Managing I.T.

Introduction
The IT Center is in-charge of the setup and maintenance of all College Computer Laboratories. Although these laboratories are networked, the computers are used in stand-alone mode. There is no file server that serves as repository for the students’ files and exercises. Backup of student’s files are made in the student’s USB flash disks that oftentimes carries viruses.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Current Issues and Practices
• Proposed Solution
• The I.T. Project Management Team
• Issues, Apprehensions, Concerns
• Criteria for Deployment
• Conclusion

Current Issues and Practices
The current setup suffers from the following problems:

• lost exercises of students due to:
  • pranksters who deletes the files of others
  • viruses and other malwares
• no privacy in the files of other students
  • other students in other classes may browse thru the files and are tempted to copy their exercises
• no automated backup of files
• students cannot continue their exercises in another computer if their assigned unit is being serviced
• teachers have no centralized way of checking exercises
  • checking must be done in each computer or during classes
• viruses and malwares
  • USB flash disks are major carriers of viruses and malwares

Aside from the above problems, the following todo I.T. Center best practices poses a threat in the successful implementation of a Laboratory File Server:

• todo Using DeepFreeze software
  • This software “freezes” the system partition (commonly known as Drive C). System changes of the user are lost once the computer is reset.
  • If the computer is joined in a domain, the roaming profile of the user will not be saved locally.
• Microsoft Windows XP user is an administrator account
  • All domain users (except the administrator/root accounts) are set to the “limited users” account type of Microsoft Windows XP. Some Software in the Computer Laboratories requires that the software be run by an administrator account and would therefore not run properly once the computer joins a domain.
    • An example is Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0. Using the professional components under a limited user account generates an error because the account cannot access the necessary registry entries of the components.

The above practices must be reviewed and tested to work in the domain computers.

Proposed Solution
The solution is to Setup a laboratory file server using eBox. This will achieve the following:

• repository of student’s files
• centralized checking of exercises by the teachers
• centralized backup of files

The following File Server features must be met:

• user accounts for teachers and students
• user accounts must use the full name of teacher or student
  • username = lastname_firstname (ex: doe_john)
  • password = defaults to the ID number from todo The NDMC EIS (ex: 09-0321)
• user name cannot be changed
• special characters Ñ or ñ converted to N or n
• users can still login to local PC’s accounts, just in case
• disk quotas of 1gb per student
• soft-links to class schedules (mapped to drive H)
• read-only access of teachers to student’s subject folders
• use of LAB.NDMC.EDU.PH domain
• use of Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) to avoid software licensing costs in the servers
  • eBox 1.20 using Ubuntu 8.04 server

ITC Standard Operating Procedures

• Semestral tasks
  • clean-up of accounts
  • auto-encoding of student accounts based on todo The NDMC EIS
  • format of client computers (todo Using Norton Ghost)
• Monthly tasks
  • virus scanning of home directories
    • this could be automated using Linux services or daemons
• Anytime
  • account maintenance
    • creation of accounts
    • password changes
    • backup of files

The I.T. Project Management Team
This endeavor is of great value to the teachers and students using the College Computer Laboratories. It must therefore be treated with careful planning and execution considering that the grades of the students are at stake. The following are the members of the Project Management Team (PMT):

• Project Sponsor
  • Fr. Romeo S. Saniel, OMI – NDMC President
• Project Manager
  • Cyril Pauya – ITC Head
• Project Beneficiaries
  • todo College of Information Technology and Engineering
  • students of the other NDMC Colleges

Issues, Apprehensions, Concerns
The following must be considered in the implementation of a laboratory file server:

• all Software in the Computer Laboratories must be tested to run under Microsoft Windows XP’s limited account (ex: vb6)
• todo Guidelines in the Responsible Use of Computers and Networks
• account-related concerns:
  • long username
  • password changes (require users to change passwords every month?)
  • require users to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to login
• protection against viruses and malwares
• stability of file server
• stability of network
• redundancy of:
  • power
  • file server
  • storage (hardware raid)
  • client computers (standby computers)
• file server maintenance
• backup of accounts including files

Additional Features necessary as of August 04, 2009:

• teacher access for:
  • scheduling
  • lock-in of student’s subject folders
  • sending messages to a student or the whole class

Criteria for Deployment
The following must be met before actual deployment of the Laboratory File Server:

• all client computers must have joined the LAB.NDMC.EDU.PH domain
• successful testing in one computer laboratory for a month
• list of final subjects with student names and ID numbers from todo The NDMC EIS
• all items under Issues, Apprehensions, Concerns are addressed

Conclusion
This is an endeavor that would change the way teachers and students use the College Computer Laboratories. It introduces a lot of technical challenges to todo the I.T. Center but with the guidance of the I.T. Project Management Team, and collaboration with todo College of Information Technology and Engineering, this project will solve the problems suffered by the teachers and students and make way for better todo I.T. services by the I.T. Center.