[322] in resnet
status report: residential networking
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joanne Costello)
Fri Feb 24 17:07:20 1995
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 95 17:05:21 EST
To: resnet-status@MIT.EDU
From: joanne@MIT.EDU (Joanne Costello)
Greetings-
Let me begin by introducing myself. I am Joanne Costello, the Manager of
Network Support Services. One of the best parts of my job is that I get to
work with students in supporting the network in the dormitories and ILGs.
I will be taking over responsibility for sending updates on residential
networking to this mailing list.
So what's happening?
Graduate dormitories:
This Fall we went on -line in Ashdown, Edgerton, Green and Tang. RCCs in
neighboring undergraduate dormitories were assigned to assist students in
these dorms in getting connected to the network. Participation during the
first semester was low so we are planning to do more postering in these
dorms letting students know who their RCC is and what the RCC can do for
them.
With the up-coming introduction of our MITnet Dial-Up Access Service,
Tether and the wiring of Eastgate and Westgate we expect all students to
have network access from their residences by September.
Printers:
This Fall with the allocation of undergraduate education computing funds,
we deployed printers to 7 undergraduate dormitories. Next House had
previously purchased one, but have decided to accept our offer and so we
expect to deliver one to them. East Campus and Senior House have not taken
us up on our offer yet. We have drawn up service level agreements with
each dorm accepting a printer. These SLA's outline the responsibilities of
IS and of the dormitory with respect o the printers.
Information Systems will:
*purchase an HP Laserjet 4si printer
*retain ownership of the printer
*provide a network drop for the printer
*provide an Anchor Pad to secure the printer
*provide training of RCC's to do preventative maintenance and front-line
triage of problems with the printer
*pay for on-going maintenance contracts for the printer
*report problems to the service contractor
Each dormitory will be responsible for:
*purchasing paper, toner kits and maintenance kits
*keeping sufficient inventory of paper
*changing toner kits and maintenance kits as required
*housing the printer in a secure area
*providing a table for the printer
The house government in each dormitory has come up its their own method for
recovering its printing costs. It has been brought to my attention that a
few of the printers have been idle due to the lack of paper. It seems that
some of the dorms have had a change in officers since the SLA was signed
and the RCC's have had some difficulty getting funding for paper.
Software access:
Macintosh users in the dorms and ILGs have access to many of the software
packages they currently use on Athena. These include: Maple, Matlab and
FrameMaker. We hope that the KeyServer software that makes this possible
will
be available on the DOS/Windows platform next semester.
New version of NCSA telnet:
Students using Macintoshes should upgrade to NCSA telnet 2.6.1d4 or higher.
This version provides Kerberized authentication ensuring that their
passwords do not travel over then network and provides them with an
encrypted telnet session when they access Athena. We hope to have a
Kerberized telnet available for the DOS/Windows platform in the coming
months.
ILGs
All ILGs are currentluy up and running. Some of them such as Fiji and Sig
Ep are planning to hire contractors to do some additional wiring. We are
working with NYNEX to make changes in the Frame Relay Service that provides
connections to off-campus ILGs in order to improve reliability.
Mailing Lists
Now that the "Resnet" project is officially over, we plan to deactivate the
mailing list "resnet". Anyone not currently receiving this repor who
wishes to read future status reports can add themselves to the
resnet-status mailing list or read the resnet discuss meeting on menelaus.
More info:
During the past months we have continued to update our on-line files. You
can find these in TechInfo (Computing->Network(student residences)) and on
the Web (http://web.mit.edu/afs/net/admin/residential/home.html)
Please feel free to send me mail if you have any questions.
Joanne
===============================================================
Joanne Costello
Manager, Network Support Services
Phone (617) 253-6322
E-Mail: joanne@mit.edu
