OVERVIEW

Having completed all annual purchasing and the setup of full redundancy for Library Authentication in the last period, we were presented with a time window before new equipment began to arrive. This time window was used to handle a variety of projects which included appyling security patches, installing ArcIMS, and developing infrastructure for the High-Level Browse project. Snavely began participation in the Authentication/Authorization and Directory Services committees of the IT Commons project and began serving as chair of the LMS Implementation/Technology team, activities which collectively allocate about 50-75% of his time.

Snavely also coordinated the interview process to fill the Library Web Programmer position.

11. GENERAL ARCHITECTURE

• 11.1. Implement full redundancy and failover for authentication, database, and web services.
  • The redundancy infrastructure put in place has been performing well and has been used by Snavely to insulate users from several planned outages. Snavely began discussions with DLXS on redundancy, load- balancing, and failover for web services.
• 11.2. Explore storage options and propose an approach for future scalability.
  • Following on earlier research and discussions, Marsh gathered additional price information on the currently favored storage option (the Network Appliance Filer products). Snavely used this information to prepare storage cost estimates for a potential large-scale project. We'll seek to use this project as an opportunity for adopting the new storage model.
• 11.3. Explore options for harmonizing (or fully isolating) source code repositories on different development servers.
  • Snavely extended the networked CVS arrangement to include the geospatial and numeric data development server.
• 11.4. Critical enhancements to authentication system
  • Done.
• 11.5. Release authentication system via DLXS
  • Done.
• 11.6. Coordinate with others to explore and implement infrastructure for ongoing metadata developments, including mechanisms for metadata capture in production and ID-to-object mapping in retrieval.
  • No activity during this period.
• 11.7. Housekeeping and minor development (see goals for initial list).
  • Marsh began coordinating the installation of dlps8 and dlps9, which are slated to replace dlps1 and dlps3.
  • Snavely implemented a Perl-based mapping engine for the High-Level Browse project, which will be used to map class number ranges to a two-level topic hierarchy being designed by technical services staff.
  • Marsh coordinated the installation of ArcIMS on dlps7 for Geospatial Data Services; we are currently awaiting ESRI tech support for help with a font problem.
  • Snavely took over proxy server troubleshooting and maintenance and Marsh took over hank account coordination with CAEN until those responsibilities could be transitioned to the new Library Web Programmer.
  • Marsh installed and configured a current version of Linkscan on hank.
  • Marsh upgraded Apache to version 1.3.26 on development and production servers after a security problem was announced.
  • Marsh upgrades SSL and SSH on development servers after security problems were announced.

14. MISCELLANEOUS

• System Performance
  • North Campus server environment
    • dlps1.umdl (non-public collections): Down on Thursday, July 25 from 5:18am to 8:45am due to an unknown problem.
    • dlps3.umdl (Image Services): No down time
    • dlps4.umdl (primary web server for DLPS and public collections): Down on Friday, September 6 from 6:00am to 7:00am to reallocate rack space; down on Friday, September 20 from 4:00pm to 4:50pm due to a storage problem
    • dlps5.umdl (library proxy server): Down on Friday, September 6 from 6:00am to 7:00am to reallocate rack space and on Wednesday, September 25 from 7:15am to 7:20am to make an operating system configuration change
    • dlps6.umdl (Oracle server for access control and usage statistics): No down time
    • dlps7.umdl (Numeric Data server): No down time
  • Central Campus server environment

    All services were unreachable on Friday, July 12 from approximately 11:00am to 1:30pm due to a failed fiber connection.

    • betty.umdl (MedSearch server): No down time
    • coffee.umdl (Oracle server for access control): No down time
    • hank.umdl (Library Web Server): Down on Tuesday, August 13 from 2:45pm to 3:00pm due to a storage problem
    • myrna.umdl (MIRLYNWeb server): No down time
    • opal.umdl (SilverPlatter server): No down time