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This page contains short descriptions of changes and additions to the Lab-supported computing environment.
The CS Lab will be upgrading all supported Linux machines to a new version, based upon 64–bit Fedora 15, starting late July, 2011. A Beta version is now available for testing, and will be available until approx. July 26. Rollouts to Lab managed machines will take place from end of beta through most of fall quarter, 2011, with as many machines as possible being upgraded before the end of September. End of support for the previous (F13-based) CSE Linux version will be November 30, 2011. Details.
In the month of February, a CS Lab version of Kerberos 5 (release 1.9) will be distributed on CSE Linux F13. This will replace release 1.7.1, which cannot run as KDC servers on F13 due to database incompatibility. Release 1.9 has added facilitaties for cryptographic keys which are needed to recognize our database and for migrating away from weak, single-DES keys. There are major changes coming with the upgrade which require special attention by system administrators during installation. Kerberos power users may also have to make changes, but for most users, no action will need required. Details.
A CSE lab-provided Linux virtual machine (VM) is now available. The VM runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. It is essentially a CSE lab Linux desktop that you own, implemented as software, running as an application on your system. The VM is configured very similarly to a CSE lab Linux desktop: the same software comes pre-installed. The VM also is set up to provide easy remote connectivity to CSE systems. It allows you to mount your CSE home directory (or any other piece of the CSE file system that you want).
In the spectrum between "unsupported" and "fully supported," the VMs occupy a new space: "pretty much supported." Because the base configuration was set up by CSE, we expect most deployed instances to be very similar and free of configuration peculiarities. While it isn't guaranteed that we can resolve every problem you might have, it's much more likely than for problems experienced on a personal system you configured yourself. Details.
The CS Lab will be upgrading all supported Linux machines to a new version, based upon Fedora 13, starting late July, 2010. A Beta version is now available for testing, and will be available until approx. July 21. Rollouts to Lab managed machines will take place from end of beta through most of fall quarter, 2010, with as many machines as possible being upgraded before the end of September. End of support for the previous (F11-based) CSE Linux version will be November 24, 2010. Details.
The name of the CSE wireless network (SSID) has changed from "UniversityOfWashingtonCSE" to "CSE-Local" (case sensitive). The sole purpose of this change (effective Dec 21, 2009) is to reduce confusion in areas of the building that are also covered by network "University of Washington," operated by campus central computing, especially on devices that aren't capable of displaying an unlimited number of network name characters.
This change will have either no or little effect on you. In the worst case, your device might have been automatically connecting to the network "UniversityOfWashingtonCSE" whenever it's available. It may not automatically connect when the only network it sees is "CSE-Local," or when it sees multiple, public networks none of which have previously been flagged as preferred by you.
If your device fails to connect in places that you expect it to, simply follow the usual procedures to connect to a wireless network, choosing "CSE-Local." Having done that one time, your future experiences should be identical to what would have happened absent a network name change. (That's legalize to mean we aren't fixing any problems you might already be experiencing, we're just not adding to them.)
The CSE Laboratory is very excited to announce that beginning in Autumn 2009, we will be offering "CSE Cloud Services" to all members of the department. We have partnered with both Microsoft and Google, to provide email and collaborative apps in their cloud-based services. These services are powered by Google Apps and Live@edu, and will be accessible using your CSE identity ("CSENetID"), and can be used for your CSE email service. Details
The CS Lab will be upgrading all supported Linux machines to a new version, based upon Fedora 11, starting early August, 2009. A Beta version is now available for testing, and will be available until approx. August 4. Rollouts to Lab managed machines will take place through early December, 2009, with as many machines as possible being upgraded before the end of September. End of support for the previous (F9-based) CSE Linux version will be December 4, 2009. Details.
The CS Lab will be upgrading all supported Linux machines to a new version, based upon Fedora 9, starting mid-July, 2008. A Beta version is now available for testing, and will be available until approx. July 15. Rollouts to Lab managed machines will take place through September 2008. End of support for the previous (F7-based) CSE Linux version will be Sep 30, 2008. Details.
