======================== SSC News, July, 1995 ======================== 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. Inside this issue... Status of Network Changes ---UNIX DOWNTIME ON JULY 12--- Making Network Related Requests SSC Training Sessions - Summer 1995 Two "New" Public Sun Machines Staffing Changes ------------------------- Status of Network Changes - UNIX DOWNTIME ON JULY 12 ------------------------- Last month we described some major improvements that are being made to our network which should make it faster and better managed. Since then we have scheduled downtime for VMS on July 19, 20, and 21st in order to move all VMS computers and PC's to the campus 144 FDDI network. Moving the UNIX machines to the 144 FDDI network is a lot less complicated and the move can be made one machine at a time. We plan to move the UNIX machines on July 12. We will send a broadcast giving a few minutes warning before a machine is taken down and moved. The downtime for a particular machine should be less than a half an hour and while that machine is down, all other UNIX machines will be available. The exception to this will be when we move EUNICE, the machine that serves as our mail server. We will hold off moving EUNICE to the campus 144 FDDI network until we move the VMS machines on July 19, 20, and 21. Please note that once a UNIX machine has been moved to the campus 144 FDDI network, you will NOT be able to connect to that machine from a terminal server until after all the VMS machines have been moved. (You are connecting via a terminal server if you get a Local> prompt from which you must connect to a machine before logging on.) That is one reason why EUNICE will not moved until last. Anyone using a terminal server will still be able to connect to EUNICE. ------------------------------- Making Network Related Requests ------------------------------- With so many network changes taking place, we need a better way of logging and tracking network requests from users. Our online desk system is ideal for this kind of thing and we have had great success logging and tracking all other types of user requests with this software since it was implemented last January. So, we would like to request that all network related requests that you normally called Patricia Kovatch or Scott Risberg should now go through consulting. The consultant will log your request which then instantly sends an email message to the appropriate staff person. ----------------------------------- SSC Training Sessions - Summer 1995 ----------------------------------- Note: All SSC training sessions require preregistration. EVEN IF YOU EXPRESSED INTEREST IN THIS CLASS BY SENDING MAIL TO SSCCLASS EARLIER, YOU STILL NEED TO REGISTER. 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 preregistration through e-mail a day or two before the class begins. Date Time Topic Room Instruct. ---- ---- ----- ---- --------- 7/10 M 9:00-10:30 UNIX Basics:Files,Commands,Job Management 2470 Rodriguez 7/11 T 2:00-3:30 Intro to PINE: A Menu Driven Mailer 2470 Wald 7/12 W 1:00-2:30 WWW and its browsers (Netscape,Lynx,etc) 4452 Brand 7/12 W 9:00-10:00 Text Editing on UNIX with EMACS 2470 McDermott 7/31 M 2:00-4:00 Intro to SPSS 2470 Hayes 8/2,9 W 2:00-4:00 Intro to SAS/GRAPH 3432 Brown 8/7,9 MW 1:00-2:00 Intro to Stata 4452 McDermott 8/22 T 2:30-3:30 Internet/WiscWorld (w/ FTP) from Home 4308 Flory ----------------------------- Two "New" Public Sun Machines ----------------------------- Two privately owned Sun ELC workstations have been converted to public machines making these the first Sun machines ever available publicly. This means any person with an SSC UNIX account can log on to either machine. The machines are named WALT and WIN3. Neither machine has a lot of memory or /tmp space so are not intended for running large SAS or SPSS jobs. Either machine is ideal for something like Word Perfect or X-Word Perfect, however. If you currently use WP on one of the Ultrix nodes, you will probably find that the SunOS version is a bit less buggy. Soon we will upgrade WP 5.1 on SunOS to version 6.0. At that time, the Ultrix version of WordPerfect will no longer be available. Note that WIN3 won't be available for another day or two but WALT is up and waiting for logins. -------------------- SSC Staffing Changes -------------------- As we announced in May, Marcia Hazen has left the SSC. Marcia coordinated the PC desktop support and computer room operations for many years and will be missed by all of us. Andy Arnold has been hired to take over many of Marcia's former desktop support duties. Andy graduated from U of W this spring and was employed as a student operator at the SSC for the past two years. Patricia Kovatch, our network manager who joined us last February, will now supervise the computer room operations. Any requests you normally made of Marcia, should now be made to consulting. Consulting has implemented an online help desk system which we now use to log and track all user requests and questions. We would also like to welcome Ralph Rodriguez at this time. Ralph joined us Monday as our new UNIX System Administrator. Ralph most recently administered the computing systems at the Applied Population Lab on campus but has approximately 10 years of experience in UNIX. 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.