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Dr. Hoit's Office
Open Letter to Staff
The first planning step in a long term process has been taken! On Monday, May 22 more than 50 participants representing the University of Florida community met for an IT planning retreat. I am thrilled about the strong university-wide commitment and broad executive sponsorship for the IT planning process that was apparent at this gathering.
Complete Story at right.
Charging For
Dial-Up Services begins in July Broadband
connections via cable modems and DSL have increasingly become more prevalent by the UF
Community and dialup usage has dropped so dramatically that we are preparing to charge
for dialup service in July.
A FAQ page is provided to answer questions about the transition.
GatorLink Mail Ends When You Leave UF
GatorLink mail ends when you leave UF. If you have recently left the university by graduating, dropping out, transferring, resigning or retiring,
it is best to back up all mail within your GatorLink mailbox and let
senders know another email address at which you can
be reached.
The UF Computing Help Desk has a FAQ that addresses mail service after
leaving UF. It can be found by clicking the "Complete Story" link,
below.
Alumni can contact the UF Alumni Association at http://www.ufalumni.ufl.edu/EmailForwarding/ to find out the procedure for getting an e-mail address of the form yourname@alumni.ufl.edu.
SSL Encryption on Vista
On May 9th, CNS and Learning Support Services (LSS) implemented SSL encryption for the Vista course management system. Users should see little or no change in the way they use Vista; but all data transmissions from Vista to your browser are encrypted using a 128-bit key, the strongest available commercial standard. This means that using Vista to view confidential data such as student grades is now safer than most online bank transactions. Implementation of SSL encryption fulfills the last recommendation of a Fall 2005 security audit of the Vista system.
CITT & IFAS Extension Team Up to Produce Virtual Field Day
Bringing advanced Information Technology to the classroom is the main mission of the Office of Academic Technology's Center for Intructional Technology and Training--even when the classroom is a farm field or a set of offices scattered throughout the state.
IFAS extension faculty use a "field day" format to present information to growers and gardeners. Participants travel to a location to view demonstrations of growing methods and materials. Translating the field day to a web experience allows greater convenience for the participants and longevity for the presentation.
Bridges News
- Work has been completed on ePAF - all university offices are now using the new electronic personnel action forms to simplify job actions.
- Using My Reports, a new Enterprise Reporting feature, users can collect reports of interest on their personal My Reports menu and access them at any time with a single click.
- Several major projects are on-going. The grant reintegration project is correcting data and systems required to use PeopleSoft for post-award grant management, reporting and billing. HR and Bridges are implementing PeopleAdmin, a replacement for eRecruit. HR and Bridges are also working to implement the User Productivity Kit (UPK), which will provide improved training opportunities as well as on-line help for the myUFL systems. Data warehouse work continues to provide current data on a timely basis. Finally, reporting phase 3 is a major effort to produce "roll up" reports giving totals for various hierarchical levels including department and college summaries.
- The GatorLink Account Management Project has restarted.
This project, postponed last year, is now scheduled for
completion in October 2006. The project will standardize the
management of GatorLink account credentials and tie
deprovisioning to affiliations changes in the directory. In
addition, the project will provide a new guest account
capability and will use Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to
provide messages regarding account status to authorized
consumers.
- Bridges continues to migrate services to IBM blade centers served by its EMC storage tier. The combination of blade-based servers, virtual servers on blades, and the EMC storage tier has significantly lowered operating costs,
allowing Bridges to deploy more services without a budget increase.
UF Active Directory
- The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has begun planning its conversion to UFAD. The college has the largest collection of workstations of any college, with over 4,600 workstations operated by 23 departments and over 30 centers and institutes.
- With the inclusion of Liberal Arts, there are currently 16 active migrations underway for colleges and departments to UFAD. See
www.ad.ufl.edu/migration
for up-to-date information on migrations (use your
GatorLink username and password to authenticate).
- Work has begun on the implementation of the Microsoft Operations Manager, or MOM. MOM provides best practices services for monitoring and troubleshooting Windows servers.
For more UF Bridges news, please
see the "Conferences, Workshops & Presentations" section of this newsletter!
UF Computing & Networking Services
Tutorial: Solving E-mail Sending Problems by using the Message Submission Port
In order to help restrict "spam," "worms,"
and other malware which often propagate via e-mail, many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have begun to require that all outbound e-mail (on the "default" SMTP port [25]) use only their "official" server(s). However, this practice may cause people who were formerly able to send e-mail from home with no problem, to suddenly not be able to send outgoing mail. It also severely complicates life for users of mobile/laptop computers, who frequently connect to different networks, requiring changes to their e-mail program configuration with each change of location.
This document explains how configuring your e-mail program to use the Message Submission Port can solve these problems.
"GatorMail Web Mail: A User's Guide" Now Available
 GatorMail is the Web mail application designed and implemented by the UF CNS Open Systems Group to provide the UF community with Web access to the GatorLink e-mail service.
It has become a very popular way for users to check their GatorLink e-mail.
