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Computing
and Telecommunication Center Newsletter
Fall 2003 |
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CTC
News and Other Bytes . . . |
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| From
Dave's Desk |
| by
Dr. David Schmidt, Director |
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Welcome
(or welcome back) to campus. I realize that some of you have
been here all summer toiling away, but the fall semester always
seems new to me. We hope that you have had a good summer and
are looking forward to this new academic year.
I
thought that I would mention a few projects that should have
an impact on the campus community. Some of these enhancements
will be noticed only by those directly affected; others are
more invisible. Also, I wanted to share plans for a (partial)
change of direction with the Sungard Bi-Tech project. back
to top |
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Wooster Place
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The
University is renovating Wooster Hall – one renovated
building per semester. Many of you may not know that the students
housed there purchase phone service directly from a vendor
and the only Internet connections available to them are dialup
(slow) connections. As of this fall, one portion of Wooster
has the same campus phone service and same Ethernet connection
as the rest of campus. Students in those renovated rooms will
especially appreciate the fast Internet connections and the
four digit dialing. back
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Wireless (Wi-Fi) |
The
networking and server staff have been working hard to establish
a security standard for the wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) connections
on campus, a standard that is quite secure and also easy to
use. Wi-Fi wireless is notoriously weak on security, and we
want to be sure that we make it as secure as is practicable.
Furthermore,
more and more legislation requires us to keep data private
and secure. So security has more importance now than in the
early days of wireless. In any case, we will be using 802.1x,
PEAP, and WEP (for those of you who care about these kinds
of protocols). Essentially prior to gaining access to the
network, the wireless device has to be certified (with a digital
certificate). Once the connection is established the transmissions
are encrypted. So, the identity of those connecting to the
network is established and authenticated, and then the transmissions
themselves are protected. The Networking staff have also made
the wireless access points more secure. If you have a wireless
laptop and wish to use the FHSU network, contact Dan
Pfeifer to receive instructions about how to obtain access
to it. Wireless is now available throughout Forsyth Library.
Portions of the Memorial Union will have wireless access next.
back
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Provost's Action
Plan Computers & Labs |
Over
the summer the Microcomputing Staff have configured and
distributed the PCs in the Provost’s Action Plan for
faculty and staff. Interestingly, there were more laptops
ordered and configured this year. They have also updated
many academic computer labs. More and more academic labs
now use Scatcat logins (the same Scatcat user name is used
for e-mail, Blackboard, and the labs).
By
logging in using the Scatcat login, students can access
their files practically anywhere on campus. These files
are also backed up centrally. This past year the following
labs were converted to using this login: Psychology Lab,
Modern Languages Lab, Health and Human Performance Lab,
Athletics Computer Lab, and the Academic Advising Lab. back
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Common Data
Set and AQIP Data |
Many
departments are asked to answer surveys, provide data for
the Board of Regents, send periodic reports to the State,
and to supply information for other reasons. To assist in
this task and to provide authoritative responses, CTC staff
has worked with University Relations to provide a common data
set to be used for these purposes. FHSU constructed a Data
Warehouse some years ago to provide a repository for important
university data, and this use illustrates its importance.
Campuses with an emphasis on quality control and continuous
improvement are increasingly data driven. CTC and Data Warehouse
staff have automated a number of important reports that supply
AQIP (Academic Quality Improvement Program) data. back
to top |
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Viruses and
Worms |
The
phrase “attack of the worms” does not have the
same ring to it as other attacks (such as denial of service
attack, attack of the killer bees, and others), but computer
worms and viruses are often debilitating. These past few weeks
have not been pleasant. Viruses and worms with names such
as Sobig and Blaster (aka Lovsan), have inundated our campus.
Blaster brought down the whole network at KSU. WSU made the
local TV news talking about it. We had roughly 300 PCs affected
by the Blaster virus on campus. These worms and viruses have
caused us to restrict service to labs and buildings in some
cases (for a short time usually) in order to clean up the
infected PCs. We have added filters and updated the anti-virus
software, but these attacks have cost us many hours of lost
productivity. Our anti-virus software helps, but sometimes
not everyone’s computer has received the updates and
some dialup computers (with no virus protection) spread worms
and viruses. back
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Internet Bandwidth |
We
have increased our campus Kanren Internet connection from
10 Mb to 13 Mb. If it needs to be increased further, it can
be done quickly. The only practical limits are budgetary.
When I2 becomes available, it will have an initial capacity
of 20 Mb. back
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Sungard |
We
have had to make a very tough decision regarding the Sungard
Student System. (Note that we still plan
to implement the Sungard Financial System
and the Human Resources System.) After delaying
implementation a year, calling a number of meetings with the
President of Sungard Bi-Tech (SBI), and exhausting every technical
fix that we could think to try, we decided to recommend canceling
the Sungard Student System project. We believe
that SBI has not lived up to the contract specifications.
We have experienced performance problems. The program response
times have been very bad in some cases. We have experienced
load problems. When we put more than ten people on the server
to test it, the system would crash. We have experienced data
load problems. Reloading data (important in the event of a
power outage and in other cases) took us days not
hours. We had requests to SBI to make some major data changes
in their software which we feared would not be done in time
(or at all). They had slipped behind in completing web data
entry screens as well.