The CS Lab will be upgrading all supported Linux machines to a new version, based upon Fedora 7, starting mid-August, 2007. A Beta version is now available for testing, and will be available until approx. Aug 10. Rollouts to Lab managed machines will take place through September 2007. End of support for the previous (FC5-based) CSE Linux version will be Sep 28, 2007. Details.
One of the photocoiers in the main copy room (CSE 103) can be used to convert hardcopy documents into pdfs that are delivered to your email inbox (or saved to a file). Coupled with the Auto Document Feeder, life is grand. You will need to login with your CSE NetID, to ensure reliable delivery. See Document Scanning Services for more information.
The CS Lab will be upgrading all supported Linux machines to a new version, based upon Fedora Core 5, starting 15 July 2006. A Beta version is now available for testing, and will be available until July 15. Rollouts to Lab managed machines will take place through September 2006. End of support for the previous (FC4-based) CSE Linux version will be Sep 29, 2006. Details.
CUPS implementation of Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) is being deployed. Two Unix LPRng print servers are replaced by a CUPS print server and Unix CUPS print clients are installed with CSE Linux upgrade. Older system using LPRng will still be able to print, but LPRng printer (-Z) options will no longer be honored. Details.
Windows printing continues spooling to Windows print servers and then to the Unix CUPS print server via lpd protocol. A new method of printing from Windows via samba and CUPS with IPP is available for testing, and expected to be deployed by winter quarter.
The CS Lab will be upgrading all supported Linux machines to a new version, based upon Fedora Core 4 during the waning days of summer. A Beta version will be available for testing for at least two weeks, starting July 25. Rollouts to Lab managed machines will take place Aug 8-Sep 28, 2005. End of support for the previous CSE Linux version will be Sep 20, 2005. Details.
The lab is working to halt the leakage of email addresses from our web. A new version of the email script that's used in the footer of CSE "orthodox" web pages has been deployed; this version obfuscates email addresses and doesn't require or tolerate email addresses with the (@cs.washington.edu) domain included. Content providers may use this email address to graphic tool to help obfuscate email addresses. Details.
SP2 is a significant upgrade to Windows XP. It includes many security enhancements, most notably the new Windows Firewall; also an improved wireless interface, and Windows Tablet PC Edition 2004. Upgrades to SP2 will happen automatically for virtually all machines in CSE (with forced reboot), during the week of Aug 16, 2004. You will have to upgrade your laptop and your home machine yourself. Details.
The certificate authority used to sign the SSL certificate on www.cs.washington.edu is now UW C&C CA; formerly we had used a commercial signer. Users will encounter a warning when they first encounter this certificate (that is, when they first visit https://www.cs.washington.edu/) unless they have installed the root certificate for UW C&C CA. You can do that by browsing here and choosing the "install" option. The certificates used on many of our other servers-- and on many other UW servers-- are also signed by UW C&C CA, so installing the root certificate can potentially allow you to avoid a large number of warnings.
Fileservers bald, dark, fury, and jack are migrating to new hosts coco, skyo, echo, and tebo-- respectively. Details. 18 September 2003 update.
The machines June and Ward will be upgraded and their names changed. Details.
As part of the effort to eliminate network
transmission of plain-text passwords, rlogind will no
longer prompt for your password. Only .rhosts-based
authentication/authorization will be allowed. Note that host
addresses outside the cs.washington.edu domain are
not allowed in .rhosts files. Therefore you can no
longer user rlogin for remote access to CSE hosts. For secure
alternatives to rlogin, see the page reference above.
We didn't lie: cleartext password telnet was, indeed, discontinued.
An important change to our computing infrastructure will take place soon:Well before that date, you should:
- A new mechanism that allows secure (no cleartext password) login sessions to our Unix systems from any standard browser (available now).
- A new policy: cleartext password telnet to our systems will be discontinued starting June 23.
- Install and use a secure connection client on machines you use regularly.
- Learn how to use Kerberos-enabled telnet clients.
These changes are the first steps in a summer-long journey to eliminate cleartext passwords in all network-based services.
