ACO Meeting Minutes November 10, 2016

Minutes of the Arts Computing Department meeting held on November 10, 2016

Present:  D. Keenan, R. Park, S. Hartung, K. McGowan, H. Balagtas, S. Speers, N. Bromley, J. Schildroth, L. Tomalty, W. Lewis, T. Marshall-Taylor

Co-ops:   E. Tam, J. Brown, M. Mambo

Regrets:  S. Paterson, M. Byerley, C. Wallace

Attendees:

  • Dawn
    • Our Winter 2017 co-ops have been confirmed. Janine Hillo will be returning as the Technical Writer. The Computing Assistants will be Marco DiGiacomantonio and Lindsay Glofcheskie, and this will be their first work term with ACO.
  • Sherry
    • Course evaluations start on November 21st. Preparing for that process.
    • We have 214 course sections (including 28 for Conrad Grebel) signed up to do online evaluations, leaving 505 sections doing paper evaluations.
  • Ethan
    • Completed the PowerShell group modification script as a standalone version. Starting work to integrate into our current Windows management infrastructure.
    • Moved to the front help desk.
  • Jackson
    • Working on a number of computer moves.
    • Completed the last of the sessional rollovers.
    • Loula Abd-elrazak (2016 Faculty Rollover) had kept her previous computer until she got comfortable with her new Mac. She has now purchased a new MacBook Air with grant money and will be returning her old computer.
  • Murielle
    • Working on proofreading newsletter items and ensuring that content is applicable to multiple Arts audiences: faculty members, staff and students.
    • Have completed initial draft of the ACO Common Windows and Mac pop-up webpage. Will send out a link so everyone can look over and provide feedback.
    • Preparing for the December 15th ACO Lunch Session.
  • Keith
    • Built Ubuntu system Artsadmin for administrative applications (CALMS, Printer Stats, Graylog, etc.).
    • Got intranet certificate for Artsadmin. Firefox doesn't have the root certificate so it complains. May need to get a regular certificate.
    • TEDxUW has decided to go with UW Media Services rather than a volunteer. Media Services know how to use the connections available in the Theatre of the Arts.
    • GBDA wants web space for their 301course. Looking to upgrade and reuse the GDBA228 server, and set it up to allow multiple courses on the same server.
    • Set up Drama with a new 5 GHz wireless router to be used with an iPad for an upcoming production. It will also support a remote lighting control panel running on the iPad. The SSID is hidden and password protected. The new router can be switched off when not in use. We will inform IST so the network is not treated as a rogue.
    • Continuing to work on the Disaster Recovery plan for ACO.
    • Created an account for Wendy Philpott for an annual campaign on campus called "16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence". It will be a shared Connect account.
    • WatITis conference registration is now open. Conference to be held in the new Science Teaching wing.
    • Changes in DNS resolver configuration are pretty much complete. IST wants to turn off the old IP server addresses by the end of the year.
  • Herbert
    • Working on slides for Professional Development talk. Will be presenting information from the Project Management Tools & Techniques training held this week.
    • Will be working on the research computer for Ana Ferrer.
    • Import functionality for CALMS is functional. Working with Jackson to test spare and surplus equipment management so it is ready to use next term.
  • Sean
    • Skype for Business client was released for Mac; added it as optional install to Munki. Updated Flash, Chrome, Acrobat 2015 Pro with new versions. Skype for Business is expected be used campus wide in the future. Julie Mulvey has requested an account.
    • Beginning to upgrade Ubuntu 12.04 servers to 14.04. Ape-cml and Artscomm are done. Watarts, Artsweb, Artsonline and Mat remain.  Upgrading less critical servers first. Upgrades for Watarts and Artsweb will involve more testing for problems due to major software version changes.
    • Setup Graylog central log collection using Elasticsearch for quick searchability. Collecting via syslog and using Filebeat to send non-syslog logs like Apache. Working on the best solution to gather information and define searches (e.g. number of failed login attempts). Server is current responding very quickly but there is little data stored.
    • Crashplan server updated to 5.4.0 and clients to 4.8.0.
  • Nevil
    • Continuing work on Windows 10 testing:
      • Software list has been created, including 25 recently added packages
      • Responsibilities for testing have been assigned to individuals and groups familiar with specific applications
      • Vanguard web page list has been updated
      • Testing process for many packages needs to be defined or updated
      • Currently testing initial folder redirection, UEV and profile settings on three Windows machines with two userids.
    • Investigating IST's new reboot tool. It forces a reboot on Thursday mornings with a pop up notification twelve hours in advance. Need to explore what happens when a machine needs to be left on to do automatic tasks (e.g. in Psychology research) where it cannot be rebooted.
    • Working on some issues in SWORDC. Problems included Windows updates stopping on systems between August and October.
  • Jameson
    • Worked on imaging a research computer for Ana Ferrer.
    • Still working on AD Security Group Monitoring Script.
    • Fixed a startup issue with Mikal Skuterud’s take home computer. Also removed SEP and installed SCEP.
    • Troubleshooting SCCM deployment issues with GIMP on Psychology computers. It appears to only affect computers in Psychology; GIMP installs without issues elsewhere.
    • Set up a deployment for Adobe Acrobat Reader. Working on understanding how Scott did the deployments for licensed Acrobat Pro XI.
  • Lisa
    • Working on the ACO Lunch session to be held on December 15th. Remember to register.
    • Documenting processes so new IST Account Rep has a guideline for future events.
    • Reviewing permissions on SharePoint and documenting what is done and what is left to do for Will.
    • Will is now overseeing the Web and newsletters.
  • Will
    • Will have some newsletter articles ready for next stage of review by the end of this week.
  • Todd
    • Continued challenges for ML 101 and ML 117 with the camera equipment. ITMS is involved now to fix programming. Files provided by Edcom were unreadable. ITMS is working directly with Crestron in Mississauga and New Jersey to get or construct source code files to fix the programming issue.
    • WCI French department sessions will be held on November 17th. Will be using LearnLock to automatically log in stations for the high school students.
    • Hired two new co-ops for the lab. One starting now, the other in January 2017.