CNS is happy to announce the availability of the
first comprehensive user guide for GatorMail.
SyncSort Upgrade
On Sunday, June 11, 2006, SyncSort for z/OS will be upgraded at CNS. This release includes performance enhancements as well as support
for a planned future upgrade to the IBM z/OS operating system.
CICS TS 3.1 Has New Enhancements
The newest IBM CICS TS 3.1 has been installed and is now available for initial testing. This CICS
migration is an upgrade from CICS TS 2.3, which we have been running at this site since the end of 2003. CICS TS 3.1 went GA
(General Availability) on March 25, 2005.
NERSP Migrating to New Host June 4, 2006
On Sunday, June 4, 2006, CNS will be migrating functions off of the existing NERSP host to a new replacement NERSP host. The new NERSP host will reside on our IBM eServer p5 Model 570 complex. This server complex features simultaneous multi-threading; Dynamic Logical Partitioning which will increase system performance; and capacity on demand capabilities which will allow us to conserve costs and resources while still responding to spikes in service demands.
CNS Dial-Up Services Under Review
As noted elsewhere in this newsletter, UF is implementing charging for all dial-up access, and is considering eliminating the dial-up service at some time in the future.
This action does not immediately apply to CNS customers dialing up using a CNS (RACF) username/account. At this time, service and charges for dial-up access via a CNS username/account are not changing. However, it is important that you realize the possible future implications for CNS-account dial-up. Based on the usage and feedback during the upcoming 6 months (July 1 - Dec. 31 2006), it is possible that there may be major changes in dial-up service offerings at or shortly after the beginning of calendar year 2007. These changes could include anything from a revision of the charging algorithm to a complete withdrawal of dial-up service offerings.
For more CNS news, please
see our newsletter,
/Update.
High Performance Computing
Computation for The Gator Nation
Processing, analyzing, communicating, and displaying gigabytes-to-terabytes of data routinely with extremely low latency is an increasingly critical challenge to cutting-edge research in many areas of science and engineering. The University of Florida's High Performance Computer Center (HPC) exists to meet this challenge. This effort is being led by the University's HPC Committee, composed of faculty members, under the auspices of the Office of Information Technology.
Security Group Launches Enhanced New Web-Site
Updated content, a sharp layout, and a crisp graphic all adorn the newly revamped IT Security Team website which went live on May 30.
Security Reports to be Sent to Unit Security Administrators (ISAs)
Unit Information Security Administrators (ISAs) will not have to wonder how they compare to other University of Florida units when it comes to the number of incidents and vulnerabilities. Starting this summer, the UF IT Security Team will be mailing incident and vulnerability reports to Unit ISAs.
Network Managers Database Updated & Upgraded
CNS Network Services and the UF Security Team have invested significant time updating the NS subnet and contact database so network and server managers can more easily search for campus network information.
Andrew Lamoureux Moves On; Will Be Missed
On April 17, a valuable member of the IT Security Team left to advance his career in programming. Though the team will miss him greatly, Andrew Lamoureux has accepted an excellent offer from Citrix Systems Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
Lamoureux implemented several applications around the Remedy ticketing system, an interface to a security scanner that can be used anywhere on campus, and other various monitoring tools.
UF IT Security Manager Bergsma Reaches 20-Year Milestone
Twenty years later, and many jobs behind her, Kathy Bergsma, UF information security manager, is proud to be a University of Florida employee. March 10, 2006, was Bergsma's twentieth anniversary with the state.
Cyber-Security Awareness for Everyone!
On March 1 the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and SecureFlorida.org brought a free, one-day seminar on safe computing practices to the University of Florida Reitz Union Auditorium in Gainesville. C-SAFE, Cyber-Security Awareness for Everyone, was hosted by the UF IT Security Team as part of its goal to raise security awareness at UF and in the Gainesville community.
For those who were unable to attend, the recorded archive can be found at: infosec.ufl.edu/events/csafe.
For more UF IT Security news, please
see the "Conferences, Workshops & Presentations" section of this newsletter!
IT Training
NETg in the Academic Classroom: An Interview with Professor Raymond Issa
NETg courses are online training courses that include a comprehensive offering of high-quality instructional content. If you're a faculty, staff, or student member of the UF community, these online courses are free and available for your use 24/7. And that's just what Dr. Raymond Issa, Director of Graduate and Distance Education Programs, Professor of the Rinker School of Building Construction, takes advantage of for his graduate students.
UF IT Certification Program Now Open!
After a several-month hiatus, the UF IT Training Committee is happy to announce the return of The Program Formerly Known As the UF Computer Challenge! The completely revised and updated program has been renamed the UF Information Technology Certification (UFITC), and is now open for users to
commence pursuit of UF certificates.
Summer Computer Classes
Need to improve your Macromedia Flash or Dreamweaver skills? Want to
take full advantage of Microsoft Access and Excel? This summer, Training and Organizational Development, Office of Human
Resource Services, will continue to offer both beginning and advanced-level classes for a range of software programs.
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