All
things considered, we did not believe that we could expect
to have a working system in May, 2004. We are asking for our
money back for the Student System. As I testified
before the Joint Senate and House Committee on Information
Technology when we started this project (and several weeks
ago when we started considering canceling it), we took a calculated
risk in going for this lower-budget system (as compared with
the higher-budget PeopleSoft and SCT Banner), so it is no
great surprise. However it is very disappointing. If it had
succeeded, it would have been a great value.
We
are going forward with the Sungard Bi-Tech Financial
System and Human Resource System. Our goal
is to bring the Financial System up at the
fiscal year boundary (June-July, 04) and the HR
system on the following calendar year boundary (January, 05).
These two systems differ from the Student
System because their architecture is more advanced. These
systems also have more of a proven track record with using
their new web-based architecture because they have been installed
in a variety of school systems, counties, and cities (KU Endowment
just purchased this product too). These two systems offer
improvements over our home grown systems. As Bruce Shubert,
former VP of Administration and Finance (now at KSU), reminds
me whenever I talk with him about it, our Student
System is still quite functional and reliable. We are quite
aware of some of its deficiencies and needed improvements,
and we believe that we can make those improvements.
back
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If not Sungard,
what then? |
As
of writing this, we are close to finishing a plan to bring
our Student system into a new architecture. The basics of
the plan are these: purchase a Multiprise 3000 Enterprise
Server (mainframe class computer), convert our CICS and batch
programs to access data in a relational database (DB2), continue
developing the front-end web portal, and add new web functionality.
The
new server should make it possible to have CICS stay up at
least 20 hours a day because of a faster CPU. When the data
and programs are fully converted to DB2 the system would be
up 24/7 because the relational database will be backed up
while still accessible to the users. The programmers will
build tables to assist Virtual College enrollment processing
for spring because there is a problem with knowing when classes
are full. Depending on financing, some of the conversion work
may be outsourced in order to expedite the conversion process.
Some will be done by our staff so they learn the process and
learn more about working with DB2. New functionality will
be added for: web registration, fee assessment and payment
(available on the web), and degree audit over the web.
Purchasing
an Enterprise Server is a key element of this process because
the current mainframe is 12 years old and has power checks
(it needs to be restarted) more and more frequently. The power
of this new server is needed to handle the load of a relational
database, which we must have in order to do the program conversions.
Further, the new server will make it possible to handle Linux
for Academic applications and explore the use of Linux in
other ways.
The
other key element of this proposal involves converting all
data to relational tables. Without the data in relational
form we cannot easily give users access to data via the web.
Practically all new applications require web functionality,
and we need to be able to produce that web functionality in
a timely way. A key for us to be able to respond to user requests
for web functionality quickly is to use tools that require
data in relational tabular form. The web front-end platform
is handled by Microsoft IIS. Over time more and more processing
will be done by the web server (as opposed to the back-end
server).
We
want user feedback on our development plans and on the products
as they are developed. I expect to host a University forum
on our plans to get your feedback. Also, we will be asking
some of you to participate in a Student System User Group.
We hope that representatives of students, faculty, staff,
and administrators will participate in this user group. As
the plan becomes more precise, we will be sharing the plan
in a number of ways. Some of you may have concerns and questions
about our approach; please feel free to contact me.
back
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Farewell and
Welcome |
We
bid farewell to Vaudene Hiller, Telecommunications
Technician, who is retiring and moving to Cherokee, Oklahoma.
Vaudene plans to spend more time with her children and grandchildren,
travel, and work in Real Estate part-time. Thank you for all
of your years of service to the CTC.
We
would like to welcome to Darren Silkman,
Telecommunications Technician, who recently started working
in the CTC. Darren spent the last four years working at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City as a Senior Telecommunications
Technician. |
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Statistical
Consulting |
| The
CTC employs a part-time statistical consultant, Phillip
Fox, to help faculty and staff with programming support.
The CTC does not enter data, but the statistical
consultant can give advice to departmental workers who do
enter the data. Contact Phil
at 5688.
The
University has purchased a limited number of licenses for
PC versions of SAS and SPSS. If you wish to use one of the
PC versions, please submit a CTC Request for Services
on LNapps. Click on the Information Center
section button and then an electronic form will appear on
the screen. Fill in the blanks; be as specific
as possible. Click on Submit to submit the
request to the CTC for approval at least three working
days or more before the desired completion date.
back
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Reminder
to All LN Users . . . |
"Junk"
E-mail, Bulletin Board, & Group Mailing Issues
"Unwanted"
e-mail is, of course, a matter of one's perspective. If you
are looking for a house and you receive e-mail advertising
a house, for you that is quite valuable information; however,
for the other 99.9% of users it is unwanted. On the other
hand, the State has policies against using state-funded
resources for personal use; so you will be unable to advertise
personal businesses through FHSU e-mail or on the FHSU Buy/Sell/Trade
bulletin board. For more information about this,
read the FHSU
Acceptable Use of Computing Resources Policy document.
I can attest that when questionable e-mail is sent across
Lotus Notes or questionable ads placed on the Buy/Sell/Trade
bulletin board, the CTC staff hears about it from the faculty
and staff who have received that questionable e-mail or viewed
the questionable ad on the bulletin board. I hear State folks
talking about policies concerning the use of e-mail at Information
Technology Advisory Board meetings.
