College of Engineering
EECS Instructional Support Group
/share/b/pub/reports/managers/Spring_2005
May 2, 2005
EECS Instructional Computing - Review and Plans
-----------------------------------------------
Spring 2005
CONTENTS:
Email and WEB Services
Current Initiatives
Recent Improvements
Budget Priorities
Further References
Notable Events
Email and WEB Services
----------------------
Here is a report about computer accounts and course WEB sites:
https://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~inst/reports/?file=pdf/ISG-Review-Sp05.pdf
Summary:
1) student accounts and email:
ISG and ESG create computer accounts for students in EECS classes.
All EECS majors get computer accounts, email accounts and a WEB site
on the Instructional computers until 6 months after they graduate.
All students have CalMail accounts and no longer need an email
account from us, so we plan to retire the Instructional email
service by Jan 2006.
2) course WEB sites:
Instructors can manage their course WEB content on the EECS
Instuctional server. Other servers on campus offer other services
including the course schedule and description, student enrollment
and email lists, the submission of grades and a course management
system. EECS ISG plans to integrate these resources for instructors
using new WEB "portal" technology.
Current Initiatives
-------------------
1) Compliance with new regulations:
The Instructional computers, along with all other computers at
UCB, must be brought into compliance with these new regulations
this Spring:
Data Management and Use Policy ("DMUP")
http://dataintegration.vcbf.berkeley.edu/
http://datasteward.berkeley.edu/documents/ProvisionalDMUP1.1.pdf
Requires identification, classification and ownership of all user
data stored on UCB computers, as well as the administrators'
contingency plan if that data goes offline.
Senate Bill 1386 ("SB1386")
http://socrates.berkeley.edu:2002/CISC/SB1386/
Identify computers that store "personal" and "protected" data,
describe security of that data and contingency plan to notify
people if that data is compromised.
UCB Minimum Security Standards for Networked Devices
http://security.berkeley.edu:2002/MinStds/
Requires firewalls on all computers, strong authentication to all
networked services that transmit private data (email, file systems).
Email servers must not allow unauthenticated relays of outgoing
email, so users will have to login to the Instructional mail server
before being allowed to send email.
2) Grant Requests
Under the guidance of the CNIL committee, we are drafting proposals
to vendors that invite them to make a long-term commitment to support
a specific lab or class. This would establish greater continuity of
resources for the students and a more visible presence for the vendor.
Our students have become increasingly mobile; they want to run course
software from home or from laptops over broadband and wireless networks.
To meet this demand, we have increased the number and power of our
application servers (UNIX 'ssh' servers and Windows Terminal Services
servers). So we are also seeking blade servers, which would improve
these servers by providing cluster configurations that can be adjusted
to accommodate the changing demands of classes at different times.
3) Revision control server for classes
A number of classes use the CVS revision control utility for source
code development. CVS is somewhat difficult to master, it is UNIX-
centric and we are using ssh1 (old) as an authenticion mechanism.
So we intend to improve this by maintaining a central revision
control server that can be accessed more easily from Windows as well
as from UNIX. We are likely to use a more up-to-date utility called
"subversion" rather than CVS. We have not implemented the Microsoft
Visual Source Safe because it is does not work well on our multi-user
workstations and it does not work with UNIX.
4) Improve Instructional WEB-based services for instructors.
Currently, the development of EECS course WEB sites is inconsistent.
Some classes have WEB sites that are well-maintained by the teaching
staff, while other sites are left with old or inconsistent data.
ISG provides a WEB server (inst.eecs), disk storage and technical
assistance about the WEB sites. The teaching staff maintain the
content. ISG will provide newer tools to help the teaching staff
obtain, edit and archive the content of their sites. This will
integrate information from other campus WEB resources to facilitate
course administration. This may include WEB site publishing, access
to students by email and newsgroups and access to the new campus
GradeBook service.
