Tate Lab remodel and computer support

Most swing space locations have a representative who will act as an intermediary to collect concerns, etc.

• PAN - Vuk Mandic, Ginny Olson
• McNamara - Yong Qian, Angela Stehr
• Shepherd
  • Space Physics - Keith Goetz
  • MIFA - Larry Rudnick, Kevin Roberts
• Williamson (mostly staff and labs) - Jennifer Kroschel
• Fraser (Astronomy/MIFA) - Larry Rudnick, Kevin Roberts
• WBOB (FTPI) - Keith Olive, Meghan Murray
• Amundsen - Bob Lysak

For individual faculty moving into swing space: please visit your location and identify which network jacks will be used by you and members of your group, and work with your move representative to provide this list to Graham, along with the list of computers to be moved.

When planning furniture layout, please think ahead about your needs for network cables and power cables/strips. Do not place furniture in front of jacks or power outlets which will be used.

Thank ahead of time about your needs for network cables, power cables and power strips. You are expected to take these with you from Tate, but new locations may require additional lengths. Please coordinate any special needs with your move rep

In particular regarding power, some locations have restrictions on use of extension cables, so you need to plan ahead to have a power strip with sufficient cable to reach your desk and equipment.

• Alexander’s will be hired for the move
• You will need to pack up your computer and peripherals
• Alexander’s will provide moving boxes and perform the move.
• You then need to reconnect your computer equipment together in the new location.
• We will determine strategies for
  • Anyone who feels they need assistance to reassemble and connect their own computer
  • Troubleshooting procedures for cases where the new network connection doesn't work, move-related hardware issues, etc

At this point we have relatively little information about swing space data connections (other than in PAN, where we provide the network directly).

• we are attempting to get listings of available jacks per room from NTS
• we will arrange provision of ip addresses etc.
• we expect to support wired connections wherever possible
  • for laptops you may have to use wireless, even if you currently use a wired connection in Tate.
  • visitors should also use wireless
• we strongly encourage investigative visits by tech building reps listed above to collect information about

jacks and wireless in the swing spaces they represent

• wireless connectivity varies by building, we don't have details of how good it is in any particular location
• wireless support is strictly from OIT via 1-HELP, and not via Physics IT
• if an area has poor wireless coverage, let us know as soon as possible so we can ask for improvements

At some point we will need some detailed lists of what/how many computers etc you need to move to each room, and how many data jacks need to be activated. Protocol to collect this information is still TBD.

• Our copiers will be moved for us by Toshiba/Xerox. The building representative is responsible for determining its location ahead of time.
• We will attempt to provide “public/shared” printers in much the same way we have at Tate (the large copiers may stand in for these in some locations).
  • shared printers will be supported by Loffler/Cartridge Care (toner supplies and repair)
  • paper supplies etc TBD.
• Our current printer names are all based on Tate room numbers and so will likely change.

• Software/hardware support
  • support is via the usual avenue: send a ticket to net@physics.umn.edu. Don't phone unless email is unavailable.
  • software issues will be addressed through email or by remote desktop support sessions
  • in-person support will be very limited but will clearly be needed in some cases. Protocols TBD.
  • some hardware issues will require return of system to PAN.
• Linux
  • Physics linux systems require a wired network connection to operate.
  • workstations will continue to authenticate to the Physics accounts system, and will be able to access storage on physics servers - home directories and major research storage systems.
  • NFS data storage access will not be provided to individual workstation hard drives or to speciality filesystems such as hadoop.
  • workstations outside Tate/PAN will not share any local storage (data drives etc) to other systems
  • it's not determined whether the condor batch job system will be available on systems outside Tate/PAN.
• Windows (UMN active directory)
  • UMNAD windows workstations also require a wired connection to operate (there may be some workarounds if no alternative)
  • login and access to Physics server space all works as normal
  • printing in general works, though printers themselves will be moving and changing names.
  • In case of hard drive failure, virus infection, etc, the machine will have to return to PAN for service, as we cannot perform network OS reinstalls outside of Tate/PAN. This may get addressed but isn't an immediate priority.

• For desktop systems we don't support directly, we will arrange jack activation in the destination space.
• For self-managed machines you will need to re-register directly with NTS for dhcp: http://it.umn.edu/registering-device-network-dhcp
• For these machines, and for laptops, all support issues should be taken to 1-HELP or OIT walk-in support centers
  • East bank: Coffman 101
  • West bank: Blegen 90

• All physics servers, storage and other infrastructure will need to be moved from Tate to PAN.
• There will be some disruption to service however we will do our best to minimize this and provide as much

advance notice regarding the disruption as possible.

At present we plan to move “critical” services to PAN after business hours on Friday May 22. This list of services encompasses:

• Major websites:
  • www.physics.umn.edu
  • zzz.physics.umn.edu (wiki pages)
  • www.astro.umn.edu
  • www.ftpi.umn.edu
• mail service (mail.physics.umn.edu)
• unix and linux home directories
• print servers for windows and linux
• shared research areas hosted on inverness.spa.umn.edu
• physics windows home directories (SPA-HOME)
• physics windows research storage (SPA-DATA)

The aim will be to restore service for these within these time periods:

• www.physics.umn.edu and mail.physics.umn.edu - Saturday May 23 by noon
• all other services - Saturday May 23 by 6pm

Research storage and computational systems will move starting Tuesday May 26 and continue throughout that week.

The following google doc contains more detailed information:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YBPfobZ6e5McbH_Y4YTav0tFuB6O_dxXovPBYfAwMdU/edit?usp=sharing