Fortunately, there is now a solution!  The Juniper Network SSL gateway that ACNS has set up has a (currently) unpublished feature called NetConnect.  NetConnect will allow a full tunnel to be created through the SSL gateway.  The way you access this unpublished feature is to append ‘netconnect’ after the SSL URL which creates the following:

https://secure.colostate.edu/netconnect

You will log in as usual with your CSU eID but will now notice a new section at the bottom of the page called ‘NetConnect’.  You will also see a ‘Start’ button on the right side of this section.  Clicking on this will create the secure tunnel onto campus, allowing you to run the Pangea connection application!  Of course, the first time you run this option you will need to install the Juniper NetConnect client – this only takes a few minutes though.

Enjoy!

I have a new computer, how can I remove all the CRAP that came preinstalled?

I have an older computer, how can I speed it up?

I will share with you a little IT secret, and that is CCleaner.  In short, this program optimizes your system, by removed “crapware” that comes preinstalled on your new machine, cleaning up your Windows registry, as well as trashing temporary files that are not needed.  Oh, and it is totally free!  So, the next time you want to optimize an older computer, or polish up your brand new machine by wiping that crapware off – give CCleaner a try.  The only drawback is for Mac users, since this is a Windows only computer.  Luckily Macs don’t come with much crapware – so you shouldn’t be too disappointed.

http://www.ccleaner.com

http://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/sites/bioit-faq/2009/08/24/what-is-my-quota-limit-on-pangea-and-how-do-i-check-it

If you reach your limit you will received something similar to “Disk Full” error from your operating system when you attempt to write to it.  You can monitor the real time usage of your various group quotas using My Biology’s ‘Pangea Information’ tool.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and as always, Enjoy!

I will be using this post to update you on the progress. We begin at 7:00pm tonight!

6:58pm – I am about the begin – it looks like everyone is off of Pangea (which is good).  The first thing is to turn Samba off, and run a sync script to make a current copy of all data from the live Pangea to the Secondary (soon to be Primary) storage devices.  This will take about 30 minutes to complete.

7:02pm – Synchronization has begun.  The main upgrade tonight is that we will be connecting our storage device to the Pangea controller server via a technology called iSCSI.  This should improve the server to storage and vice versa performance.  We are also increasing the storage capacity.

7:30pm – Synchronization is complete.  I will now commence the swap.  Hopefully the next time I post it will be to let you know all is well!

7:42pm – The swap went great!  All Pangea services have been restored.  Please let me know as soon as possible if you notice anything strange.  Thanks and have a great weekend!

Unfortunately for us, Pangea uses SAMBA to share its files.  So, we have been experiencing these symptoms, primarily the hanging of Finder when attempting to browse through sub-directories within your Pangea space.  For the past couple of months since Snow Leopard has been released, I have been patiently monitoring several forum threads for a solution as well as silently hoping that the releases of 10.6.1 and 10.6.2 would address and fix these issues automatically.  This has not happened.

On the other side, these forum threads have provided a solution to this problem which I have implemented on the Pangea server.  This solution was to remove a line in the Pangea SAMBA configuration file that prevented certain files from being created by Apple client computers (those of you connecting to Pangea with your Macintosh computers).  This line is called the ‘veto file’ setting is now turned off and Macintosh computers will start freely placing these strange files onto the Pangea spaces they access.  These files include .DS_Store, .AppleDesktop, .AppleDouble, and .Trashes to name just a few.  These files will not be visible to Macintosh computers, but will start showing up in the file lists for Windows computers.  The important thing is that this has solved the SAMBA access issues with Finder.

So, for the end users who glaze over with the above technical explanation – Snow Leopard can now access Pangea normally, but will be creating strange files and folders (.DS_Store, .AppleDesktop, .AppleDouble, .Trashes, etc.) which will only be viewable by Windows clients on default.

Thank you for your patience with this, and I will remain optimistic that at some point the future I can re-enable the ‘veto file’ line.  Enjoy!

“Now that we’re all back at work with driveways cleared of snow, it’s time to realize that the weather didn’t stop the spammers and phishers. While I try not to fill your inboxes with warnings about every single phishing attempt, this one is widespread enough that I thought it warranted a note.

Facebook is experiencing a fairly large-scale password-reset exploit. Spammers are sending out notices for people to reset their password, or notifying people that their password has already been changed and is attached as a document. CSU has seen some of the second version, encouraging the user to open the password attachment.

Please take this opportunity to remind your users of good email self-policing behavior:

1) Be suspicious of all attachments, even from people you know
2) Never reply to an email asking for your username and password
3) Never open an attachment that claims to contain your password

For more tips, see my “Dirty Dozen Clues to Avoid Phishing Attempts”… http://www.acns.colostate.edu/?page=security_dozen“

If you are suffering from the 11.0.4 SEP installation that has disabled your Windows Firewall you must do one of the following when upgrading to SEP 11.0.5:

• - Manual Intervention – upgrade to SEP 11.0.5 by downloading the installer from the link below and running it.  Then turning on your WIndows Firewall from within the Control Panel manually.
• - Manually Uninstall SEP 11.0.4 first, then download and install SEP 11.0.5

SEP 11.0.5 can now be downbloaded at the following URL: http://www.acns.colostate.edu/?page=downloads_sls_free

Sorry to all the Snow Leopard users – it still looks like January 2010 for version 10.3 to be released.