5) Vodaphone Wireless Lab
111 and 117 Cory are being converted into a new lab for courses in
wireless techlologies. EECS has received a large grant for this new
curriculum. The classes will include: EECS117, EECS217, EECS221A,
EECS226A, EECS224, EECS225x, EECS229, EECS290, EECS298, CS294. The
lab is managed by Ferenc Kovac and may be shared with research groups.
6) NetApp fileserver and Overland AIT-3 Tape Library
IDSG and NetApp donated an older NetApp file server to Instruction.
Instruction purchased new Overland AIT-3 Tape Library ($11,900).
Instruction has arranged a new, low-cost service contract on the
NeteApp with Berkeley Communications.
The NetApp has these features that are new for us:
- 100MB disk quotas for our long-term 'named' accounts (up from 60MB)
- a single "tmp" file system on UNIX and Windows systems
- "undelete" using the hidden ~/.snapshot directory
- disk mirroring to a redundant backup server
- (the Solaris "ACL" extended file permissions are no longer valid)
The NetApp has 1.5-TB of active disk space.
The Overland PowerLoader has 3.8-TB storage capacity.
Dual tape drives raise the transfer rate to 86-GB/hour and permit tape
duplication for off-site storage. Based upon our current rate of use,
we need a tape capacity that is about 3 times that of the disk capacity
to archive daily dumps for an entire semester. So we will use some of
the NetApp disk space for storing the incremental dumps.
Recent Improvements
-------------------
1) Intel grant: new servers for Linux, rendering and Terminal Service
We received a grant from Intel in Spring 2004 for 4 new DELL 1750
servers. We are running several Windows Terminal Servers on each
of them by running vitrual Windows computers within VMware under
Linux. This will benefit EE classes that are primarily using
Windows applications.
We originally planned to use them to run Cadence on Linux for EE141,
but we found that Cadence could not run on them. Cadence only runs
on an old version of Linux, and there are no drivers in that version
of Linux for the modern ethernet and SCSI controllers that are build
into the motherboards of the DELL 1750 servers.
2) The EECS network group extended the campus AirBears wireless network
to floors 1-3 in Cory Hall and 2-4 in Soda Hall in June 2004.
Students with their own wireless laptops can access AirBears for
free in the all Instructional labs and elsewhere on campus.
(http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/pub.cgi?file=laptops.help)
3) EECS upgraded the Instructional Computer Graphics lab (349 Soda) with
14 Macintosh G5s. These were funded joinly by the Weiner Fund, EECS
Instruction and faculty donations.
(http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~kevinm/349Soda)
4) EECS Instruction purchased 2 new SUN V440 servers to improve the
computing resources for classes such as EE141 (Cadence) and CS186
(databases). These servers are called "pulsar.eecs" and "quasar.eecs".
We traded in the older "pulsar" and "quasar" (Sun E5000s) and "mingus",
our HP N-class server. These older servers were at least 5 years old.
5) 'named' accounts on Windows
Instructional 'named' accounts are now created on Win2K as well as on
UNIX (started in Feb 2004). Students who qualify for these accounts
include all EECS ugrad and grad majors, as well as students in many
EECS classes. The 'named' account is potentially a student's one and
only Instructional account. For EECS majors, it does not expire each
semester. (We do still create specialized 'class' accounts for some
classes, notably the CS Lower Division and several EE lab classes).
Instructional 'named' accounts have been on the Instructional UNIX
systems for over 15 years, but we have only created 'class' accounts
on Windows until Feb 2004. The Instructional and IDSG groups needed
the time to establish procedures for coordinating our user entries in
the shared departmental Windows database.
Some of the benefits to this include:
* Our Windows computers are now available to many classes (notably
EE upper division) that were formerly limited to UNIX. They need
this because their CAD software is increasingly available on Windows
and we have reduced the number of UNIX seats as our lab space has
shrunk.
* These Instructional users will no longer be dependent upon UNIX
labs. They can still login to UNIX from Windows labs if needed.
* These Instructional users may not need an additional Windows 'class'
account just to access Windows software. This will reduce the number
of class accounts we have to create each semester.