Two new Linux (UNIX/NFS) research file servers, administered by the systems group, have been installed and will replace the current AFS file servers. On Sunday, February 4, 2001, all AFS volumes will be copied from the AFS servers to the NFS servers by the support group. On Sunday February 18, 2001 the LAST BACKUP of the departmental AFS filesystems will be taken; if you have an AFS account you may continue to use those servers, but after that date anything you store there may be lost permanently if there is some type of system failure. On Sunday April 1, 2001 the AFS servers will be powered down for good. After that date restores from AFS backup tapes will not be possible. For an executive summary, as well as complete details, visit the AFS Beginner's Guide.
The system alert system has been integrated into WREQ, the request and problem tracking system for the department. This change was made in response to requests for improvements in communicating system alerts. The new scheme allows multiple system alerts to be "on" at the same time; it also allows system alerts to be commented on, resolved, and stored in a searchable database along with all other requests. A system alert is distinguished from other requests by a special "System Alert!" priority (numerical value 90). Links from the main CSE page, CSL page, and Support page now point to the new system alert page.
A new tool that allows user management of Unix groups. To deal with the problem of the small limit on the number of groups Unix associates with a process, the tool lets you select a subset of all groups you are in to be your "login groups." Additionally, users can "own groups," and group owners can add and remove other users as members of those groups. See the GrpAdmin annoucement for an overview, and the full documentation for further details.
A wireless network now provides mobile access to the network in and around Sieg, at speeds up to 11kbps. It is not intended to replace your regular network connection, but will let you roam in the general vicinity of Sieg with your laptop or palmtop and stay connected. You'll need to add some hardware and software, and register your machine for wireless use (online registration coming soon.) Learn more here.
A 7'x13' video wall has been installed in Room 322, for use in networking and graphics research, and for making video presentations in the conference room. Many kinks remain to be worked out, and it will eventually be drivable from a touchpanel in the conference room. In the meantime, if you have some need for the video wall, please contact Rod Prieto.
Over the summer, instructional labs and the department's Windows server infrastructure will be migrating from NT 4.0 to Windows 2000, We will be using Active Directory, and linking password authentication of Unix and Windows to a single (Kerberos) database. Individuals wishing to upgrade their PCs to Windows 2000 can contact support@cs for further information.
Thanks to generous donations from Intel, approximately 30 new PCs (733HMz and 800MHz Pentium IIIs) are being added to the two Instructional Labs, replacing older PCs and ancient X-terminals. (X-emulator packages available on all PCs in the Labs provide access to Unix cycle servers.) Information about all instructional laboratory facilities can be found here.
The Unix cycle farm has been augmented with a set of faster machines (500MHz & 800MHz), and upgraded to the Redhat 6.2 version of Linux. This set of servers is available for general use (e.g., by people with NT boxes on the desk.) More information is available here.
A new version of Linux -- Redhat 6.2 -- is now available for installation on Linux machines in the department. CVS has been added as part of the standard suite of installed software on Linux systems. Other standard apps have also been updated (e.g., GNU Emacs, TeX/LaTeX, and Netscape.) Parts of the Unix cycle farm is now running 6.2. Individuals may request an upgrade on their desktop machines by contacting Nancy Johnson Burr.
The Department's new large-format color printer will produce prints up to 36" wide and arbitrarily long, and is now available for general use in Sieg 407. Please read about it before you attempt to use it. Avoid a last-minute crunch and print your Affiliates poster early!
www.cs.washington.edu is now a newer and faster box than it was until yesterday- a Pentium II-400 with 256MB memory vs. a Pentium Pro-200 with 128MB of memory. The OS has also been upgraded, from Linux 2.0.36 to Linux 2.2.9. And, the web server is Apache 1.3.9, up from 1.3.6.
If you have questions about the department's Y2K plans, please see this announcement for details.
Effective today, you will be able to read CSE local newsgroups from non-departmental machines. Please see the full announcement for complete details.
Check any print queue from the comfort of your browser at http://www.cs.washington.edu/htbin-post/lab/lpq.cgi
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