In our academic environment Twitter can be very useful in the following ways.  Twitter use can be split into two camps depending on who you are; you may fall into one or the other, or even both.

Twitter Follower
Most of the average Twitter use is simply following and reading posts that are posted by the Twitter users you follow.  Typically, you will have a list of twitter users that you follow and you can at any point check on those entries to read their content.  Since their content is limited (140 characters) you can quickly read and filter though a ton of information.  So, as a Twitter follower, one can be informed of events, special offers, interesting articles, tips and tricks for various services, and up to the minute news.

Twitter Content Provider
As a Content Provider you are responsible for creating content that you post to your followers on Twitter.  In some sense everyone can be a content provider if you use Twitter as a Social Networking tool.  This is accomplished by updating your life to your friends and family that follow you.  Most of Twitter content circulates around posting links and news and the distribution is amplified by “Re-Tweets” (noted by RT or Via).  RTs allow a user to resend a Tweet they received from an account they follow to all of their followers.  Good content is then RTd over and over again reaching more and more Twitter accounts.  RTs are a way for someone to vouch for another Twitter account, much the same way Google Pagerank works when one page “links” to another page.  These RTs usually end in more accounts following the original sender (due to the valuable content they have provided) and in the end allows the Twitter accounts that are sending out valuable content to reach more and more people.  In the end, those with the more valuable content will have the most followers (at least this is how it should be).

Accessing Twitter
The most basic way to access your Twitter account is through the Twitter website at http://www.twitter.com.  However, with the increase in popularity that Twitter has enjoyed recently there has been an incredible surge in the creation of new client software for whatever device you are using.  On my work computer, I have been using Tweetdeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta).  On my smart phone (iPhone) I have been using a free app called Twitterrific (http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific).  With this combination I am able to send and receive tweets with ease from wherever I am.   What Twitter clients are you using?

My personal Twitter experience revolves around the Twitter account for BioIT.  BioIT has been using Twitter under both the Follower and Content Provider roles consistently since around late August.  I have refined the accounts I follow through trial and error.  If I follow an account and it then spams out post after post – I usually un-follow them.  I now have a concise group of accounts that are both creating valuable new content as well as RTing with discretion – only valuable and relatively new content should be RTd.  If I see an account send a dozen RTs out in a short period of time, they had better be amazing conent – otherwise it is just annoying.  Twitter has been valuable to me in that I receive all of my IT related news and events quickly (in terms of reading through all new Tweets in the morning), and in real time – since my Twitter clients are alerting me of new tweets every minute or so (that is – if there are new tweets).

The BioIT Twitter account is attentive to content that deals with end user micro-computing, tips and tricks, and information technology.  These topics must also be valuable to someone in our Academic/Research environment.  I also occasionally post about super cool new gadgets or technology that I feel most will appreciate.  My new content comes from the BioIT weblog and BioIT FAQ library.  All in all, I think the BioIT Twitter account would be valuable to anyone from Colorado State University.  Feel free to follow BioIT at http://www.twitter.com/bioit.

Let me know what you think about Twitter.  Enjoy!

I have created some instructions on how a user can continue to work from home by setting up Remote Desktop on their office computer.  Remote Desktop will allow your computer at home to look and feel exactly like the computer you are connecting to (Your office computer in this case).  This includes having access to all the resources (Pangea etc.) that you had on your work machine.  There are a few requirements of course:

• - Power.  You cannot work from home if the power is out.
• - You have a Cable or DSL Internet connection at home.  Dial up will not provide adequate bandwidth for this to be useful.
• - Your office computer is running Microsoft Windows XP or newer.
• - Your office computer is left ‘On’ when you are not in the office and that it does not go into ‘Standby’ or ‘Hibernation’ after a specific amount of time.

The important action item for these directions is that we get this taken care of BEFORE you are forced to remain home.  It is important that these steps are also tested ahead of time to make sure everything is set up properly.

These directions take advantage of the Juniper SSL Gateway that ACNS implemented a few years ago.  The reason we will be using this is that it avoids the use of the problematic Cisco VPN Client which is still (and probably won’t ever be) available for 64 bit Windows operating systems.  The remaining bit of this post will point to the FAQ I composed a while back for this topic.

Please take a look at these directions and give them a try ahead of time.  Biology affiliates can feel free to contact me about any trouble you have in setting this up.  I can usually help with the setup of your office computer if the need arises.  If you are not a Biology affiliate, please contact your local IT personnel for assistance.

http://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/sites/bioit-faq/2009/09/15/how-can-i-work-from-home/

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