Exeter On-Line
Voice
& Data Network Summer Projects
by Shelley Nason, Director, IT
In addition to tackling our usual summer projects, which include preparing for and supporting conferences and summer school and preparing for the start of regular session, the IT department has been working on a number of various projects over the past several months. The list below may not be comprehensive, but it highlights the work that will have the most direct impact upon our community. The purpose of these projects is to provide more rapid performance, greater ease of use, increased security and growth accommodation as more demands are placed upon the technology.
Phelps
Science, Grainger Observatory and the Stadium Join the Academy Network
In addition to adding the new science building to the voice and data network
and equipping it with telephones and computers, the observatory and stadium
are also directly connected to the Academy's network.
Remote Fiber Shelves for Voice
Expanded phone installation
requests across campus are pushing the limits of our copper cable voice
infrastructure. We planned to resolve this issue by running voice over
the fiber that was installed in 1996. Two remote PBX shelves were installed
this summer to relieve some of the pressure on the copper infrastructure
using existing fiber to augment the voice network. These shelves are the
first in a series of upgrades which will allow us to accomodate current
and future requests for new voice service across campus. The first deployment
of these remote shelves will be for voice in Phelps Science and the offices
in 40 Front Street.
Expanded
Internet Bandwidth
Last summer (2000) we doubled our Internet bandwidth (from one T1 to two)
and within the first month of regular session both T1s were fully utilized,
not only in evenings, but also from 6am through 11pm. This summer we again
doubled our bandwidth (from two T1s to four) and we will be experimenting
with prioritizing utilization of the Internet this fall. To eliminate
other bottlenecks in performance we have also increased the number of
gateways available to users to access the Internet. You will receive information
on what you need to do, if anything, to take advantage of these new services
during the fall term.
DHCP
The process for students to connect their computers to the network has changed this fall in an effort to simply the connectivity process for students. We are introducing dynamic IP addressing or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). DHCP is an Internet protocol that automates the configuration of computers using our network protocol, TCP/IP. It can automatically assign an IP address and configure the computer for our network. Note that this change only impacts students. Students who plan to connect their computers to our network from their dorm rooms, will be asked to make a change to their settings under the network control panel. From there, they will connect their computer to a port, turn on the machine, open their browser, which will bring them to a specified web site to register the computer. Initially the machine will pick up a temporary IP address. After responding to the prompts to register the computer, the browser will then be directed to another web page where their machine will be recognized by a long-term IP address and no further network settings need be done. We hope this change will expedite the time it has taken and reduce problems students have experienced in previous years.
Data Infrastructure Upgrades
To add the observatory and Phelps Science to the network and to plan for growth and new technologies, the IT department is upgrading the data network infrastructure. This four-phase project involved replacing and programming ethernet/ATM switches throughout campus. Each and every building which is directly connected to the Academy network is serviced by one or more of these devices. The work created more disruption to the users on campus during the summer than we had anticipated but the end result will be faster performance. We plan to complete the work during the month of September.
Creating
a Web Interface for the Intranet
A portal server is being developed, which, simply put, is a web interface
for accessing network resources. This technology eliminates the need to
search through folders and files for resources that are pertinent to your
Academy work and life. A campus-wide calendar, Datatel's web interface,
which has been named Lion Links, and Blackboard, a course management tool
are being tested for implemention and incorporation into the portal project.
STC - New Student Long Distance Billing Vendor
The school changed billing vendors for student long distance, which means the dorm long distance phone lines have been replaced and students and faculty will be issued new calling codes from the vendor, Strategic Telecommunications Consulting (STC). These codes will be distributed to faculty by the Dean of Students Office as soon as they are available and to students upon arrival on campus.