We
attempt to keep spam off e-mail by providing a space
for "advertising." There is a Bulletin Board on
Lotus Notes that users should consider using for advertising
items for sale, rent, want to rent/buy, or give away; however,
it is for FHSU use only -- not commercial or personal
business ads. Please do not
post entries to the LN Bulletin Board that advertise items
for businesses or any other kind of commercial enterprise.
In addition, LN users are asked to please not
use their LN work accounts for non-work related e-mail, which
includes but is not limited to advertising, spamming, virus
and hoax prank notes, get-rich-quick schemes, chain letters,
etc.
If
you need help using the Buy/Sell/Trade database or have questions
about an item that you'd like to post, contact Viv
at 4031 or Jane
at 5819.
We
have created the faculty, staff, and allusers groups in the
LN FHSU Address Book on NotesHub for FHSU business use and
your convenience. All LN users should be considerate when
using any of these large groups for mass mailings. If this
privilege is abused, the offending IDs may be revoked. back
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Systems Programming
by Michael Lacy, Manager
Miscellaneous Computer Info
The
FHSU Mainframe is an ES9000 IBM 9121 Model 260 with 512 Meg
Main Storage and speed of 16 MIPS. The operating system is
VM/ESA 2.3 running VSE/ESA 2.3 as a guest operating system.
One 9394 controller controls I/O to the ten 9395 disk drives
containing 110 gigabytes of storage.
Three
3490 cartridge tape drives at IDRC capacity allow us to retrieve
data stored on tape or can be used to create backup tapes
or archives.
One
3174 controller controls console access to the mainframe along
with one Bus-Tech 3172 controller for Ethernet connected PCs.
An
IBM 6262 printer at 1400 lines per minute prints many reports,
labels, special forms, and a variety of other jobs. In addition,
an IBM 3812 LED page printer with graphics capabilities prints
reports, letters, and other tasks submitted from across campus.
Other printers attached to the system via RSCS and TCP/IP
print other jobs as submitted. back
to top |
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Information
Center
by Jane Rajewski, Manager |
| The
Information Center consists of Computer Operations and User
Services. In addition to the scheduled services provided to
the University departments, the following user services are
available through the Information Center. Following each item
is the procedure to follow to ensure the best service.
Standard
Report Programs, Mailing Labels, Ad Hoc Reports, or Data to
be Downloaded
Please
submit a CTC Request for Services and click
on the Information Center button. If you
have any questions or concerns about what data is available
or the type of reports the CTC can produce, please contact
Alvin Hearne at 5687
or Jane Rajewski at
5819. back
to top
Test
Scoring Using the OMR Full-Page Scanner
150
question answer sheets are available for pick-up at the Dispatch
Window (TH111). Please make sure the students
use No. 2 pencils and erase cleanly. No. 2 pencils
are available at the Dispatch Window. Return the score sheets
and complete the test scanning request form at the Dispatch
Window. Your test will be scored and the desired reports printed
within 24 hours, M-F.
You
will be notified when the job is completed. Please refer any
questions or concerns to Jane
Rajewski at 5819 or Alvin
Hearne at 5687. back
to top
Training
for Faculty and Staff
Send
an LN note to Viv Zimmerman
or Jane Rajewski indicating
the administrative systems for which you would like training
offered. Training will be offered if enough users indicate
an interest for a particular item. The training schedule
is posted on a CTC web page; click on the session name for
a brief description
of each workshop. Users will be notified of new training schedules
through LN e-mail that include a link to the training schedule.
We try to offer several sessions of each system at different
times each semester to allow you to choose the one that best
fits your schedule.
As
new administrative systems are developed, we will be offering
courses in that area for the appropriate personnel. Please
notify Viv at 4031 or Jane
at 5819 about new employees who need to be
trained or other training needs. Also, please let us know
when someone resigns or leaves your area so that his or her
security to the system can be removed. back
to top
Requesting
IDs
To
request CICS IDs and passwords, please submit a CTC
Request for Services and click on the Information
Center button and include your name, SSN, department,
phone number and office number. If you are having any problems
with security violations, please call Jane
Rajewski at 5819.
If
you need a CMS ID to use the mainframe software, please submit
a CTC Request for Services and click on the
System Services button; however, most
users will not need a CMS ID. back
to top
Passwords
and Security
Having
a protected password is essential to the security of the information
you have on your account and the protection and privacy of
the information you may have access to on CICS.
CICS
passwords cannot be changed by the user at this time. If at
anytime you feel that your CICS password may have been jeopardized,
please call Jane at
5819 to get your password changed. Also,
please call Jane to change the CICS password for any generic
CICS accounts that you may have for your student employees
anytime a student terminates employment with your office.
We
also encourage you to periodically change your Lotus Notes
passwords. You can easily change your Client password
by clicking on File - Tools - User ID - Set Password
and following the prompts. Click OK when
finished. To change your Internet password, go
into the LN FHSU Address Book, edit your
entry, and change the Internet password field.
Click Save and Close when finished. back
to top
CICS
Security for New Faculty
CICS
security for the basic inquiry functions in the course, student,
and transcript systems is automatically set up for the advisor
level for all new full-time faculty after we receive the list
of new faculty from the Provost's office.
