Computing and Telecommunication Center Newsletter
Fall 2004

CTC News and Other Bytes . . .

Welcome (or welcome back) to FHSU

While some of you were in Hawaii, Myrtle Beach, Yellowstone Park and Pawnee Rock, Kansas, we were here in Hays, America, working. Of course I know that many of you were working too, and I know that we took vacations during part of the summer. It is true, however, that the summer seemed short and very busy.

This coming year could be a strategic year for Information Technology here at FHSU. We want to review the concept of Laptop University in depth this year and make a decision to pursue this or not. We foresee this review coming at a lot of different levels: ITPAC (Instructional Technology Policy Advisory Committee) will review the pedagogical impact of laptops in the classroom, Faculty Senate may hold hearings on the concept, VP Mike Barnett will review the financial impact on the University, the Provosts Advisory Council will discuss it, and students will have a variety of venues to make their voice heard. We expect representatives of FHSU to go to a site in Northern Michigan to hear directly from faculty and students about how well it works there.

In addition, we have signed an agreement with IBM Global Services to create a number of business models involving wireless voice and wireless data, and potentially to help us negotiate with vendors. There are some potential revenue models beneficial to the University, and there are a variety of partnerships possible between FHSU and a variety of vendors. Since practically every student now has a cell phone, it makes sense to create a strategy that accommodates student cell phone usage. We also want to plan for faculty and staff cell phone usage for next year. We should also position the University to take advantage of developments in the IP arena (Voice over IP). We are experimenting with VOIP now (see below).

Finally, there is a new kind of fast wireless standard emerging for data (802.16) that has some potential over a broad area (30 mile radius). This is sometimes referred to as Wimax. It may make the most sense to look at vendor partners to provide this kind of broadband wireless. In any case, all of these arenas are worthy of study. FHSU has a good fiber backbone and our Avaya phone switch will soon be able to handle IP traffic, so we are in a relatively good position to implement a variety of strategies. back to top

Welcome to New Staff

Summer Projects

Some Initiatives

Microcomputer Support

Labs with New PCs

• IRC (College of Education) 20 wireless laptops, new Macs, Sykes PCs
• Tech Studies in Davis Hall 11 PCs & 11 Macs
• Math Lab in Rarick 30 PCs
• INT Lab in Picken 14 PCs

• English Lab (RH 348)

Statistical Consulting

Faculty and staff should contact Mike Muench, for statistical consulting programming support at mmuench@fhsu.edu. The CTC does not enter data, but the statistical consultant can give advice to departmental workers who do enter the data.

The University has purchased a limited number of licenses for PC version of SPSS. If you wish to use one of the PC versions, please submit a CTC Request for Services on LNapps. Click on the Microcomputer Services 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 to top

Reminder to all LN Users . . .

Systems Programming
by Michael Lacy, Manager

The FHSU Enterprise Server is an IBM 9672-R26 with 4GB of Main Memory and a speed of 216 millions of instructions per second. I/O is handled by an IBM Shark 2105-F20 with 840 GB of storage. Four 3490-C22 tape drives allow us to retrieve data stored on tape or can be used to create backup tapes for archiving.

One 3174 controller allows console access to the Enterprise Server and three OSA adapters allow access to all devices across campus.

Two IBM 6262 printers at 1400 lines per minute print many reports, labels and special forms. In addition, an IBM 3812 LED page printer with graphics capabilities prints reports, letters, and other tasks submitted from across campus. Other printers located across campus are attached to the system via RSCS and TCP/IP to print other jobs as submitted.

The operating system is VM/ESA 3.1 running VSE/ESA 2.7 as a guest operating system. We run CICS as the transaction server with DL/1 and DB2 database software.

We also have Linux installed and running in testing mode. back to top

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. back to top

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 vzimmerm@fhsu.edu or jrajewsk@fhsu.edu 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 at http://www.fhsu.edu/ctc/training/calendar.shtml; click on the session name link for a brief description of each workshop. Users will be notified of new training schedules through LN e-mail that includes 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 Client and Internet passwords. 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 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.

