It has been another exceptional
year for AcIS. Demand for the unique
technology, infrastructure, services, and support offered by AcIS has grown
dramatically once again¾growth
in both traditional and in new user communities and applications. However, the rate of growth and change in
technology sometimes exceeded our ability to keep up. Staffing is inadequate for current demands.
AcIS staff worked hard and did meet most of these demands, albeit with difficulty. Staffing levels inadequate for current needs led to delays in development and deployment of system upgrades, unmet expectations for our user community, and a great deal of stress on our staff¾from long hours, strenuous efforts in trying to keep up, and a sense of frustration and failure when those efforts fell short.
Growth in raw demand for services is evident in all our statistics. Email traffic levels doubled to 2.4 million messages in a week; use of central web servers rose 58% to an average of 15,000,000 hits a week; the number of Web bboards set up for classes and other uses rose 55% to 640; the number of students registered in courses using electronic classrooms rose to nearly 11,000 in Spring 2001 from 8,400 one year ago.
AcIS staff deployed new servers, upgraded software, reconfigured networks, installed faster network equipment, doubled storage space for user email files and attachments on faster servers, planned further upgrades, and designed new, more reliable systems. There were not, however, enough staff to complete all of the planned projects on time. As a result users suffered through mail service problems in the Fall. Again, in January and February network hardware problems, bugs in new software installed to remedy serious, newly discovered security holes, and delays in planned network upgrades came together to disrupt email service.
Nevertheless, email service was satisfactory most of the time; network outages were rare; and the Web functioned well. However, this is not good enough. Network services must be made more reliable. The goal, difficult as it may to achieve, is “five nines”, 99.999% uptime—no more than 5 minutes of unplanned outage in a year.
In mid-2000, AcIS management met in a series of planning sessions to set specific goals for key, strategic projects for the next two years¾planning how to get optimal results from the limited resources available. The eight goals below reflect the need to take action in several functional areas to improve the responsiveness and reliability of the University’s academic information environment and expand it to meet the substantial new demands foreseen.
· Goal 1: Develop a more robust and responsive access management system.
· Goal 2: Maintain a highly reliable, high performance network and networked services.
· Goal 3: Improve Remote Access Services.
· Goal 4: Improve existing online communications tools; identify and develop new services.
· Goal 5: Maintain and improve public facilities.
· Goal 6: Identify, build and deliver middleware.
· Goal 7: Improve customer service delivery and philosophy throughout organization.
· Goal 8: Take a leading role in encouraging "best practices" in the University's operations.
Academic Information Systems (AcIS) is the central organization supporting academic use of technology at Columbia. AcIS is a service organization whose mission is to improve the quality of instruction and research at the University through the strategic use of computing and communications technologies.
AcIS goals are to provide core
computing, networking, and information services for the academic community in
the most cost-effective way and to introduce innovative technological resources
and techniques to support teaching and research at the University. Core services are designed to meet most of
the common needs of most users, to provide certain high-end technologies with
economies of scale, and to support the specialized needs of individuals,
departments, and disciplines with advice and appropriate infrastructure.
To meet the challenges of delivering information services in the midst of the digital revolution, AcIS follows several strategic principles derived from our mission, from our understanding of faculty and student needs, and from a continuing evaluation of our technological experience and opportunities.
· Network Access and Electronic Communications. Emphasize network access and electronic communications as the most cost-effective means of reaching the entire University, and work to broaden the scope of information available online by actively identifying or developing new resources and services.
· Reliable, Scaleable Systems. Ensure service availability and reliability to meet the reasonable expectation of users in this new environment by using inexpensive, interchangeable, redundant servers for information and network functions.
· Security. Maintain a secure information environment, protecting the network, connected systems, and the information they hold while allowing easy access to the University community.
· Standards. Use widely accepted, vendor-independent standards for networks, systems, and software to build a flexible, manageable, and powerful information infrastructure.
· Ease of Use. Simplify access to information resources, without sacrificing reliability and universal access, by creating easy-to-use interfaces, training, and documentation, which encourage user self-sufficiency.
· Service Quality. Provide focused, responsive, high-quality support to users.
· Continuity. Maintain the services on which our user community depends, as we accommodate rapid technological change and work toward new, creative, more cost-effective solutions.
· Collaboration. Work with other University units to bring forward cost-effective technical solutions that address the needs of the academic community.
· Cost Benefits. Deploy services and solutions that maximize efficiencies and savings to other units of the University and the University community at large.
AcIS plays leading roles in delivering and supporting academic information technology for the entire University community. These roles include offering core online and network services to the University community as well as bringing the latest appropriate technology and services to campus. These are all brought together to create an academic information environment that supplies the technological infrastructure upon which faculty, students and staff can innovate¾creating new and more effective ways of teaching, learning, and researching.
AcIS supports—
· Instructional and research users with central timesharing, training, consulting, and data services;
· Students and instructors with workstation labs and clusters, electronic classrooms, and office and residence hall networking;
· Library patrons through support of CLIO, LibraryWeb, and the Digital Library;
· Academic and administrative departments with on-line information delivery and access control through ColumbiaNet—the University's central World Wide Web service;
· Lamont, the Health Sciences and other campuses through high-speed inter-campus backbone links; and
· The University community with the campus network, remote access, and a multiplicity of electronic information services, including E-mail, personal and official Web pages, modems, and access to the Internet and Internet2.
In 2000, AcIS continued enhancements in all five of its major service areas. In the face of dramatic increases in usage, improvements were made in—1) network infrastructure and operations; 2) online communications and networked services; 3) information services and the digital library; 4) academic technology facilities; and 5) computing support services.
These accomplishments, problems encountered, and the work remaining are described here. Despite the budgetary enhancements of the Libraries and AcIS Six-Year Plan[1], the rapidly rising use of AcIS services in both volume and variety has again left AcIS straining to keep up with that demand. And until recently, the attractiveness of opportunities on the commercial Internet continued to make it difficult to recruit qualified staff.
