sscc

SSCC News for May 2003

Inside this issue...

UNIX Problems Solved (Again)
SSCC Account Renewal Reminder
Use Condor to Avoid Congestion on KITE
Preventative Maintenance for PCs
New SSCC Publications
DoIT Broadband DSL and Cable Modem


UNIX Problems Solved (Again)

Last month we reported that we had replaced a bad CPU on HAL that was causing it to crash frequently, affecting the entire network. HAL then proceeded to crash again. Last Wednesday we replaced the other CPU and so far it has performed flawlessly.


SSCC Account Renewal Reminder

The deadline for renewing SSCC accounts has come: any accounts not renewed by noon on Tuesday, May 6th will be locked. As of this morning, there were still nearly 275 accounts that have not been renewed. If you have not yet renewed your account, please take a moment to fill out the short form right now. It should take no more than two minutes. Note that you will need to complete this form for EACH user name that you have on the SSCC system. This includes departmental accounts and "email-only" accounts. If you need help identifying what accounts might forward e-mail to your primary account or if you have any other questions about the renewal process that are not answered on the page, please contact Deb Brauer (dbrauer@ssc.wisc.edu) today.


Use Condor to Avoid Congestion on KITE

KITE is a very popular and, especially at this time of the semester, a very busy server. It's also quite powerful, and most of the time it can handle the load. But keep in mind that we also have six servers almost identical to KITE in our Condor flock. Condor is capable of running Stata, SAS, R, FORTRAN, and C/C++ code, and will give your job exclusive use of a processor while it runs. Best of all, there are almost always available processors just waiting for your job.

Submitting Stata and SAS batch jobs to Condor is extremely simple: log in to KITE as usual, and replace the usual stata or sas command with condor_stata or condor_sas. It will then run in the background on a Condor server. For example, replace

stata -b do bigprogram

with

condor_stata -b do bigprogram

and

sas bigprogram

with

condor_sas bigprogram

The only disadvantage to Condor is that it take about 30 seconds for a job to be assigned to a server before it can run. Thus it's not suitable for small jobs where you want the results right away. But for big jobs--the ones that cause slowdowns on KITE--it is ideal. For more information please see An Introduction to Condor.


Preventative Maintenance for PCs

Is your computer running slower than normal? If so, the SSCC may be able to help. We can come to your PC and make it as good as new! Here is what we will do:

So how do you take advantage of this service? All you have to do is send an email to consult@ssc.wisc.edu and let them know that you want some Preventative PC Maintenance done. Its that easy to have your old computer back to its new self!


New SSCC Publications

Attachment Security in Outlook Express

A recent update by Microsoft changed the default security settings for attachments in Outlook Express. If you've been having trouble opening attachments, this publication will show you how to put things back the way they were.

SSCC Traveler's Guide

If you're planning on travelling, whether to a conference in a neighboring state or to do field work on another continent, this publication will help you get your computer up and running online. Of course once you're online you'll probably want to look at A Remote User's Guide to SSCC Resources to find out just what you can do remotely. Probably more than you think!


DoIT Broadband DSL and Cable Modem

DoIT will be terminating their Broadband DSL and Cable Modem (Bucky Bandwidth) services as of June 30, 2003 and plan to have a new contract in place by that time with Charter Communications for cable modem service. These state contracts generally allow for a discounted service fee and provide a means to pay for the connections using a University requisition. New orders are no longer being accepted for these services and customers who have not moved off by 6/30/03 will be terminated on that date. For more information, visit DoIT's Campus Network Services web pages. If you have questions or concerns about these services please contact Cory Chrisinger (cchrisin@ssc.wisc.edu).


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