ACO Meeting Minutes September 13, 2018

Minutes of the Arts Computing Department meeting held on September 13, 2018

Present:  R. Park, K. McGowan, H. Balagtas, S. Speers, N. Bromley, S. Paterson, J. Schildroth, G. Parks, W. Lewis, T. Marshall-Taylor, T. Pao.

Co-ops:   A. Sanchez, O. Vakomies, S. Luckhurst

Regrets:  S. Hartung, B. Baer (on secondment), M. Byerley, C. Wallace

Attendees:

  • Keith  
    • Finance changed the ruling on the use of FPER to purchase high end system so the web form and rollover documentation will need to change.
      • We need to change the rollover documentation and form to indicate the new rulings
      • Overall review of the rollover program will be required, specifically how long should the cycle be, how does take home machines work, and the possibility of receiving higher end top of the line machines that meet grant expectations.
    • The PAS 2023 small meeting room has reverted back to the Dean of Arts control, but the PAS 2432 meeting room is available for our use if required (book through Stacy Reda).
    • Sherry will be begin a phased in return to work beginning Sept 18th
    • The Adobe Admin console was still "owned" by Dawn and I have had it changed to "aco-contact" which should facilitate the changes that will happen in the future.
    • The network switches in PAS 2034 are being replaced this Saturday - I don't expect any real issues, but in the past, some connections were messed up in the transfer.
    • Some sessional instructors have had their WatIAm accounts expire even though they are teaching this term. I need to check with HR on how this can be prevented.
      • There WatIAm accounts were sponsored and the account expired to a certain period.
      • Sessional receives a second email from HR when they are asked if they would like to extend their position.
      • Within that second email, they are required to complete the form in order to extend their account privileges and not have it expired
    • Renison is still looking for a replacement IT manager, so we will continue to give them a hand as needed.
    • The SAF Finance Lab is having the same issue and is looking for some extended support.
      • Currently looking for co-op students for the first term.
    • CTSC: The new VPN appliance will be coming online soon. There seems to be an issue with Macs and Safari, but I've used Chrome and it works. It’s up and running but will be moved as the new VPN quite soon.
    •  Plan is to make TFA for OWA mandatory some time in November.
    • There has been discussion about proper research data management (mainly within the Tri Council)
    • We've created a mailing list for the Dean of Arts Search committee for all Arts Undergrads, Grads, Staff and Faculty.
  • Bob  
    • Two Factor Authentication issue: Will our employees will be happy to use their own cellphones to do that?
      • Alternative solutions to be discussed: You can do TFA with your landline or use tokens but the tokens itself will require to be bought
      • There will be a meeting tomorrow to discuss more about it and how it will affect Staff, Faculty, Grads and Undergrads.
  • Oliver  
    • There is a growing number of broken machines in PAS 1084 that seem to have only sat on the shelf before breaking or have missing parts.
    • This has impeded the progress on hot spare updating and replacement.
  • Samuel  
    • Working on deploying backlog of faculty rollovers with Oliver.
    • Assisting students with accessing the Taxprep software for AFM 202; monitoring discussion boards.
    • Recurring issue where students are getting "Host provides no remote resources." on remote desktop application. Mac users are having issues, working to see if the 8.0 version (old) is the cause for the issues and seeing if the 10.0 version (new) would be the solution.
  • Angelica
    • Working on ACO Winter 2018 Newsletter: Professor Spotlight on Dr. Bessma Momani (Political Science professor at uWaterloo and Balsillie School of International Affairs)
    • One of my goals is Project Management, so I'm currently planning some projects to work on during this term that can help develop my two other goals while working on them in between my technical writer duties.
    • Currently learning how to use Scinage in case the ACO TV in the waiting room needs updating.
  • Herbert  
    • OFAS3 - met with Oliver and setup his dev environment, rewriting backend.
    • Pierre Chausse (ECON) - requesting BIOS password for his laptop
    • Trien Nguyen (ECON) - would like to have GTAP and GAMS on podium and lab machines in PAS 1237.
      • We never had GTAP, and he phased out GAMS because there was a license that was cancelled 5+ years ago.
  • Sean  
    • Created updated xerox copier printer installers for munki using 'nopkg' script and bundled latest Xerox drivers. They print via nxsartsapp so will prompt for nexus credentials in order to print. Can be easily changed to artsprint or directly to printer.
      • There is a new method that makes switching to artsprint a lot easier. They will need to use their Nexus username and password to access the printer.