AcIS designs and manages the network for the University as a whole and operates and supports the Morningside network. This network infrastructure ties the University and its campuses together and links us to the outside world through the Internet and Internet2. AcIS also provides off-campus access through its modem pools and network extensions, and promotes network research and development.[2]
In 2000, significant advances were made in several network areas. Over the past year, most of the remaining academic and administrative buildings, including Lerner Hall, have been connected to the high-speed multi-Gigabit Ethernet backbone. In addition to higher capacity, the new switching and routing equipment installed will allow the control of network traffic flows to ensure that no one computer uses a disproportionate share of the network's bandwidth.
Network access was made significantly easier over the past
year. Registration of network cards is
no longer required for the majority of users.
Students in residence halls and faculty and staff in offices need only
set up a simple configuration and plug their PC into any network jack on campus
to be connected. Offices and
individuals who require fixed network names and addresses, e.g., for servers,
must still register.
In addition, wireless network access is now available in the central campus area.[3] Several new wireless access points allow any user with a laptop, equipped with a standard wireless Ethernet card, to connect to the network outdoors between Uris Hall and Butler Library. Wireless access is also offered on the Law-IAB plaza. AcIS-recommended wireless cards are sold in the on-campus J&R store[4], providing convenient access to all. Currently, indoor wireless is available in certain areas of Low Library, Computer Science, International and Public Affairs, Journalism, Butler Library, and Watson. Selected classrooms also have wireless access, at a cost substantially less than hard-wiring individual seats.
The latest wireless technology was also exploited to connect off-campus buildings where wired connections are difficult or expensive. Point-to-point wireless connections have been made from Mudd to 560 Riverside Drive to serve the Institutional Real Estate offices, to Prentis Hall to support the Music Department's computer music program, and to the Harmony and 600 West 113th Street residence halls. Wireless Ethernet is also used to connect CCNMTL’s Health Sciences offices across Fort Washington Avenue.
An upgrade in October more than tripled the capacity of the University’s Internet access. The connection’s speed rose from 45 Megabits per second (Mbps) to 155 Mbps. The annual cost of this connection is reduced by approximately $450,000 as a result of Columbia’s involvement in NYSERNet since its founding. Support for use of the Internet2 for research continues, and several full-motion videoconferences have been successfully held to exploit its capacity for high-density traffic. For example, AcIS sponsored Columbia’s Internet2 Day in the spring. In December, Pinchas Zukerman conducted a master lesson from Dodge Hall, working with a violin student in Ottawa using the Internet2 and AcIS technical support.[5]
AcIS recently assumed responsibility for SEAS networking including the Mudd and CS networks, and very likely the CEPSR (Shapiro) building in the near future. These networks were installed independently of the campus-wide network designed by AcIS in the 1990’s. Poor design, outmoded wiring and equipment, and poor maintenance created resulted in increasingly unreliable service. Extending the AcIS network into these areas provides the departments with much improved service at lower cost.
The modem pool expansion, completed in spring 1999, continues to provide adequate off-campus access to the network even at peak usage times. Idle-time and session limits have increased turnover and improved access to the modems. Idle connections are dropped after twenty minutes, and between 6 p.m. and midnight, all modem sessions are limited to two hours. To allow easier checking and download of email, phone lines have been installed and equipment is being tested to add a group of express modems to the pool. Sessions on these 23 modems will be limited to 25 minutes at all times. The express pool will increase the general pool to 663 modems.
To further expand off-campus network options and reduce dependence on the modem pool, AcIS has installed a high-speed, 100 Mbps link connecting RCN's cable modem service directly to Columbia’s network[6]. This connection supports the contract between the Office of Communications Services and RCN, a national telecommunications company, for discounted cable modem service from Columbia apartment buildings. This new service will provide much faster access to Columbia's network than is possible with a standard modem connection. In cooperation with IRE, AcIS is also deploying direct Ethernet connections in selected University residential buildings, primarily those used as graduate student residences. These are full, 10 Mbps connections, for which IRE pays support fees directly to AcIS. The fees are $20 per month for student housing and $40 for faculty/staff housing.
Over the next twelve months, the first stage of the physical network overhaul will be completed and some, already outdated equipment upgraded to current gigabit standards. New and replacement network devices are a continuing necessity as the technology continues to improve and as schools and departments begin to switch to higher-speed, 100 Mbps connections to individual computers. In addition, a Gigabit link to Teachers College will extend the high-speed core network across 120th Street and, to Barnard, NASA GISS and other affiliates.
Other plans include running or leasing fiber to 110th and 125th streets to connect outlying buildings in cooperation with IRE. AcIS is also taking a leading role in a citywide project linking major research institutions with a fiber-optic ring to support extremely high-bandwidth intra- and inter-institutional connections.
The second phase of the network upgrade will ramp up in coming months as network management tools and procedures are extended and developed. These tools will allow detailed monitoring and control of the network to ensure that every node receives sufficient service and that no one system or subnet is allowed to overwhelm the network with excessive traffic. Traffic “shaping” and quality of service tools will also allow the guarantee of necessary capacity to critical applications, especially Internet2 high-bandwidth projects. A Network Operations Center will be established in order to improve response to network problems and extend on-site coverage into off-hours.
The network has become integral to our professional lives because it provides fast and reliable access to a wealth of online resources and to our colleagues. The hardware, software, and human resources that deliver these services must be continually expanded and enhanced to accommodate the University's growing reliance on them. New investment is also needed to exploit new, more reliable, and less expensive technologies. Handling the growth in online resources for instruction and research, e-mail traffic, Web pages, and user accounts requires investments in file storage, mail servers, and backup systems. At the same time, improvements in the user directory and authentication/authorization service are critical to the expanding use of the network to deliver sensitive information¾from grades and restricted course bulletin boards to managed access for licensed services and secure online payment services.
