ITS Services List and Current Projects - draft

Purposes of this document:

• assist managers in figuring out next years budget priorities
• assist UCO group in defining what services are dependent on Cluster features (Erich's list)
• assist Adele in figuring out what all needs to be included in new ITS website content
• assist Josh and Adele's development of new Brain organization (and list of current projects)

Current services are in normal text.

Current or Planned Projects are in Italics.

I have tried to put [in brackets] the T-Reqs group responsible for each service, or what information I have about projects and project leads for current or planned projects.

Note that this is not a list of tasks or ongoing projects which are integral to the functionality of each service.  That level of granularity can be provided if necessary.  This is intended as a list from a broad user perspective of our services.

 The last section, ITS Internal Services, is added on because infrastructure needs of the rest of the services on the list are dependent on certain services which ITS provides for its own use.  In a sense, we are our own users for these services.

ITS Lab Services [ITS Lab group]

• Attendant in-person support
• online documentation
• documentation carts
• Mac computing
  • finish rolling out build, turn of MacAdmin [Project lead: Dan]
• Windows computing
  • create new build [Project lead: Dan]
  • interoperability issues with occupant.caltech.edu (profiles, ntuser script automation) [Project lead: Dan]
• UNIX computing
• Printing
• Peripherals (CD-burners, Scanners)
• Software
• Stats

UNIX Cluster Services [ITS Unix Admins, ITS Accounts, ITS Aliases groups]

• Software
• Interactive
• FTP
• Web publishing
• Email (POP, IMAP, SMTP)
• Samba/CAP connectivity
• Backups/Snapshots

Windows Cluster Services [ITS Win Admins groups]

• Software
• Exchange2K, Win2K OS upgrade [Project lead: Anthony]
• occupant.caltech.edu file storage
• institute.caltech.edu Frontpage web publishing [still in beta after all these years... project lead ?]
• Backups

Mac Cluster Services [ITS Lab group, at least for now]

• maclab fileserver
  • Caltech forms
  • ancient software (phasing out as people upgrade away from it, nothing has been added in years)

Student House Lab Services [ITS House Labs group]

• Student House Representatives
• Printing
• House computers

News/NNTP Services [ITS Usenet News group]

Online Calendar Service (still in development) [ITS UNIX Admins, at least for now. Project lead: Jennifer]

Caltech Email Services

• email aliases @caltech.edu [ITS Aliases group]
• text-file based mailing lists on the ITS UNIX Cluster [ITS Aliases and ITS UNIX Admins groups]
• majordomo mailing lists [ITS Aliases and ITS UNIX Admins groups]
• addressbook services
  • Campus master Exchange Global Addressbook [ITS Win Admins, at least for now]
  • LDAP-based campus addressbook [ITS UNIX Admins, at least for now, project leader: Erich]
  • Pine Global Addressbook for ITS UNIX Cluster (being phased out in favor of campus LDAP addressbook)
• Central Enhanced Email Services (per Phase II requirement doc, still in development) [mailproj mailing list and meetings]
  • web-based access
  • POP
  • IMAP
  • forwarding and autoresponder

Web Publishing Services [ITS Web Group. Project lead: Adele]

• campus web advocacy (helping users know what publishing resources are available accross campus for their use)
• CGIs available for campus-wide use [ITS UNIX Admins]
• Caltech Logos
• HTML Tutorial
• Recommended Web Authors list [ITS Web Group. Project lead: Adele]

Computer Security Services [ITS Computer Security group]

• Security advocacy (helping users and sysadmins know what security issues should be considered and what tools are available across campus for their use)
• SAINT scanning
• campus virus watch and warnings

Sitewide Software Licensing:  for pay and campus-wide, client-side and server installs [ITS Software Licensing group]

• lots of current software packages
• rationalize site wide software & license managers [?]
• Microsoft sitelicense [ITS Win Admins group?  Project lead: Anthony?]
• Adobe volume license [?]
• tripwire sitelicense [?]

Registry Services

• Hostmaster services [ITS Hostmaster group]
• MAC addressing [ITS Hostmaster group?]
• PGP key server [ITS Computer Security group]
• IANA [Project lead: Erich]
• Active Directory [dirserv mailng list and meetings, Project lead: Anthony, and perhaps Roger]
• Thawt Certificates (and Verisign certificates) for SSL [ITS Computer Security group. Project lead: RuthAnne]
  • Caltech's policy on credit card safety means that ITS is currently auditing campus use of credit card transactions via webservers and email. [ITS Computer Security group. Project lead: RuthAnne]
• www.caltech.edu website redirections [ITS UNIX Admins, at least for now.  Project lead: Adele]
• unified login, personnel directory, ldap, ... [?]
• campus authentication service [?]

