Introducing Network Operations

	ACADEMIC COMPUTING and COMMUNICATIONS CENTER


March/April 1997 Contents	Coming Soon to a Code Near You	Some Practical Encryption Systems	Security for Web Service at UIC: Bluestem and Ness	Domains and Auth Methods in Bluestem	Introducing Network Operations	About the ADN Connection

Introducing Network Operations

The ADN Beat

Everyone

When the Network Goes Down

When the network goes down or tigger crashes, most people have to stop working. Not Network Operations -- that's when we spring into action with outage assessment, repair, and communications. Fortunately, this doesn't happen often, but we're always ready and watching, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Network Operations is the first line of service and communications for the Computer Center's network, mainframe, and UNIX workstation platforms. Our staff consists of Bruce Raickett (the manager), six full-time employees, Sidney Hood, Diane Love-Rayford, Darlene Pietrzak, Jon Salud, Charles Sims, Victor White, and Roosevelt Williams, and a graduate assistant, Srinath Gutti. Several of the operators have personal WWW home pages; check them out on the Network Operations home page at the URL: http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/netop/

Our basic services are available around the clock - around the week and month, too - in the Network Operations Room, LL55 BGRC (Benjamin Goldberg Research Center), 1940 West Taylor, and by telephone at (312)413-8080 (press 3 for help with printers, 2 otherwise). We work with a reduced staff during off hours and on weekends, with limited services beyond tape mounts and network, UNIX, and mainframe monitoring.

Figure 2: The Network Operations Team:

Clockwise from the left: Srinath Gutti, Jon Salud, Sidney Hood, Victor White, Charles Sims, Bruce Raickett, Roosevelt Williams, and Diane Love-Rayford.

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Network, Workstation, and Mainframe Monitoring, Maintenance, and Support:

Much of our time is spent monitoring and providing services for the ADN network and for the Computer Center's networked and central printers, UNIX workstations, and IBM mainframe. Because we're on the spot virtually all the time, we work with other Computer Center groups in troubleshooting and fixing problems.

The ADN Network:: We monitor and help maintain the campus ADN network backbone and its connections to external networks, as well as the ADN Dialin lines and terminal servers.
The UNIX Workstations and IBM Mainframe:: We monitor system performance and manage resources - including system backup and recovery - on all of the larger ADN machines: the three UNIX workstations: tigger, icarus, and borg, and the IBM mainframe UICVM. We manage batch job processing on UICVM and borg, and manage the print queues on all four. (Also the print queues for the ADN personal computer labs and the printers; see "Printer Services ..." below.)

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Printer Services and Computer Tape Registration and Mounting:

Network Operations manages and maintains all Computer Center -owned printers, both the remote printers in the ADN public personal computer labs and the central printers in the Operations Room, LL55 BGRC. Output printed on the central printers that is destined for the east side campus is delivered to the SEL output room (2241 SEL - Science and Engineering Labs - 950 South Halsted) five times per day, weekdays only, during normal working hours.

While we do not service or provide supplies for oncampus printers other than those owned by the Computer Center, departments and other campus units can choose to have their printers included in our laser printer maintenance contract; see the box to the left for more information.

Network Operations is also the place to go to sign in or pick up data tape cartridge. The operators also mount tapes when requested.

More on Printer Maintenance Contracts:

How the printer maintenance agreement works:

If you have a problem with a printer covered by our maintenance contract, you call the Network Operators at (312)413-8080. Tell us your location and the serial number of the printer. We'll contact the vendor and monitor the problem until it is resolved.

How to become part of this maintenance agreement:

Send a request to Bruce Raickett at braicket@uic.edu stating that you want your department's laser printer placed on this maintenance agreement. Be sure to include the make, model, serial number of the printer, and its location. The printer's location should include the building address and the room number.
Send an interdepartmental voucher for the sum of $200.00 to:

It normally takes two weeks before the maintenance contract goes into effect.

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Client Services:

While the ADN's Client Services Office (see "Introducing the CSO" in the ADN Connection, January/February 1997) has the primary responsibility for providing consulting services to Computer Center clients, Network Operations does provide basic accounting services to clients on the west side of campus and some general after-hours backup consulting. In particular, we assist clients in creating their account (after they try on their own to do so) and change account passwords for clients who come in to LL55 BGRC with their UIC i-card. For security reasons, we do not change passwords over the telephone.

Building Access Services:

By providing and helping you fill out building access cards for the buildings that house the ADN computer labs, we help clients who want to use our labs after hours and on weekends. Please note, however, that we can only assist you in applying for after hours access to the Computer Center facilities in BGRC and on the east side of campus; we do not have any responsibility for or control over how and when this access is activated or maintained.

The card readers that unlock the buildings' doors are turned on even when the buildings are open. After you've filled out and submitted your building access card, try running your i-card through them to see whether your card has been authorized. It's best to wait a few days before you try using it; if five days have past and it isn't working yet, call Building Access at (312)996-3334.

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How and When to Get in Touch With Us

Give us a call at (312)413-8080 and press 2 if you're having a problem connecting to the ADN; we're here all the time and we can often fix the problem right away. Call us too (press 3) if you're having a problem with a Computer Center printer or if it's just out of paper. (Though if the printer is in SEL, BSB, or BGRC and there's a consultant or lab monitor around, ask them first, in case it turns out to be something they can handle.)

Stop by the Network Operations room to pick up the output you print on the BGRC PostScript printer, to drop off or pick up a tape cartridge, or if you're on the west side of campus and are having problems with your ADN account or password. The Network Operations room is LL55, BGRC, 1940 West Taylor; use stairs or the elevator that are right inside the front door to go to the lower level. The output bins are right outside the Operations room's glass doors; ring the doorbell on the right side of the glass doors to speak to the operators.

If the problem you're having with any Computer Center machine appears to be software-related, contact the Client Services Office and the ADN consultants (by email at consult@uic.edu, by phone at (312)413-0003, or in person at 2267 SEL, B001 BSB, 2027 SRC, 340 CCC, or 181 BGRC) first. But if it's after normal business hours or if the problem seems to be an important systemwide software problem or any type of hardware problem, contact us; we'll do our best to help you.

Comments are welcome; send them to:
Bruce Raickett, braicket@uic.edu

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The ADN Connection, March/April 1997 Previous: Domains and Auth Methods in Bluestem Next: About the ADN Connection

2000-1-20 connect@uic.edu