Subject: Hardware and Software Upgrades
 
 Chemistry computer support is pleased to introduce this forum for
 announcing changes, additions and upgrades to/of computer equipment
 in the chemistry department. We are dedicated to providing the best
 possible service for the department, and we will keep you informed
 about ongoing development.
 
 Recently, we have performed several upgrades on "chemistry", the
 main departmental server.
 
 Software:
 
  - chemistry was upgraded from Solaris 2.5.1 to Solaris 2.6; this
    new release of the operating system should be as stable as the
    old one and provide better and new services.
 
  - all Solaris software for which the university is licensed
    (campus license agreement) is now installed.
 
  - Sun's online documentation (answerbook2) is now available on the
    web under
 
 	http://www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu:8888
 
    This should be particularly interesting for research groups
    running Solaris.
 
 Hardware:
 
  - chemistry now has a fast Ethernet interface (100BaseT);
    information between the server and the departmental backbone can
    now be exchanged at a rate of 100 Mb/s, ten-times faster than
    before. Since most desktop computers are only connected with
    speeds of 10 Mb/s, this implies that more desktop systems can
    communicate with the chemistry server at full speed at the same
    time (this, of course, also depends on the network topology).
 
  - chemistry now has a Differential Wide Ultra SCSI adapter, which
    will speed up disk I/O from 10 MB/s (Fast Narrow SCSI) to 40
    MB/s (Wide Ultra SCSI, also known as SCSI-3).
 
  - we added a net amount of 14 GB of disk space (before: 12 GB,
    now:  26 GB).  Some of chemistry's older and slower disks will
    be used for other purposes; the new disks support Ultra Wide
    SCSI and can exploit the speed of the new SCSI adapter. The new
    disks sit in a new enclosure that can comfortably hold even more
    capacity for future expansion.
 
    As a result, there is more space for departmental web pages,
    incoming mail and software, and the disk quotas on all home
    directories will be enlarged.
 
  - we replaced the DDS2 tape drive (native capacity: 4 GB) with a
    DDS3 tape drive (native capacity: 12 GB per tape). This will
    greatly help in keeping up with backup needs of the department.
 
 Please contact computer support, support@chemistry.ohio-state.edu,
 if you have any questions.
 
 				Gerry Raimann, Steve Parker