| THE
HELP DESK: NO CAPES, BUT SUPERHEROES NONETHELESS |
ITS technicians—our
trusty “Techs”—came to the rescue when they noticed
a disturbing failure in certain Dell PC hard drives and quickly
fixed the problem. Resourcefulness and thorough investigation led
to the efficient resolution of a situation that could have resulted
in a big batch of crashing computers. In fact, our Techs were the
first in the country to discover and pinpoint the problem, which
has resulted in a nationwide recall of hard drives by Dell.
Several weeks ago, four Dell hard drives failed in rapid succession.
Four may seem like a low number to the average user, but it was
entirely too high for ITS to ignore because the PCs were all the
same model. This aroused the Techs’ curiosity and suspicion,
as did the identical nature of each failure: a clicking sound preceding
a loss of data. The hard drives were immediately replaced and the
Techs, aware that other such Dells were on campus, began to do some
research. They determined a similarity in the serial number sequence
of these four PCs and that they were all purchased within the same
time frame, which led the Techs to find other PCs with the same
markers. Sure enough, 150 additional machines were vulnerable.
ITS informed Dell that contrary to standard industry protocol, BC
surely did not want to wait for any of these machines to fail and
then fix them—after their data was irretrievably lost. Thus
Dell, in an unprecedented move, shipped new hard drives to preemptively
repair all 150 PCs. After notifying the appropriate users, our Techs
replaced all the faulty drives.
 What
went wrong with the hard drives? To find out, the Help Desk employed
the standard diagnostic programs, but they uncovered nothing. Acting
on experience and a hunch, Tech Services Manager Scott Yates thought
he might have encountered a thermodynamics problem, which plagued
hard drives in the very earliest days of PCs. Heat generated by
an active PC often caused a hard drive’s spinning, data-storing
platter to swell. That prevented the platter from spinning and eventually
caused it to warp—resulting in a crashed computer and lost
data. Scott did what they did in the “old days:” he turned
off the computer, let it cool off overnight, and turned it back
on in the morning. (In those days, all data from a cooled-off PC
would then be saved on disk and the hard drive replaced.) Sure enough,
once the hard drive had cooled the computer was operational, albeit
on “borrowed time.” To confirm a diagnosis of “heat
failure,” another old trick was employed: an overheated hard
drive was placed in the refrigerator! After cooling for about ten
minutes, the hard drive was inserted into the PC; again, it worked.
Overheated hard drives were indeed the problem.
Thanks to the heroes of our Help Desk, BC was rescued from crashing
computers all over campus. Maybe we ought to measure out our Techs
for capes?!
|
STUDENT
WEB CENTRAL: THE “GRAND CENTRAL” OF STUDENT INFORMATION
|
ITS launched
a wonderful, new, forward-thinking Internet site for students in
Summer 2001: Student Web Central. With panoply of school-related
and personal tools, Student Web Central enhances both education
and quality of life. It’s a lively site, chock full of information,
where students can search the BC Calendar, student clubs and activities,
read e-mail or tune into BC Radio. They can also order a transcript,
calculate GPA, research Financial Aid and Scholarships, look for
Internships, BC Jobs, and more. Students can even get the latest
news, weather and stock quotes—and search the Internet! In
the future, faculty and staff will enjoy their own Web Central;
watch this Newsletter for updates. For a look at Student Web Central,
go to http://infocenter.brooklyn.cuny.edu.
| HOST
ON DEMAND: YOUR MAINFRAME, YOUR WAY |
All faculty and staff now have access to HOST ON DEMAND (HOD), a handy
software program that accesses the CUNY main frame from any web browser.
Faculty and Staff authorized to access the mainframe can now “cut
to the chase” to reach such programs as SIMS from any internet-accessible
location. All you need is your user ID and password. On the Internet,
go to: http://web3270.brooklyn.cuny.edu.
It takes a few minutes to load HOD the first time, but thereafter
the program opens very quickly. For more information or questions
about HOD, contact Deborah Best at x5861.
| CABLING
PROJECT TO GIVE BC A BOOST IN THE BACKBONE |
A multimillion-dollar project to replace all existing BC “backbone”
cabling, the gear through which computer bytes travel, is now out
for bids. Once the Backbone Cabling Project is underway,
new data and switching equipment will be installed to exponentially
increase the speed of BC voice, data and multimedia systems. Ultimately,
the college will have a state-of-the-art, astonishingly fast telecommunications
system and an entirely new, digital PBX telephone system.
The ambitious Backbone Cabling Project will provide new inter- and
intrabuilding cable campus wide. The equipment will connect to new
telecommunications closets built over the last year. By mid-September
2002 the college will have an enormously powerful network infrastructure
that is highly fault-tolerant, a substantial asset. To illustrate
just how big the change will be, here’s a remarkable statistic:
we’ll advance from the ability to process 16MB (16 million bytes)
of information per second, to 2 to 4GB, or 2 to 4 billion bytes of
information, per second.
Currently, BC is connected to our original wiring closets in order
to insure smooth, uninterrupted telecommunications service. The Backbone
Cabling Project is coordinated with the construction of the new Library.
Phase I of the two-phase PBX project is near completion and will immediately
reduce telephone operation costs. In Phase II, new cable will be run
to every desk on campus, bringing high-speed networking and new digital
phones to you.
Look for ITS updates on the Backbone Cabling Project in future issues
of our Newsletter.
|