AcIS systems support a host of online services, including e-mail, Web servers, the digital library, University-wide information delivery, the authoritative central user directory and authentication/authorization service, timesharing, file storage, and the whole variety of services used by the Columbia community. AcIS servers store and offer access to course and research materials, news wires, Usenet News, and a vast repertoire of international electronic news, discussion and bulletin board forums and all the other resources on the Internet and the World Wide Web.[7] AcIS also provides a home for the Kermit project, a developer and provider of communications software to Columbia and public- and private-sector organizations since 1981.[8]
Email, bulletin boards, Web pages and other forms of online communication have become the heart of both academic and personal discourse. Use of email has continued to grow extremely rapidly over the past few years. From 1999 to 2000, the number of messages doubled from 1.2 million in a week to 2.4 million. To accommodate more email message with larger and larger attachments user file quotas were doubled. Undergraduate student quotas are 40 megabytes, faculty may use 80 megabytes (or more on request), while graduate students and staff with basic accounts may store 20 megabytes on central systems. User files now occupy over 400 gigabytes on the fileservers.
This continuing growth exceeded expectations. Combined with delays in deployment of new servers caused by staff shortages, the email traffic load resulted in degraded email performance in the fall. File system tuning and short-term rationing of access to email were used to buy time until the end of term, when fileservers and mail servers were upgraded. Network hardware problems and emergency upgrades to new software to fix security holes early in 2001, however, resulted in new problems in email service. An additional fileserver and several new, multi-processor mail servers are on order or are being deployed to ensure that system capacity will stay ahead of demand. Double networks will connect all servers, as well, to provide both greater capacity and redundancy.
Systems personnel have enhanced system-monitoring programs to detect developing problems before they become serious. A comprehensive performance statistics system will be put in place over the next several months to provide better understanding of complex system interactions and to allow better prediction of system and network demand in the future.
In spite of problems, AcIS continued to improve email access. In August, we introduced a new CubMail, a fully secure Web-based email program and interface that allows Columbia students, faculty and staff to access their University email accounts using any Web browser. Users can read, write, and manage their email, including attachments, from anywhere in the world. This new service is popular, with over 9,000 people using it regularly within weeks of its introduction. We expect this service to supplant most Pine usage on CUNIX over the next three years.
Use of the central Web-servers continues to rise rapidly. Average weekly traffic on the University’s central Web servers rose 58% to 15 million hits in 2000. The highest week saw over 20 million hits and the annual total was 783 million. 2001 will likely see a billion requests filled. AcIS servers continue to provide indexing and search services for hundreds of gigabytes of Web data on over 240 departmental and central web servers, including projects developed by EPIC and CCNMTL.
In collaboration with CCNMTL, the online Directory of Classes was enhanced with automatic links to Library reserves lists and improved, automated procedures for incorporating the instructor’s material into the course’s web site. Instructor access is now automated through the inclusion of a “courses taught” field in the directory database. 640 Web bulletin boards (CuBboards) were set up for courses so far this academic year, a 55% increase over 1999-00.
AcIS and CCNMTL will propose an extension of this service through a two-year project to develop and deploy an integrated course management system that allows all faculty to quickly and easily deliver online course materials to students. The project continues 12 years of effort by the two groups to provide networked course resources to the University community. Such systems have been deployed at Teachers College, our Graduate School of Business, and at most peer institutions.
A course management system will provide dramatically enhanced capacity for online course resource development and delivery. It will incorporate an extensible platform that can be easily used by content creators¾from faculty with little or no technical experience to highly experienced individuals, such as the staff at CCNMTL. The system will bring three key advantages. It will make it easy for faculty to create online courses. It will provide students with a single unified environment where course material, online discussion, calendars, etc. are integrated. It will provide a platform that can scale to the entire university in a sustainable manner.
Planning to protect the University’s academic information services in the event of a disaster has begun. A second central server room has been constructed in 103 Philosophy Hall, on campus but away from the main computer machine room. The site will house approximately one-half of the servers for email, the Web, and other services. Some additional servers will be purchased so that each of the two sites has about 60% of total optimal capacity, allowing continuing, albeit reduced, service after a disaster affecting one of the sites. Given its key role in the University, all Web data will be stored in both locations on completely redundant fileservers. The changes can be implemented over the next 12 to 18 months, given adequate staffing. Complete backup tapes will continue to be stored off-site at Iron Mountain. AcIS has funded a feasibility and design study by Facilities on connecting key network equipment around campus to their emergency generators.
The University's central directory and authentication database is maintained by AcIS. Consisting of over 300,000 entries, the database records identification and status information for all students, faculty, staff, library patrons, visiting scholars, alumni, and other affiliates of the University. It is the authoritative central user registry for the University and is the basis of the University's information security system. AcIS continues to make improvements in this service, which allows the secure delivery of restricted databases like EarthScape, CIAO, the OED and dozens of other licensed Library resources, as well as private information like grades. A major re-write of the system is being designed. See Goal 1, below.
Enhancements in directory services made last spring support the new Alumni email forwarding program. The service, which went live in August, added over 250,000 alumni to the directory. The presence of authenticated alumni in the directory provides a foundation for targeted services for alumni. The College is already embarking on a project to create a community of 30,000 alumni based on this capability.
Enhancements to the WebCreate application make it easier for users to manage their user IDs. “Waffil,” a Web affiliation tool, allows departmental administrators to create and maintain lists of special IDs. It is frequently used to provide new staff with user IDs without waiting for PAFs to take effect. Other changes have increased the flexibility of the system and simplified it by enabling the use of the directory for CUNIX login. Hourly updates of the directory, implemented in the summer, have increased the responsiveness of the system to changes in user status.
Nevertheless, a major upgrade of the system is necessary to meet the new demands. Planning and design have begun. Initial planning goals include a reduction in the complexity of the software by exploiting database organization (“more tables, less code”) and the inclusion of better and broader interactive tools for both users and support staff.
The University’s online information environment is the result of AcIS’s sustained effort to develop, in conjunction with the Libraries and CCNMTL, an easy-to-use, uniform, and secure means of delivering and using online resources, whether at Columbia or on the Internet. Services range from technical initiatives relating to web usage—security, applications, measurement statistics, collection management—to the creation of a wide variety of digital content—text, images, audio, video, and multi-media. These collections and services are at the forefront of the University’s Digital Library and drive the increasing use of the network to deliver instruction and to support research and administration at the University.
