Minutes for Admin Computer Support Meeting - October 15, 2003

Location and Time:

MC2009; 10:30am

Attendees:

Victor Lufer (AV), Jennifer Gaunt and Hector Kwok (CECS), Lorraine Nesbitt (Counselling); Ildiko Denes (Disabled Students), Judy Richardson (DCE), Pat Moore (Faculty Assoc), Michele Sguigna (Food Services), Cathy Jardine (Graduate Office), Chris Strome (HS), Wanda Speek (HR), Sheila Hurley (Safety Office), Sam Schmidt and Michelle Banic (IAP), Darlene Ryan (International Students), Koorus Bookan (LT3), Monica Wielonda (Plant Ops), Steve Cook (Purchasing), Lauri MacLeod (Retail Services), Brenda Roach (Office of Research), Karen Jack (Secretariat), Yvan Rodrigues and Iris Strickler (UW Graphics), Peter Carette (UW Theatre Centre), Verna Keller (TRACE), Ian Turner and Cathy Cooper (ODAA), Ann Simpson (Turnkey Desk), Patti Cook (Waste Management).

IST Attendees:

Sandy Laughlin (Presenter), Paul Snyder (Presenter), Pat Lafranier (Chair), Jason Greatrex, Heather Wey, Phil Knipe, Peggy Day, Reg Leland.

Agenda:

Welcome (Pat Lafranier)
IST-Liaison Changes (Pat)
CHIP Layout Changes (Pat)
Bits and Bytes of Info (Pat)
New Software License Co-ordinator (Sandy Laughlin)
Windows 2000 Deployment Ends (Pat)
Astra Schedule Deployment status (Pat)
Replacement for Synchronize- Calendar (Pat)
Inventory (Pat)
IST Request System (Paul Snyder)
Decommissioned PCs (Pat)
Accounts (Pat)
Wrap-up (Pat)
PowerPoint Slide Presentation

Minutes (post meeting note: minutes are additional info to the PowerPoint slide presentation link above)