Remote Network Access Services [ITS Network group]

• dialup
  • standard
  • ARA 2.x (being allowed to phase itself out as users upgrade)
  • fixed-IP
  • 1-800
• Cablemodem [ITS Cable Modem group]
• VPN [ITS VPN group]
• ISDN
  • migrate ISDN users to the AS5300s from the existing ISDN box pool [?]

Network Infrastructure [ITS Network group, ITS NI Cluster Admins group]

• Caltech's connection to the Internet
  • Pasadena city fiber to JPL [Project lead: John]
  • border router upgrade [ITS Network group. Project lead: Nathan]
• on-campus network (CITnet 2000 and older nets still be phased out)
• student house network
• wireless networking [ITS Wireless group.  Project lead John/Dimitris?]
• Network Operations Guide/Runbook [?]
• OOB access to BBMR and to SFL [?]

Network Services [ITS Network group, ITS NI Cluster Admins group]

• reliable DHCP with good logging - timestamp and MAC-to-IP mapping [Roger]
• NTP
• upgrade DNS (support DDNS) [Roger?]
• Logical (nonphysical) network documentation - Netviz [ITS Network Group. Project lead: Dallas]
• network intrusion detection [ITS Security group. Project lead: RuthAnne]
• network traffic performance - Nethealth, CW 2000 [ITS Network group]
• configuration control and (sort of) outage alerts - CWSI [?]
• SNMP manager (traps, polling) - HPOV, Whatsup [ITS NI Cluster Admins. Project lead: Erich]
• IP telephone support - voice over IP [ITS Network group]
• real multicast support - enable and optimize network for multimedia [ITS Network group]
• IP Quality of Service support [ITS Network group]

Digital Media Center Services [DMC group]

• Streaming video - live - box with video-in, internet-out [Project lead:?]
• Streaming video - on demand - streaming media server [Project lead:?]

Helpdesk - support on demand and by appointment [ITS Helpdesk group]

• Walk-in support, telephone support, and campus on-site support
  • Mac
  • Windows
  • UNIX
  • networking
  • remote access
  • OS, hardware and software installation and configuration

Hardware Repair [ITS Hardware Repairs group]

• onsite Mac and offsite other
• loaner service (Tony would like to phase out)

Outreach Services

• Online Guides [ITS Web group and ITS Helpdesk group]
  • User Guides
  • Configuration Guides
  • Buying Guides
  • Maintenance Tips Guides
  • Getting Started Guides
• Seminars and brown-bag lunches (including the Caltech Webmaster Forum and the like, which has a website of its own) [ITS Security group and ITS Web group]
• -announce moderated and -forum unmoderated majordomo mailing lists [ITS UNIX Admins set up the lists, different ITS staffers are in charge of moderating the -announce lists.]
  • mac
  • win
  • unix
  • linux
  • network
  • security
  • cablemodem
  • vpn
• its-news majordomo mailing list [Project lead: John]
• newsgroups [ITS Usenet News group maintains server, various ITS groups post. cco-announce@caltech.edu is used to feed some of the newsgroups, and this is vaguely documented... Adele will make a Brain page.]
  • caltech.cco.answers
  • caltech.cco.changes
  • caltech.cco.comments
  • caltech.cco.questions
  • caltech.cco.solaris
  • caltech.cco.dialup
  • caltech.cco.announce.unix-cluster

Contract Services (I think that I've got all these under the correct heading. Need to check with Tony!)