This infrastructure has allowed the University—instructors, students, departments, offices, student groups, researchers—to expand their creation and use of online information resources dramatically. Projects built on this foundation in collaboration with AcIS include EPIC projects like Earthscape and Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO), as well as the Virtual Reading Room, Gutenberg-e, the Advanced Papyrology System (APIS), BorrowDirect, a collaborative Inter-Library Loan service, and several projects by the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL).[9]
The Electronic Data Service, jointly operated by the Libraries and AcIS, is the University’s numerical data archive. The index for much of this collection is being provided over the network through the EDS Datagate, and has become a recognized national resource. Over 30 gigabytes of data are also available to scholars locally.[10]
These efforts create a variety of vehicles for networked scholarly discourse, joint services with peer institutions, and contributions to national and international standards efforts. The security features in place allow easy management of access to individual resources, enabling individuals and offices to deliver private or sensitive information over the network, including confidential data like applications, student grades, registration holds, and financial aid information.
The AcIS online production staff contributes many services to these projects, including interface design, the specification of markup structures, and the management of markup production. These and other efforts are carried out in collaboration with University departments and academic centers. Together, AcIS Electronic Data Service and Research and Development staff have developed methods for analyzing usage data and correlating it with the demographics of the local community. The patterns revealed in these analyses allow both academic and management evaluation of the use of online resources.
Over the summer, AcIS deployed its new inter-institutional authentication system to support Student Affairs’ Mascot system. This “certificate-on-demand” (COD) system allows a third-party service provider to deliver services securely to Columbia individuals based on their University status. All authentication takes place on Columbia’s secure servers; no passwords and no more information than necessary is passed to the vendor. This technology, along with the new directory system described above, will be critical components in supporting new initiatives like those proposed for Interactive Arts and Sciences, DKV, and the College’s alumni community project.
Other steps toward supporting delivery of more sophisticated services via the Web have been taken. A new database management system, IBM’s DB2, has been installed. The Libraries central metadata database has been converted to use this system. And, a pilot system for delivering special, Java applications is being tested. Such database support will also be a critical component in supporting the initiatives planned and in progress for EPIC, DKV, APIS, and Arts and Sciences.
AcIS builds and supports a variety of public facilities that provide access to online resources and services. These facilities meet a variety of user needs. Some technologies are beyond the reach of individuals and departments and must be provided centrally¾electronic classrooms, large workstation labs, networked printing, and so on. AcIS workstation labs and clusters, ColumbiaNet kiosks, and e-classrooms support instruction and access throughout the Morningside campus.
At the same time, faculty need assistance in adapting technology appropriate to their teaching. AcIS helped establish and now provides hardware, programming, and central system services to the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), which centralizes support for faculty use of information technology in instruction. Many other online services also support instruction, including Web-based class discussion forums, course Web pages, and the online Directory of Classes.
In 2000, AcIS continued its enhancement of the academic computing
facilities across campus.[11] With
47 stations added in 2000, there are now over 650 public computer
stations and printers in labs, clusters, classrooms, and public areas. Many others were upgraded, and a computer
cluster was installed in the new Broadway residence hall. Printing was upgraded in two other residence
halls.
AcIS enhanced all ColumbiaNet stations on campus with new software
that supports international character sets, increases legibility of many Web
pages, simplifies maintenance, and reduces startup times. Using AcIS-developed software, ColumbiaNets
now support Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Cyrillic languages, allowing users
to view and print Web pages in those languages. Arabic and Hebrew fonts will be supported soon. A new Quick Start feature greatly reduces
the typical startup time when a kiosk is re-booted. A new option allows schools and departments to specify a
"You Are Here" button, that provides a quick link to local Web
services, a link determined by the ColumbiaNet’s location.
Over the summer, 40 ColumbiaNet stations were added or had hardware upgrades. Over 150 ColumbiaNet stations are now available in lobbies, lounges, cafeterias and reading rooms. Working with the Libraries, AcIS expanded computing resources in several library locations, including Butler, Math and Science, and Lehman libraries.
In addition to wireless access, there are over 700 public network
jacks available in Butler library, Lerner Hall, residence halls, dining areas,
and AcIS labs for use with student and faculty laptops. Any computer configured for the Columbia
network can just be plugged in.
AcIS has built and supports 26
electronic classrooms across the campus.
Four classrooms include student workstations for hands-on
instruction. 258 classes used the
electronic classrooms in Fall, 2000,[12] serving the nearly 10,000 students
registered in these courses. Two
new electronic classrooms were installed in International Affairs, and eleven
others were upgraded with ePodiums, new high-resolution, high-luminescence
projectors, new student workstations, or wireless networking.
AcIS also deployed its new ePodium in nine existing
classrooms over the year. The ePodium,
developed in-house by AcIS staff, makes these classrooms easier to use, more
reliable, and easier to maintain. Using
the ePodium, the setup and controls in each room can be easily customized to
the courses taught there. Faculty have
found the ePodium classrooms significantly friendlier than previous commercial
control units, requiring less training and providing intuitive access to the
multimedia functions available. In the
Fall, 140 faculty were trained to use the new facilities.
The development of the ePodium in-house has also brought the
University significant cost savings. In
2000-01, AcIS renovated nine classrooms using the ePodium. Using newly trained AcIS staff for design,
installation, and control programming resulted in an estimated savings of
$500,000 in outside consultant fees for the University classroom budget, based
on quotes received. Ongoing support
costs will also be lower since AcIS can now provide design and support as
needed in new and existing rooms.
AcIS provides a wide variety of support services for the general computing and information needs of the University community. These range from a Helpdesk and Support Center for individual assistance on computer use, through group training in Internet use and publishing, to helping schools and departments manage their computer systems and networks.[13]
The University’s Computing Support Center and Help Desk handle queries from students, faculty and staff for both academic and administrative computing and networking, dispatching calls to the appropriate groups in AIS or AcIS for resolution. The Help Desk takes calls Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Consulting is also available in person in the Support Center, 9:00 to 5:00, as well as via e-mail.