Security
for all other CICS administrative
systems will still require the user to request the appropriate
security; contact Jane
Rajewski to start the approval process. This additional
security will require the chair person's approval. The user
will be notified when the security is set up.
If
you have questions/concerns about your CICS security, contact
Jane at 5819. back
to top
Helpful
Information
For
your convenience, we've included some links to commonly used
information: the CTC
Staff Directory, Media
Equipment Checkout information, and the FHSU
Acceptable Use of Computing Resources Policy.
So
that we can serve you more efficiently, please print these
pages and keep them near your phone or in your 2003-2004
FHSU Campus Directory and Student Handbook for future
reference.
Other
helpful links for you and your students can be found below:
CTC Newsletters
on the Web
For
your convenience, we have past CTC newsletters
posted on the web. There are a number of previous newsletters
out there if you are interested in viewing them.
CMS
Availability Policy
CMS
is available after 7am until midnight Monday through Friday.
The systems are up and running unattended on holidays and
from 2:30am Saturday until Monday morning.
CICS
Administrative Database Availability Policy
The
administrative databases, which are in CICS, are up from 6am
to 10pm Monday through Thursday and 6am to 5pm on Friday.
They run unattended from 6am to 7am each of those
days and also unattended from 2:30am Saturday through
8:00am Monday and on holidays. back
to top
Dispatch
Window Hours
Fall
semester hours for the CTC Dispatch Window TH111 are:
| Mon-Fri |
8am
to 5pm |
| Weekends |
CLOSED |
User
Services News
by Viv Zimmerman, User Services
Tomanek
Hall Lab News
A
lab monitor is present during open lab hours; however, labs
may be unavailable to users at times so that we can perform
routine maintenance. Hours
for the Tomanek Hall computer labs (TH121, 123, and 127) can
be found on our lab web page.
NO
food, drinks or tobacco of any kind are allowed in any of
the labs. Also, users may not bring and use their own zip
drives or any other peripherals in any of the CTC labs.
Many
of the lab users want to bring food and beverages into the
labs but the possibility of spilling a beverage onto the equipment
or a power source exists and could severely damage equipment
or shutdown the lab indefinitely for repairs.
Anyone
caught bringing food or beverages into the lab will be asked
to remove it immediately. Repeat offenders will not be able
to reserve the labs in the future. Please abide by this policy.
An
FHSU Student ID Card is required
to use these labs. In addition, students are required to sign
in at the front lab monitor desk in TH127. For security purposes
and your protection, all
three of the CTC computer labs are equipped with video surveillance
cameras.
Open
hours for the CTC computer labs are subject to change for
holidays and may be altered the last few weeks of the semester
to accommodate students completing semesterly projects. Any
change in hours is posted outside the CTC labs and may also
be viewed from our web site. For more information about our
CTC computer labs,
visit our web site. You may also contact the lab monitor on
duty at the front desk in TH127 or send comments to Viv
Zimmerman. back
to top
Reserving
CTC Labs
The
CTC TH123 Mac Computer Lab and CTC TH121 Pentium Computer
Lab are available for reservation by current faculty and staff.
If any FHSU club or organization wishes to reserve the lab,
the club or organization sponsor must submit the request or
you may have your secretary submit the request. Faculty or
staff must submit
a CTC Request for Services; click on the
Information Center button to reserve a lab.
For the most current information to aide you in reserving
either TH121 or TH123, visit our labs
web page. If you need assistance reserving a lab, contact
Viv at 4031.
List
the following information for each reservation: department,
course number, section and course name, dates and times needed,
instructor name, and how many students are in the class. We
are unable to schedule the labs without this request and you
may not bring a group over to use any CTC lab without a reservation.
. back
to top
Lotus
Notes Training
All
new faculty and staff can have a Lotus Notes ID which will
enable them to send and receive e-mail and work with calendars.
The LN training is not mandatory; however, we strongly recommend
that you attend to learn the basics of using Lotus Notes.
We
will offer Beginning Lotus Notes 5.0 training throughout the
fall semester. The training schedules
will be posted on the CTC web pages. Instructions for signing
up for the training sessions are included with the schedule.
Each time new sessions are offered, the training schedule
is updated on the web. A brief description
of each training workshop is also included.
When
signing up for any training sessions offered by the
CTC, please sign up by
session number to ensure that
you get in the right one. back
to top
View
Class Rosters On-Line
If
your CICS security is already set up for the Course System,
you may view your rosters by doing the following:
- Sign
onto CICS with your CICS ID and password.
-
Enter 04 at the Enter Function
prompt.
-
Enter 81, DEPT, COURSE NUMBER, SECTION, YEAR, SEMESTER.
HINT:
Semester codes: U = Summer, F = Fall, S = Spring
- Press
TAB to move from field to field.
-
The default will display ALL students (regardless of status).
Follow instructions on screen to make another choice.
-
View your roster and follow the prompts at the bottom of
screen.
If
you have a printer attached to your work station, you may
choose File and select Print
or click on the printer icon to
have a rough copy of your roster(s). If you need assistance
using this system or if you would like to have security for
it, call Viv
at 4031 or Jane
at 5819. back
to top
On-Line Grade Entry
If
you are new faculty or have never entered grades before or
if you haven't signed onto CICS recently, sign onto CICS and
see if you can access the Course System (for example, try
function 81 Roster Inquiry or 71
Roster Grade Update). Please note that you must be
the instructor of record to work with your rosters or enter
grades. Check function 63 to see if you are
listed as the instructor of record.
