Server availability

Hiccups with the transition of Home Directories and Shares to ICT Services.

Our transition from older servers delivering common services now to be provided by ICT Services to a new generation of specialised servers to meet the needs of the Division is not going as smoothly as we would like.

In April 2006 the Division proposed the transfer of staff home directories to ICT Services. ICT Services embraced the proposal but still the transfer hasn’t happened because of the failure of the installation provided by ICT Services to do the job. The Division’s hardware for Home Directories is now out of warranty and increasingly unreliable. Because ICT Services is taking over the responsibility for providing Home Directories, we have not sought to replace this equipment, and now find ourselves exposed to a fairly risky situation where the service to staff in the Division could be interrupted. ICT Services has agreed to take on the responsibility of dealing with these risks in the interim while they get their service operational, expected to be within the next month. Our old system is being backed up and should it fail little if any work should be lost, but there may be an interruption to the service while an alternative is brought on-line. Staff in the Division will be advised of any disruption.

Still to come: email and collaborative services (like shared calendars and documents). The move to Exchange campus-wide has been approved, and now the process of planning the changeover begins. Mail is expected to be moved first, probably within the next six months depending on any issues that arise, but there is no indication of when the other collaborative services will be available centrally.

We have had problems with our specialised services as well: particularly the streaming video used for NowUC and some units for delivery of video-based support materials. It is hoped that a recent update to the streaming video system will alleviate some of the problems that have been experienced with the accessibility and reliability of the service. Users are being kept informed of our progress, and patience is requested as we bed down these leading-edge services.

Asset audit

This year's audit has not gone smoothly...

A recent Financial Services audit of the Divisional computing and media equipment on the University’s Asset Register has failed to account for a number of items. Most of the items on the list are of no value and in the normal course of events would have been written off anyway, but for a number of reasons still appear on the University’s Asset Register and so need to be accounted for. These items were not in use and it was thought they were stored in preparation for disposal. It appears that they may have been disposed of without the necessary paperwork being completed and submitted to Financial Services.

By far the majority of the list seems to be as a result of the large turnover of staff in the Technical Services Unit, with new staff not appreciating the need to dispose of equipment, or track its movement from room to room, in line with established procedures. The staff have had it impressed upon them that they need to adhere to the University Asset Management policy when dealing with equipment disposal or movement in the future.

What are of concern are six relatively recent desktop or portable computers that cannot be accounted for. While we fully expect these to turn up in due course, that they weren’t where the Asset Register said they were is a problem. It may be that computers were moved without the knowledge of the Technical Services Unit: Divisional Staff must advise the TSU if they move computers around.

Some computers were apparently installed by the TSU without advising the Division’s Asset Officer or the University Assets Officer of the installation. Staff have been advised to ensure the appropriate notifications are sent. Others may have been lent out for off-campus use without the proper paperwork being completed (Authority to Remove University Equipment Off Campus). Again all staff need to be reminded that the Authority must be completed before equipment leaves the campus, and renewed annually.

One shortcoming of the present system identified by TSU staff is the complex process of ensuring asset registers are kept up-to-date. At the moment the process requires staff moving equipment to note the asset numbers (University and Divisional), email both Division’s Asset Officer and the University Assets Officer with the details of the movement, and then ensuring both have entered the details of the movement in their respective registers. The University Asset Register only covers assetable items: the Division’s covers most if not all of our equipment purchased or leased.

The University Asset Register is a part of Prophecy. At the moment there is no information about its replacement once the Prophecy system is replaced with Finance One, except that it is understood Finance One has a module for asset management although no-one responsible for assets has seen it yet, and the timetable for the changeover is vaguely ‘early next year sometime’.

One way of improving asset tracking in the Division is to streamline the process of recording assets movements so there is no multiple handling of the data required to register the movement. Once the transition to Finance One is complete (including the Asset Tracking module), there will be a review of the process to ensure it is most efficient and accurate. It adequate tracking can’t be accomplished within Finance One the Division should develop its own system to a level where more accurate records can be kept easily.

ICT Bids

Each year the Division calls for bids to purchase ICT (Information and Communication Technology) equipment for the following year.