The Help Desk and Support Center are the first points of contact for the majority of inquiries, questions, and problems involving e-mail, modem use, network installation and connectivity, user account creation and maintenance, account/system security, and desktop systems support. The most heavily used areas of support include questions on user accounts, e-mail, and the network. Improvements in remote access are reflected in the decline in the nearly 50% decline in calls related to modem dial.
The level of interaction with users held relatively steady. The number of calls answered at the Helpdesk fell slightly to 42,000, and the number con consultant email message answered was virtually unchanged. The average time to answer calls during peak periods decreased from 1:59 to 1:42. New procedures continued the increase in the number of incidents tracked in the Helpdesk database, providing a better picture of systems problems, user needs, and Helpdesk efficiency.
The Computing Support Center was reorganized to improve its services. A new Help Desk supervisor position was created and filled and both efficiency and morale of help desk staff have risen. Staffing at the Support Center was reallocated to provide higher quality assistance. Funds previously used to hire part-time, student help were re-directed to add one more full-time position. However, while users now get better help and the expert consulting schedule is more predictable, the higher costs of full-time staff have resulted in less coverage of phones and walk-in consulting. The plan is to provide three staff to answer phones during most of the day, along with one person to handle walk-in information and brief problem resolution, plus two consultants for sit-down, extended consultations where required.
A new Security Coordinator was hired to centralize tracking and coordination of responses to reported network and information security problems. 966 security incidents were tracked in 2000. The addition of a technical writer to the Support Center brought more and better documentation of AcIS services.
The introductory Internet courses offered by the Support Center were reorganized to be more convenient for users. Courses are now given as one-session, each two hours long, rather than in two, separate sessions. Two sessions were found to be inconvenient for most users. In 2000, over 900 people attended classes on a variety of topics including email, using the Internet for research, and Internet publishing.
In collaboration with e-academy.com, a company specializing in secure distribution of information and software, AcIS included specially encrypted versions of commercial software on its Internet CD. Students and faculty may purchase these programs online at advantageous discounts without the trouble of long download times. The CD is also used to distribute free copies standard networking files and programs, including Norton AntiVirus, to ease access to the University network.
In July, AcIS purchased a license for Norton Antivirus software that covers all University computers on the Morningside campus. In conjunction with a previous Health Sciences license, the AcIS agreement also extends the right to use the software to the personal and home workstations of all staff and students at the University. The Norton software is being distributed at no cost on the AcIS Internet CD and via a secure Web site.[14]
AcIS gave even greater emphasis to copyright issues in its Fall orientations this year and is cooperating with Counsel to ensure that the University community is aware of the need to respect intellectual property in its use of the network.
______________________
It has been another exceptional year for AcIS. Demand for the unique technology, infrastructure, services, and support offered by AcIS has grown dramatically once again¾growth in both traditional and in new user communities and applications. However, the rate of growth and change in technology sometimes exceeded our ability to keep up. AcIS staff worked hard and did meet most of these demands, albeit with difficulty. Staffing levels inadequate for current needs led to delays in development and deployment of system upgrades, unmet expectations for our user community, and a great deal of stress on our staff¾from long hours, strenuous efforts in trying to keep up, and a sense of frustration and failure when those efforts fell short. Meeting these new needs is critical to the continuing development and the increasing reliability and responsiveness of these services.
In 2000, the rate of technological change and the growth in use of AcIS services exceeded even optimistic expectations. The consequent demands on AcIS outpaced the increased staff and budget provided in the Libraries and AcIS Six-Year Plan,[15] based as it was on then current needs. Expansions of the University community proposed or already underway will add to these demands by orders of magnitude.
In the Spring and Summer of 2000, AcIS management met in a series of planning sessions to set specific goals for key, strategic projects for the next two years. The eight goals below reflect the need to take action in several functional areas to improve the responsiveness and reliability of the University’s academic information environment and to expand it to meet the substantial new demands foreseen.
The campus-wide electronic ID (directory) system controls access to most information resources on campus. The system authenticates the identity of users and authorizes access to specific information services based on each individual’s characteristics for a multitude of campus information resources. It has been developed by AcIS over the past 15 years to accommodate a growing variety of services and a rapidly rising number of users.
The system provides highly flexible management of access privileges for groups of users based on status, job, course registration, courses taught, and so on. In the process, its management tools have taken on a level of complexity reflecting the decentralized, heterogeneous nature of the University' organization, policies, and processes. Given the delays in processing new employees, these processes have also had to provide an alternate method for giving new staff immediate access to the online world. In our current environment, all these existing procedures, both automated and manual, have become too cumbersome for both the user and the technical support staff. New tools for users, for staff, and “distributed” tools for administrators to use are needed. From initial allocation of the user ID to logging in to submit a paper before Commencement to the alumna changing her email forwarding, the access (“ID”) system must be made more reliable and robust.
The need to re-build the directory system takes on even greater urgency as the University begins to deploy services to thousands of new clients. The initiatives to provide online learning begun by Arts and Sciences, DKV, CVN, and others will bring in thousands of new students and require increasing the capacity and reliability of the system. Serving new, on-the-go learners also necessitates a more responsive, interactive system that is less dependent on batch processing. These students, whether in Madrid, Madras or Manhattan, must be able to register, log in, learn, and leave, perhaps, within a few hours or days¾a very different situation than the traditional model where application and admission occur over a period of months, and attendance over years. Attracting alumni to community-building services will require similar flexibility and responsiveness.
To attain this goal will require the re-writing of the ID system as a service and the development of new user and staff tools. The chief components of this project require
· Developing a system with the capacity to adapt quickly to new, business-driven requirements of the University.
· Reducing the complexity of the programs supporting the ID system (“more tables, less code”); simplifying policies/procedures as appropriate, allowing instantaneous changes, and re-writing software as needed to improve the reliability of server components.