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 LN 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 Rajewski at 5819. back to top

IFAS Security

We cannot add or make changes to IFAS security without an approved Account Changes form or Request for Account form. Please submit the appropriate form via Lotus Notes Workflow to request access. Budgetary approval is required for each account. If you have questions, please contact Amy Gregg at 4250. back to top

IFAS System Passwords

We are in the process of changing all of the IFAS passwords to a combination of numbers and letters. We plan to have this task completed by January, 2005. After your IFAS password is changed, your new password will be sent to you via e-mail. 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:

• Fort Hays State University
• FHSU CTC HelpDesk
• Student Web Services (SWS)
• Scatcat Activation
• Blackboard
• Media Equipment Checkout
• Acceptable Use Information
• Faculty/Staff Training Workshops
• FHSU CTC Labs
• FHSU Campus Labs Info Page
• CTC On-line Newsletters
• Reserving CTC Computer Labs

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. back to top

CICS Administrative Database Availability Policy

The administrative databases, which run in CICS and are used by Student Web Services (SWS), are available daily except from 10pm - 1am Monday thru Thursday and from 5pm-8pm on Fridays. back to top

Dispatch Window Hours

Fall semester hours for the CTC Dispatch Window TH111 are:

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 and LuAnn Pfeifer held training for on-line Registration (OLR) in October. This was just prior to the actual Spring 2005 registration. Student registration began October 26th.

On-line registration training is 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, 2005.

If you are interested in registering your advisees, contact Luci Williams of the Registrar's Office at 5831 to start the security form process. back to top

Staff Changes

Please notify Viv at 4031 or send a note to vzimmerm@.fhsu.edu 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.

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.

If you need assistance, contact Viv at 4031 or Jane at 5819. 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 your Inbox after you have responded to them. There should be an checkmark 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 Display tab. Click on the box to the right of Remove Meeting invitations from your Inbox after you have responded 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 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 6.0 or above:

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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 to top

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 to top

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, if you changed offices, moved to another department or a different building, please make sure to update your information in the LN FHSU Address Book. Please update your office location and phone number information as soon as possible by following the instructions in the article, LN FHSU Address Book Info. If you need assistance changing this information, contact the CTC HelpDesk at 5276. 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, 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

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 Internet Explorer, do the following:

• Go into File.
• Choose Mobile.
• Choose Edit Current Location.
• Click the drop-down menu for Internet Browser.
• Select 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 Internet Explorer rather than the LN browser. 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

uPortal and You
by Jackie Ruder, Programmer/Analyst

The Computing and Telecommunications Center is excited to announce that the first stages of development for the Student System Campus Web Portal are now underway.

The Portal will provide role-based access to university applications and other data sources in a personalized, user-friendly environment, all in one convenient place.

Providing the basic foundation for the portal look and feel will be the uPortal framework, an open-source portal application offered via free download by a collaboration of higher education organizations known collectively as the Java in Administration Special Interest Group (JA-SIG). The goal of uPortal is to provide a framework for presenting aggregated content in the form of customizable windows housing units of information, or channels. Channel content on a portal page may range from internal applications generating individual course schedules and final exam details to external data access such as news and weather reports. The presence of channels in a portal environment allow users to select the views that are most beneficial and desirable to them in their functional roles, be it student, faculty, staff, or some combination or breakdown thereof.

Along with channels, common portal characteristics often include role-based access control (customization) and personalization features. Individual user roles and personalization profiles are stored and accessed based on the user login, which is required for portal entry. Customization, performed at the administrative level, will provide users with views and data access permissions relevant to their individual roles. An advisor, for example, might see default layouts and channel content options divergent from those of a professor, and a college dean or chair may have varied layout and content access than would an advisor or professor. Personalization allows modifications to the display of data in a manner that suits the requirements and preferences at the user level. Personalization to a portal page by a user might include subscribing and unsubscribing to channel content, placing channel windows in a preferred location on the page, or changing the page backgrounds and colors. Both role-based access control and personalization features are available within the uPortal framework.

uPortal is a documented, supported, and widely-used portal technology in the higher education community, entirely customizable and therefore completely flexible in its ability to be adapted to fit the universitys needs. It offers a viable framework alternative to commercial portal products and provides a stepping stone for achieving basic portal functionality, facilitating focus of programming effort on channel content and Student System functionality requirements. Additional information on uPortal can be obtained at http://www.uportal.org. back to top

Data Communications
by Dan Pfeifer, Coordinator

Student and faculty interest in the deployment of a wireless data network with access to the wired campus network and its connected resources continues. Wireless access to the campus network is available in Forsyth Library, the Memorial Union, Tomanek Hall, and Davis Hall. Rarick Hall, in conjunction with the upgrade of the Instructional Research Center Lab, will soon have wireless access.

Access to the wireless network requires authentication of the user with a username and password in the Windows FHSU domain account. Most faculty and staff members have a Windows FHSU domain account. Students wanting access are provided an account. We are working on a system which will allow students access using their Scatcat account.

The authentication standard used for access is known as 802.1x with PEAP. PC laptops running Windows XP or Mac laptops running OS version 10.3 systems support 802.1x/PEAP, natively. Handhelds supporting 802.1x/PEAP work also. The wireless network supports a radio standard known as 802.11b. This standard operates at 11Mbps (mega-bits per second). There are two other standards known as 802.11a and 802.11g. These competing standards promise speeds up to 54Mbps, which will survive in the marketplace is uncertain. We have not committed to either one.

