(monthly)
12:00–1:00 p.m.
Turing Auditorium

...will resume in January, 2008.

For the complete schedule, a map to Turing Auditorium, times, and a list of topics, visit the Tech Express site.

Technology Training Courses

Upcoming Tech Training classes of interest to IT Services staff.

ReportMart1 Introduction, Mon, Jan 7, 1:00–4:30, Free

Adobe Acrobat: The Basics of Using the Full Version, Tues, Jan 8,  1:00–4:30, $195

PowerPoint 2007 Level 1, Wed, Jan 9, 9:00–4:00, $325

Techport Open Lab, Wed, Jan 9, 9:00–12:00, Free

Using Technology To Manage Your Workload, Wed, Jan 9, 1:00–4:00, $125

Excel 2007 Level 1, Thurs, Jan 10, 9:00–4:00, $325

Mac OS X Fundamentals, Mon, Jan 14, 1:00–4:30, $195

Sundial Tips and Tricks, Tue, Jan 15,1:00–4:30, Free

OrderIT Site Training, Wed, Jan 16, 8:30–12:00, Free

Word 2007 Level 1, Wed, Jan 16, 9:00–4:00, $325

Office 2007: What's new?, Thu, Jan 17, 9:00–12:00, $125

VISTA Overview, Thu, Jan 17, 1:00–4:00, $125

Photoshop Level 1, Thu, Jan 17, 9:00–4:00, $325

Dreamweaver Lite, Thu, Jan 17, 1:00–4:30, $195

InDesign Level 1, Fri, Jan 18, 9:00–4:00, $325

Sign up at http://axess.stanford.edu.

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 four new job postings for IT Services this week.

Req. #28388: CRC Technical Consultant, 100% FTE, Range 4P2, Maria Maravila, hiring manager.

This position provides computer support including desktop and local server consulting with expertise in Mac and Windows desktop computers, as well as Windows and Mac-based servers. Computer Resource Consulting supports University schools and departments on a contract basis, or for short-term projects.

Req. #28389: Order Processor, 100% FTE, Range 4P1 (non-exempt), Suzanne Schiessler, hiring manager.

Responsible for receiving, reviewing, processing, and closing Web Orders generated through IT Services, My IT Services sites, Customer Service Orders, and Remedy tickets that support network and telecommunication needs. This includes voice, data, cable, fiber, voicemail, card services, and outside vendor services for the University, Hospital, Stanford Housing, Students, Vendors, and Stanford Affiliates.

Req. #28390: Senior Order Processor, 100% FTE, Range 4P2, Suzanne Schiessler, hiring manager.

Responsible for receiving, reviewing, processing, and closing Web Orders generated through IT Services, My IT Services sites, Customer Service Orders, and Remedy tickets that support network and telecommunication needs. This includes voice, data, cable, fiber, voicemail, card services, and outside vendor services for the University, Hospital, Stanford Housing, Students, Vendors, and Stanford Affiliates.

Req. #28547: Campus Readiness Analyst, 100% FTE, Range 3P3, Christopher Kittle, hiring manager.

Participates as a key member of project implementation teams, serving as a client advocate while providing expertise for the planning and delivering of communication and training that prepares the Stanford community for service and system introductions and changes.

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

"The body is subject to the forces of gravity, but the soul is ruled by levity.”

- Saul Bellow

News

Happy Holidays

its in bits will resume publication January 16, 2008.

Best wishes for an enjoyable Winter Break.

- The Editors

Integrated Email and Calendar Project Update

After a short delay to allow for greater staff focus on system security, the Integrated Email and Calendar Implementation Project is back in full swing.

In November, project and Software Licensing staff completed contract negotiations with the vendor (Zimbra) for the selected software for our new email and calendar services. Project staff are wrapping up the contract for professional services that will provide us with the needed vendor support for the duration of the project. In January, a new project manager, with experience implementing large-scale email and calendar solutions at other locations, will join IT Services to manage the technical aspects of the project. Larry Ebert remains assigned as the overall project manager.

Certainly a key success factor for this project is communication and campus readiness. This part of the effort is being led by Client Support. An advisory team, made up of representatives from each Client Support unit and from each ED area, is being formed. It will start meeting in early January to develop a Communication Plan and to start determining the training and documentation needs.

To keep communication moving forward project staff, accompanied by account managers and client liaisons, have already begun meeting with IT staff in schools and departments that participated in the discovery phase of the project. These meetings allow IT Services to keep staff informed of progress and to maintain a partnership that IT Services can leverage to better ensure acceptance and successful deployment of the new tools.

In January, the project team will have its official kick off meeting and get right to the task of carefully detailing all of the effort that will be required and producing a more comprehensive project plan.