* For EECS majors, the Instructional accounts on Windows will remain
active as long as they are here.
For more information about the Instructional computer accounts, see
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/pub.cgi?file=Named-Account-Policy
6) Previous semseter achives on-line
CS faculty often need to review student files from the previous
semester to resolve grading conflicts, etc. This has always been
difficult once we have archived the data to tape and deleted it
from the disks. So we have set up a new server called "timewarp.cs"
that is a snapshot of the environment at the end of the semester,
and make that available to instructors during the next semester.
7) hanging gardens in Soda labs
Thanks to the efforts of Jeffrey Varga and other members of the CSUA,
the second floor Instructional labs in Soda Hall now have an arboreal
grace, due to the silk plants they recently installed. Jeffrey
patiently sought the approval of the department bureaucracy and
presented a convincing case for this. Our labs now rival the
ancient Gardens of Babylon as one of the wonders of the world.
8) free Microsoft sofware for EECS students at home
Free Microsoft software downloads are now available to students in EECS
classes (started in June 2003). Microsoft donated a file server and
software licenses so that EECS students can obtain copies of Windows,
Visual Studio/.NET compilers and other applications. This service
helps our students by allowing them to do assignments using Microsoft
software on their home computers. It helps the department because it
will reduce the demand for access to Win2K computers in our labs.
The procedure starts at http://msdnaa.eecs.berkeley.edu.
9) InstCD v 4.0
The fourth version of the Instructional Software CD has been prepared.
It has a new version of the "Stk" program that CS Lower Division
classes use to implement UCB Scheme, as well as updates to several
shareware applications. We will have 1000 copies made for Summer 2005.
We have not burned hard-copy CDs for 2 years, while the instructors
who use UCB Scheme resolved some discrepancies in their expectations.
The contents of the InstCD are free to all students in EECS classes.
(http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~instcd).
10) Lab Fee for Excess Printing
We have started a policy of enforcing printer page quotas. We were
approved by COE to charge students for printer use beyond a free quota
that is based upon the classes they are in. Our goal is to control
costs (not to make money). Instruction has a 5% budget cut this year,
and other student labs on campus (IS&T, Res Halls) already impose
printing fees. Our current quotas for free printing are computed as:
25 pages per course credit, and 25 additional pages if you are a CS
or EE undergraduate or graduate. We will charge $12 for an additional
200 pages. The quotas are reset each semester and purchases are not
refundable. Students can check their quotas and authorize us to bill
them for more pages via http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/webacct/.
11) CAD Tools Software
Synopsys purchased Avanti! last year and now provides 3 major CAD tool
packages that are used in EECS: SYNOPSYS, TCAD and HSPICE. Instruction
has purchased licenses for all of these via the "University Bundle".
We are sharing these licenses with researchers such as the Device Group.
Budget Priorities
-----------------
Instruction will sustain a 12% budget cut ($60K less) in FY 04-05. We will
reduce staffing to save about $30K in salaries. We hope that our new print
quotas will reduce the cost for printing by as much as $30K. Other savings
will come from a reduction in the updating of items such as computers, lab
equipment and lab furniture.
Current needs that may be deferred include:
- 20 new chairs for labs ($6000)
- 1 new multi-processor CPU server for CAD applications ($45000)
Further references
------------------
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~kevinm/citris/
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~iesg/iesglabs.html
Notable Events
--------------
Here is the "notices" log from Spring 2005.
Please see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/notices.html for current events.
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June 16 - password is required to send email
To increase the security of email, UC Berkeley now requires that email
servers must authenticate the sender's identity before allowing them
to send email. This is done by having the user login to the mail
server via a WEB site or via a mail client program such as Outlook or
pine.
This is distinct from logging onto any particular desktop computer;
you will have to do it whether you are logged in from home or from
a computer in an EECS lab.
If you already login to a server to access mail, you may not need to
change anything. If you are not typing a password at all to access
email, you will probably have to change your email settings or use
a WEB mail client.