Anyone interested in using the wireless network can dial 4038 or send e-mail to dpfeifer@fhsu.edu.

Work continues on the renovation of Wooster Place. Occupants of Wooster Place are enjoying for the first time a fast wired link to the campus network as Ethernet switches are placed in each building. Four buildings have been completed with completion of the project planned for next May. The growth of the University and changes to its way of conducting business like the new financial system have required the deployment of additional resources to the wired network

The University has acquired its own Internet Protocol (IP) address space. Previously we were allocated IP addresses from our Internet Service Provider (ISP). Because of the University's growth and its need for additional IP address space and the ISP's own growth they asked us to obtain our own address space so that we could release the ISP's allocation to us back to them. This will also give the University and the ISP greater flexibility in the routing of our IP address space. Conversion to the new addresses has begun, but will take some time. We hope to have the conversion completed by the end of the spring term. back to top

Network and Microcomputer Services
by Mark Griffin, Manager of Servers and Desktop Systems

Lotus Notes Upgrades

Over the past 3 months, we have been making several changes (improvements?) to the Lotus Notes e-mail system. Immediately following the spring semester, we upgraded our Notes e-mail server from R5 (version 5.0.12) to version R6 (6.0.3). Since that time, we have upgraded again, but only to 6.0.4. After the mail server upgrade was in place, we began upgrading the Lotus Notes clients (the Notes software on your computers). So far, we have upgraded over 550 systems, but we have nearly 1000 left to go! We hope to have this complete or nearly complete before the end of the semester.

On July 2, 2004 we actually migrated our Notes server to some new hardware. The old server was an IBM RS6000 (Quad processor 332 MHz system with 3 GB of RAM) and the new server is a Dell PowerEdge 6650 Server (Quad processor 3.0 GHz system with 8 GB of RAM). This was also an operating system change in that the old IBM system ran an AIX operating system and the new system runs Windows 2003 Server. This new server is also connected to our new Clariion CX300 Storage Area Network which greatly improves disk performance. Overall, the speed of the new system should be blazing compared to the old server.

Last and perhaps the coolest part of the Notes changes occurred a few days later on July 5, 2004. On this day, we added our Barracuda Networks Spam Firewall. This little server processes every e-mail that is bound for the Lotus Notes e-mail server. It checks for spam and does a virus scan of every piece of e-mail that passes through it. From July 5 until about 8:00 AM on Sept. 5, that system has processed the following:

This system is not perfect in that there is still some spam coming into user's e-mail that isn't tagged. And, there are times that tagged e-mail (BULK) is not truly spam, but overall the system appears to be working pretty well. The system is averaging about 1000 e-mails processed every hour of every day, with nearly 75% of those e-mails not needing processing by users. Plus, figure in the cost of this system of less than $2,500 and we think we have a bargain. We looked at many other options for anti-spam and nearly every one we looked at cost much more. In fact, the next cheapest solution was about 3 times as much, with several running even more than that.

Looking down the road we still need to upgrade the LNapps server after we complete or nearly complete all of the client installs. Then, once that is done, we will begin the process all over again. Lotus already has version 6.5 ready and they are working on R7! back to top

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 server had the database open for delivery of a message to you. When crashes occur during a busy time of the day, it is not unusual to have over 1,000 databases open that now have to be consistency checked. For that many open databases, it will take the system about an hour to check those databases. Once your database has been checked, you can then open your e-mail. back to top

Mail Cleanup!

Some users receive a large amount of e-mail from students, colleagues, or others and they keep it in their Inbox or in folders. This is fine, but after awhile, they start receiving a message upon accessing their mail indicating that they have exceeded their size threshold capacity. Usually, we suggest deleting all unnecessary mail, but some users want to keep these notes for later reference. These notes can be archived and stored on your own PC rather than stored on the server. This will free up server space and still allow you to access these notes later.

This is a reminder for everyone to clean out their Notes mail Inbox. There are many users out there who are over their mail quota. You know who you are! You receive a warning every time you start your Lotus Notes.

You either need to delete your e-mail or archive it. Deleting your mail is self-explanatory. If you archive your e-mail, you will still have access to that old mail on your own work PC. The mail will be saved in a database on that PC, not on the Notes server.

I will soon have instructions for archiving in LN6.0. Until then, if you have trouble archiving, please contact Mark Griffin at 4026 and I will gladly help you. Cleaning out your Notes mail will help our system run more efficiently. Thank you for taking care of this important maintenance issue. back to top

Current Events Notes Database

We have a Current Events discussion database on our N