======================== SSCC News, January, 1999 ======================== Inside this issue... The End of VMS Town Meeting January 19th at 12:20 SSCC Training Schedule for Spring Semester Wincenter Update Windows NT Home Directories Implemented December 29, 1998 New SSCC Publications SSCC Spring Semester Consulting Schedule DoIT Terminated Numerous E-mail Accounts -------------- The End of VMS -------------- VMS services in the SSCC will come to an end on December 30, 1999. The SSCC's faculty steering committee has come to the conclusion that VMS services should be phased out during 1999 for the following reasons: 1) To avoid inefficient duplication. The VMS and UNIX clusters in the SSCC's network perform the same functions: user application support, file and print services, email, and Internet services, among others. 2) Some important software (e.g., SPSS) is no longer being developed for VMS and new software is generally developed for Windows and UNIX first and often not for VMS at all. 3) The future versions of VMS will be developed for the particular market niches in which VMS has proven particularly successful: the health care industry, computer chip manufacturing, financial services and lotteries, and telecom billing. The development emphasis will be on manufacturing control and transaction processing, not on scientific computing. 4) It is increasingly difficult to find qualified, affordable personnel for VMS system administration. VMS users should be aware of two deadline dates prior to the end of VMS services on December 30th: 1) Sending and receiving email on VMS will no longer be possible after August 24, 1999 because our license for the PMDF email software expires on that date. 2) Our SPSS and SAS licenses on EAGLE expire on October 31, 1999. We are providing considerable transition resources for VMS users, including a new and easy email conversion process, software and hardware for reading and writing tapes on UNIX, a VMS-style text editor for UNIX, several alternatives for reading and writing email, and documentation and training targeted to VMS users. We will elaborate on the VMS phaseout at the SSCC Town Meeting (see article below) and on the tools available to help VMS users minimize the inconvenience of moving whatever computing they now do on VMS to Windows or UNIX computers. ---------------------------------- Town Meeting January 19th at 12:20 ---------------------------------- There will be an SSCC Town Meeting on January 19th at 12:20 in Social Science 4308. SSCC staff bring three main agenda items to be discussed: o phase out of VMS services (see related article above) o status of the improvements to PC LAN including WinCenter o Current status and future plans for UNIX services. There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion and questions about these items or any other issues you would like to raise. ------------------------------------------ SSCC Training Schedule for Spring Semester ------------------------------------------ This semester and summer we will be concentrating our training efforts on transitioning VMSers, whether it be to networked PCs, UNIX, or a combination of both. All SSCC training sessions require preregistration. If less than three people have preregistered for a course one week prior to its start date, the class may be canceled. To preregister for a class, either send mail to SSCCLASS indicating which class(es) you plan to attend or register through SSCC's web page form (www.ssc.wisc.edu/Sscc/Training/trainreg.htm) You will be reminded about your preregistration through e-mail a day or two before the class begins. Date Time Topic Room Instruct. ---- ---- ----- ---- --------- 2/1 1-2 Accessing PC LAN Resources from X-terms 2470 Arnold 2/3 1-3 Intro to UNIX using VMS Conversion Tools 2470 Rodriguez 2/8,10 12-1 Getting Started w/ STATA on UNIX (2 sessions) 2470 McDermott 2/11 1-2 Accessing/Utilizing Resources on the PC LAN 4452 Brauer 2/17 1-2 Alternatives to VMS Email 4452 Flory 2/18 1:2:30 Using the EUDORA Mailer from your PC 3218 Wald 2/23 2:30-4 Using Netscape Messenger Mailer (PC or UNIX) 7413 Flory 2/26 11-12 Transferring VMS SAS/SPSS Data to UNIX 4452 Hayes 2/TBA 9-10 AMOS for Structural Equation Models: A Demo 6102 Hayes 3/1 1-2 Running SAS on UNIX (for VMS SAS users) 2470 McDermott 3/3 1-2 Running SPSS on UNIX (for VMS SPSS users) 2470 McDermott 3/16 2:30-4 Using the PINE Mailer on UNIX 2470 Wald 3/17 1-2 Moving Data on Off-line Media to other Media 4411 Flory 3/23 2:30-4 Getting Started with ACCESS 3218 Brauer 3/24 11-12:30 Running GAUSS Jobs on UNIX 4452 Vanness/ Rodriguez Note: Any session scheduled in 2470, 7413, or 3218 (SSML) is "hands-on". Descriptions for each of the training sessions listed above may be found in SSCC'c web page (https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/Sscc/Training/trains99.htm). ---------------- Wincenter Update ---------------- The two temporary Wincenter servers will be replaced with stable, long-term, and more powerful systems during Wednesday's downtime (Jan 13th). This is the final step in what has been a long and arduous process. The transition to the "new" Wincenter incorporating Microsoft's Windows NT: Terminal Server Edition began in Fall 