SCN Operations

tasks and resource needs

Please look this list over periodically and write to the hardware list to volunteer to do some item. Ask for help from the list. Challenge for matching commitments ("I'll do this, if you'll do that.") if you like. It will help us stretch.

And ask for partners in accomplishing a task. New volunteers and old volunteers can both benefit, and help SCN make progress with this list, by teaming up with other ops volunteers.

New volunteers should be referred to the opsvol page.

Help us refine and expand the list with items you have noticed that need attention. Write to the OPS coordinator with your changes.

Help us shrink the list by doing it.

Remember to discuss major changes with at least one other ops team member before doing them, and to log all changes in the journal.

Needs are listed in order of immediacy.

Task List:

1. Forging a strong team. Contact Rhodes to help work on this.
   • refining this task list so the items are smaller and more doable.
   • recruiting new experienced sysadmins
     • membership in SUG and Linux group (GSLUG).
     • creating faster method of verifying responsibility/reliability, of new sysadmins.
   • training methods for novice sysadmins (faster better cheaper smaller).
     • figure out some small, short term tasks that new programmers can help with.
   • developing a method for assigning tasks against a known pool of person/hours.
2. Planning for the library move. Talking with library representatives (or operatives). Contact Randy to help with this, Chuck is acting as reference person on this effort.
   • create a team for the task
   • see what can be done before the library announces their plans
   • see what must await the news from them
   • examine alternatives and fallback options
   • do what can be done now.
3. Install security patches on SCN. Randy will do this. (one person job.)
4. Install "Win2k patches" (?) on all machines. Randy! What are these?
5. Establish our own DNS authoritative for our own zone.
6. Improvement of offered mail readers. Includes getting IMAP service ready for general use. Bob is working on IMAP. Contact Steve if you can help with mail readers.
7. Host security (all machines) Contact Kurt.
8. Security policy. Contact JJ.
   • monitor the progress of the draft security policy through the approval&revision phases.
   • get it approved by board & excomm.
   • post it for comment to SCN membership, if board so directs.
   • revision & reapproval, if necessary.
   • plan the implementation.
   • implement.
9. Assist with regular maintenance schedule of backups. Contact Randy or JJ to help with this.
10. Dispose of the large mail file on root. Change sendmail config to put undeliverables elsewhere.
11. Re-structure the user partitions so that we can allow more space per user.
12. Defining the 'stale' and 'defunct' account policy. Setting up the procedures for regularly (once a year perhaps) winnowing out the cruft. Contact Kurt and/or Randy.
13. Setting up Linux boxes. Contact JJ.
    • Get tripwire set up on these while they are still virgin. Start it running from the gitgo; it's a cron job.
    • Set up a firewall.
    • Apache upgrade to 1.3.9 ?
    • Set up a web server on a Linux box.
14. Automating New User Registration directly from CSV file through Perl Script.
15. Moving news to scn3. Defunct Wyman account stops cron jobs.
16. Network restructuring (topology) Contact JJ to contribute to this
    • Network capacity planning.
    • Network security planning. See "host security" above.
17. Setting up PPP. This task awaits completion of the security and network topology tasks. Ken is the contact person for PPP planning.
    • Dial up time limit for PPP. Contact JJ on time limit item.
    • PPP user support.
      • How much help do we provide for users to get connected to the SCN PPP setup with their applications?
        • Do we provide any sort of dialup scripts or configuration information that would get the PPP daemon fired up for them, from various operating systems they might be using?
        • The Vancouver (B.C.) Community Net has been running PPP for a while now. They might have some info about what works for them. Their help pages say they provide some dialup software (Winsock, etc.). See www.vcn.bc.ca. We need to follow up.
      • Do we support any specific TCP/IP application software?
        • Such as Opera or Arachne browsers, WS-FTP, Ewan or CRT telnet terminal programs, Eudora or PC-Pine email, etc.
        • Do we make any of these available for download, preferably with local config files set up for SCN so that they run right out of the box?
    • Taking control of DNS Services (need to ask library if okay). This task may be associated with the library move, or not. Find out.
18. Alternatives to current Freeport interface
    • Chebucto Suite (see victoria community site) Contact Ken. He has the Chebucto CD.
    • see Kurt's post on "port Freeport to Linux" (was on the hardware list).
    • Freenet
19. Fixing the FTP problems.
20. Make a way to get rid of one Sun monitor. This means standardizing the video output of all Suns so the same monitor can be used on any pizza box. Do we have a Sun hardware tech that can do this? Advise Rhodes and he will implement. It would be good to do this before the library move.
21. Creating redundancy in the system. (Mirroring the drives?)

Resources Needed:

Currently have 14 people who contribute regularly.
About 7-9 are most active. Plus a half-dozen new volunteers who are not yet well utilized/introduced.

• Need more people who are experienced and skilled sysadmins.
• Need more hours from the sysadmins we have.
• Need some cash to join some of the Unix groups to recruit sysadmins.
• Need some cash to upgrade the two PCs we have.
• Need a third PC.
• Need a small tech's toolkit to leave at computer room
• Need some nylon ties and wiring labels

Emergency contact list of ops sysadmins and technical volunteers. System outage notification procedures on that page also.

Please send revisions, corrections, objections, deletions, completions, and/or additions to rhodes@scn.org .
last rev 2/20/00