Pat talked about the IST-liaison changes and asked if everyone thought that this model was working well, comments were affirmative
Pat asked if there was anyone that had not used the web based request system, 3 people raised their hands
Q: is it possible to view more than your requests?
R: yes, any of the userids added to the "UW Userid of Requestor" field will be able to view the request. (post meeting: talk to you IST-liaison person if you require assistance).
Paul: commented that using the web based request system allowed for better tracking
Pat spoke about changes to the CHIP and Helpdesk and asked if anyone had not visited the CHIP, no one raised their hands
Pat asked if anyone has used the web-based training, only 1 (HR web training)
Pat showed users where to find SSH (for a secure telnet instead of using NetTerm) and suggested that people might want to start using it before enforcement. IST now using SSH instead of NetTerm.
Q: nh4.adm retirement – with these accounts moving to admmail should she edit her mailing lists (majordomos)
R: there will be a .forward to admmail put on old accounts, however, it is probably a good idea to change them at some point
Q: Paul asked what kinds of configuration settings people were setting in SpamAssassin.
R: adding email addresses to their whitelist (sometimes still marked as SPAM)
R: marking email as SPAM if userid is in the subject line catches a lot (Post meeting: does anyone remember who made this comment? Contact Pat)
R: Pat suggested that setting it as 4 instead of 5 also catches a lot more
Pat warned people not to use the mywaterloo portal web page form to make changes to SpamAssassin configuration form because the changes may disappear, and asked that everyone use the SpamAssassin Configuration Form web page. Can access and bookmark the link from the IST Academic Support Computer Reps web page also.
Q: Is there a way not to view some of those bad graphics in Eudora mail message?
R: Pat, yes you could turn off the Preview option so it doesn't display immediately (Tools -> Options -> Viewing Mail -> deselect Preview Pane) and allows you to delete. (Post meeting: you could also try turning off Microsoft Viewer (Tools -> Options -> Viewing Mail -> deselect Use Microsoft's Viewer).
Q: Will watserv1 be upgraded (because SpamAssassin cannot run on watserv1 at this time)?
R: Pat, yes there are plans
There was a remark made that SpamAssassin is not catching spam when it is put in an image in the body of the email – Paul commented that the new version was a bit better at this.
A remark was made about harvesting email addresses from web sites – Paul suggested that people use text instead of a mail to: link, ie. Userid at uwaterloo.ca (ie. snyder at ist)
Pat remarked that Jason had used javascript anti-spam harvester, Jason commented that it was somewhat successful. Can contact Jason Greatrex if you would like the html code.
Q: how can I stop spam previews from showing up?
R: turn off preview option / turn off HTML
R: Paul remarked that the new version of SpamAssassin can turn HTML into text
Pat remarked that if the voice recognition at ext 7777 is not recognizing a name, to please contact Melissa Conrad (x3420) of IST.
Pat reminded people to use the BCC field when sending mail to multiple users to avoid your mail being marked as SPAM by the recipients.
Q: are Microsoft patches available online as well as on the Home & Security CD
R: Paul, yes on UW Software depot (post note: also directly from the Microsoft web site)
Sandy talked about a proposal for a new, more affordable pdf writer
Q: will Adobe Acrobat writer still be available?
R: yes, both will be available – Adobe’s writer has more features, however for most needs Active pdf will be more than adequate
Pat asked how many people maintain an inventory of their hardware/software – about half of the attendees raised their hands
A comment was made that IST was not being notified when a device (ie. PC) was removed from the network. Submit a request@ist so records can be up dated.
Q: is PCinfo utility still available?
R: yes, it is available on the S: drive
Q: are we (Admin. Computer Support Reps) always notified before a SUS update is sent down?
R: most times yes, by Tim – you should have users leave machines powered on – if there is a patch that needs to be pushed down in a hurry users may not be notified
Q: can we find out what DNS entries our department has?
R: Pat, yes I will supply further details in the minutes . Post meeting info: For an individual PC, choose Start -> Run -> type nslookup and press enter -> at the prompt, type set type=ANY and press enter -> at the prompt, type the machine's name, for example, istpc145 and press enter -> note the displayed info --- IP "Address", "CPU" , "OS" , "Location", and "User". The info can also have a "Contact" field with the uwuserid of the computer support person who should be contacted regarding any issue with the computer (most "Users" are not the computer support person so it's a good idea to have a "Contact" person). Make note of the information (or do a screen capture) and when finished, type exit and press enter to close the window. Send any corrections you encounter to hostmaster@cnoc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, you can request the current dns listing of your department's computers, by sending email to hostmaster@cnoc.uwaterloo.ca.
There's also web pages courtesy of Bruce Campbell in Engineering (note: you still need to contact hostmaster@cnoc.uwaterloo.ca to have the information updated):

a self-query web page for dns information (need to be using the computer from which you want the information) - http://ecserv1.uwaterloo.ca/mgr.cgi/dns?mode=lookup
this web page allows you to check your department's computers by simply replacing the URL address's "hostnamehere" with the machine name (simply edit the URL once you go to the web page): http://ecserv1.uwaterloo.ca/mgr.cgi/dns?mode=check,host1=hostnamehere
Bruce Campbell also has a privileged interface, which allows admins to edit the information, and then it sends e-mail automatically to hostmaster@cnoc.You would need to contact Bruce Campbell for this interface.

Pat thanked everyone for coming
The next meeting will likely be held in NH 3001 on a Wednesday.

There was a question after the meeting adjourned about the vacation message replying to spammers (those emails marked as *****SPAM*****). Pat remarked that this has been addressed and dealt with on admmail and to contact her if further problem

Minutes by Heather Wey and Pat Lafranier.

Last updated by Pat Lafranier, October 23, 2003.

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