University Systems News for October 2013

Posted on by

Accomplishments this month:

  • iTSC, a technology blog hosted by the Technology Solutions Centre (TSC), is now live in the Online Academic Community.  The TSC will be using this blog to post reviews of technology that we have an opportunity to review in the hopes that the UVic community can benefit from this repository of reviews when making decisions around purchasing both standard and non-standard computing hardware.
  • We hired a second Audio Visual Coordinator, Jordie Hein, to fill a vacancy left by Francine Landmesser’s retirement; Jordie joins dea Kearns and a team of student staff who provide audio visual support for classrooms and events.
  • We provided audiovisual support as well as an open wireless network “SMC2013” for Social Media Camp 2013 on October 19.
  • Papercut pay-for-print service has been extended to include a lab in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences.
  • Students are now able to print from their laptops to the printers in our computing facilities using the wireless network; next step is to investigate how to extend this to include iOS-based mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads.
  • We have been focused on upgrading our campus wireless infrastructure; 92% of the old wireless infrastructure has been updated, and only some areas within Student Residences are left.  In parallel to the upgrades, which are designed to improve performance, upgraded areas are being surveyed to evaluate if service enhancement is required.  The next area of focus will be the area outside and in front of the McPherson Library.
  • A new smart firewall has been purchased as a replacement for our Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and is currently in testing mode on a number of network segments.  Training has been completed and a Privacy Impact Assessment has been sent to the Chief Privacy Officer (Bill Trott) for review.
  • A project to switch from our old Cisco Unity voicemail system to Better Voicemail (Microsoft Unified Messaging) is under way.  Better Voicemail offers a number of feature improvements over the old Cisco Unity system, and is already licensed as part of our Microsoft Campus Agreement.
  • The BCNET Software Defined Networking (SDN) testbed project kicked off in September.  This BCNET project is working in conjunction with UVic, HEPNET, and CANARIE to assemble a testbed in BC and connect it to PACWAVE in Seattle.  UVic’s focus is on establishing a testbed in BC and getting it interconnected through Seattle ready for Supercomputing 2013 in November.
  • In order to establish better Data Centre network redundancy, an additional supervisor card was installed in the EDC2 router and Science Building distribution router
  • Minerva, our original High Performance Research Cluster, has now been disassembled and sent for recycling.  It was originally purchased in 1999 and turned off Dec 2012.
  • As part of a web-application security testing for another project, a cross-site scripting vulnerability was discovered in UVic’s implementation of the CAS login page, which is used to provide single-sign-on to a number of web applications.  We worked quickly to implement, test, and put a fix into production.
  • We have published documentation online to help the UVic community members protect popular file types using encryption and password protection.
  • Mac OS 10.9 and Microsoft Windows 8.1 have been released.  Bulletins on compatibility of enterprise applications with these new operating systems have been posted to the University Systems website.
  • Our Desktop Video Conferencing service is now available for faculty and staff use; information can be found in our service catalogue.
  • A new bubblesheet exam scanning system has been installed in the Data Centre, and a pilot group of faculty members has been engaged to help exercise the new system prior to a general go-live in the spring.  In addition to updating the central service, this new system also enables faculty members and academic departments to perform their own scanning and analysis of results.
  • Replacement systems for our current uHire and course experience survey systems have been identified and acquired through the RFP process, and the project teams are working with stakeholders to determine the timing and logistics of these respective go-lives.

Projects Snapshot:

  • PC0375, uPortal Upgrade, was granted approval to plan. The project will upgrade the portal to version 4.0.x to take advantage of the security improvements, mobile browser view improvements, and inclusion of the uMobile framework for future projects.
  • PC0260, Percentage and Comparative Grading, was granted approval to execute. This project will implement the change at the University to new modes of tracking student Academic progress for percentage grading and comparative grading.
  • PC0376, Data Centre Router Redundant Supervisors, was granted approval to execute. The goal of this project is to provide network redundancy for the main EDC2 data centre (EDC2) router to improve reliability for essential University services, as well as pilot new VS-S2T-10G supervisor blades in redundant mode.
  • PC0313, Campus Alarm System Renewal. This project eliminated a safety and security exposure created by moving campus fire and intrusion alarm panels off of the University legacy telephone system (PABX).
  • PC0216, BCCUR Enhancements. The project implemented functionality improvements to the BCCUR portion of the Undergraduate Admissions module.
  • PC0325, PST Compliance Initiative. This project managed the activities to address the technical requirements to revert back to PST and GST.
  • PC0249, Moodle technical support migration. This project transitioned technical support for Moodle from Learning Systems to UVic Online as per the Moodle OLA between said groups.
  • PC0339, Load Balancer Upgrade, This project managed the acquisition and implementation of replacement loadbalancers.
  • PC0324, Wireless Infrastructure Upgrade: Project will now track completion of ResNet APs installs (part of PC0371); all other APs have been installed; submit change request to sponsor.
  • PC0365, Law Centre Move: Waiting for installation of BCNet fibre.
  • PC0339, Load Balancer Upgrade Closeout signoff received.
  • PC0351, Law Centre Current Site Mitigation – Submitted closeout to project team for review.
  • PC0311, Financial Services Desktop Refresh 2012 Closeout report reviewd by team and now under review by key stakeholder.
  • PC0324, Wireless Infrastructure Upgrade: Track remaining ResNet installs and complete the closeout.
  • PC0351, Law Centre Current Site Mitigation: Get signoff on closeout.
  • PC0365, Law Centre Move: Reconfigure communications once BCNet fibre has been installed; then proceed to closeout.
  • PC0311, Financial Services Desktop Refresh 2012: get signoff on closeout.
  • PC0297, Congress 2013: finish closeout and get signoff.
  • PC0241, CSEC Incident Reporting Replacement: Complete PIA and proceed to closeout.