This
security must be set up before you will be able to enter grades.
If you do not have a CICS ID or if you have questions, please
contact Jane
at 5819 or Viv
at 4031. back
to top
On-Line
Registration
Luci
Williams, Judy Channel and LuAnn Pfeifer will hold training
for on-line Registration (OLR) from October 21st through October
27th. This will be just prior to the actual Spring 2004 registration.
The current training schedule
can be found on the October calendar of our
training web page.
These sessions are for faculty ONLY. The
training is mandatory for any advisor who
wishes to register advisees. We will not be able to offer
this training again until March, 2004.
Each training session meets for one hour.
The training will be held in Tomanek Hall 107.
Call Viv at 4031
to sign up. A reminder about these workshops will be sent
out later through Lotus Notes e-mail. If you are interested
in registering your advisees, contact Jane
at 5819 to start the security form process.
back
to top
Staff
Changes
Please
notify Viv at
4031 any time faculty, staff or student employees
terminate their employment with your office so that we can
remove their IDs and update our group mailing lists and security
tables. Thanks to all of you who have already sent us this
information. It
is imperative that all security is removed for those who no
longer work in your office. It is also important that you
not share passwords with others. If you have student employees
who need access to Lotus Notes, CICS, or other systems to
perform duties in your office, please contact us to set up
an account. Many offices have set up generic Lotus Notes or
CICS accounts for student employees in their offices and merely
change the password each time a student employee terminates.
Also,
send us a listing of any new employees that includes SSN,
office phone and room number information. We need this info
for security purposes and also to keep the directory and LN
groups updated. In addition, some of the information contained
in the LN FHSU Address Book on NotesHub automatically displays
on any electronic requests or workflow forms submitted. back
to top |
| |
|
LN Hints &
Tips . . .
Important LN Calendar Option
To
avoid meeting invitations being accidentally deleted from
your Lotus Notes calendar when erasing the original meeting
invitation from your Inbox, we recommend that users please
check their calendar preferences and make sure that they have
the following option selected Remove Meeting invitations
from my Inbox after I respond to them. There should be
an X in the box next to this option.
As
a word of caution, if you do not have the above option selected,
whenever you accept a meeting invitation from your Inbox,
the entry will be posted on your LN calendar but the invitation
will also remain in your Inbox. Then, if you delete
the invitation from your Inbox, LN will also remove
the calendar entry from your calendar.
Please
set up this option so that LN will automatically remove meeting
invitations from your Inbox after you respond to
them; then LN will remove the invitation from your Inbox
but will not remove the corresponding
meeting entry from your Calendar view or Meetings folder.
To set up this option, open your LN Inbox, select Tools
and select Preferences. Click on the Calendar
tab and the Autoprocess tab. Click on the
box to the right of Remove Meeting invitations
from my Inbox after I respond to them and then
click the OK button.
If
you need assistance with setting up this option, contact the
CTC HelpDesk at 5276. back
to top
Adding
Links to LN Notes
In
Lotus Notes, it is simple to include a link in a note. In
the body of the note, enter the complete
URL such as the following: http://www.fhsu.edu/ctc/labs/
. It is also recommended that you leave a space between the
last character of your link and the period if your link is
at the end of a sentence as shown in the above example. It
will not look like a link in the note that you are composing
but it will look and function as a link in the recipient's
note.
Another
method for putting a link into a note is to cut the link from
the URL address box from Netscape or Internet Explorer and
paste it into your note. Either method works well. back
to top
How
to Load CTC Application Icons on Your LN Desktop
You
can load these application icons onto your LN desktop by following
the steps listed. Some applications/databases are: Buy, Sell,
and Trade, Change of Grade, CTELT Request for Services, CTC
Request for Services, Department Lookup, FHSU Vacant Positions,
ILL (Inter-Library Loan), Physical Plant Work Request, Vendor
Lookup, Telephone Service Requests, Warehouse, and Workflow.
If you are using version LN 5.0 or above:
-
Sign
onto LN, click File, choose Database,
choose Open, change the Server
to LNapps/FHSU, and then scroll down
in the Database window and double-click apps
(the apps folder is towards the bottom of the list).
-
Click
on the database name and click on the
Bookmark button. In the Add Bookmark
dialog box, click the Bookmark folder that you'd
like to place the database bookmark in (usually Favorite
Bookmarks) and click OK. If
necessary, continue adding more databases to your Favorite
Bookmarks folder.
-
When finished adding all the desired database names, close
the Open Database dialog box by clicking the
X in the upper-right corner of the dialog
box.
To
add additional databases, repeat step one from the above procedure
and in step two, select another database
from the Database window. Repeat this procedure until you
have added all the databases that you need.
From your desktop, you may now click on any of these database
icons or folders to submit requests for the desired services
or view/post entries on the Bulletin Board. Please review
the LN Bulletin Board Policy in this newsletter before using
the Bulletin Board. To use any application, click on the appropriate
buttons and fill in the necessary fields. Then click the appropriate
button(s) to submit a request or post an item.
