System Staff Newsletter - April 2012 INTRO --> Welcome to the Stony Brook University, Department of Computer Science System Staff Newsletter. It is our goal to keep all of our students, faculty, staff and community members informed about the great things that the System Staff is doing. The newsletter is monthly and will encompass major initiatives undertaken by the System Staff to support the research and teaching goals of the department. We hope you find our newsletters informative and welcome any feedback that you wish to provide. MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS ---> Eating and Drinking Policy, Cleanliness of Public Labs ====================================================== There have been numerous complaints recently regarding the state of the CS teaching labs, specifically the waste from food and drinks in the rooms. It is the departments policy that there is no food or drink allowed in any of the teaching or public labs that have computers at any time. Instructors and TAs, the department would appreciate your assistance in enforcing this policy while you are using those labs. Additionally, if you are teaching the last class of the day in a room, please make sure that all students are out of the room and the door securely closed before you leave. There have been several incidents recently where teaching labs have been left unsecured for an entire weekend. Sbgwap1 Wireless Network (REMINDER) =================================== A few months back the department deployed a new wireless network system with networks cs_secure & cs_guest. The previous department wireless network system, sbgwap1, will continue to exist but is being transitioned to research functions. All department wireless users are encouraged to connect to one of the new wireless networks as the System Staff will no longer be able to support the use of sbgwap1. New Certificate Service ======================= Stont Brook DoIT has registered with InCommon Certificate Service. There is a new procedure for obtaining digital certificates from DoIT. The service will be managed by DoIT’s Systems Support team at no cost to the departments who use this service. More information can be found in the Faculty Only area of the SSO. If you have further questions regarding this, please feel free to contact us. News and Social Media ===================== For those who have not yet entered the world of social media, join us on or follow us on to get some interesting updates. We have integrated social media with our department website by publishing the latest tweets on the website. Please send email to tweet@cs.sunysb.edu or tweets@cs.sunysb.edu to publicize any news, events, a PhD defense, a paper published at a great conference or journal, a grant received, a seminar hosted, kudos to someone in your class, or whatever else you think is of interest. Please also note that the tweet has a limit of 140 characters. All publications on twitter will appear on the department's facebook page as well. FUTURE ---> Password Reset Features : We will be implementing the last phase of the password reset software solution shortly. This will allow all faculty/staff and students to change, unlock and reset their passwords via a web interface accessible from anywhere you are. Currently, only students have access to this. Lab Updates : Room 2129: The chalkboard is being replaced with a whiteboard and the projection screen is being shifted towards the door to allow use of the projector and whiteboard at the same time. Backup and File Synchronization: A backup and file synchronization service for Mac's is being created. The system will be based upon Chronos and requires a client agent to be loaded on the users Mac. The advantages to Mac users are: backups from anywhere connected on the internet, file synchronization between multiple Macs (users may configure advanced features and functions) and user access to recover files. Minix Infrastructure: The Minix cluster and Minix specifically will be upgraded with newer systems having more RAM and faster CPU. USEFUL INFORMATION ---> Students can reset their windows account by clicking on https://auth01.cs.stonybrook.edu:10443. Check our FAQs which are updated frequently To contact the System Staff send e-mail to RT AT cs DOT stonybrook DOT edu or call the hotline - 2-2772 Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and provide feedback. http://www.facebook.com/sbucompsc http://www.twitter.com/sbucompsc Past Newsletters --> 2012 - March, February, January 2011 - December, November, October, September, August, July, June , May, April, March