[126] in Kakapo Windows Team
DRAFT- Close of Windows 2000 Servers and Domains Delivery
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Ferrara)
Tue Oct 7 17:43:32 2003
Message-Id: <5.2.1.1.2.20031003085735.01725538@po9.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 17:39:57 -0400
To: kakapo@mit.edu, itlt@mit.edu, itlt@mit.edu,
Windows Delivery Team <windows-delivery-team@mit.edu>,
Windows Delivery advisory council <windows-delivery-advisory@mit.edu>
From: Robert Ferrara <rferrara@MIT.EDU>
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Hi all,
Here is the draft of the closing announcement for the Windows 2000 Servers and Domains Delivery Project. Please comment. I hope to send the final out early next week to infosys and itpartners.
Cheers, Bob
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Hello,
The Windows 2000 Servers and Domains Delivery project will be concluding this week. The aim of this project was to implement the key goals outlined in last year's Discovery report. Most of work focused on providing information and resources for DLCs migrating from Windows NT4 domains, which Microsoft will no longer support after 7/1/2004. Here are some of the highlights of the team's project work.
.* Much helpful documentation was developed and can be found http://web.mit.edu/windows/server/ This material provides information on making the migration decision and how to find resources to implement the selected decision. Some sections are not yet complete, and for the next month at least, this site will still be a work under construction.
* Several pilot migrations and deployments were conducted. These experiences demonstrated that, for many situations, there is no simple obvious choice of whether to implement an independent Windows domain, join the central win.mit.edu domain, or some intermediate variation like adding a member server. For DLCs who have not already done so, this decision process may be initiated with a conversation with a member of either the DITR team or - for academic units - of the Academic Computing Support Team. This approach fulfills the role that originally envisioned for a more formal Design Review and Assistance Team described in the Discovery report.
* The pilot migrations also served to qualify migration assistance resources. For migrations to independent domains, MIcrosoft Consulting now has direct experience and understands the MIT environment. The DITR team and ACST have also learned how to perform migrations to the win.mit.edu domain.
* Several technical training sessions were conducted during the project. IS and MIT remain committed to offering Microsoft training for system administrators and, in the win.mit.edu domain, for container administrators.
* For win.mit.edu end users, the Help Desk is now capable of providing first-tier support, and second and third tier support is also in place. Independent domains will be supplying their own support resources.
I should also mention two other developments in connection with this topic. First, in order to better coordinate IS efforts in supporting Windows, a cross-functional team has been formed. It is patterned after the Athena "Owls" group, but takes its name from a less familiar bird species - kakapo@mit.edu. Second, the project sponsors, Theresa Regan and Phil Long, arranged for an external review of Windows readiness efforts. The review was conducted recently by colleagues from industry and peer institutions and their report is due shortly. One early result is that we at MIT have fallen behind our peers in migrating from our now vulnerable NT4 domains. With this awareness and the resources described here, we have an opportunity to close this gap.
The project sponsors and I extend our thanks to this project team and all the other individuals who contributed, especially those technical leaders from the DLCs who contributed their valuable time, for all their efforts in this complex area.
Cheers,
Bob Ferrara
Director, I/T Delivery
