April 2009 Archives

We continue to see progress in Simplify, Standardize, Automate across all of OIA. The element of Standardize is very important towards our "One OIT" vision. One way to help with that is to use a common document style. Amin has been busy crafting a standard template that we all can use in our documentation.

Attached is a Word template (.DOT) we should use for any documentation we create that does not already have an associated format and template. Amin also added the same but saved in the Word document (.DOC) format if that is preferred.

Download DOC
Download DOT

Also attached is an Excel Template (.XLT) we should use for any spreadsheets we create that does not already have an associated format and template. A plain Excel spreadsheet (.XLS) format is also available, if that is preferred.

Download XLS
Download XLT

A caveat for using the spreadsheet: unless you "copy" the existing sheet, the header and footer will not automatically transfer to new sheets created.

April 22 is Earth Day 2009. On this day, we try to put special attention towards our impact on the environment and the world. A large part of our footprint is energy usage. One simple way to have an immediate impact is to turn off your computer and monitor at night. Even in "sleep" mode, many devices use almost as much electricity as when the device is fully powered on. By turning off these devices at the switch, you help the U to save on energy costs, and also help the planet.

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has developed a way for departmental IT administrators to automatically apply power-saving configurations on computers that they manage. OIT is also using network monitoring tools to measure computer shutdown compliance, and to estimate cost savings and CO2 reduction across the Twin Cities campus. In addition, OIT encourages you to make a difference by using power-saving configurations on your computer (such as turning off the monitor after a certain number of minutes of inactivity). Make the largest impact by turning your machine off when you go home at night.

For energy-saving tips and statistics, view a PowerPoint Presentation under “Hot Items” on the OIT internal Wiki.

As we work towards doing "more with less", we all have become a lot busier. To help focus the efforts of Operations & Infrastructure, I have aligned the Windows systems administration team with the UNIX systems administration team, forming a single Systems Administration group led by Patton Fast.

This change became operational earlier this week. To help coordinate activities with Windows, Mike Coonrod is now the Team Lead for Windows systems administration. I'm confident the systems administration alignment will help us to be more efficient in supporting systems, putting all our server resources under a single manager.

I'm available if you want to stop by and ask questions, as always. You can also send me an email.

As many of you know, Al is working on the data center project. This will be a long-running project to identify a new data center to augment our server operations. A new data center is important to OIT and to the University.

To allow Al to focus on the data center project, and data center operations in general, Al and I have agreed to split the data center group from Operations & Infrastructure. The Production Services groups (Scheduling, Automation) now report directly to me. Al continues to manage the data center group, and reports to Doug.

Fred remains the team lead for Scheduling, and Erik is still the team lead for Automation. Starting next week, I'll begin meeting one-on-one with Erik and Fred, and scheduling weekly group meetings with Production Services.

Our group name has not changed - we are still "Operations & Infrastructure".

As always, I'm available if you want to stop by and ask questions. Or, send me an email.

In Ann's email this week, she mentioned the OIT Student Advisory Board, of which I am a member. I thought I'd reproduce Ann's note here:

An “OIT Student Advisory Board” was launched this spring with six active students from across the Twin Cities campus meeting with Steve Carnes (OIT Central), Jim Hall (OIA) and Jamil Jabr (AC) three times so far this semester. The Mission Statement for the Board is: “The Office of Information Technology Student Advisory Board serves as the student voice to the Associate Vice President and Associate CIO on matters of IT technology needs for University Students.”

Although the initial group is small, it has formed a strong basis for expanding student participation next year to include representatives from our four coordinate campuses as well – Crookston, Duluth, Morris and Rochester. It is particularly encouraging that all of the current members have expressed a desire to continue on the Board in 09-10. If anyone has any questions about this work, or ideas on how to ensure that we fully engage with students, one of our key customer groups, please feel free to contact Jamil, Jim or Steve.

You may know that I used to directly manage the desktop support folks in WBOB. After we migrated our desktop support to OIT FAST, I remained in place as an "adviser" to help FAST coordinate the purchase of systems. So I'm directly involved whenever we replace systems in OIA and AAS.

We all remember the WBOB blackout the morning of July 1 2008, when the building transformer caught fire. WBOB didn't have power for the rest of the day while Xcel Energy scrambled to restore service to our building. That day, a lot of the OIT staff in WBOB were unable to do any work, because their desktop systems were without power. Those that had laptops were able to relocate, and continue working.

And for that reason, after July 1 we have only ordered laptops. (Except for Ops, who have a specific need to use desktops.)

Since then, people occasionally ask about the laptop-only program. This afternoon, I met with the managers in OIA and AAS to share a document that answers those questions. Here are the high points:

All systems should be supported by the FAST group.

• FAST maintains a standard image for us, which they deploy to all users. The standard image is based on Windows XP Professional, the officially supported operating system for all Dell laptops and PCs in OIA/AAS. Users who have installed a PC operating system on their own, even if it is the same version of Windows XP Professional, are not running the standard image.

• I know that some people run Linux on their work systems. But our total cost of ownership drops dramatically when we run a standard platform. And I'm willing to back that up with my own experience: I'm a huge Linux geek, and I've run Linux full-time on my work laptop since 2002, but converted to the standard Windows build in January 2009. That's how strongly I believe in lowering our total cost.

• Some users in OIA/AAS currently have Apple Mac laptops or desktops. These will be replaced with Dell laptops as the systems come up for normal hardware lifecycle replacement.

Protect your system.

• All laptops must be secured using an OIT-provided laptop lock, to deter theft. Refer to FAST if you do not have a lock. Note that using a laptop lock does not completely eliminate the risk of theft; be careful not to leave your system unattended for long periods of time.

Take your laptop home with you.

• By being issued a laptop, staff should not expect to use Remote Desktop (or any other protocol) to access their work system from a remote location. If you expect to do work from home, you should take your laptop with you.

• Staff who are on call must take their laptops home with them at night.

• FAST will deploy one system per user only. In the past, some staff received a second laptop or desktop PC to take home with them, so they could do work from home. Staff who have a second system for take-home should refer to their manager so the system can be returned when a laptop issued.

I'm sure these guidelines will generate questions, and I'd like to answer them. Feel free to stop by my office if you want to talk, or drop me an email.