The easiest way to do this is to logon to a WEB mail site such as:
http://imail.eecs.berkeley.edu = "Imail" (EECS Instructional users)
https://imap.eecs.berkeley.edu = "Imap" (EECS research users)
http://calmail.berkeley.edu = "CalMail" (all UC Berkeley users)
You can also configure common email clients such as Outlook, Euroda,
pine or mutt for this, by setting them to use SMTP AUTH.
Here are instructions for using CalMail and Imail:
http://bert.berkeley.edu/calmail/help/secure
The CalMail instructions also work for Imail; just replace the
server name calmail.berkeley.edu with imail.eecs.berkeley.edu
in the instructions and use your EECS Instructional UNIX logon
name and password.
Here are instructions for using the EECS Imap email:
https://iris.eecs.berkeley.edu/news/2005/0315-Outgoing_E-mail_Serv-146.shtml
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June 9 - UNIX logins will unavailable Mon June 13 from 10am-6pm
Instructional UNIX logins will be unavailable on
Mon June 13 from 10am-6pm
while we reconfigure the UNIX home directory server.
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Apr 4 - authnews.berkeley.edu was down
authnews.berkeley.edu was down for most of the day on Monday April 4.
It is not run by EECS and we do not have any information about the
service outage. We notified the group that runs the campus USENET
service, and we reported it to the campus Trouble Desk.
These are WEB sites that might have posted information about it:
http://www.net.berkeley.edu/usenet/aus/
http://systemstatus.berkeley.edu
the newsgroups ucb.news and ucb.usenet
authnews.berkeley.edu is the server for off-campus access to UC
Berkeley news groups. For alternatives, please see
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/connecting.html#news
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 18 - This work has been postponed
These servers will [NOT] be down from 9am-6pm on Wed March 23:
cory.eecs - including the HSPICE license server
bisc.eecs - including the CADENCE license server (run by BSAC)
po.eecs - including the program to change UNIX passwords
c199.eecs - including the SunRays in 199 Cory
iserver1.eecs - Linux login server
iserver2.eecs - Linux login server
This is to reduce the heat in the machine room while maintenance
is done on the air conditioners. This is during Spring Break.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 11 - UNIX disk quotas look different now
We re-enabled disk quotas on the UNIX home directories today.
The command 'quota -v' returns a different output that it did
before the server failure last weekend. It now looks like:
Disk quotas for foobar (uid 33495):
Filesystem usage quota limit timeleft files quota limit timeleft
/home/aa 3428 100352 102400 237 -1 -1
/home/cc 3428 100352 102400 237 -1 -1
/home/ff 3428 100352 102400 237 -1 -1
The home directory for each user is only on one file system,
and previously only one file system was listed.
However, we restored everything onto a single file system on a
new server, then mounted it in 3 pieces to retain the previous
file paths. So each of the 3 "file systems" listed above are
really reading the data from a single file system on the new
server. The 'quota' command doesn't know that, though! We
hope to correct that soon.
As before, if you get a "disk quota exceeded" error, you can
clear some files yourself to get back under quota. Please see
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/pub.cgi?file=disk.quotas
for ways to login, commands to type and how to access the
quota-less /home/tmp file system (aka \\ping\tmp on Windows).
If you are unable to clear your own files, please ask us for help
(inst@eecs, 278 Cory, 386 Cory, 333 Soda).
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Mar 10 - cory.eecs was down, 5:30pm-7pm
Cory.eecs (UNIX login server) crashed at about 5:30pm because
of operator error. We had to reboot from CD to fix it. [I
accidentally overwrote a system library. I really apologize
if anyone lost work - kevinm].
Cory.eecs is the license server for Synopsys and Hspice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 7 - UNIX home dirs and email are back in service
A full incident report is available:
https://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~kevinm/manage/?file=Incident-Report-Mar05.pdf
Mar 7 11:40 PM - Here is a progress report:
/home/aa (named accounts) - up at 11am Monday
/home/ff (instructor accounts) - up at 3pm Monday
/home/cc (class accounts) - up at 11:30pm Monday
incoming email to @imail.eecs - resumed at 11:40pm Monday
Some files in CS182 and CS198 accounts may not have been restored
properly. We will follow up on that on Tuesday and notify the
instructors.
