UNT IRC Meeting Minutes
November 21, 2006
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
INFORMATION RESOURCES COUNCIL
November 21, 2006
VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: PHILIP TURNER, CHAIR, PAUL HONS (for JUDITH ADKISON), PATRICK PLUSCHT, TIM CHRISTIAN, JOE ADAMO (for LOU ANN BRADLEY), JIM CURRY, RICHARD SANZONE (for ELIZABETH HINKLE-TURNER), UWE ROSSBACH, BEN BIGBY (for JON NELSON), CENGIZ CAPAN, JOHN HOOPER, GUILLERMO OYARCE, RAMU MUTHIAH, ABRAHAM JOHN, STEVEN KING, CHRISTY CRUTSINGER, MARGARET AMBUEHL, DON GROSE, WIL CLARK (for JOHN PRICE), SCOTT WINDHAM
NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: MAURICE LEATHERBURY, PHILIP BACZEWSKI, CHARLIE ANDREWS, SUE ELLEN RICHEY (Recording Secretary)
MEMBERS ABSENT: GINNY ANDERSON, SARA WILSON MCKAY, ROBERT NIMOCKS, BRUCE HUNTER, RAY BANKS, BOBBY CARTER
GUESTS PRESENT: BRUCE POLLOCK, JIM BYFORD, CHARLOTTE RUSSELL
The minutes of the October 17, 2006, meeting were approved with the following correction:
"Tim Christian reported that the Standards & Policy Planning Group has not met, and there are no pending items." (pg. 2, paragraph 4)
Philip Baczewski reported that the Distributed Computing Support Management Team (DCSMT) has met twice since the last IRC meeting. On November 3, Maurice
Leatherbury gave a presentation about the UNT IT infrastructure and explained that the IRC will vote about UNT moving off the Novell and Groupwise platforms and onto Windows Server and to an Exchange/Outlook platform. Also at that meeting, Joe Adamo discussed the proposed LAN Upgrade Project to replace most of the data network switches on campus. In a follow-up to old business Charlotte Russell stated that she had talked with Renaldo Stowers in the General Counsel's office who said it was his opinion that EUIDs and Emplids are protected under FERPA but that he will try to get an answer from the UNT General Council office regarding the nature of the protection they should be afforded on IT systems. She then said that there are no required changes, at this time, to the procedures used to handle EUIDs and EmplIDs.
At the November 17 meeting, Philip Baczewski presented preliminary results from the DCSMT assessment survey of Novell and Microsoft software use. Twenty-one responses were received which represented feedback from each DCSMT represented area. Results are summarized on the handout provided (Attachment #1). DCSMT also discussed a methodology for determining Active Directory design requirements for distributed area support and will meet at a later date to further discuss the issue. DCSMT will next meet on Dec. 1 at which time a representative from Intel will be on hand to present a processor roadmap and to discuss their VPro technology.
Philip highlighted a couple of points on the survey results stating that even though more Windows Servers are reportedly in use than Novell servers, it should be noted that the Novell servers in use were in more robust configurations or clusters with SAN attachments. As expected, the top services for Novell based systems were file directory and print services, as well as desktop authentication. Windows servers were employed primarily in server and active directory installations with Microsoft SQL Server and IIS web servers.
Maurice Leatherbury presented the proposed resolutions regarding a migration from Novell and GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange and Outlook email. Copies of the resolutions were distributed (Attachment #2). The resolutions were as follows:
In response to a question as to the cost of this migration, Maurice replied that they are still getting quotes from various vendors, and still trying to figure out what hardware and software will be needed, but preliminary estimates are between $400,000 and $450,000. In addition, he has asked for special funding to set up a file and print server farm in CITC which departments can take advantage of. There will be some surplus machines which CITC will share with departments that need additional hardware. Cengiz Capan noted that COBA has a lot of different platforms being used in their college and he asked about the interoperability of the new system with Linux and Unix. Maurice stated that CITC currently makes all of these platforms work together, and will continue to do so. Everything used now, including the EIS data, will have to be synchronized. Maurice stated that he doesn’t see this as an insurmountable problem. Capan asked what "prudently be begun" means. Maurice said he didn’t want to give a definite start date, but essentially the plan is to involve the Network Managers in determining the timeline. Conversations have already taken place with Dell and Microsoft. Maurice assured the group that he intends to involve the whole campus in the planning and implementation process.
Maurice stated that his best guess would be to begin active directory migration early next calendar year and wrap that up by the beginning of the second quarter of the year. He stated that he wants to get off of the Novell contract before the end of this fiscal year.
The Chair called for a second to the presentation of the proposal. Don Grose offered a second. Capan commented that he would like to see a test lab created, and a committee to deal with all of the patches and updates, to avoid problems with the implementation. Maurice stated his agreement that there will be additional procedures put in place so as not to put departments’ operations in jeopardy. Uwe Rossbach expressed his skepticism about making this major shift and stated his fear of a loss of departmental controls. Maurice assured that there is no intention to centralize control over desktops, and further stated that departments will maintain control over their own directory tree. Maurice stated that he wanted the IRC to be sure to factor in the fact that Exchange/Outlook doesn’t support message statusing; i.e., the ability to tell whether a message has been read. The attendees stated that this was an implementation detail that didn’t have a bearing on the decision whether to proceed with the migration. A vote was taken with a result of 16 for, no votes against and no abstentions; therefore, the proposal was accepted.