As
additional applications are developed in Lotus Notes, we will
notify you. New applications may be added using the same procedure
listed above.
If
you need assistance with adding these databases or using them,
contact the CTC HelpDesk at 5276.
back
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How
to Submit a CTC Request for Services Through LN
A
CTC Request for Services must
be submitted for any kind of services from the Computing and
Telecommunication Center. To submit a request to the CTC,
do the following:
-
Select
the Favorite Bookmarks folder and choose
CTC Request for Services.
-
Click on the appropriate CTC section
button (Information Center, Network Services, Microcomputer
Services, Applications Development, Systems Services,
or Intermedia Classroom Support) and then
an electronic form will appear on the screen. Requests
for Telephone Service may be submitted by following the
instructions in the Requesting Telephone Services
article.
-
Fill in the blanks on the electronic
form; be as specific as possible.
-
When finished entering all of the information on the electronic
form, click on the Submit button to send
the request to the CTC for approval. Please submit your
request at least three working
days or more before the desired completion
date (completion date may vary depending on workload).
Indicate the program number, any desired options or special
instructions, the number of copies needed, and paper type.
You will be notified through LN mail when the job is completed.
Call
Viv at 4031 or Jane
at 5819 if you need assistance submitting
your request. back
to top
LN
FHSU Address Book Icon
If
you do not have the FHSU Address Book displayed on the left
side of your LN window in your Bookmark Bar, do the following
to load it:
-
Click File, Database, Open and change the
Server from Local to NotesHub/FHSU.
-
Under Database, scroll down to FHSU Address
Book and double-click to open it.
-
Click the FHSU Address tab at the top with
your left mouse button and while holding down the mouse
button, drag the tab to the left side of the window in the
row of bookmarks and place it in the gray area above your
personal Address Book icon. This will place the FHSU Address
Book icon in the row of icons and in the future, you may
click on this icon to access it. back
to top
LN
FHSU Address Book Info
All
Lotus Notes users are responsible for entering their own Work,
Home, and Company information into the LN FHSU
Address Book. There are still some users who have not entered
this information. The LN FHSU Address Book contains phone
and office location information about each user on campus.
It is used as an on-line campus directory for looking up phone
numbers, office locations, and other information. The information
contained in the FHSU Address Book is also used extensively
by the LN on-line request and workflow systems. That's why
it is important to have your information correct at all times.
Find
your entry and double-click on it to review. If necessary,
click the Edit button and enter your information
or make revisions. When finished, click the Save and
Close button. Refer to the on-line Beginning
LN 5.0 Client Handbook for assistance (see next article
FHSU CTC Handbooks Database). If you need further
assistance, contact the CTC HelpDesk at 5276.
back
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FHSU
CTC Handbooks Database
If
you do not have the on-line FHSU CTC Handbooks database
displayed on the left side of your LN window in your Favorite
Bookmarks folder, follow the steps in the article How
to Load CTC Application Icons on Your LN Desktop to add
this icon to your desktop or bookmark it to your Favorites
Bookmark folder. This database contains much helpful information
about setting up your mail, calendar, and delegation preferences,
changing your LN Client and Internet passwords, working with
your LN mail, calendar, address books, and a variety of other
important information. back
to top
Have
You Changed Offices?
Over
the summer, several offices relocated to different areas or
other buildings. If your office was relocated during these
moves, please update your office location and phone number
information in the LN FHSU Address Book by following
the instructions in the article, LN FHSU Address Book
Info. If you need assistance changing this information, contact
Viv
at 4031. back
to top
Attention
New Faculty & Staff. . .
Here's how to request new IDs
It
would be helpful if the departmental secretaries would send
a Lotus Notes Request for Computing Services as soon as possible
to request user IDs for Lotus Notes, CICS, Bigcat, or any
other systems that are needed for any new faculty, staff,
or student employees hired.
Please
include the following information: name of employee, SSN,
department name and number, title, indicate whether the new
employee is faculty, staff, or student employee, office location
and phone number.
On
this request, also include the location of the computer that
needs to have LN installed and any special instructions --
such as -- is this computer shared by several users? Computers
shared by more than one user affect the way LN is set up and
installed.
This
would help us tremendously in processing your requests more
efficiently. Since our work load significantly increases with
the beginning of the fall semester, please
do not wait until the last minute to send your request.
back
to top
Using
LN Groups Hint
Have
you ever sent a note to a large group only to have all
of the names appear at the top of your note? More than likely,
most of you have probably received an occasional note displaying
all of the names at the top.
We
have created the faculty, staff, and allusers
groups in the Lotus Notes FHSU Address Book on NotesHub for
your convenience. In order to use any of these groups, all
that is necessary is to just key in the appropriate list name
in the To: field of your memo. For example, if you
wish to send a note to all of the faculty, just type the group
name faculty in the To: field. Make sure
there is a comma after each name or group listed because LN
requires commas.
LN
will automatically suppress the huge lists of recipients at
the start of the memo when these FHSU Address Book groups
are used.
IMPORTANT
HINT: Please do
not copy the faculty, staff, or allusers groups from the FHSU's
Address Book on NotesHub to your own LN personal Address Book.