We _really_ appreciate how patient everyone has been about this.
We know it stalls the progress of your coursework and creates an
even bigger workload for you to catch up.
The problem:
The Instructional UNIX file server suffered a hardware failure around
10am Saturday March 5th. This causes logins to the UNIX systems to
freeze up, with "NFS timeout" errors. It also causes incoming email
to imail.eecs to be deferred (but not lost), and class WEB pages can't
be accessed under http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu. For more symptoms,
please see "Downtime Symptoms" below.
Mamba.cs, the UNIX file server, had a RAID disk failure with misleading
symptoms. First it indicated that 2 drives had failed, but we were
able to bring those back on-line. Then a third drive failed, and that
is really a hardware failure. We have replaced that drive with a spare,
but the sequence of events caused the continuity of the RAID array to
be lost. Some data on the original file systems were corrupted, so we
are restoring the file systems from tape (132-GB from tape at about
5-GB/hour).
We posted signs in the labs and on the computer login messages to
notify the students.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mar 4 - some UNIX home dirs and email were inaccessible today
The Instructional UNIX file server stopped exporting home directories
at about 3:30am today. See "Downtime Symptoms" below for a list of
the symtoms.
It was fixed on most computers, including the Instrucional WEB server,
by 9am. We did another check of all the computers at 3pm. However, we
didn't discover some problems until later in the day. For example:
/home/ff was remounted to cory.eecs at 2pm
/var/mail was remounted to quasar.cs at 5pm
Please report any problems to inst@eecs.berkeley.edu or call 643-6141.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feb 23 - Home dirs inaccessible on the Macs
Users on the Macs in 199 Cory and 349 Soda are unable to connect to
their home directories (on mamba.cs). This was caused by a recent
security enhancement to mamba.cs.
This will be fixed on Thursday morning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nov 2004 - Security alert: Internet Explorer Active scripting is disabled
Users of Internet Explorer may be prompted repeatedly for permission
to run scripts on the page. This is because the sys admins have
disabled the "Active scripting" feature of Internet Explorer on most
EECS Instructional Windows computers because of a security flaw for
which there is no patch yet.
Users are advised to use a different WEB browser (Mozilla, Firefox
or Opera) to avoid this.
For information about the security flaw, please see
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/842160
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nov 2004 - remote logons to Windows accounts
You can logon to your Instructional Windows account from other computers
using the Terminal Services utility. You need the Terminal Services
or Remote Desktop Connection client program on your computer to do this.
It is included in newer versions of Windows. You can download this
client for free from Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx
It is also available from "C:\mstsc files\" on the computers listed
below. We have enabled these lab computers for remote logons:
IP Address (WINS hostname)
------------ ---------------
128.32.48.29 (199-2)
128.32.48.27 (199-3)
128.32.48.79 (199-4)
128.32.48.30 (199-5)
128.32.48.81 (199-6)
128.32.48.73 (199-7)
128.32.48.68 (199-8)
128.32.48.26 (carter)
128.32.48.89 (ella)
128.32.48.93 (motian)
128.32.48.60 (previte)
128.32.48.87 (tatum)
128.32.48.53 (tyner)
128.32.48.78 (wes)
Note that you need to use the IP address from a computer outside of
EECS, because the WINS hostnames are only meaningful locally on the
EECS subnets.
PLEASE LOGOUT BY SELECTING Start->Shutdown->log off rather than by
clicking on the X at the upper right corner. Otherwise, you will
only put your remote logon to sleep and therefore block others from
access.
This service is not as efficient as remote logins to UNIX computers.
Each computer will allow only three remote users at a time.
For more information, please see
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/pub.cgi?file=microsoft.help
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March 2004 - Printer usage quotas are now in effect
Instructional UNIX and Windows accounts now have page limits on the
Instructional shared printers in Soda, Cory and Hearst Field Annex.
