Information Technology News Archive

1996 - 2017

UCI Computing Supporters and Y2K

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NACS hosts monthly meetings of campus computing supporters: the CSCs (Computer Support Coordinators) and CLCs (Computing Lab Coordinators). NACS staff and others will present on Y2K topics during two summer meetings of these groups:

Meeting agendas, schedules, and locations are announced and discussed on the UCICSCG@UCI.EDU LISTSERV mailing list, which anyone may join.

New UCI LifeLine Modem Service

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At the end of January 1999, NACS will be replacing the current 824-9000 and 824-8960 modem pools with a new, higher-quality, limited-access, modem service. The new service is the result of campus input and the recommendations of the Academic Senate Computer Policy Committee. It will utilize current-technology, V.90 56 Kbps equipment and support about 280 simultaneous connections.

The new “LifeLine Remote Access Service” has a goal of providing basic, limited, modem service to everyone at UCI who needs it. The new modem pool does not represent a complete Internet Service Provider (ISP) service; people with more than modest remote access needs should still use ISPs.

Each UCI faculty, staff and student will be limited to 7 hours of connect time during peak “Prime-time” usage periods each week. The 7 hour limit will be reduced as necessary to ensure equitable access with a minimum of busy signals. Each individual modem session will be limited to 1 hour in length during Prime-time, and 4 hours in length at other times.

For complete information on the new Lifeline modem service, please see:http://www.nacs.uci.edu/network/lifeline-modem-policy.html. NACS is also working with a local ISP who will be providing a service tailored to UCI’s needs; watch NACS-News for future announcements

Computer Skills Learning – CBT Online Courses

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Do you find it difficult to keep up with new and updated computing software as it comes out? If so, you are among the majority on campus who are always on the lookout for ways to learn new software features and usage.

When it comes to computer skills learning, one size does not fit all. “Online learning”, the delivery of training via network or CD-ROM, is one apprnacsh that is gaining support. Online learning programs require no travel, and are less expensive than traditional classes. Online lessons are interactive; the computer tailors material and responds according to learners’ requests and needs.

We are pleased to announce that Computer Based Training courses from CBT Systems are now available to the majority of the campus. Over 250 courses are accessible from your on-campus Windows computer. Popular titles include Microsoft Office, Windows operating systems, Web authoring and publishing, basic UNIX, Sybase Powersoft, and more. Before or after taking a course, you may take a quiz to determine your knowledge level.

CBT courses are available from the NACS CBT Web server: http://cbt.nacs.uci.edu

You get started by downloading a plugin and player, and installing them on your Windows computer. You may then proceed to the list for courses on the Web site to take a class.

Some campus departments have deployed CBT in the local network environment, so please to consult local support staff for advice. NACS will be working with campus supporters to make CBT available in campus computing labs. We will also look into making it available on CDs for home learning.

Your feedback on CBT is invited, please send it to NACS@UCI.EDU.

Network Initiative Alphabet Soup

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There are several key regional and national network initiatives that are of concern and interest to UCI. The UC campuses are connected by UCnet, but are working with CENIC (the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California) to create CalREN-2, a new high speed California network.

vBNS (very high performance Backbone Network Service) is a backbone network already in production that connects research organizations awarded high-performance connections by the NSF. CalREN-2 is connected to vBNS.

UCAID (University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development) is a national collaboration of Universities and other institutions working to advance networking in higher Education via two projects, Internet2 and Abilene.

Internet2 focuses on developing a new family of advanced network applications to meet emerging academic needs. Abilene is a UCAID project to develop an advanced backbone network to connect regional networks.

Find it hard to keep all of these organizations, projects and networks straight? We have created a Web page that should help:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/network/plans/network-initiatives.html

Linux Security Talk

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On September 9th, over 40 users and supporters of the Linux operating system attended a 2 hour talk by NACS’ Ted Gielow concerning security issues. Linux has been growing in popularity as an inexpensive and effective variety of the UNIX operating system, as it accommodates both computational and e-mail/Web server uses. Linux systems are very powerful and easy to setup, but are vulnerable to attack if not setup and maintained properly. Break-ins jeopardize computer availability, as well as valuable data and other academic pursuits. Since systems are connected to the campus network, they can be used to disrupt departmental or network communications and are thus a campus-wide concern.

Ted, who is a member of NACS’ Computing/Network Security Team, gave helpful hints on permission settings and on commands to determine what is running, who is connected, and more. He dispelled myths about hackers, discussed how to reduce exposure to network break-ins, talked about security software, and made suggestions for system administration and backups.

See the following document for information on making a UNIX system more secure:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/dcs/security/hardening.html

Keeping a system secure is an ongoing effort — if you are interested in someone else doing it for you, NACS’ Distributed Computing Support (DCS) group provides support services for Red Hat Linux and other UNIX variants. See the following for information on DCS services:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/sysadmin/sysadmin.html

Please contact us at our NACS@UCI.EDU e-mail address to express interest in future seminars, or if you have any Linux or system security concerns.