A project web site is available with details about the project. The project will also continue to use its in bits for monthly project updates. If you have any questions about this project, please contact the project team.

- Ammy Hill and Larry Ebert
Integrated Email and Calendar Project Team

Remedy Reimplementation Update

The project team working on implementing the newest version of BMC Remedy's Service Desk application is making excellent, steady progress. The team is targeting a code freeze after Friday, December 21, when all configurations and customizations will be done for the planned go-live on Tuesday, February 19 (after the three-day Presidents' Day weekend).

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) will begin in January, but functional testing is going on now with the project team and Help Desk Level 1 and 2.

Some of the new or improved features or changes include:

  • Single-sign-on will be enabled; SUNet ID password is used to authenticate to Remedy.
  • LDAP lookup of users' contact information from their SUNet ID or name will return the affiliation (faculty, staff, student).
  • The CTI (Category/Type/Item) menus are now split into two catalogs: 1) an Operational Catalog to cover activities and support we provide and, 2) a Product Catalog to cover support related to software and hardware assets.
  • Some re-architecting of the classification scheme to improve its usefulness; especially in the Desktop Hardware and Desktop Software categories.
  • New options for assigning cases which give much more flexibility.
  • Email signatures you can create and store for yourself. Email functionality called "Email" (not "Reminders"). Send Email Now (not in 10 minutes).
  • WebEx integration so that (if you have a WebEx license) you can launch a WebEx Support Center session with a single click.
  • Stanford Answers integration to launch the Support Analyst portal from within Remedy.
  • Subject to performance testing, we'll be deploying Remedy's Mid-Tier web architecture to enable access from a browser.
  • Data encryption will be fully enabled between any client software and the Remedy servers. Assignment routing rules have been re-architected and reduced from 20,000 to 2,300 to simplify administration and speed routing.

We will have orientation sessions and training options in January.

- Chris Lundin
Client Support; Help Desk Services

Unanet Is The New Timesheet

When we return from Winter Closure January 3, timesheet.stanford.edu will no longer take you to Journyx for tracking time. Instead, you’ll be directed to our new Unanet system to enter time.

All time tracking through December 2007 must be entered in Journyx. All time for 2008, starting with our first day back on January 3, should be entered in Unanet at timesheet.stanford.edu. There will be an option on the page to use timesheet-old.stanford.edu to record/edit past timesheets in the old Journyx system if needed.

The policy is the same for entering time; it’s just done in a new system. To get a look at our new system and learn more about entering your time, come to one of the training sessions:

  1. Friday, January 4th, 10–11 a.m., Polya 162
  2. Monday, January 7th, 11–12 p.m., Polya 152
  3. Thursday, January 10th, 3–4 p.m., Forsythe 246

Your manager may make time in your weekly staff meeting to go over Unanet. Please confer with your manager if you have questions.

For additional information or access to job aids, go to the Timesheet service page.

- Ammy Hill
Client Support; Campus Readiness

MySQL

Two years ago, the UNIX team put a new MySQL service into production. The service was designed with hot fail-over capabilities; if the primary server failed, the secondary would take over with no interruption in service or corruption of data.

Since then, the service has grown by leaps and bounds, and currently handles everything from Webmail to over 500 departmental databases. Since the go-live, the fail-over has never been tested under real production conditions. Last night, as part of the overall updating of the primary server, we built in a test of the fail-over environment. The upgrade and the live test went flawlessly.

This test was weeks in the planning, and Xueshan Feng did a fantastic job. The measure of success here: you wouldn't have known a thing if it wasn't mentioned in its in bits.

- Heather Flanagan
Shared Application Services; Systems Administration

Tape Library Shut Down

As part of an effort to reduce costs for backing up data by introducing Virtual Tape Libraries (VTL), we recently shut down one of our large MagStar 3494 tape libraries. This first phase will reduce costs that get passed through to our clients by over $10,000 per month.

To prepare for bringing in new VTL equipment, we recently embarked on a project to consolidate our existing libraries from five systems down to two. This project entailed some complicated juggling to allow us to migrate the backup data to other systems.

Tilak Dhar has done an excellent job heading up this phase of the project. Working with other folks on the Storage and Backup team, they came up with some very ingenious ways to accomplish the goal of clearing the floor of the biggest of the three targeted systems before the end of the year. Beyond the savings, it is important to make space for more racks in the Forsythe remediation project.

This is just the beginning, and it is a great start that we believe will significantly reduce our backup operational costs by several hundred thousand dollars annually.

- Dan Stillmaker
Shared Application Services; Backup and Storage

GSB Exchange Updated

After months of preparation and planning, we have successfully made some significant changes to the data backup and protection process for the Graduate School of Business (GSB) Exchange mail system.

