1/8/99 Cornell University 1

Distributed Computing Support Models

Cliff Frost University of California, Berkeley

Director of Communication and Network Services

Annie Stunden Cornell University

Director of Academic Technology Services

CSG - January 8, 1999

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 2

Distributed Support Models

Cliff Frost

Director, Communication & Network Services

UC Berkeley

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 3

History 1979One mainframe, 6 minis

One consulting office, one phone #Dozen or so consultants

Some GeneralistsSome Specialists

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 4

History 1989

Two (or so) mainframesThousands of network nodes

Single consulting office eliminatedMultiple phone #s for help

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 5

History 1989-99

AAAACCCCCKKKK!

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 6

Today 1999Still no single consulting office More fragmented than everHelp Desks tend to be System or

Application specific

Still, useful things have evolved...

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 7

Today (examples) (still 1999)

“Mainframe” help: supplied by group supporting system

Financial System Help: ‘Functional’ consultants vs ‘System’ consultants

Student System help: Graduate or Undergrad???

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 8

Today (egs cont) (still 1999)

Dial-in & Email help:Student: Drop-in peer consulting officeStaff: email to drmicro or phone (10-12

and 2-4 Mon-Fri)Faculty: email and dial-in any time to

staff offices$3/mth/acct from modem service $

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 9

Today (egs cont) (still 1999)

Desktop:DOCS (Pay as you go)Central support available for ~$650/yr

• little application help

L&S has similar service w/app helpHire someoneOutsource to local vendor

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 10

Today (still 1999)

Several Informal Staff Groups:micronetnovnetusagwebnetcomp-mgrs

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 11

Today (still 1999)

A Couple of Formal Staff Groups:ASSCS

• Web Steering Committee• Student/Administrative Services

ITATF• DHAA Task Force• Security Task Force• etc

1/8/99 University of California, Berkeley 12

Comments ITATF gives formal, effective path

for input from department staffASSCS gives path for top

AdministratorsCheap (but NOT free) modems

solved problemDollars for Desktop support works

1/8/99 Cornell University 13

Distributed Computing Support at Cornell

CSG - Jekyll Island, Georgia

1/8/99 Cornell University 14

Challenge three years ago

Build a distributed support model Additional funding = $0

1/8/99 Cornell University 15

Review of what was

Rump groups CCD’s - campus computing directors Net-admins Met periodically Used mailing lists

Numbers About 250 people in central org - CIT Another 250 computing folks “out there” (as identified by title) Unknown number of other folks with different titles

1/8/99 Cornell University 16

Three years ago

Not a lot of friendliness between central and department folks

Clearly - there already was distributed support Not orderly Not consistent Not formalized Not related to central initiatives

1/8/99 Cornell University 17

So, what did we want?

A way for support providers to communicate with the central organization

A way for central folks to communicate to the department folks

A way to leverage central and distributed resources - collaborative working arrangements

Better relationships - between and among us all

1/8/99 Cornell University 18

Why??

Major administrative implementation - distributing responsibility - department buy-in and support critical t success

Way to gain acceptance of guidelines and policies Reasonably consistent network environment Share the workload

1/8/99 Cornell University 19

How do we move toward this?

Become more people friendly - simple but true. This means giving up the attitude that “we know best”.

Worked to be welcomed to CCD meetings (rather than specifically excluded)

Encouraged the troops to attend the net-admin meetings Volunteered to be part of programs

1/8/99 Cornell University 20

And more formally?

Set up an information technology officers council. Prepared a proposal about what and who Guideline and standard setting group Key person in each school responsible for many

IT related functions Asked Dean’s to appoint an associate Dean Dean’s made assignments reluctantly

1/8/99 Cornell University 21

Brought these people together (letter from Provost)

Not eager to participate Not really willing to contribute - puzzled about

why they were there (with a couple of exceptions) Somewhat contentious Not going anywhere (in my mind, at least not

quickly)

1/8/99 Cornell University 22

Cornell VPIT left Called one more meeting Thought it was awful and just let it fade

away However keep a mailing list where

periodically send out relevant information

1/8/99 Cornell University 23

Go, Team 2K!!