Patrick Pluscht distributed a timeline for the Course Management System Evaluation (Attachment #3). Through Spring of 2008 UNT will have access to WebCT Vista supported by BlackBoard. However, at that point, UNT needs to be in a position to make a decision as to whether or not to continue with Vista or switch over to a BlackBoard product or switch to a totally different course management system. They have identified the products to be evaluated, and are looking at making a decision by July of next year. This timeline is being distributed just for information purposes to the IRC.
Following a survey, conducted on e-Campus, it was determined that 75% of UNT students have taken at least one on-line course.
Patrick also reported that Live Classroom Web Conferencing is now out of the Legal Department, and the new server is being built. They will announce when the server will be available. Patrick stated that there will not be a need for a lot of training to use this product. In response to a question from Cengiz Capan, Patrick responded that the license will allow for 2,000-2,500 simultaneous users initially. They will increase that number as needed; and Patrick added that the server is hosted externally. In response to a question from Paul Hons, Patrick added that there is no client required; the product works with standard browsers.
Uwe Rossbach asked when Patrick expects WebCT Vista to be compliant with IE7. Patrick said they ask WebCT this question every week, and to date they have not given a satisfactory answer. Patrick further explained that before they put any of WebCT’s fixes into production, they load them and test them properly first. Patrick stated that there is a selection committee made up of representatives of DCSMT, Center for Distributed Learning, the Learning Enhancement Planning Group, and students that will be looking at continuing with WebCT or changing to some other product. This committee will be looking at the University of Central Florida who is considering a similar decision to see what they can learn from them since that institution is very much like UNT in size and usage.
Rossbach asked if UNT could test the WebCT Vista product to see if it is compliant with IE7, and Patrick replied that UNT won’t certify use of WebCT Vista with IE7 until WebCT certifies it.
Joe Adamo reported for the Communications Planning Group that they met and discussed the firewall implementation. The firewall is now in place with very limited restrictions at the present time. Discussion focused on how to implement the firewall. A subcommittee has been formed, which will work with DCSMT to discuss rules for the firewall and how to move forward with the implementation.
John Hooper reported for the EIS Planning Group that they have done some testing and found that PeopleSoft is not compliant with IE7. He stated that the implementation project has begun for part of a CRM product purchased from PeopleSoft in support of graduate prospecting and recruiting. An RFP is out for budget preparation services to help implement the Cognos Enterprise Planning software. They are also developing a charter for the 8.9 upgrade of the Learning Solutions system that has been planned for quite a while. A final project they’re planning is to have a Cognos representative come in around the first week of December to help fine tune their product and its performance.
Tim Christian reported for the Standards and Policy Planning Group that they have not met and that they have no current agenda items.
Philip Baczewski reported for the Student Computing Planning Group that the Chair of the Planning Group was approached by the regional sales representative for RUCKUS, an entertainment content provider, who currently serves several universities including the entire University of Oklahoma system. The sales rep informed her that several members of the Student Government Association had sent him queries about RUCKUS and its services. She has referred the RUCKUS sales rep to Ray Banks who is the SGA representative for the IRC and also on the Student Computing Planning Group.
Elizabeth asked that if the SGA does, indeed, want to look into RUCKUS' services for UNT that it would be most appropriate for UNT to examine this through the
Student Computing Planning Group of the IRC. The SCPG consists of representatives from the SGA, the General Access Lab Managers Committee, Academic Computing Services, Housing and Resnet, and the Graduate Student Council thus assuring a thorough representation of UNT student interests and considerations as well as administration considerations in this area. The SGA rep will be keeping the SCPG informed and updated on this and, if necessary, the SCPG will convene and become involved in this issue.
In response to a question about what Ruckus is, Philip explained that it is a media download service similar to Napster. These are services that can be funded on a "pay as you go" basis by students, or a university adopts their services and pays a flat fee. Philip commented that there is some sentiment that a service of this type would mollify the RIAA in regard to their attitude about universities and the whole issue of file sharing.
Maurice Leatherbury interjected that there has been a huge increase in the number of media take-down notices since August. CITC is close to getting a trial device that will lock the transmittal of copyrighted materials off the internet. There was some discussion about how such a device would work, and its desirability.
The Chair reminded IRC members that the University Attorneys will be attending the January meeting.
Maurice Leatherbury reported that last week a North Texas Gigapop consolidated its Internet2 traffic with the Southeast Texas Gigapop and the UT/Texas A&M System, and so that all Gigapop members now go through a common link to Internet2. That has the effect of reducing the Gigapop’s cost of Internet2 and subsequently UNT’s cost of Internet2. Very soon now that same device will give us access to the NLR. Patrick Pluscht asked if there would be any implications to SEGP members. Maurice replied that it will provide unimpeded access between SEGP members.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.