Implementing Snap Manager for Exchange on the Network Appliance storage arrays has significantly enhanced the speed and reliability of data recovery. Leroy Altman led the team in engineering the new process, testing it in our environment, and a smooth implementation. Working with Gerald Villabroza, the vendor, and of course the GSB, they were able to leverage some of the features of the NetApp software to make huge improvements, and better meet the requirements and objectives of the GSB.

The folks at the GSB have indicated that they are extremely pleased with the implementation. By using disk, the new process will enable recovery from a database corruption in minutes as opposed to the recovery that previously would take several hours (even up to half a day if the data needed to be retrieved from tape). Equally significant is the simplification and improvements to the more common single mailbox recovery.

This is a great example of how the industry trend in data protection is leveraging disk (instead of tape) to enhance speed and ease of recovery.

- Dan Stillmaker
Shared Application Services; Backup and Storage

Holiday Toy Drive 2007

This year we changed our toy drive and, Wow!, what an impact it had on our organization. We collected 103 toys, and many cash donations.

I kept getting similar questions from concerned staff, so I wanted to share with you what the Giving Tree Organization has to say regarding your to questions.

Do the gifts really go to the children on the cards?

Over the years we have grappled with the issue of including names on all of the wish cards. What we found to be true is that if a name is not on the card, the card will stay on the tree and we will not be able to help the children we've promised gifts to.

It is important here to clarify the relationship between the wish cards and the agencies we serve. Each October 1st, about 200 social service agencies submit their client list along with specific wishes for their children. For many agencies this is a very daunting task. For a small minority, it is simply impossible. These are agencies that don't register the families until Thanksgiving or even into December. We create those cards based on the wishes from the previous year.

I believe where the concern falls, is the gifts that end up at places like the Salvation Army, where the gifts are unwrapped, sorted by item and given to needy children who never "submitted" wishes to us. For these agencies we send gifts collected by the method above and gifts that are "created" through the duplication of wishes.

Every year the approximate return rate of the wish cards is only about 60%. So if we send out 10,000 wishes, we will only be able to fulfill 6,000 children's wishes. In order to assure that every child we have registered receives a gift, we duplicate the wishes . We then make sure to send the two wishes to different Family Giving Tree hosts.

When one of the wishes is returned with a gift it goes to the intended child. If we are fortunate enough to have both returned, one will be given to the original recipient and the other will be put in a pile destined for an agency like the Salvation Army.

We also use these duplicated gifts in our warehouse procedures to stock the "store" (a place where the volunteers will go to find a substitute gift for those not fulfilled).

The current system has evolved so that we may help as many children as we can. We have certainly not intended to mislead anyone. As a matter of fact, we go to great lengths to ensure that all of the children receiving Family Giving Tree gifts are needy.

What happens to the cards left on the tree after the due date?

The return rate from the giving trees is around 60%. That means 40% of the cards do not return with gifts attached. Therefore, we duplicate each request and try to find enough places to send them. When the gifts arrive, they are sorted by number and bagged by agency. If you pull a card, purchase a gift, and it arrives at our warehouse on time, there is a very good chance that it will go to exactly the person that is on the wish card. When we are fortunate enough to have both cards come back with gifts, we put one in the reserve which we set up to enable us to substitute for the wishes that do not get fulfilled.

Next year will host the same toy drive and we will include a Virtual Giving Tree for online donations.

- Caren Kammeyer
Client Support; Project Management Office

VTA and Go Pass for 2008

The 2008 Caltrain GO Pass and 2008 VTA Eco Pass are now available at the Parking & Transportation Services (P&TS) office. The GO Pass, available free to eligible Stanford University employees, allows unlimited travel on Caltrain. The Eco Pass, available free to eligible Hospital and University employees, allows unlimited travel on VTA buses and light rail, as well as the Dumbarton Express, Highway 17 Express, and Monterey-San Jose Express. The passes can be used any time, including weekends, but may not be transferred to another person.

Since the pass must be affixed to your Stanford identification card, the pass is only available at the P&TS office. Eligibility requirements are listed on the web site.

P&TS is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

- Parking and Transportation Services

Winter Closure References

IT Services will be closed from December 21 through January 2 with normal operations resuming January 3. Information about the services that will remain open, emergencies, contacts, and other reduced staff operations are available on the IT Services Winter Closure page.

- The Editors

It's A Wrap...

With two days (who's counting?) to the start of Winter Closure, we thought you'd like to flip through the photo albums from the

December 13 Holiday Party

and December 18 Holiday Breakfast.

Please have a safe and happy holiday. See you in 2008.

- The Editors

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, January 16, 2007.