Final Notes
Whenever IT makes changes to the network or introduces new technologies, you, the community, are our final testers. Although IT does its best to prevent problems, and does not wish anyone to experience difficulties with the network, there are instances beyond our control or ability to test and the result of changes cannot fully be tested until users log in. We will closely monitor voice and data network performance in early fall and resolve any problems and/or optimize performance if required. We appreciate your patience and the detailed information we received from our community while the physical changes were implemented during the summer. We will continue to look for your feedback during the initial weeks of fall term to assess the success of these changes. Our special thanks to all the technology liaisons who continue to provide invaluable assistance to our department.
New
Requests
From time to time, we discover the need for a new piece of software or equipment. Because IT relies on departments to prioritize requests for their own department, a process has been established to handle such requests. For more information, please see the following web page: http://it.exeter.edu/academysoftware.html
To
Shut Down or Not To Shut Down?
by
Susan Keeble, Associate Dean of Faculty for Technology and Special Projects
and Vi Richter, Academic Technology Support, Computer Science
The energy conservation issues raised in faculty meeting last spring were only accentuated by the extreme heat of this summer. Several times, members of the community were asked to take measures to limit the use of electricity as the resources on campus were reaching maximum capacity. The Information Technology Department, along with Facilities Management, is committed to responsible management of our energy resources. Efficient use of computer resources is one area where each person can have an impact on the overall energy use on campus. Fortunately, the technology world at large has joined the cause by developing energy efficient computers with features designated as "green". Over the past several years, all hardware purchases at the Academy have been made with energy efficiency in mind. To take advantage of the "green" features of your system during the day, you will need to disable any screen savers. The monitors will then go to sleep after a specified time of inactivity. If you are uncertain as to whether or not you have a “green” monitor, you can always turn off the monitor when you know you are leaving for an extended period of time during the day.
As Dave Weber pointed out this summer, shutting down computers at night is another way to curb energy consumption. As is often the case, an obvious course of action is complicated by the variety of computers and operating systems on campus. In addition, most of you have noticed that your NT machines seem to wake up during the night when the network system sends software and security upgrades. In order for the network to wake up the machine, the power strip must never be turned off. If the power strip is turned off, your machine will not receive any security, software or anti-virus updates during the night.
Starting in the fall, IT will be evaluating each machine and making recommendations to users for the most efficient use of energy for each system. In the meantime, if you wish to join the cause of energy conservation and shut down your machine at night, the following instructions may be helpful.
Windows 95/98
From the Start menu, choose "Shutdown" and "Shutdown" again. When the monitor says "It is now safe to turn off your computer”, press the power button on your CPU and then your power button on the monitor. Some machines, particularly laptops, will turn off automatically. In the morning, start the computer by reversing the process, that is, press the power button on the monitor and then on the CPU.
Windows NT/2000
From the Start menu, choose "Shutdown" and Shutdown" again. When the monitor says "It is now safe to turn off your computer”, press the power button on your CPU and then your power button on the monitor. Do not turn off your power strip. In the morning, you will need to pay particular attention when starting your computer. If the network has awakened the computer, it may not wake up the monitor. First, observe whether or not there is a green power light on the monitor and/or the CPU. If just on the CPU, turn the monitor back on and your will be ready to log into the network. If the green light is just on the monitor and not the CPU, then press the power button on the CPU. If no green light appears in either location, turn the monitor on and then the CPU.
*If you have found in the past that your computer does not automatically turn on in the morning, you will need to leave your computer (cpu only) turned on at least one night a week to receive the patches that are sent remotely to Windows NT and 2000 computers.
Macs
From the Special menu, click on Shutdown. The CPU will automatically turn off and you can then turn off the monitor. Do not turn off your power strip. In the morning, turn on the monitor and then the CPU. Watch for more articles in future issues of Exeter On-Line.
Lion
Links
by Celia Abrams, Director, MIS
The MIS department is pleased to announce the implementation of Lion Links, an on-line, real-time, web-based interface to information stored in the Academy's central administrative database. Lion Links is designed to let community members see information about themselves and, in the case of faculty members, their advisees. We hope you will enjoy the convenience of viewing your data on demand, without having to rely on paper reports or calls to other offices.