If you do copy these groups to your own LN personal Address
Book, the feature that suppresses the long list of recipients
will be disabled and the names of all the recipients will
display at the top of your note. In addition, any groups that
you copy to your own LN personal Address Book will not contain
the current updates.
Also,
remember to use the appropriate group(s) when sending notes.
back
to top
FHSU
Vacant Positions Icon
The
Personnel Office maintains a Vacant Positions database on
Lotus Notes. If you would like to access the FHSU Vacant Positions
database on Lotus Notes, follow the steps in the article,
How to Load CTC Application Icons on Your LN Desktop,
to add this icon to your desktop or bookmark it to your Favorites
Bookmark folder.
Click
on the icon to view the FHSU Classified Staff Vacant Positions,
State of Kansas Civil Service Jobs, and Notice of Non-Discrimination.
The
vacant positions are posted on bulletin boards throughout
the Physical Plant, Gross Memorial Coliseum, Personnel Office,
and Mailroom. Contact Joyce
Klaus in the Personnel Office at 4462
if you have any questions about the positions posted. back
to top
Filtering
New Mail
Before
we had Lotus Notes, many users used other E-mail systems that
allowed them to dump mail messages into different folders.
The R5 version of LN has an easy-to-use rules-based feature
that allows you to look for information contained in various
fields of a note that can be compared and then told what action
needs to be taken if the comparison is met.
For
example, if you are on a certain listserv and you would like
any notes received from that listserv to be filed into a folder,
this could be done by setting up a rule. Or, if you get a
significant amount of mail messages from any of your classes,
you could have your students always include the name of the
class in the subject line when sending you a note. Then you
could set up a rule so that all mail with this class name
in the subject field be filed into a specific folder.
If
you would like to filter some of your mail into folders using
the Rules feature, follow the steps in the article Working
with Rules in the FHSU CTC Handbooks database or click
on the Help Menu, choose Help Topics,
choose Index in the left window, enter Filter,
click on the drop-down arrows by Filtering mail
and using rules, and double-click on Filtering
new mail using rules. If you want to print these
instructions for further reference, right-click in
the right window where the topic is displayed and
choose Print. Hit Esc to
exit the Help Menu. .
To
load the FHSU CTC Handbooks database into your Databases
Bookmarks folder, follow the steps in the article, How
to Load CTC Application Icons on Your LN Desktop. If
you need assistance, contact Viv
at 4031. back
to top
Changing
LN Browsers
Many
users find the default Lotus Notes browser cumbersome and
if you wish to change it to another browser, such as Netscape
Navigator or Internet Explorer, do the following:
- Go
into File.
-
Choose Mobile.
-
Choose Edit Current Location.
-
Click the drop-down menu for Internet Browser.
-
Select Netscape Navigator or Microsoft
Internet Explorer.
-
Click OK.
-
Click the Save and Close button.
Then,
the next time you are reading your LN mail and click on an
URL listed in a note, you will be able to access the site
from Netscape Navigator or IE rather than the LN browser.
back
to top
|
| |
CTC Labs Hours |
|
For
more information about our services or hours, visit our lab
web site or stop by TH127 (next to the elevator) and check
with the lab monitor on duty. Check our lab web page for special
hours posted for holidays, finals week, interim breaks,
summer semester, and other special announcements. As always,
if you have questions, feedback, comments or suggestions regarding
our labs, please let us know; send a note to Viv
Zimmerman or call 4031. back
to top |
| |
|
CTC Training
Schedule on Web |
We
now have a web page for CTC training workshops on the CTC
website. You may access the training schedule and a description
of the workshops by clicking on the Faculty/Staff
Training link from the navigation bar on any of the CTC
web. This page offers a description of the workshops offered
by the CTC. Click on the schedule
link to see a calendar with the current month's training.
Contact Viv Zimmerman
or call her at 4031 to sign up for a workshop.
back
to top |
| |
Reserving
CTC Computer Labs |
We
have posted information on a web page to aid faculty or staff
who are unfamiliar with submitting a Request for Computing
Services to reserve our CTC TH123 Mac Lab or the TH121 Pentium
Computer Lab for a class or workshop. The information for
reserving
either lab can be found on our CTC labs web page. The lab
supervisor is Viv Zimmerman.
Contact her at 4031 if you have any questions
about reserving a lab. back
to top |
| |
LN 5.0 Hints
& Tips. . . |
Ambiguous Name
Dialog Box |
We've
had several calls recently about a dialog box that appears
when sending notes through Lotus Notes to the Faculty
and/or Staff groups. When using either of these groups,
you probably have received an Ambiguous Name dialog
box after clicking on the Send button.
If
this box appears, it merely means that more than one match
was found for the name. For instance, when sending a note
to the Faculty group, this Ambiguous Name
dialog box appears with the choices of "Faculty"
and "Faculty Senate". Click on Faculty
and then click the OK button and the note
will go to everyone in the Faculty group.
The
same may happen when a note is sent to other groups or users
that have a common word within their group name, or first
or last name. Scroll through the list in
the Ambiguous Names dialog box, click on
the desired group or user, and then click the OK
button. Your note will then be sent to the appropriate group
or user. Caution:
If you click the Skip Name button, that group or
person will not
receive the note. back
to top
|
| |
End of Semester
Acct Maintenance |
It
is important that you notify Viv
Zimmerman whenever faculty, staff, or student employees
terminate employment with your office so that we can remove
their IDs and update our group mailing lists and security
tables.
