Information Technology

Charlie Stevenson

IT DEPARTMENTWhat’s the IT department at IMS do? Who does it serve? Who helps out?

My Role

Responsible for planning, implementation, security, and management of multiple information and communications systems and projects, including voice, data, imaging, Internet, and office automation. Develop annual departmental budgets and corporate IT policies and procedures. Provide technical support and training at all levels of the organization.

People I Serve

• Board of Directors• Founders• Guests• Staff• Teachers• Volunteers• Customers (aka Yogis )

Outside Help & ServicesEric Woudenberg – Dharma Seed

Geof Karlson – Yogi Enhanced System (YES)

Mark Pirani – Electrician

•Expert Laser Services (copiers)•Charter Business (voice & Internet)•Rapid7 (Nexpose)•Gravity Switch (website)•Prevco Audio (sound systems)

•CCB Nonprofits (software)•Citrix (XenServer)•Orange Oil (air conditioners)•Dell (servers)•Provantage (equipment)

Over 60 vendor/service providers including:

WHAT YOU SEEThe visible and tangible aspects of IMS IT

What you see: stuff

• Laptop & desktop computers, iPads, etc• Copiers, fax machines, scanners, printers, labelers• Credit card readers• Hearing devices, microphones, amplifiers,

recording equipment• Cameras, televisions, CD/DVD players, projectors• Conference phones, desktop phones, cell phones,

helpdesk “red” phones, etc

What you see: website

WHAT YOU DON’T SEEThe invisible and/or intangible aspects of IMS IT

What You Don’t See

• Astounding layers of complexity• Vast array of hardware, software and technical

standards & protocols to study and master• Anticipating obsolescence/adoption of new

technologies– rate of technological innovation leading to

dramatically short lifespan of assets and investments in hardware, software, web presence, data formats, storage resources, etc

TIP OF THE ICEBERGHow much are we talking about here?

By the numbers

• 15 wireless access points• 2 VPN firewall routers• 2 dharma talk recorders• 4 fiber media converters• 2 air conditioners• 6 microphones, 2

amplifiers, 2 equalizers, 2 FM transmitters for dharma hall wireless headsets

• 2 phone and voicemail systems

• 2 photo copiers• Fax machines, digital

cameras, video recorder, etc..

• 23 telephone lines• 2 locked fireproof storage

boxes• Phones: 6 cell, 2

conference, 7 emergency, 40 system, 2 helpdesk “red” phones

By the numbers• 6 external drives, 2 network

attached storage (NAS), 2 storage area networks (SAN)

• 37 desktop and laptop computers• 20 servers• 48 displays• 25 network switches• 26 print devices• 39 battery backups• ~11 different operating systems• ~15 programming languages• ~100 username and passwords for

internal systems, vendor websites, etc

• Central anti-virus & software management for all servers and computers

• ~26,500 lines of code for online registration and donation etc

• ~300,000 lines of code under the hood in YES

• Death by acronym:– DNS, DHCP, LDAP/AD, DFS, HTTPS,

MySQL, MS SQL, Subversion, SSH, SAMBA, iSCSI, VLAN, NTP, GPO, MSI, VNC, WSUS, ODBC, IIS, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, ARP, WPA2

• Myriad cyber threat vectors monitored with Nexpose etc

PICTURE ITMy eyes just glazed over can you show me a picture?

Physical Inventory

* Entire inventory not depicted due to space constraints

Can you help me visualize IMS IT from another angle?

VISUALIZE IT

GLIMPSING COMPLEXITYHow do technologies intersect creating challenges for IMS IT?

Case study: Retreat Support

What’s needed? A system that provides on-call help for yogis

after normal operating hours• Needs to be easy to use• Needs to be reliable• Needs to be flexible—given time-off schedule

for respondents (aka retreat support fellows)

Case study: Retreat Support

• Red desk telephone• No buttons• Dials immediately when receiver lifted• Calls Google Voice number• Google Voice rings one or both

cell phones

Case study: Retreat Support

• Rugged cellphone + GPS• Operates in all

conditions• Clear audio• 6 hours of talk time• Rings when red phone

received lifted• Receives notifications

for missed calls

Case study: Retreat Support

Case study: Retreat Support

Case study: Retreat Support

LOOKING AHEAD

Roadmap (Future Planning and Investment)

• Yogi Enhanced System (YES)– succession plan for ongoing enhancements and

maintenance of our mission critical database application as Geof Karlson moves towards retirement

– forward migration planning• Upgrading obsolete wiring at Retreat Center

Questions?