The print quotas this semester are computed at 25 pages for each
course credit that the account is being used for. In addition,
students who are EE or CS undergraduate of graduate majors are
given an additional 25 pages per semster on their print quotas.
The print quotas are reset each semester. Unused pages will NOT
be credited to you in future semesters.
If you exceed your print quota, your next print job will be replaced
with a "QUOTA EXCEEDED" page. That page explains that you can logon
to http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/webacct to view your print quota
allocation and to purchase additional pages. Pages that you purchase
will be billed to you, at a rate of $12 (non-refundable) for 200 pages.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan 2005 - newest EECS Instructional CD is delayed
EECS Instruction provides the InstCD for students in our courses.
The CD contains a collection of public domain software used in EE
and CS courses. It is provided free by EECS Instruction for students
to use on their home computers.
We have run out the old version (v3.0) and the new version has been
delayed. In the meantime, students can download the programs they
need from the on-line copy of the CD, at
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~instcd
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fall 2004 - Forgot your password on the Instructional computers?
For named accounts:
Login as 'newacct' (password 'newacct') again (in 199 Cory, 273 Soda or
'ssh' to cory.eecs.berkeley.edu). Enter your Student ID number. Then
select the new "p" option for resetting your password and reprinting a
form. The form will be printed the next weekday and will be available
in 391 Cory after 1pm.
Named accounts look like 'gbush' or 'bclinton'.
For class accounts:
Go to the sys admin staff for the lab you are assigned to use
(see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~inst/iesglabs.html).
Bring your initial class account form or student ID card.
There is no on-line procedure for resetting the password of a class
account.
Class accounts look like 'cs61a-aa' or 'ee141-agore'.
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May 2002 - your LOST+FOUND directory<br>
Mamba.cs, the Instructional UNIX home directory server, crashed on
April 29 and was down for 33 hours. For an explanation of the
circumstances, please see the Spring 2002 Managers' Report
(http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~inst/?file=Spring_2002).
A number of files and home directories were not restored to their
proper names and locations. When we couldn't determine where the
files should go, we put them a directory called LOST+FOUND in your
UNIX home directory. Please see the LOST+FOUND/README file for an
explanation of how you can read these files, and ask us for help
inst@cory.eecs.berkeley.edu if needed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Downtime_symptoms
These are possible symptoms when UNIX email or home directories are missing:
- when you try to login the screen freezes
- you see the error message "home directory is /"
- session hangs up if you try to 'ssh' into an Instructional computer
- unable to read WEB pages from the http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu
- lots of annoying "NFS timeout" error messages on your screen
- new email deliveries will be delayed on imail.eecs
While the server is down, you may not be able to logout in our labs
because you can't type any commands. On a SunRay, even turning it
off doesn't log you out. The support staff check the labs after
events like this to be sure everyone gets logged out. We also post
information about the problem at http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu to
help students find out when the problem has been fixed. So all you
can really do in this case is to wait until the problem is fixed, go
back to the lab (or login to the SunRay server for that lab) and log
yourself out, or let us log you out.
We disable email receipt and relaying through imail.eecs when the
home directory server (mamba.cs.berkeley.edu) is down. No mail is
lost. Computers that send mail queue messages that are not accepted
by a remote server, and they resend the messages periodically until
they are received.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
For additional information, please contact us:
Kevin Mullally, ISG Manager | Ferenc Kovac, ESG Manager
EECS Instructional Support Group | EECS Electronics Support Group
378 Cory Hall, (510) 643-6141 | 380 Cory Hall, (510) 642-6952
kevinm@eecs.berkeley.edu | ferenc@eecs.berkeley.edu
|
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/ | http://iesg.eecs.berkeley.edu/
|
UNIX, Win2K computers and software | Win2K computers, software and
in drop-in labs; email and UNIX | equipment in electronics labs,
accounts; UNIX login servers; | AV services.
class and student WEB sites. |
source: ~inst/public_html/reports/managers/Spring_2005