1998. Many problems associated with the hardware upgrades purchased to accommodate this transition and with the SAMBA version (network utility allowing PC users to access their Unix home directories) at the time led to a precarious start. After much troubleshooting, the hardware upgrades were returned and replaced with two Dell Workstation systems until new Dell PowerEdge Servers could be ordered. SAMBA updates did remedy the initial problems, but the introduction of NT home directories late December 1998 will add even greater stability. Back to the final step: The Dell PowerEdge Servers have arrived and been configured. We will replace the temporary Dell Workstations Wednesday morning. Please note that any environmental changes you have made (desktop color schemes, shortcuts, additional mapped drives, etc) will not be migrated to the new servers. You will have to redo these modifications. SSCC's goal is to provide a reliable, robust, and easy-to-use Wincenter environment and the latest developments will help us reach this objective. --------------------------------------------------------- Windows NT Home Directories Implemented December 29, 1998 --------------------------------------------------------- The following is a recap of the December 21, 1998 NT home directory announcement: The SSCC's plan is to provide network storage space for all PC users. If your PC has a network connection and you log into the PRIMO domain, you will have an NT home directory. With the use of logon scripts, a drive (U:) will be automatically mapped to an NT disk share upon a successful logon. On this U: drive you will find a directory representing your NT username. You can treat this network path just like a local drive on your system. Check out https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/pcsup/articles.html for answers to more questions you may have. This change has been designed to be as seamless as possible. No actions need be taking on your part other than utilizing the network space provided to you. We are holding off imposing disk quotas until the need arises. If you do experience any problems please contact the consultant or reference our FAQ at the above address." Many people are asking about the "black box" that appears when logging in. This box represents the logon script executing and mapping the necessary drive. No additional action need be taking except to allow the script to complete. We encourage the use of your Windows NT home directory for storing important data and documents. Please check out the FAQ for more pertinent information. --------------------- New SSCC Publications --------------------- The following publications are new SSCC publications available from the Public Terminal Rooms, Consulting, or on-line in SSCGOPHER: How to Write/Read UNIX Compressed SAS Data Sets Directly (How-to #1) Alternatives to VMS Email (1-9) UNIX for VMS USers (7-1) Working with Tapes on the UNIX Tapestation (7-16) Using nu/TPU on UNIX (7-17) ---------------------------------------- SSCC Spring Semester Consulting Schedule ---------------------------------------- SSCC's Spring Semester consulting schedule is now in effect. The schedule is as follows: Day Time Loc. Staff Member Questions -------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday 9-12 4403 Sandra Wald General 1-3 4405 Scott Risberg General 3-4 4405 Deb Brauer General -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday 9-12 4403 Sandra Wald General 1-3 4405 Scott Risberg General 3-4 4405 Deb Brauer General -------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 9-12 4403 Sandra Wald General 1-3 4405 Scott Risberg General 3-4 4405 Deb Brauer General -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday 9-12 4403 Sandra Wald General 1-4 4405 Jeff Hayes General, Stat. Packages -------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday 9-12 4403 Sandra Wald General 1-4 4405 Jeff Hayes General, Stat. Packages -------------------------------------------------------------------- Users needing to speak to a consultant regarding statistical computing issues other than Thursday or Friday afternoons are welcome to drop by Nancy McDermott's office in 4406 Soc. Sci. between 1-3. The SSCC Consulting phone (2-9917) has voice mail for leaving messages when no consultant is on duty. ---------------------------------------- DoIT Terminated Numerous E-mail Accounts ---------------------------------------- Last week, DoIT terminated numerous accounts. As a result, some email to @students.wisc.edu or @facstaff.wisc.edu is now bouncing. If an email message that you have sent is bounced back from DoIT, you should remove this user from your emailing list. If you suspect that DoIT incorrectly closed an account, you should inform the recipient so that the recipient can resolve the problem with DoIT. One oddity: bounces are coming back to SSCC with an odd syntax: the first two letters of the user name are being included as part of the domain name. For example, a mail message to: rudrappa@students.wisc.edu results in a bounce to the sender from: rudrappa@ru.students.wisc.edu This transformation is occurring on the DoIT side of the world and is not an error on the part of the sender or on the part of SSCC.