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January 11, 2001

Measures taken to alleviate Pitt computer networking problems

Pitt's computer network problems have been countered significantly in recent weeks, including improving the stability and efficiency of a popular instructional software program, according to an official in the Provost's office.

Plagued by network disruptions and system failures throughout the fall term, the administration ordered an analysis of network use and engaged a three-pronged strategy to improve network computing performance.

Provost James V. Maher, in an memo issued in October, told deans, directors and department heads that the administration's priority was resolving three issues critical to the operation of academic programs: providing greater bandwidth (network capacity), improving the performance of CourseInfo and extending external network access.

Two of the three priorities have been addressed and the third will be this month, said Robert Pack, vice provost for academic planning and resources management.

"We've had an significant increase in bandwidth," Pack said, "and we've re-configured the processors and re-organized some databases in the network."

Pack said Pitt purchased from the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center the equivalent of 45 Mbps (million bits per second) to power a secondary Internet connection. (Bits per second is the unit measuring a network's capacity for data transmission.) The secondary connection will bring "an alleviation of concurrent usage back-up problems," Pack said. "We now have a different Internet connection for student resident hall users, so there aren't competing pressures on the overall system between the regular University community users and student users."

Student Internet traffic will be prevented from using the general University Internet connection at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.

The restriction applies to on-campus computer lab users as well. All computer users still can access PittNet directly.

Additionally, Pack said, Pitt is increasing bandwidth by a total of 30 Mbps this month; 20 are in place and 10 more will be by the end of January, bringing the University's total network capacity to 125 Mbps.

Pack said Pitt also has improved the CourseInfo system, working in tandem with Blackboard, Inc., the software vendor that owns the CourseInfo copyright.

CourseInfo is a much-used integrated software package that allows faculty to use web pages for instruction. CourseInfo features tools to administer, grade and record quizzes, and facilitates instructors' efforts to send e-mail, transfer files to and from students and manage an on-line gradebook.

About 1,000 Pitt faculty members are trained in use of the software, and the package serves about one-third of the student population, according to the University's technology web site.

In recent weeks, Pitt has upgraded the CourseInfo database indexes, which store, sort and control the flow of information among users.

"We have had no reports of CourseInfo problems [during the first week of the new term] and we anticipate none," Pack said. He added that the latest CourseInfo program, Blackboard 5.0, is expected to be up and running by the fall, in anticipation of greater faculty use.

Pack acknowledged that a contract with an information service provider (ISP) to improve remote network access has not been finalized, but said Pitt is expected to announce a new agreement by the end of January. Negotiations have been stymied throughout the fall.

Under the proposed ISP deal, members of the University community would be given the option of paying a monthly fee for better remote access to their e-mail, the web and other services available through Pitt's network.

Faculty particularly have complained about delays in remote access availability.

The University plans to mail information on ISP subscriber options once the deal is finalized, Pack said.

The provost-ordered network analysis will help guide the technical policy committee that Vice Provost Pack chairs. The committee includes faculty representatives plus staff from Computing Services and Systems Development (CSSD) and the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education.

Following the replacement this month of 176 older analog modems (among the 800 total modems that Pitt maintains) with digital modems, the committee is expected to implement policies enforcing modem connection time limits and the elimination of concurrent connections by single users.

The computer network analysis was completed in November under the direction of Jinx Walton, director of CSSD, who oversees the newly consolidated division that includes CSSD and Network Services.

Among other information, the recently completed analysis of the network showed that:

* The average remote access session time is 41 minutes.

* Connection time for 92 percent of all users is less than 2 hours.

* Despite a 43 percent increase in the modem pool capacity, the saturation point continues to be reached during evening, peak hours (8 p.m. to midnight).

* About 16,000 users access the modem pool monthly.

* About 60 percent of the modem pool usage is by students and 40 percent by faculty and staff.

The data are posted on the University's technology web site (www.pitt.edu/technology.html). The web site also posts up-to-date announcements of computer network news.

–Peter Hart

Filed under: Feature,Volume 33 Issue 9

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