• System Management Service: Mac, Windows, UNIX [ITS SMS Admins group.  Lead UNIX sysadmin: Josh.]
  • Applied Mathematics - ACM [ACM group]
  • Research Unix systems in the Biological Imaging Center, Scott Fraser's lab in the CNS program [BIC group]
  • Control & Dynamic Systems [CDS group]
  • Computation & Nueral Systems Lab [CNS Lab group]
  • Computer Science Unix [CS Unix group]
  • Chandler [Chandler group]
  • Instructional Unix lab for the Engineering Computing Facility [ECF group]
  • Electrical Engineering [EE group]
  • GALCIT [GALCIT group]
  • Geology and Planetary Sciences [GPS group]
  • History and Social Science [HSS group]
  • Koch Lab [Koch Lab group]
  • Mechanical Engineering Design Lab [ME Design Lab group]
  • Offices of the General Counsel [OGC group]
  • Office of Technology Transfer [OTT group ]
  • Student Affairs [Student Affairs group]
  • Audit Relations [Audit Relations group]
  • Biology Help Desk [Biology Help Desk group]
  • Bower Lab [Bower Lab group]
  • Computer Science Windows [CS Windows group]
  • Davidson Lab [Davidson Lab group]
  • Lester Lab [Lester Lab group]
  • Nationl Institutes of Mental Health at Caltech [NIMH group]
  • Public Relations Support [PR group]
  • Parsons-Gates [Parsons-Gates group]
  • Technology Learning Center [TLC group]
• Server Service - (& UPS + generator for it) (still in development) [? Project lead: John?]

Services For Sysadmins

• patchdiag [Project lead: Erich]
• rpmdiag [Project lead: Chad, Josh?]
• whatsup (is this planned for campus-wide offering?) [Project lead: Anthony?]
• toughguy (Caltech Linux/UNIX open source repository) [Project lead: Chad]
• caltech.sysadmin newsgroup

ITS Internal Services (things we provide to our own department to keep us functional!)

• Tools
  • T-Reqs and associated -d lists [ITS Ticket System group]
  • instant messaging - gale [Erich]
  • virtual noc [ITS Network group? Bob?]
  • staff meetings [Bob]
  • ITS staff desktop machine security and upgrades [?]
  • project meetings [project leads, as appropriate for cross-group projects]
  • Set up /its/software repository [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
  • SMS System Configurator [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
  • Identify and deploy system-monitoring system [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
  • Create cluster profile framework [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
  • Set up SMS license server [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
  • Develop inventory system [Project lead: Josh]
  • Inventory software media [Project lead: Dan]
  • Create local mirror of recommended Sun patches [Project lead: Josh]
  • Develop off-site backup strategy [Project lead: Josh]
• Documentation
  • ethics guidelines [Project lead: Jennifer]
  • Brain pages/operations notes project [Project lead: Adele]
  • Update SMS web pages [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
  • Create a catalog of our book and CD library [Project lead: Josh]
  • Write "cluster principles" document [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
  • Define off-hours support policies [SMS Admins group, Project lead: Josh]
• Notification systems
  • smr-announce mailing list [Project lead: Roger]
  • -staff mailing lists [Project lead: Adele]
  • standardize, archive, and publicize project-based mailing lists and meeting minutes [Project lead: Adele, Jennifer?, Josh?]
• Staff Training
  • student lab attendant training, after hours coverage [Project lead: Dan]
• disaster plan (off site basic faciliies: email ...) [Bob?]
• quake preparedness [Bob?]

Future Developements

We'd like to have clearly defined priorities for ongoing services and current and planned projects, so we all understand how resources are being allocated and why, and to give us a better idea of how to spend our own energies relative to the big picture.

We would like to get to the following point of service standards:

For an ITS service to be considered "in production", certain criteria should always be met, to guarantee quality or service and continuity of standards across group boundaries within ITS.  This table shows what features must be in place for an ITS service to be in a certain state:

	Supported	Red	Not Supported
Production	Exists. Repeats. Is documented. Automation optimization is assigned and/or noted as in progress by project lead. Auditing development is assigned and/or noted by project lead. Current problems are assigned and/or noted by project lead.		-- Nothing exists in this category, by definition and policy. --
Black Line
Not Production	Exists. Repeats. Is on it's way to being documented.	Line	Exists.

To cross the red line from Not Supported to Supported, a software package or service must:

• have a designated expert
• be announced internal

To cross the black line from Not Production to Production, a software package or service must:

• have a designated apprentice
• have impact projections done and/or taken into consideration
• go through a testing period, both internal and informed external
• be documented, for both admin/helpdesk and end-user
• have its installation and configuration reviewed by affected groups and by expertise lead in the specialty
• be announced, internal (especially to the Helpdesk) and then external

Author: Adele Shakal
Filename: services.html
Location: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~adele/services.html
Draft as of 15:12 February 14, 2001