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ITG News and Notices

NOTICE - Multiple vulnerabilities discovered in IE
NOTICE - Veritas Account Space Limit
ANNOUNCEMENT - IU-Notify Service Available
REMINDER - File Sharing and Policy Notice
ANNOUNCEMENT - New Plotter Available
NOTICE - A202 Temperature: 73.11F - Updated: Fri May 16 22:45:31 2008

May 7, 2008

New recommendations for secure alternatives to SSH and FTP/SFTP

When connecting to Webserve or Steel to work with your web pages, you must use a secure telnet or FTP client. Until recently, for Windows users UITS recommended SSH Secure Shell from SSH Communications Security. Because this product is no longer free to download, it is no longer available from IUware or the SSH web site. If you are an existing user and have already downloaded SSH Secure Shell to your personal computer, you can continue to use it for free. And, as long as it is for educational purposes, you can even continue to load SSH Secure Shell on new computers from the media you currently have. SSH Secure Shell will remain on IU's Student and Residential Technology Center (STC and RTC) computers. After the summer upgrade to Vista, there will be three options for secure telnet or FTP from these computers:

• SSH Secure Shell (already available on the Windows STC/RTC computers)
• WinSCP (already available on the Windows STC/RTC computers for graphical file downloads and uploads)
• PuTTY (a new alternative for SSH Secure Shell)

For download to personal computers, the University Information Security Office (UISO) recommends WinSCP and PuTTY as alternative SSH clients. Departments can also provide commercial SSH software for hosting in specific labs or, in the case of site-wide licensing, in STC/RTC builds across campus. Download WinSCP from IUware at: https://iuware.iu.edu/title.aspx?id=785 Download PuTTY from IUware at: https://iuware.iu.edu/title.aspx?id=781

 

April 30, 2008

Reminder: Verify your web sites hosted on IU web servers

If you own or sponsor content on IU's web servers, please take a moment to test your recently migrated accounts. The old web servers (Veritas and Champion) are being replaced by a new server (Webserve), and IU web sites are transitioning to the new environment. To complete the transition for accounts you wish to keep, please submit a "Finalize Web Migration" form indicating whether the migrated pages work correctly. UITS cannot finish the transfer process until you have checked your sites. UITS needs your form by May 12. If you wish to close certain accounts, please contact the IU Webmaster with the names of those accounts. For more information, including detailed instructions, see: http://webmaster.iu.edu/migration/index.shtml

Using the GPFS scratch file system

Accessible from Big Red, Quarry, and Libra, the General Parallel File System (GPFS) scratch file system provides working space for running programs and short-term storage for program output. If you use the GPFS, please be sure to back up important data -- this is a temporary scratch file system and is not intended for long-term storage. Data erased from the scratch file system cannot be recovered. Beginning June 1, files that have not been accessed in more than 180 days will be automatically removed from the GPFS scratch file system to free up space. To learn more about storage options for your files, visit: http://kb.iu.edu/data/ajay.html

New job type on Big Red

A recent update to Big Red's LoadLeveler resource manager includes a new job type: MPICH. LoadLeveler jobs of type MPICH, as opposed to "parallel" type, automatically generate host files for use with mpirun's "-machinefile" switch. The new $LOADL_HOSTFILE variable can refer to a job's host file, so you no longer need to use the llmachinelist command and perform subsequent cleanup. In addition, you can use the variable $LOADL_TOTAL_TASKS with mpirun's "-np" switch. $LOADL_TOTAL_TASKS is calculated from the LoadLeveler job script keywords "node" and "tasks_per_node". As a result, you can make changes to job geometry with these keywords, and the mpirun command's arguments will be modified automatically. The MPICH job type also provides support for some additional MPI application enhancements which UITS will implement in the coming weeks. If you are a MPICH user, please modify your job scripts accordingly.

April 23, 2008

Next-generation wireless coming

Thanks to an all-new wireless environment planned for IUB and IUPUI, you will be able to connect wirelessly in more places and with greater ease. Wireless access on those campuses will greatly expand coverage, especially in the Bloomington residence halls -- to nearly every student room. Further, you will not need a VPN connection. If you use a wireless handheld device such as an iPhone, you will be able to move seamlessly among access points without dropping your connection. Installation starts this summer to be completed sometime in the fall. To read the announcement, go to: http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/8054.html

To watch a vodcast of Matt Davy, IU chief network architect, describing IU's new next-generation wireless network, click "IT@IU" on the IU Podcast Portal at: http://podcast.iu.edu/

 

Migration of web sites hosted on IU web servers

Owners and sponsors of IU web sites: All IU web sites (e.g., www.indiana.edu , www.iu.edu , www.iub.edu , www.iuk.edu , www.iupui.edu ) are transitioning to new hardware. If you have content on IU's web servers, you recently received an email outlining steps to verify that your pages are working on the new hardware. UITS staff have moved your accounts to the new environment and need you to see if everything is functioning properly. In the meantime, your pages are updated nightly from the old hardware to the new hardware to catch any recent changes. The old servers (Veritas and Champion) are being replaced by a new server (Webserve). You have until May 12 to complete testing and submit a "Finalize Web Migration" form indicating that the content on the migrated pages works correctly. UITS cannot complete the transfer process without a migration form. If you want to keep your accounts, please test them now and submit the form. If you do not need to keep certain accounts, please contact the IU Webmaster with names of the accounts you want to close. For more information, including detailed instructions, see: http://webmaster.iu.edu/migration/index.shtml

 

Steel retirement and Mypage migration

UITS would like to remind you that the retirement date for the Steel cluster is tentatively scheduled for June 30, 2008. As part of the retirement process, the Mypage environment and web pages will migrate to a new server. Here's what you need to know:

* General Unix accounts are already available on Quarry, IU's newest supercomputer -- see "What is Quarry?" at: http://rc.uits.iu.edu/hps/research/quarry/index.shtml

* The web hosting service, Mypage, will move from Steel to Mercury, a virtual server environment managed by UITS (there will be no web hosting service on Quarry).

* The Mypage migration will not affect the URLs used to access your pages -- Mypage URLs will continue to follow the format [http://mypage.iu.edu/~username/].

* The Mypage service will continue to be limited to basic web serving.

* The Mercury environment will not provide for general Unix computing.

Important: If your web pages include absolute URLs (e.g., /N/fs2/username/Steel/www or /N/u/username/Steel/www), they will not work when migrated to the new environment. Learn how to change absolute URLs at: https://kb.iu.edu/data/avlz.html

 

April 9, 2008

SUVON retirement

On May 31, Indiana Higher Education Telecommunications Systems is retiring its State University Voice Operated Network (SUVON) service. When you dial 16, plus an area code and seven-digit phone number, you're using SUVON. On the Bloomington campus, direct dialed calls may also be routed over SUVON. SUVON access has been limited to faculty and staff conducting university business. As of June 1, you will need to dial 9+1+[area code]+[number] and enter your authorization code to place long distance calls. To reduce the impact of charges for formerly free SUVON calls, UITS is providing faculty and staff customers with:

• Free calls from the IUB and IUPUI campuses to other IU campuses
• Reduced domestic long distance rates of $0.07 per minute
• Modified billing increments, so the first 60 seconds of the call bill at $0.07 and then in 15 second increments thereafter

 

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