Newsletter
Volume 2 - Issue 1
This newsletter will highlight some of the activities of the TTUHSC IT group in Lubbock and their continuing effort to improve the services offered to its students, faculty and staff.
Departmental Updates from Technology Services:
Systems Support
For the past 3 weeks, Systems Support staff has been busy with the conversion of approximately 80 Institutional servers to the new IP addressing scheme and the removal of Pathworks from the servers.
Efforts are underway to complete the Active Directory installation which will allow for increased collaboration between the TTUHSC campuses, as well as providing increased security and ease of use to the user. Systems Support staff are also finalizing the use of FirstName.LastName@ttuhsc.edu email address for all faculty, staff, and students and the development of a master email database. This database will increase responsiveness to customer requests, while easing the maintenance requirements with the management of such a large number of email addresses.
During the last quarter, Systems Support processed approximately 2,545,000 incoming emails and 2,450,000 outgoing emails.
Operations
Recently, Operations staff has been engaged in changing IP addresses for all the servers here and at the regional campuses following the implementation of the new Institutional IP addressing scheme.
The Operations staff has also been busy installing servers in the newly acquired Dell tower while retiring the older servers that are now technologically obsolete and rather bulky when compared to the new flat servers.
A lot of work has also been put into compiling a master email database for the Institution. This is an important step toward fully enabling the use of the FirstName.LastName@ttuhsc.edu email addressing format and the global address list.
Security
An agreement has been reached with Network Associates to provide virus protection for all TTUHSC computers. McAfee Anti-virus Scan will be replacing F-Secure as the official anti-virus software on all Institutional computer systems that run all versions of Windows, Unix/Linux, and Macintosh Operating Systems.
The McAfee Anti-virus Scan has been made available for home use from the following site https://www.ttuhsc.edu/it/security/McAfee/.
For more information, please contact the Help Desk at 743-2875 or email its@ttuhsc.edu.
PC Support / Help Desk
PC Support is currently involved with several Institutional projects, including:
- Upgrading Windows 98 computers to Windows XP to resolve connectivity issues some Windows 98 machines were experiencing when trying to connect to network shares. Also, after June 30, 2003, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 98. If you have a Windows 98 machine, please contact the Help Desk at 743-2875 to schedule an upgrade.
- Assisting the Information Technology Security Team with the testing and installation of McAfee Anti-virus software, which will replace F-Secure.
- Building a drive image for all new Institutional Dell Desktops. This will greatly reduce the setup time for new computers, as they will come with commonly used HSC software pre-installed, including Windows XP, Office XP, TechFIM, TechSIS, IDX, PowerChart, and Acrobat Reader.
- Assisting Networking and Systems with the Institutional IP migration to the new IP addressing scheme. This conversion took approximately 3 weeks.
Departmental Updates from Information Services:
The Web Development Team has been working to migrate the web content from TTHSC10 to the new web server environment. The content has been moved and is being updated as users make changes. We anticipate that the new web environment will be online on or before November 1. Users will see increased performance and a newly implemented web content organization that reflects the organizational structure of the institution.
Other projects in the works include:
- Developing and publishing an online clerkship and course evaluations with the School of Medicine,
- Developing an online email directory with Systems Support,
- Fine tuning and conducting TTU SGA elections,
- Developing an improved web presence for I.T. that provides information and better serves its customers, and
- Developing TTUHSC web site redesign proposals in cooperation with the schools and regional campuses.
Departmental Updates from HealthNet:
Telecommunications
Efforts are underway to upgrade the PC's in all HealthNet teaching podiums to current technology. Twenty-eight (28) teaching podiums will receive new PC's loaded with Windows XP and the Office XP suite. Five (5) existing PC's will be upgraded with additional features and will also have Windows and Office XP installed.
The new PC's are currently being configured and loaded with new software and security features, and are being readied for installation. The overall upgrade is expected to be completed by the end of November 2002.
Information Technology is actively seeking ways to increase its responsiveness to the TTUHSC community. As we strive to improve our services, we encourage constructive input from those whom we support. Please feel free to send your comments or suggestions to Assistant Vice President of Technology Services, Joe Green, at joe.green@ttuhsc.edu or to Assistant Vice President of Information Services, Chip Shaw, at chip.shaw@ttuhsc.edu.
Comments about the newsletter should be addressed to the I.T. Quarterly Editor, Ron Merritt at ron.merritt@ttuhsc.edu.