Clarkson University Internet Teaching Lab
MP252 (2 Credits)
This semester I am enrolled in MP252 for two credits.
Roles & Responsibilities in the Lab
- ITL Director
- Windows Build Maintainer
- Active Directory Maintainer
- Network Administrator
- Member of the CS Labs Administrative Board
Objectives for the Semester
- Fulfill my roles
- Get Active Directory up and running
- Set up one of the old ITL machines as a print server
- Finish the networking in the labs
- Tweak the internal network settings
- UDPCast vs. Symantec Ghost
- General lab maintenance and cleaning
- Deploy new wireless access points
- Fix the ITL webcam
- Maintain the Windows Build
- Automate things as much as possible
- Fix the networking on the Blade Center
- Get the Blade Center on the internal network (Currently only on Clarkson and Server Room)
Mid Semester Accomplishments
Cleanup
- Moved all old ITL computers in COSI down to old VR lab
- Moved 3rd COSI rack from server room down to old VR lab to hold the old ITL computers
- Moved misc. equipment not needed in lab and server room down to old VR lab
- General cleanup
- Rearranged tables for new VR/COSI computers
Setup, Maintainance, and Misc. Other Things
- Set up new VR/COSI computers
- Windows Build for VR/COSI computers, VR computers, and ITL computers
- Reconfigured the internal lab network
- Changed the ports link aggregation is set to use
- Changed a few of the settings for multicasting
- Disabled Spanning Tree (Enabled faster DHCP lease)
- Wired the patch panel for all the computers in all three labs by myself
- Organized and helped run networking for all the computers from the ports on the wall to the computers
- Set up four Windows Servers (itlad, itlfs1, itlfs2, itlwsus)
- Set up an Active Directory environment to provide easier management on the Windows Build
- Helped move righteous (COSI server) onto a smaller RAID unit
- Helped place order and get specs for new VR computers and new VR/COSI computers
- Maintained ITL wireless access (Dan Mandle is now doing so)
- Acquired crux for COSI
- Maintained the ITL webcam and printer
- Helped maintain COSI servers and services
- Communicated with Physical Plant about AC problems in early May
- Worked on the Unisys server some (Got bottom half powered on and working)
- Ghosted the labs numerous times
End of Semester Summary
This semester I performed general lab maintenance in the ITL once again. I also held several lab roles which are noted above. One of my major projects again this semester was maintaining the Windows Lab Build; however, this semester it was intensified due to the addition of 8 new computers in the VR/COSI area, taking on the maintenance of the VR Alienware computer, and the addition of integrating Active Directory (AD) with the Lab Build.
My other major project for this semester was implementing Active Directory. The major benefit I found to implementing AD was easier lab management. AD gives me the ability to force higher security settings down on all of the lab machines. It also gives me the ability to grant people user accounts in the labs that have administrative privileges instead of having to share my rather complicated Administrator passwords and it also gives me the ability lock down certain accounts like the csguest account from being able to change certain settings on the computer. I see this principle similar to granting users sudo access on a Linux machine without exposing the root password for security reasons. My future hopes are to use Active Directory to deploy software installations and possibly the Windows build itself and find ways to integrate AD with Linux.
Another one of my major projects this semester was ghosting the labs. After talking to the right people, I was able to acquire Symantec Ghost from OIT for use to ghost the labs. This was a major change from UDPCast mostly due to it being a proprietary product that is widely used in the IT industry. My original plans were compare the abilities and speed of each; however, due to lack of time because of other projects and only ghosting the lab 5-6 at most this semester, I was unable to test them in isolated environments. I did discover some minor issues though. When I first decided to ghost the lab with the new lab build about 2 weeks into the semester, I chose to use Symantec Ghost and GRUB decided to break when the lab finished ghosting at 1:30 a.m.. This resulted in Wenjin and I reghosting them all using UDPCast so that the lab would be back up for classes in the morning. After this happened I choose to do some research and realized that Ghost did not support the latest version of GRUB being installed in the MBR but would most likely work if installed just to the hard drive. So after this incident I chose to only use Ghost for the Windows build this semester since I have found it to be more reliable. It also gives me the capability of not having to keep a computer set aside for the lab build since it allows me to store the build as an image file on a server. I also used Ghost this semester to transfer the Fedora Build onto the ITL computers and the shared VR/COSI computers.
This semester I also had a few other small projects. One was to set up the new wireless access points. I actually ended up letting Dan Mandle do this since he wanted it set up sooner than later and I did not have the time to do so at the beginning of the semester. Another one of my side projects was finishing the networking in the labs. At the end of the summer we had managed to wire most of the computer in the labs except for the 10 COSI computers for some reason. So early in November, Jeff Wincek and I finished wiring the computers. I had also planned for Jeff to assist me in finishing wiring the patch panel; however, due to delays on my part the extra network switch we required was not ordered until a month or so ago and this project will be finished next semester. Three of my other small projects were a print server for the printer in the ITL, fixing the ITL webcam, and getting the KVM hooked up to all the machines in COSI. Jeff and I did work on the print server briefly but ran short on time but I hope to finish this project with him next semester. I also did manage to get the KVM hooked up once I found that it was easier to make our own KVM cables and I have been able to get the ITL webcam to stay up consistently with the help of Nagios pinging it every few minutes or so.
My last project for this semester was a website for the Applied CS Labs homepage which has never had a homepage. After numerous hours spent on a design which is a little bit different than normal I finally was able to produce a site that is worth showing to represent the labs. The site can be found at http://www.clarkson.edu/projects/cslabs/.
Documention Produced/Modified this Semester
- Disable Shutdown Event Tracker~ Tutorial to disable shutdown tracker in Windows Server 2003.
- Require Secure RDP~ Tutorial to require a secure remote desktop connection in Windows Server 2003 & Windows XP.
- AD & DNS Setup~ Tutorial to set up Active Directory/DNS on Windows Server 2003.
- List of Static IPs~ I kept track of the labs Static IPs which was tough sometimes when people just grab them.
- Network Port Scan~ To check for ports that should not be opened.
- Network Setup~Added information to make sure the network setup description was accurate and up to date.
- Network Port Layout~ After Ryan created it for me, I verifed the information I gave him and updated it as needed and added more information like port info..
Future Plans
- Get the Windows build up to par with FDCC guidelines through the use of Active Directory and Group Policy Objects that they have provided
- Run more networking over to the COSI side of the server room
- Finish lab networking
- Finish Print Server
- Keep CS Labs website up-to-date