    • Installed new server econserv2 in PAS 1098 and configured ubuntu setup similar to econserv with nexus auth and rstudio server, pchausse given admin.
    • Grad database application updated with 1185 data.
    • Mail message sent to artsannounce from off-campus flagged as spam by mailservices. RCVD_IN_PBL culprit (means received from a dynamic IP assigned by ISP and unauthenticated). Fix is to use VPN and also I've configured artsservices to strip x-originating-ip header.
    • Changes to grad database application reports to reflect new funding models starting this Fall.
    • Spring course evaluations distributed, Sherry emailed admins for those that did online. I packaged and sent out the paper results to department admins.
    • Munki updated to latest version on server and clients in anticipation of macOS 10.14 release this month.
    • Note on slow FileVault2 encryption for Macs. Since 10.12 macOS will throttle disc if system is inactive, so for faster encrypts (6X faster on a spinning drive) you have to move the mouse at least every 5 minutes. The file encryption will change from 6 mins to 6 days if you don’t move your mouse. Things like caffeinate do not work, only 3rd party apps can simulate the mouse. Toying with just erasing the disk, creating an encrypted volume and then installing into it; will likely be quicker for spinning disks.
  • Nevil  
    • Updated class and program nexus security groups working on automation
    • Working with some people on improving the managed by reports for security groups and ways to flag members that should be looked at
    • SWORDC Windows 10 testing and discussions for migration to new central system sometime after April
    • Nexus Windows version report now has serial numbers and last logon to make it easier to try and find non-updated machines
      • Have 34 spares that are not updated to the new OS version.
    • HH280 is in the process of hiring a coop student for the term.
  • Scott  
    • PAS-1237 upgrade
      • Physically upgraded during the last week of the previous co-op term.
      • Removed the under-desk computer holder.
    • PAS-1237-43/projector remote/wireless mic stolen (IST had a spare projector remote for us)
    • HH-280 reimaged.
    • 6 Laptops for UCOI imaged and prepared (1 returned to IST for troubleshooting (blue screening)
    • NUC drivers for SCCM (John Mayall has my spare NUC to get the drivers working in a TS)
      • John Mayall is building a task sequence for the machines in the AL lobby
    • Coop jobs posted, need a room for interviews now that PAS-2023 no longer available to us
    • TaxPrep Corporate/Personal unattended files rebuilt to include required executable's for home installation. 
    • Some TaxPrep issues with the class list Sept 10. Nevil updated and the problem went away.
    • VDI instances updated as well
    • Rollover RT wrangling throughout August and the early part of Sept.
    • Science to look at creating scheduled reboot within Chrome OS. Currently only available through G Suite (paid)
      • A computer would be on idle until it decides to hibernate, the screen will turn black
    • St Pauls continuing to look for Win 7 upgrades (slowly)
    • NVIVO upgrade code issue for Ashley Mehlenbacher (Tyler Black).
  • Jameson  
    • Initial image/Set up of HH178 lab.
    • Troubleshooting WiFi issue on Donna Psutka's Laptop in SAF. Found that the laptop had not been set up correctly and was running wrong version of Windows 10. Re-imaged the laptop with Correct OS. Still working on getting printers set up and working correctly.
    • Completed two Skype Thesis Defence meetings with two more scheduled (Sept 19, Sept 21).
    • Repackaged LearnLock with updated configuration files and added logic to set up/install to HH178 lab and to skip the install of the autologin service on podium computers and just do the lab.
      • When we reimage machines, we need to ensure that LearnLock doesn’t install.
    • [Games Institute] Computer moves and user account creations
    • [Games Institute] Working on creating a self-serve system for standard user account creation with a PHP front end and PowerShell script backend.
  • Greg
    • Grammarly is license software for editing grammar errors
      • There are other software options similar to Grammarly but functions a lot better.
  • Todd  
    • Lab staff now scheduled for the term
    • Meeting with lab TAs regarding access, usage, and payroll
    • Meeting with ML 117 instructors regarding access and usage
    • Requests ML 101 meeting room with audiovisual setup
      • Meeting room down the hall to ML 117, there are many new Communication Arts instructor hires. Hard line where an engineering class can use it because Communication Arts courses have priority.
    • Additional request for and usage of ML 109
      • A grad seminar
  • Will  
    • Moving license servers to new servers on new OS
    • Two factor authentication will become mandatory 
    • Overleaf has launched and I have some permissions on the admin side
      • An online program that provides an editing tool for LaTeX documents
      • Overleaf will be an article for the Winter 2018 Newsletter
  • Thida
    • Working on a new assignment on FOBS