It
is imperative that all security is removed for those who
no longer work in your office. It is also important that
you not share passwords with others. If you have student
employees who need access to Lotus Notes, CICS, or other
systems to perform duties in your office, please contact
us to set up an account. Many offices have set up generic
student Lotus Notes or CICS accounts for student employees
in their offices and merely change the password each time
a student employee quits. back
to top
|
| |
LN Password
Information |
It
is always a good idea to change your passwords periodically.
If you have not changed your Lotus Notes Client and/or Internet
passwords for quite some time, it might be a good idea to
change them now. The Client password is the password that
you use to logon in your office and the Internet password
is the password that is used when accessing Lotus Notes from
the Web interface (tiger.fhsu.edu) or via the POP3 server.
User accounts will not have Web or POP3 access to their accounts
until they change this password. The information to change
both the Client and Internet passwords follows. You can make
both passwords the same if you like. back
to top |
| |
Browser Hint |
Sometimes
when you print a web page, you notice that some of the words
are chopped off at the right edge of the paper. To correct
this, do the following:
- Click
on File and choose Page Setup.
-
Change the Right Margin to .25.
-
Click OK.
Then click
on File and Print Preview
to see if this margin adjustment has fixed the problem. If it
looks OK in the Print Preveiw, you are ready to Print the page
or document. back
to top |
| |
Applications
Programming
by Daryl Carswell, Applications Programming
Manager |
The
Applications Programming section of the CTC is comprised of
a manager and five full-time programmer/analysts. Our main
function is to develop and support the current administrative
computer systems for the IBM mainframe computer in areas such
as student records, degree progress, payroll/personnel, accounting,
course inventory and schedule development, alumni and endowment
records, and facilities. We also support various other administrative
systems that are housed on other computing platforms.
At
this time, students can view their class schedules, transcripts,
personal information, and financial information on the Student
Web Services site. They can also update their telephone
and address information. There is also an on-line scholarship
application form on this site.
If
we can be of assistance, please contact us at 4047
or e-mail Daryl Carswell.
back
to top
|
| |
Data Communications
by Dan Pfeifer, Coordinator
Network Happenings
The
work to upgrade the wired campus data network infrastructure
continues. We have completed the replacement of the Ethernet
hubs in the building wiring closets with Ethernet switches.
The switches increase the raw data transmittal capacity of
the network over that provided by the hubs, as well as, provide
security features that we hope to exploit in the future. This
past year we began the enhancement of the data transmittal
capacity for the academic buildings further by increasing
the speed of the link between each building’s Ethernet
switch and the network backbone from 100 megabits per second
to 1000 megabits per second. While this has been done for
several buildings we await the installation of higher capacity
optical fiber to complete this work.
Over
the summer, work began on the renovation of Wooster Place.
Occupants of Wooster Place will enjoy for the first time a
fast link to the campus network as Ethernet switches are placed
in each building. The first building of Wooster Place has
been completed.
Prior
to the start of the Fall term the speed of the Internet connection
was increased from ten megabits (ten million) bits per second
to thirteen megabits per second. Increased enrollment on campus
and the Virtual College and more students in the Residence
Halls requesting Ethernet connections to the backbone contribute
to the need for the increased bandwidth. If current trends
of Internet usage continue it is quite likely that a further
increase in the speed will be necessary. One of the trends
we are seeing is increased usage of streaming video and audio
over the Internet. Another continuing use of the Internet
link is music and video file sharing which requires a substantial
amount of the available bandwidth. We attempt to control this
activity with the bandwidth manager but it is a constant battle
because new ways of file sharing are constantly appearing
which the bandwidth manager does not recognize until new code
is developed for it and installed.
The
University has applied for Internet 2 (I2) status. Hopefully,
we will see this come to fruition soon for those interested
in the enhancement of their research activities.
A
recent experience with an Internet virus, the Ilovesan worm
(aka Blaster) demonstrated a couple of things to those of
us responsible for the security, availability, and performance
of the network infrastructure. First and foremost the need
to keep our Windows operating systems updated to combat the
seemingly constant parade of security holes that are discovered
and exploited. Secondly the importance of the Intrusion Detection
System, which was installed a little over a year ago, helped
us immensely in combating the Ilovesan worm and recovering
from it.
Deployment
of the wireless data network made some advances over the past
year, although not as rapidly as we would like. We have a
presence in Forsyth Library on the main floor with fairly
good coverage. There is some coverage in the basement and
on the second floor that will require improvement. We will
be adding the service in the Memorial Union this fall. Anyone
interested in using the wireless network in the Library or
the Union can contact me by phone (4038)
or e-mail Presently
wireless access requires either Windows XP or Windows 2000
computers and an 802.11b radio card. Apple has a beta operating
system that supports wireless access. Hopefully, it will be
available soon for general distribution. back
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|
| |
Network and
Microcomputer Services
by Mark Griffin, Manager of Servers and
Desktop Systems |
Performing a
Consistency Check Message
Many
of you have called regarding the message "Performing
a consistency check". This occurs after the server crashes.
The server must check every database that was open at the
time of the crash. In some cases, you may have had your e-mail
open. In other cases though, the se | | |
