======================= SSC News, March, 1994 ======================= Contents: Two New Queues for 3480s Remaining SSC Training Sessions - Spring Semester New SSC Publications Cluster Consolidation New Tracking Procedure for 9-TRACK TAPES AND 3480S User BEWARE -- TAPE2UNIX may Corrupt your Data Internet Users Should Change Their Passwords Frequently MACC Purchasing Mathematica Site License This is the SSC News. This monthly electronic newsletter will keep you informed about recent changes on the SSC computer networks. We hope this information will help improve communication between the SSC computing staff and all of you computer users out there. ------------------------ Two New Queues for 3480s ------------------------ The second 3480 tape cartridge drive has been installed, making it possible to submit jobs that involve two 3480 drives, like copying or extracting. The queue name is TWO3480. Another queue was also added for submitting short jobs involving one 3480 drive. This queue is called SHORT3480. SHORT3480 and TWO3480 have limits that parallel those of SHORTTAPE and TWOTAPE. Queue names and limitations may be found in SSCGOPHER. ------------------------------------------------- Remaining SSC Training Sessions - Spring Semester ------------------------------------------------- Note: All SSC training sessions now require preregistration. If no one has preregistered for a course one week prior to its start date, the class may be cancelled. To preregister for a class, send mail to SSCCLASS indicating which class(es) you plan to attend. You will be reminded about your pre- registration through e-mail a day or two before the class begins. Date Time Topic Room Instructor ---- ---- ----- ---- ---------- 3/3-3/17 R 3:00-4:30 Intro to S-Plus 4452 White 3/8 T 2:00-3:30 Intro to SAS's PROC FORMAT 3432 Brown 3/9 W 11:00-1:00 Advanced WordPerfect 4452 Clear 3/15,3/22 T 2:00-3:30 Intro to SAS/GRAPH 3432 Brown 3/15,3/22 T 3:30-5:00 UNIX Utilities for Data Management 3432 Walker 3/16 W 12:00-1:00 Data Storage Alternatives 3432 Flory 3/23 W 12:00-1:30 Intro to LIMDEP 4452 Cook 4/6 W 12:00-1:30 Intro to SPSS 4452 White 4/6 W 12:00-1:00 Overview of Ethernet 3432 Long 4/7 R 3:30-4:30 Intro to SAS Transport Files 4452 McDermott 4/13 W 12:00-1:00 Tape Conversion Clinic 4452 Cooper 4/18,4/20 MW 12:00-1:00 Array Processing in SAS 4452 McCall Descriptions for each of the training sessions listed above are in SSCGOPHER. Type "sscgopher" at the command prompt and then pick "5. SSC Classes". -------------------- New SSC Publications -------------------- The following new or majorly revised publications are available for SSC users: How to Transfer ASCII Files between Two 3480s (#22) How to Transfer SAS and SPSS System Files between Two 3480s (#25) Using S-Plus on UNIX (SSC Pub. #7-11) S-Plus Workbook Off-Line Media Handbook SSC publications are available in the racks in the public terminal room, Soc. Sci. 2470. --------------------- Cluster Consolidation --------------------- With the approval of the SSC Steering Committee, we will be consolidating the Vax/VMS cluster this summer. We are going to be purchasing an Alpha 4000/610 using funds from the capital equipment exercise. This will replace the aging VAX 3300s (AGE, CDE, IRP2 and SOC) plus the MicroVAX 3800 (SSCC). This should improve performance on the VMS side by 10 fold. We will provide scheduling information as soon as possible. -------------------------------------------------- New Tracking Procedure for 9-TRACK TAPES AND 3480S -------------------------------------------------- You may have noticed that the IN rack has been removed from the I/O room. This is the rack that used to hold 9-track tapes going IN to the computer room. The CDE Data Library is implementing a new procedure for tracking the location of media. As part of the new procedure all 9-track tapes and 3480s - even those that have already been locally numbered - need to first go through the Data Library. Data Library staff will ask you to fill out the appropriate form(s), and will make sure your 9-track tape or 3480 gets into the computer room. The OUT rack is still in the I/O room: there is now an OUT rack for 3480s as well as 9-track tapes. To have a 9-track tape or 3480 removed from the computer room and placed in the OUT rack send mail to LIBASSIST or fill out a retrieval form in the CDE Data Library (Monday - Friday, 9am to 5pm). Please note that the Operator will NOT remove any media from the computer room. All such retrievals must go through the CDE Data Library so that the records can be edited and kept up to date. ---------------------------------------------- User BEWARE -- TAPE2UNIX may Corrupt your Data ---------------------------------------------- Some datafiles transferred recently from VMS to Unix machines with @PUBLIC:TAPE2UNIX have given correct record counts in the .log file, but the files have been found to be corrupted: lacking a few records and/or having short record(s). We suggest that you check your data transfers with: zcat filename | count & which will report the number of records and the size of the longest and shortest records. If you have external documentation on the correct values of these, use those to compare (e.g. @PUBLIC:FIND_DATA_FILE will give you the correct numbers for CDE Data Library publicly available files; DPLS specifications sheets have this information for files they supply.) If you don't have external evidence to compare with your 'count' results with, then run $PUBLIC:COUNT on the data on the VMS side (see HELP COUNT for information on running it.) There is no anticipated fix for TAPE2UNIX. Use ftp, Decnet copy or ODH to transfer uncompressed files and then compress them on Unix. ------------------------------------------------------- Internet Users Should Change Their Passwords Frequently ------------------------------------------------------- According to word on the net as well as the Chicago Tribune, there are some hackers "out there" now who are picking up passwords from remote logins over the internet. Packets containing passwords are not encrypted in any special way, so picking a password off the network is no harder than looking at any other kind of data. Network administrators look at the tables of packets all the time via various network administration programs. This potential problem affects people who log in, typically via telnet or rlogin, to a remote computer over the internet. That includes, theoretically, even those who telnet from here to MACC or vice versa. Realistically, it's not a problem for those who use telnet to log into the computers in this building from one of the other computers in this builing. It probably should be a concern -- a small one, even then -- to those who have accounts on systems in other parts of the country or to those who live outside of Madison but log in here. The solution is to change one's password now and pretty frequently from now on. --------------------------------------- MACC Purchasing Mathematica Site License ---------------------------------------- MACC is purchasing a campus site license for Mathematica on all available platforms. For departments that need one or more copies, MACC will sell single licenses, media and documentation separately. Another feature of the campus site is the availability of Mathematica with coprocessors in shrink-wrap form for students (DOS/Win/Mac). The price for students is $116, with no second-year maintenance cost. By comparison, University Book Store sells a non-coprocessor student version for $175. For more information, contact Brian Rust at MACC by phone at (608)263-9484 or by e-mail at rust@facstaff.wisc.edu. TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS NEWSLETTER, just reply to this mail message indicating you want to unsubscribe. We will remove you from the distribution list for future electronic mailings. If you ever change your mind, just notify the SSC Consultant or send mail to SSCNEWS asking to get back on the list.