· Developing online, self-service tools for users and administrators to establish and manage electronic profiles at the University, supported by improved diagnostic tools for support staff.
· Ensuring that the new directory system continues to provide robust authentication of individuals.
· Providing necessary support, 24-hours a day, to keep the system up and running.
AcIS is responsible for the networking infrastructure of the Morningside backbone and almost all Morningside buildings, intercampus connections, and connectivity to the commercial and research Internets. Further, AcIS provides the basic network services communication tools that make this infrastructure useful for the Columbia community.[16]
This infrastructure must be highly reliable, approaching the 99.999% uptime standard usually found only in the voice communication industry after 120 years of research and development. The network should be as available as a telephone dial tone. Processes to install and operate these services and tools must be made simpler, less time consuming, and seamless for the user community.
As noted in Programs and Progress, the first phase in re-engineering the network as envisioned in the Six-Year Plan is essentially complete, new upgrades are underway, and progress has been made in improving network capacity and services. However, work remains to be done, especially in ensuring reliable operation and full redundancy.
Elements of the planned work include
· Complete the re-engineering of the network including full redundancy at the core and deployment of full network management tools.
· Establish a Network Operations Center and staff it.
· Improve diagnosis and repair operations for the networks within buildings which are usually non-redundant
· Redesign server deployment and otherwise increase reliability of basic network services such as email and the Web on the front-end and DNS, DHCP, and intrusion protection on the back-end.
· Implement emergency power support for core network equipment around campus.
· Deploy server upgrades and expansion needed to provide optimal performance.
· Improve server software and hardware reliability.
· Complete installation of second machine room in 103 Philosophy.
· Develop
systems performance evaluation and reporting system.
AcIS provides the infrastructure and services which make access from off-campus to University resources possible. These are the free modem pool, access control systems, support center services, software, consulting and documentation. AcIS identifies and establishes technologies that enable University units to create Internet-based services that can be accessed remotely, including secure authenticated transactions and secure access from any network to scholarly and business information using “proxy” or other mediating services.
AcIS goals in this area are to provide high quality, low cost, access as congestion-free as possible and to maintain a consistent level of service. Further, AcIS must research, create, and support evolving alternative access methods for the University community, collaborating with internal and external suppliers to offer higher speed access at the homes of the Columbia faculty, staff and non-resident students. No additional central funding for staff is needed for enhancing remote access. Expansion into student and other residences will be funded through IRE capital investment and monthly usage fees.
Initiatives to accomplish these goals include
· Extend fiber optic lines or wireless links to reach outlying University buildings, where feasible.
· Extend the network into neighborhood buildings to support student and appropriate residential access.
· Improve
the functions and reliability of proxy services to make controlled access to
restricted resources easy and reliable from non-University ISPs or networks.
AcIS provides universal online communications services to the Columbia community. Using Internet standard protocols and standards, we provide much of the infrastructure, such as mail servers, web servers, multimedia delivery, and indexing/searching services. Over the next two years, existing services must be expanded, and new technologies identified and deployed, to upgrade both traditional communications modes like email and real-time services such as interactive learning and wireless web. At the same time we must improve security, reliability, data integrity, and ease-of-use.
To improve service and meet the demands of the expanding University community requires that we
· Develop
infrastructure for rapid deployment of new web-based applications by central
and departmental developers.
· Identify
and deploy an integrated course management system in partnership with
CCNMTL.
· Deploy
new, more flexible and robust online bulletin board software to support
instructional, departmental and group communication.
· Deploy
software to permit access via customized departmental and personalized
individual “myColumbia” portals.
· Deploy audio/video, conferencing, and calendaring infrastructure
These technologies are currently being tracked and evaluated, but attaining these goals will require additional staff in order to develop and deploy these applications.
AcIS provides convenient, comfortable public computing facilities with up-to-date equipment to faculty, staff and students in labs, libraries, residence halls, and classrooms. Over the next two years, we plan to add new locations, renovate existing locations, add services and hours of operation, and improve reliability and responsiveness to outages.
As more e-classrooms, more computer labs and clusters, more ColumbiaNets, and more networked printers are deployed to serve the University community, additional staff to design, install, and maintain them are required. Through experience we have found that one staff person can support about 120, and at most 150, public devices. While the expansion of support for e-classrooms is funded by Arts and Sciences, the added numbers of public workstations, kiosks, and printers require the addition of one position to maintain satisfactory performance and to avoid overloading staff.
Efforts for improving these public access facilities include
· Plan, develop and support electronic classroom expansion as allowed by the classroom renovation budget.
· Expand and improve the Jake Printing System.
· Enhance ColumbiaNet capabilities and add new stations as needed.
· Expand portable network access and services in public areas.
AcIS provides general software services that enable a wide range of specific University-wide applications. These services include user identity, directory and security infrastructures, search engines, databases, and user-context maintenance within web applications. These services have already allowed the creation of innovative and leading-edge services such as EPIC’s CIAO and Earthscape, the online Directory of Classes.
To support new demands, a new and more flexible infrastructure must be developed to support new University initiative like Digital Knowledge Ventures. This will require building an intermediate layer of “middleware” that provides a variety of services to those developing online services. Middleware encompasses database services, extended security services, web-based applications and related services. This infrastructure will require both developers and production staff for the foreseeable future. The initial effort will focus on deploying a robust, accessible database management system to support the development of sophisticated, secure Web services.
Elements of this effort include
· Install Web-accessible database software to support central and departmental developers.
· Deploy Web application servers supporting Java and XML.
· Enhance security services to allow flexible and reliable authentication and authorization for applications both on campus and off, e.g., Certificate on Delivery.
AcIS provides both instructional services (classrooms, labs, software, etc.) and campus-wide infrastructural resources (Email, networking, modems, authentication, authorization, directory services, Web servers, helpdesk, etc.). Regardless of the domain, it is clear that timely, reliable, and professional support is a necessity for our customers.