The web interface is a product of Datatel, Inc., our software vendor. Late last year, we upgraded our application server, operating system, and software environment to a combination that was compatible with the requirements specified by Datatel to implement this interface to their product. Since then, MIS and IT have been working together to install it as a component of the Academy intranet. We appreciate the assistance of several faculty test pilots, who used it to enter their spring term grades. With the enhancements we received over the summer, we are now ready to make Lion Links available to faculty, students, and employees this fall.
Faculty will be granted access to Lion Links for the start of the fall term. They will be able to see information about the courses they teach and their advisees' academic records. Later in the term, they will use it to record mid-term and final grades. Student access will be implemented a few weeks after the start of the term. Students will be able to view their course schedules and academic history and will be able to drop and add courses for the winter term during the November add/drop period. Employees will have inquiry access to their positions and leave balances later this year.
Community members will be notified via email of their passwords as we make these services available. The email will include a link to the web address. This link will become part of the Academy intranet portal page the IT department is in the process of constructing, but users can bookmark the site until then.
We think you will find using Lion Links to be fairly intuitive. For those who would like an introduction to its use, we are planning some lunchtime demos to familiarize users with navigation and forms conventions. On-line assistance is available by clicking on the FAQ button at the top of each menu for general information and the help button on each screen for information on that specific form. You may also call the IT support desk (3693) for assistance.
We are aware that there will be some functionality in the forms that may seem less than perfect and ask for your patience with its imperfections as this product evolves. We expect many software updates in the months ahead. One new feature that will be delivered shortly is ADA compliance for visually impaired users. We welcome your constructive suggestions for improvements and will pass them along to Datatel if we think they fit within the software architecture and will be of benefit to other users. Suggestions outside the realm of this application will be considered as candidates for some of our other intranet tools.
Word
Tip
by Donna Archambault, Support Services Administrator, IT
In Word or Excel 2000
the default setting to view menu items is set to only view recently used
commands. In order to view all the menu items, you must either select
the 
button that
appears at the bottom of the pull down menu or change the default setting
to permanently view all menu items. If you would like to change the default
setting, follow the steps below:
- Select View
- Toolbars
- Customize
- Options
- Uncheck Box (Menus show recently used commands first)
-
Close
You must do this in both Word and Excel.
New
IT Website
This year IT Staff researched, planned and produced a website to provide information to our user community. Visit the IT site at http://it.exeter.edu.
Copy
Center Updates
Contact Kathy Pottle at x3430 for updates.
Backing
Up Your Personal Address Book
by Marilee Tuomanen, Advanced Support Specialist, IT
Did you ever wish you had a hard copy print out of your Netscape Messenger Address Book? You may also want to backup your address book since it is stored on the hard drive of your office system, not on the network. Here are two methods of saving and keeping a record of your “PAB.”
Exporting (Saving) Address Book:
Open Netscape Messenger.
Click the Communicator Menu, choose Address Book.
Make sure that Personal Address Book is selected.
- Click File in the menu bar, and choose Export.
- Click the down arrow next to the Save In: field and select the drive you wish to save the file to.
- Double click on the folder name.
- Type in a filename.
In this example, I browsed to My Documents folder on H and created a folder, “Save Address Book” in which to save the exported file, naming the file “address.” It does not matter where you save the file.
Click the down arrow next to the Save as type: field and choose "Comma Separated"
- Click Save
- Now you have an electronic copy of your Address Book.
Printing Address Book in Microsoft Word Format:
- Open Word (you need not close Messenger.)
- Open the file you just saved. If you cannot see the file, make sure “Types of Files” in the Open window is looking for “All Files (*.*).”
- Format the file to remove the commas if you wish.
- Print the file.
Printing Address Book in Microsoft Excel format:
- Open Excel (you need not close Messenger.)
- Open the file you just saved. If you cannot see the file, make sure “Types of Files” in the Open window is looking for “All Files (*.*).”
- Format the file to widen columns or remove blank columns.
- Select the print range.
- Print the file.