What's New in Telecommunications Services

By Lynn Anderson

In November, we spent a few minutes in our staff meeting reviewing fall semester projects and looking ahead to the spring and summer terms. During our discussion, it became evident that the major focus of the last few months was security--network, e-mail, desktop, and
server security--how to detect problems, how to quickly respond to them, and how to prevent future outbreaks.

As I mentioned in this newsletter last semester, desktop computer security continues to challenge all of us on a daily basis, whether from the latest virus, spyware, Internet scam, or computer hack. While our knowledge and skills have increased astronomically over the last
few years, the ingenuity of hackers/attackers has also. Central IT has worked diligently to improve network security over the past two years. The combination of these activities and the skills of our staff have ensured that our campus network is more secure than it was a couple of years ago.

But many of our desktops and servers may still be vulnerable. Even with the most extensive network security possible, hackers can find ways to invade your office computer. User awareness is an important component in addressing computer security. The IT Help Desk offered a number of workshops last semester and will continue to offer them at least once a month in the spring.

In addition to security training, we in IT are focusing on three ways to increase desktop security--strong passwords, up-to-date virus definitions, and the automated installation of operating system patches. Here's an update on our efforts in these areas.

New Password Rules

Anti-Virus Updates
For a number of years, IT has maintained a Norton Anti-Virus server to provide the latest virus definitions to the campus. Network Applications staff recently upgraded the server to a newer version, and help desk staff are upgrading desktop clients whenever they work on a
campus computer.

SMS Server
The application of up-to-date operating system patches, especially on Windows computers, is critical to maintaining the security of your desktop. To make this process easier, the Network Applications staff recently set up a Microsoft System Management Server (SMS) for campus-wide use. Once testing is completed, the server will be able to automatically push patches and updates to campus computers, should you decide to opt-in to the service.

Other Projects
In addition to the computer security-related efforts described above, the following projects were recently completed or are scheduled for implementation over the next 6-8 months:

• Welch Hall Computer Lab Printing Upgrade
  Thanks to an ASI Technology Fee grant last year, IT was able to address complaints about printing procedures in the labs. Over the summer, three print release stations were installed, and the printing procedure was changed. Students continue to send jobs to the printers from any workstation in the WH 160 computer lab, but the print job now sits in a secure "print queue" until the student releases it to print. This solution has eliminated the waste that occurs when documents are inadvertently printed multiple times and ensures that only the document owner has access to the printout. The system has been in use for a full semester and has reduced lab expenses for paper and toner, as well as eliminated student complaints about missing printouts. In summary, the new procedure is a great improvement according to both the lab staff and the students who use the labs on a regular basis.
• Exchange Server Upgrade
  E-mail is a critical business tool for all of us on campus. As our dependence on and use of e-mail has escalated, so has the need for added storage space for messages. Thanks to the recent acquisition of an additional e-mail server with increased storage capacity, IT will be able to increase disk quotas from 200MB to 500MB on an as-needed basis. Keep an eye out for an announcement of when this will be available to faculty and staff.
• Network Services - LDAP Server Project
  Network Services has evaluated, tested, and implemented an LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) server to simplify logins to campus servers and the network. The service was tested over the past few months and will soon be ready for a limited rollout across campus. When the project is fully implemented in a year or so, you will be able to log in to the network and numerous applications, such as campus e-mail services, Banner, Blackboard, and eventually CMS (PeopleSoft) using a single username/password pair. In either spring or summer, we will begin the migration to single sign-on for students (see AIS Update) and roll it out to the rest of the campus soon afterwards.
• Redundant Internet Connection
  If all goes as planned, the campus will have a redundant Internet connection by the time you read this newsletter in late January. By Fall 2006, the redundancy will be further enhanced by the distribution of the two connections to different campus locations. This will enable us to avoid outages caused by cabling problems to/from a particular building as well as equipment failure or ISP outages.
• Computer Workshops
  As I mentioned above, the IT Help Desk is offering security training workshops on a monthly basis. In addition, they are once again offering basic hands-on application workshops each semester on topics such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Spring workshops will be announced through e-mail soon.

If your telephone, voice mail, e-mail, and network connection are working, the people to thank are the staff of Telecommunications Services. They keep the campus voice and data network, Internet connection, Welch Hall computer labs, and e-mail services running smoothly, as well as provide help desk services and Unix support to the campus community. They are: Maria Garcia-Barajas and Cristina Arroyo (Telephone Services), Mahabub Alam and Edgar Lazarian (Network Services), Nathlyn Hirohama and Michael Foo (Network Applications and Exchange E-mail), Glen Colflesh (Instructional Computing Labs) and Sabrina Warrington, Ben Bodnar, Joli Brown, Randy Flores, Ernest Ikner, and Fred Ocampo (IT Help Desk).

Lynn Anderson is the Director of Telecommunications Services.