New [customer] resources should be allocated and problems should be fixed in a timely fashion and without "runaround." Customers should be kept informed of the progress of any given problem's resolution, whether that problem be global or specific to one single person.
Effective coordination with other information service units inside and outside of AcIS is particularly necessary to meet this overall goal.
Necessary steps to improved customer service are
· Provide six support technicians for front-line duty covering telephone, walk-in and sit-down consultations during most of the day.
· Maximize number of customer problems solved at first level or via self-service documentation and tools.
· Develop a service philosophy that is sensitive, diligent, and flexible.
· Improve crisis management and change management procedures.
· Improve internal documentation and other problem resolution tools.
· Improve user documentation, outreach and training.
· Develop effective, pro-active communications with other IT units on campus. Provide appropriate support center access for these premium-level "customers."
· Measure Helpdesk Performance and Customer Satisfaction.
As one of the primary providers of information technology at the University, AcIS must take a leading role in the application of technology to the University's academic and business functions by itself or other groups.
To this end, AcIS must reach out to other units to learn of their technological plans and capabilities and then communicate its current services, its plans, and its expertise about new technologies to the University.
· Set up Security Working Group among major information technology groups at the University to coordinate defense against threats to computing, networks, and information resources.
· Expand current internal “AcIS Talks” to include other members of the University IT community.
· Continue joint efforts to improve recruitment and retention of IT staff.
· Write and distribute more white papers on technological developments and their impact and utility for the University.
No additional staffing specific to these goals is required. They will be met through use of current and new staff requested elsewhere, integrating outreach activities into the normal flow of business.
______________________________________
Much work toward achieving these goals is already in progress; it is part of our normal operation. However, these objectives will be impossible to attain fully without adequate staff and budgetary resources. Funding the new needs is essential to continued progress in building a better¾a more robust, flexible, and powerful¾academic information environment for the University. Fully implementing these improvements and properly supporting the University’s instruction and research into the future will require additional staff.
Tables
Table
1:
Registered Network Addresses By Campus
|
|
Morningside |
Health Sciences |
Lamont |
Total |
|
1/1994 |
3,709 |
381 |
713 |
4,803 |
|
1/1995 |
6,344 |
2,356 |
767 |
9,467 |
|
1/1996 |
10,264 |
4,026 |
936 |
15,226 |
|
1/1997 |
13,556 |
5,991 |
1,004 |
20,551 |
|
2/1998 |
18,279 |
9,067 |
1,407 |
28,753 |
|
2/1999 |
23,621 |
11,576 |
1,690 |
36,887 |
|
2/2000 |
27,504 |
14,077 |
2,056 |
43,637 |
|
2/2001 |
31,630 |
16,731 |
2,317 |
50,678 |
Table 2:
The High Speed Modem Pool,
1993-2000
|
|
|
Weekly Usage |
|||
|
|
Number of Modems in Pools |
Average Number of Calls |
Maximum Number of Calls |
Maximum Unique
PPP Users |
|
|
1993 |
82 |
na |
|
na |
|
|
1994 |
122 |
na |
|
na |
|
|
1995 |
186 |
30,000 |
44,000 |
2,200 |
|
|
1996 |
298 |
76,000 |
85,000 |
5,000 |
|
|
1997 |
298 |
92,000 |
100,000 |
7,300 |
|
|
|
General |
Business1 |
|
|
|
|
1998 |
482 |
92 |
119,000 |
141,000 |
8,600 |
|
1999 |
644 |
92 |
136,000 |
150,000 |
10,400 |
|
2000 |
644 |
92 |
133,000 |
174,000 |
10,400 |
|
|
1 For Business School use only |
|
|||
Table 3: E-mail Messages and Computer and Email
Accounts, 1991-2000
|
|
Weekly |
Student Accounts |
Faculty |
Total |
||
|
|
Messages |
Basic |
Extended |
Total |
& Staff |
Accounts |
|
1991 |
37,600 |
2,086 |
1,511 |
3,597 |
1,100 |
4,697 |
|
1992 |
55,400 |
4,097 |
1,723 |
5,820 |
1,945 |
7,765 |
|
1993 |
82,700 |
5,402 |
1,893 |
7,295 |
3,156 |
10,451 |
|
1994 |
188,900 |
12,218 |
2,606 |
14,824 |
4,692 |
19,516 |
|
1995 |
299,600 |
13,463 |
6,906 |
20,369 |
6,757 |
27,126 |
|
1996 |
442,900 |
17,146 |
7,781 |
24,927 |
8,531 |
33,458 |
|
1997 |
586,784 |
21,536 |
7,359 |
28,895 |
8,467 |
37,362 |
|
1998 |
798,688 |
25,420 |
7,012 |
32,432 |
7,237 |
39,669 |
|
1999 |
1,100,000 |
*28,662 |
8,057 |
36,719 |
13,008 |
49,727 |
|
2000 |
2,400,000 |
+24,418 |
8,556 |
32,974 |
14,910 |
47,884 |
|
|
*Includes students held over pending Alumni lifetime email
forwarding. Current account limits: Basic: 3 hours daily connect, 20 MB
disk. Extended: unlimited
time, 40 MB disk, labs. Staff accounts are basic. Faculty’s
extended. From Fall 1995, all
undergraduates receive extended accounts with a required term fee. Other students may purchase extended