No ITO Council - let’s try something else Proposal to develop a formal group of the

lead IT folks in the schools Lead folks identified by the folks that had

been identified as ITOs Tried to go with one key person per school

(again trying to get attention paid to IT stuff at highest level in schools)

1/8/99 Cornell University 24

Ended up with a couple of key folks in the large schools

Brought these folks together - first focus - what was needed in schools and departments to make new admin systems work - real work to do

Group jelled - meets monthly - real information sharing forum

1/8/99 Cornell University 25

After a while, extended to folks beyond schools - to key admin departments too

Challenge is research centers - too many folks who see themselves as key in the centers

This group on a role in terms of making things work across campus, across organizations

1/8/99 Cornell University 26

Sample Meeting AgendaAugust 1998

Year 2k update COLTS II (Cornell on-line time system) Miscellaneous updates

AppleTalk demise discussion Upgrade to modem pool Follow up on outstanding site license questions First campus-wide support provider meeting

1/8/99 Cornell University 27

Campus-wide support providers group

Used existing net-admin group as core of this Based on relationships established, had been

asked to manage the mailing list Lots happening before the fall semester began,

good time to try to get folks in a room Set up an agenda - invited folks (a couple of

hundred) to a lunch meeting. Bought pizza - lots of it

1/8/99 Cornell University 28

More than 200 folks showed up - from central organizations and from schools and departments

This was coordinated and led by the central help desk manager

Discussed some similar to Team 2K agenda Folks asked that this be regular - agreed to

participate in agenda setting - and said would come without pizza.

1/8/99 Cornell University 29

Technology tools that make this work Bear Access - delivered with new

infrastructure last summer. Great campus participation in test - and ongoing debugging

CBT - Folks feel they are really getting a service from us as a result of this contract - and lots of folks are getting smarter

Electronic mailing lists; no more secrets; tell stuff folks early; hear stuff early

1/8/99 Cornell University 30

New services that have made us more relevant

Site license coordination - including bringing in MS Select

Putting in place good pricing for hardware - (Dell deal resulted in store negotiating better prices with other vendors too)

CBT - and collaboration with other campus trainers

Technology forums

1/8/99 Cornell University 31

Important Collaborations

Bear Access COLTS Hardware guidelines Building technology spaces Project 2000 (P2K)

1/8/99 Cornell University 32

Central Services for Constituents

Undergrads (except in specific schools such as Hotel School) Help desk Res-net support Dial-in support Public labs Personal web space Training

1/8/99 Cornell University 33

For faculty- Academic technology center - support for teaching and

learning Some schools do similar work Some schools have complementary services What’s our relationship with Office of Distance Learning and

their work with faculty?• Itchy, sometimes collaborative, sometimes combative, not really

resolved.

No real support for researchers No support for UNIX users

1/8/99 Cornell University 34

Administrators Don’t provide hands on productivity products

training anymore Help desk as first and last resort Enhanced support/relationships with end-user

support providers

1/8/99 Cornell University 35

Do we need more? Levels of support very different in different

places. CS has a substantial and talented IT group School of Art, Architecture and Planning - has one

person - and we provided seed money for this hire. College of Arts and Science has a few central

folks - relations with department folks within the college vary - and department support levels range from nil to hearty.

1/8/99 Cornell University 36

Do we have a structure that works?

Sort of. It works better than it did. There are still folks out there who want to

pretend there is no central organization or central services.

We are getting better about being collaborative - about inviting folks to dance.

1/8/99 Cornell University 37

As a result, work is less redundant - and we are probably saving the campus money.

It’s easier to implement best practices campus-wide

Necessary folks are on-board for big initiatives.

1/8/99 Cornell University 38

Holes

A service to manage local area networks and servers

Security officer - an empty slot right now Those departments where more support for

helping folks keep their machines working

1/8/99 Cornell University 39

Filling the holes

All it takes is money (Campus is ready to work collaboratively;

funds needed to put in place some missing resources and services).

1/8/99 Cornell University 40

How shall we partner? That’s you and that’s I. When you know you know best And I’m acting sly…………….

First - Get over it!! Second - Show us both the money!!