The Deputy Head of the Division has initiated the bid process for next year’s Divisional spending on equipment. Because of changing circumstances with budgets and purchasing arrangements (a new finance system, move to leasing rather than buying), it is unclear at the moment how the process will be resolved.

The Division is half-way through replacing photocopiers and printers, and will need to continue this process to replace older, out-of-warranty, more troublesome equipment: about $80,000 of equipment will need to be purchased or leased to cover replacements. Between 120 and 240 desktop, portable, lab and server computers will need to be replaced in 2007 if we are to keep to our policy of disposing of equipment once its warranty expires: replacements will cost from $240,000 to $480,000.

Next year the Division will begin the year with a commitment to honour at least $85,000 in lease payments in 2007 for equipment leased in 2006. Leasing $320,000 more equipment in 2007 will cost around an additional $110,000 in lease payments over a full year.

Financial Services has not provided the Division with details of the cost of leasing the equipment leased in 2006: the figures provided above are based on a rough estimate of the costs of leasing outlined by Financial Services during introductory seminars on the University’s arrangements with Macquarie Bank. The theory is that we pay roughly the same as we would have paid for the equipment if we had purchased it outright, but with 12 payments spread over three years. At the end of the lease the equipment is returned to Macquarie, with additional charges possibly due then if the equipment is not returned in good order.

Clever Networks

New support to extend the availability of UCTV is being sought.

The Federal Government’s Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) recently called for proposals for funding under its Clever Networks program [see http://www.dcita.gov.au/communications_for_business/funding_programs__and__support/clever_networks]. DCITA is seeking proposals for projects that use broadband technologies to enhance the delivery and effectiveness of health and education services in rural and regional Australia: projects that create demand for broadband services and stimulate the rollout of infrastructure in regions lacking it. Government co-contributions can be from $500,000 to $5m.

The Technical Services Unit is working with the Division’s Learning Communities Research Area and a number of others around the University and in the wider community to put together a proposal based around services using streamed live and on-demand video, especially to remote areas using broadband services that are being delivered under DCITA’s $1.1 billion Connect Australia package.

The Division’s UCTV service now delivers 22 international television channels to its campus network, and beyond to other Australian university campuses through AARNet3. Staff and students can watch live, full-size and quality broadcast television channels on their desktop computer. UCTV also provides a mechanism for any university to have their own digital live television channel running on the network, using content provided for example by staff or students of media, communication and language courses.

With recent advances in video compression technologies and consumer computers, viewers outside high-bandwidth university campuses could (technically if not legally) now watch the live channels on their computers using open source software: the proposed project would refine these technologies and techniques to deliver the 22 channels currently going around AARNet3 (and potentially other channels as well) to broadband users in rural and regional Australia at bandwidths appropriate to the local network.

The proposed project would be supported by existing work being done in the Learning Communities Research Area to research digital learning communities and how new social networking applications on the web can facilitate learning outcomes, increasing the chances that DCITA would look favourably on an application from UC.

We are also exploring the possibility of bringing in telecommunications, computing, content and legal partners into the bid: in fact DCITA require contributions from the bidders that will be matched by DCITA and other Government agencies. There also needs to be a plausible plan in place for the project to continue after the DCITA funding ceases.

UCTV Services now available on AARNet3

Now available around the globe!

On 12 September 2006 22 of the international free-to-air satellite television services being received on Building 20 were switched from GrangeNet (the Government funded high performance research network that closes this year) to AARNet3 (The next generation of the AARNet network: see http://www.aarnet.edu.au/Content.aspx?p=19). AARNet3 was launched in Canberra on 15 September 2006.

Only the international services received from satellites are included in the package, since the local free-to-air services that are reticulated around the campus network as well should not be distributed beyond the local area for regulatory reasons. Discussions are continuing with a number of experts to confirm previous advice on the legality of what we are doing.

With appropriate configurations at the various nodes where the internet traffic is routed, services can now be viewed live in Universities and research institutions connected to AARNet3 from Brisbane to Perth, many points in-between, and beyond.

There is no charge for the traffic because AARNet does not charge for ‘on-net’ (AARNet) traffic.

UCTV channel availability (theoretically…)

[source: http://www.aarnet.edu.au/engineering/aarnet3/]