accounts for $45 per term. |
|||||
Table 4:
Unique Users of Various Email Methods (Weekly)
|
Year |
CubMail |
IMAP |
POP |
Pine |
Total* |
|
2000 |
9,450 |
7,850 |
9,400 |
19,350 |
34,350 |
|
|
* Total less than sum since a user may use multiple methods. |
||||
Table 5:
Electronic Classroom Use, 1993-2000
|
|
Departments Using |
Courses Using |
Weekly Sessions |
Student |
|
Fall, 1993 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
|
Spring, 1994 |
4 |
4 |
11 |
|
|
Fall, 1994 |
5 |
6 |
40 |
|
|
Spring, 1995 |
10 |
43 |
80 |
|
|
Fall, 1995 |
21 |
78 |
116 |
|
|
Spring, 1996 |
26 |
73 |
186 |
|
|
Fall, 1996 |
29 |
93 |
217 |
|
|
Spring, 1997 |
25 |
101 |
290 |
|
|
Fall, 1997 |
25 |
124 |
229 |
|
|
Spring 1998 |
25 |
101 |
190 |
|
|
Fall, 1998 |
28 |
126 |
226 |
|
|
Spring, 1999* |
19 |
76 |
194 |
|
|
Fall, 1999* |
23 |
113 |
212 |
|
|
Spring, 2000 |
36 |
204 |
419 |
8,414 |
|
Fall, 2000 |
49 |
258 |
na |
9,589 |
|
Spring, 2001+ |
47 |
272 |
na |
10,818 |
|
|
*Spring and Fall 1999 data incomplete. |
|||
Table 6: Number of
Discussion/Bulletin Boards, By Term
|
Summer |
Fall |
Spring |
Total |
|
|
1999-00 |
13 |
154 |
245 |
412 |
|
2000-01 |
31 |
348 |
261 |
640 |
Table 7:
Public Workstation Deployment, 1994-2000
|
|
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
|
Computer Labs |
102 |
121 |
121 |
121 |
119 |
119 |
140 |
|
Residence & Library Clusters |
33 |
34 |
36 |
72 |
92 |
139 |
143 |
|
Hands-on Classrooms |
0 |
47 |
65 |
64 |
66 |
66 |
64 |
|
ColumbiaNet Stations |
12 |
15 |
53 |
65 |
101 |
131 |
155 |
|
Special Facilities |
41 |
44 |
44 |
44 |
57 |
55 |
58 |
|
Printers |
* |
* |
* |
20 |
26 |
32 |
35 |
|
Jake Printer Stations |
* |
* |
* |
18 |
24 |
30 |
33 |
|
Podium Computers |
|
|
|
11 |
11 |
20 |
23 |
|
Totals† |
188 |
261 |
319 |
415 |
496 |
592 |
651 |
|
|
* Data not available.
|
||||||
Table 8:
Support Service Contacts,
1990-2000
|
|
Email to Consultant Answered |
Help Line Calls Answered |
Total Contacts |
Average Time to Answer Calls |
|
|
|
Peak |
Other |
|
||||
|
1990 |
3,200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1991 |
3,700 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1992 |
3,300 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1993 |
5,400 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1994 |
10,600 |
15,000 |
25,600 |
|
|
|
|
1995 |
14,600 |
21,000 |
35,600 |
|
|
|
|
1996 |
16,300 |
36,000 |
52,300 |
|
|
|
|
1997 |
*14,300 |
37,000 |
37,000 |
1:53 |
1:20 |
|
|
1998 |
11,900 |
41,000 |
52,900 |
1:27 |
0:43 |
|
|
1999 |
14,300 |
45,000 |
59,300 |
1:59 |
1:04 |
|
|
2000 |
14,700 |
42,000 |
56,700 |
1:42 |
1:12 |
|
|
|
* Reflects a change in Consultant mail handling in mid-year. |
|||||
Table 9: Help Desk Tickets* by
Caller Status, 1998-2000
|
|
Faculty |
Staff |
Student |
Unrecorded |
Total |
||||
|
656 |
6% |
3,286 |
28% |
4,344 |
37% |
3,325 |
29% |
11,611 |
|
|
1999 |
1,922 |
7% |
9,232 |
35% |
7,175 |
27% |
8,311 |
31% |
26,640 |
|
2000 |
2,556 |
8% |
11,742 |
36% |
11,434 |
35% |
6,965 |
21% |
32,697 |
|
|
*Not all calls/contacts are tracked. Changes in procedures in 1999 resulted in an increased proportion of calls tracked. User status may not be recorded for “quick” calls, or may be unknown at time of compilation. |
||||||||
Table 10:
Number of Calls/Incidents Tracked at Support Center
By Category
|
|
1999 |
2000 |
||
|
|
Number |
% |
Number |
% |
|
Accounts |
7,291 |
27.3 |
10,182 |
30.4 |
|
Dialup |
3,250 |
12.2 |
2,189 |
6.5 |
|
Email/News |
3,105 |
11.6 |
4,252 |
12.7 |
|
File Restoration |
431 |
1.6 |
506 |
1.5 |
|
Networking |
2,469 |
9.3 |
4,555 |
13.6 |
|
Printing |
948 |
3.6 |
1,067 |
3.2 |
|
Software |
3,485 |
13.1 |
3,306 |
9.9 |
|
Hardware |
549 |
2.1 |
830 |
2.5 |
|
Web |
432 |
1.6 |
608 |
1.8 |
|
Security |
337 |
1.3 |
966 |
2.9 |
|
Miscellaneous |
4,376 |
16.4 |
4,823 |
14.4 |
|
Error |
0 |
0 |
207 |
0.6 |
|
Total |
26,673 |
100.0 |
33,491 |
100.0 |
[2] See http://www.columbia.edu/acis/networks/ for network and modem information and
documentation.
[3] See Appendix
A and http://www.columbia.edu/acis/networks/wireless/.
[4] The J&R @ Columbia Store is located
in 101 Philosophy Hall.
[6] Currently, four buildings have been
wired and 60 apartments have subscribed to cable modem service.
[7] See http://www.columbia.edu/acis/sy/ for systems information.
[8] See http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ for
more information.
[9] See http://www.cc.columbia.edu/dlc/ for
a full report of activities.
[11] See AcIS Facilities Map ,
page 2,Appendix A.
[12] See Appendix B for a listing of the courses.
[13] See http://www.columbia.edu/acis/acsc/ . Statistics are presented in Appendix
B.
[16] Behind the fiber optics and fast
switching hardware are a variety of network services that are invisible to the
user¾until they fail. These services include Domain Name Service
(DNS), automatic network registration (DHCP), and network security filtering,
all of which require substantial effort to update, maintain and operate.