Network Services Team

                         Meeting Minutes
                             3/8/95

|  NEXT Minutes  |  PREVIOUS Minutes  |  NST HomePage |


Attending:  Bob, Brenda, Carm, Dave, Garnet, Justin



1. Old Business:

   - Shiva LANRover problems/update.  Memory was installed, but we are still
     having problems.  (NOTE:  since the meeting, we've talked w/ Shiva's Tech
     Support again and found that we cannot configure the LanRover as an Apple-
     Talk end-node; it must be a "conforming router".)

   - Skyline update.  Beta software does not work.  (NOTE:  Bob talked to Janis
     Juda at the ag group and she suggested returning to v1.0 until they have
     get their beta working solidly.)

   - Library CD-ROM server.  No change in status.

   - Key systems (telephones).  Still counting and separating all of the old
     phones and placing everything in Knowles.

   - 2400 baud modems.  Seem to be working.  We should make sure all users know
     that they must press RETURN a few times to "wake up" the modems.

   - News feed to Plattsburgh.  Dave reports that we do not have enough
     processor capacity to meet the demands of this request.  If we obtain
     additional resources for our TCP/IP-based host services (more servers),
     then we should be able to do this.

   - LISTPROC (from CREN).  Dave suggests that we not implement this service
     until we have optimized our TCP/IP services (see notes in New Business
     below for more details on this)

   - TV "banner" for the InfoChannel.  Carms reports that we can't do this
     unless we have a synchronous signal.  We'll drop this idea for the time
     being.


2. New Business:

   - Prioritizing Network Services' requests.  Bob asked how we determine
     which requests are served first.  After some discussion, it was agreed that
     we should address service requests that affect more than one person first
     before we address a service request for a single individual.  We need to
     let our "customers" know where they stand with their service request,
     especially if we have had to bump it to deal with other problems.

   - Arlene Stillwell's request for a mailing list for her discussion group.
     We agreed to table this request until we have resolved the issue of
     optimizing our TCP/IP environment.

   - Bob's visit to the video-conferencing center at Ft. Drum.  Ft. Drum uses
     the CLI systems (Compression Lab, Inc.).  They have a 3 fixed cameras for
     focusing on the on-site people.  They use (2) 31" TVs for viewing the
     remote site and themselves as well as a "preview" TV for setting up a
     camera to focus on a white board or to use a document camera (enclosed in
     the ceiling)  They operate at T1 speeds between sites.  They are also
     receptive to setting up a session with us if we had people in the Watertown
     area that we wanted to talk to.

   - Network Services summer projects.  In addition to those already listed, we
     discussed how phones would be checked this summer to ensure that they are
     in working order for students returning in the fall.  We will continue our
     discussion of how to inspect the phones and get services ready for the
     fall.  Other summer tasks include:

        * Unix host problems/setup.  Bob suggested that we clean up our
          usercodes as well.  (Dave)
        * WWW development and data communication updates on personal computers
          throughout the campus. (Justin)
        * Establishing a more streamlined SLIP/PPP install process (Dave)
        * Brenda's student phone service setup for the fall.

   - TCP/IP Optimization.  We need to take a very careful look at our TCP/IP
     services and consider what changes should/must be made as well as the
     resources needed for those changes.  Two groups/processes were discussed:

        * Email - Bob will outline the problems/concerns with Dave and Justin,
                  then bring in John and Andy (Central Computing) and finally,
                  email users (terminal users, remote access users, etc.)

        * Hosts/Servers - Set up meeting with Russ, Eric, Bill Jaeger, Justin,
                  Dave, Bob to discuss what we need to optimize our TCP/IP hosts
                  and services.



3. What's Important to accomplish by next week?

   - Work on the LANRovers with Shiva.  (Bob/Justin)

   - Read Brenda's reports on pagers and cellular service.  (Team)

   - Set up meeting with those involved in the optimization of our TCP/IP
     hosts/services (see above)

   - Continue defining what summer projects should be accomplished and what
     problem(s) they address/resolve. (Team)


4. Continuation of discussion on alerting campus of problems with network
   services:

   (NOTE:  We need to document our work here in a form that others in the
            department can refer to when there are network problems.
            Suggestions?)

   - Backup for Justin.  Bob reluctantly agreed to be the backup for Justin in
     his coordinating role for network service failures.  We discussed the
     problem when both Bob and Justin need to be out but did not come to any
     conclusions.

   - Briefly discussed Brenda's suggestions for alerting users/campus of
     problems.  (NOTE:  Brenda has established a telephone # (x2884) that we
     can begin developing as a Network Services status service.  Users could
     dial this number to find out the status of the network and work-around
     solutions in the event there are problems.)


6. Next meeting (Weds, 3/15 @ 8:00am) --> **Please** arrive a few minutes early
   so we can start promptly @ 8:00am.