Topics

1) General News: New chemistry Unix server; chemistry SHUTDOWN
2) General News: Change in student workers
3) Unix News: Disk quotas
4) Unix News: Fixmail script improved
5) Lab News: Zip drives for PCs
6) General News: Microsoft Software Package from the Bookstore
7) General News: Computing Skills Tutorial and Reference Information
8) General News: Chemistry Librarian has left OSU
9) General News: SciFinder Scholar V3.0; 24 Hour Access
10) General News: Security of your home computer
11) General News: Campus Internet Capacity Increased

Newsletter Archive:
        http://www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/compsupp/Newsletter/




1) General News: New chemistry Unix server; chemistry SHUTDOWN:


We have almost finished setting up the new server (a Sun Ultra Enterprise
450) and are working on the final details.

We are planning to shut down the chemistry Unix server on

SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN


	     Wednesday, November 10, 1999   at 5 p.m.


SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN SHUTDOWN-SHUTDOWN

for the night to move all services to the new server. There are literally a
hundred details that have to be attented to in order to guarantee a smooth
transition. We expect to be up and running by 8 a.m. Thursday morning.

Please note that all assimilated Unix workstations will have to be rebooted
as well, so plan your batch jobs accordingly. For the duration of the
shutdown, there will be no incoming email, no web service, /home will be
unavailable, and interactive connections (telnet, ssh) from outside into the
Department will be unavailable.

As always, we'd like to emphasize that no email will be lost during the
downtime.

The chemistry Unix server handles all departmental email, web pages, general
purpose computing, Unix home directories and serves as the entry point into
the department from the outside.


2) General News: Change in student workers:


At the end of summer, Shawn Broughton resumed his research duties in Dr.
Bursten's group. While we regret losing him, we wish him well and hope that
he will be able to finish soon.

Josh Gould has returned to continue working for us. He said his summer job
paid more, but our Department is more exciting, and he likes us better.


3) Unix News: Disk quotas:


We remind our users that disk quotas are not written in stone. You can find
out your current disk quota by logging into chemistry and typing the command

  quota -v

If you need more permanent space, please send email to
support@chemistry.ohio-state.edu and request a higher disk quota.


4) Unix News: Fixmail script improved:


Did you know that there is the command

   fixmail

on the chemistry Unix server than can fix several elm and pine-related
problems?

Fixmail has been improved to also handle the following frequently encountered
problem: you didn't properly quit pine, but instead terminated your telnet
session somehow; pine is still running in the background, and if you start a
new pine, it will be in readonly-mode.

For more information, see our FAQ section at

Internal --> Computer Support --> Chemistry Department Related Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)


5) Lab News: Zip drives for PCs:


The PCs in the Computer Lab 2105 NW are now all equipped with zip drives. The
machines methane, propane, butane, pentane and octane have internal zip
drives; the machine ethane has an external zip drive.


6) General News: Microsoft Software Package from the Bookstore:


The University has signed license agreements with Microsoft to distribute
several Microsoft software packages at reduced costs to University students,
faculty and staff. Ohio State joined the Inter-University Council of Ohio, an
association of Ohio's 13 public universities and two freestanding medical
colleges, in negoating the agreements.

While beneficial to students, faculty and staff, the agreements are
nonexclusive and don't prevent the University from purchasing or using other
software products. Included in the package are Microsoft Office (Mac and PC
versions), Microsoft Visual Studio Professional, programming developments
tools, Microsoft Front Page, and operating systems.

The software is being sold under the name "Buckey Pack" through the Bookstore
beginning this month. The cost is $99 total for the term of the three-year
license.


7) General News: Computing Skills Tutorial and Reference Information:


Online tutorials for building student computer competencies are available
through the OSU Library at

   http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/cscc/

Another new resource, net.TUTOR, a free, web-based, interactive learning
program that will help you become proficient at using the Internet for
research, can be accessed at

   http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/

Both sites are also available through our "Other Helpful Links" section:

   Internal --> Computer Support --> Other Helpful Links

We've been hearing time and again from students as well as from staff that
they are completely computer illiterate. These tutorials might be a starting
point to change this.

Also, especially firstyear students and staff who are new in the Department
may want to read our "Introduction for New Users" at

   Internal --> Computer Support --> Introduction for New Users


8) General News: Chemistry Librarian has left OSU:


Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 19:00:21 -0400
From: Nancy Simons simons.28@osu.edu
Subject: Library news--Goodbye

Just wanted to inform you that I will be leaving my position at OSU on
October 7 to assume a similar position at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I have
enjoyed working with the Chemistry Department and wish you all the best.

Until my replacement is hired. Mary Scott, Head of SEL will be handling any
questions or issues that might arise. She can be reached at scott.36@osu.edu
and her phone number is 292-3046.

Nancy


9) General News: SciFinder Scholar V3.0; 24 Hour Access:


Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 16:09:25 -0400
From: Nancy Simons <simons.28@osu.edu>
Subject: SciFinder Scholar available 24 hours beginning October 1, 1999

Effective October 1, 1999 SciFinder Scholar will be available 24 hours a day
(Sunday 8 am to Saturday 6 pm). To partially cover the additional cost for
this increased access, the number of simultaneous users has been reduced from
5 to 4. Three months of user data from CAS confirmed user reports that it
was very difficult to access SFS between 5 and 8 pm on weekdays. We hope
that the increased number of hours that SFS is now available will more than
compensate for the loss of one simultaneous user.

Nancy


Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 16:11:19 -0400
From: Nancy Simons <simons.28@osu.edu>
Subject: SciFinder Scholar ver 3.0 now available

A new SciFinder Scholar client (version 3.0) is now available for downloading
from the UTS Software to Go site, 

http://www.osu.edu/units/uts/publications/upgrades/.

The new SFS client is also available from the chemistry server
Internal --> Computer Support --> SciFinder Scholar V3.0.

Enhancements include:
1) a full reaction query tool that allows complete reaction queries
2) an option to display patent family information
3) files that facilitate importing SciFinder Scholar data into EndNote V3
or V2, ProCite V4 and Reference Manager V9 (To access these files, go to
the SciFinder Scholar web page

http://www.cas.org/SCIFINDER/SCHOLAR/index.html
and select the "Importing data from Scholar to EndNote" link.

Nancy


10) General News: Security of your home computer:


With an increasing number of PCs/Macs at home that are permanently connected
to the Internet via services such as Time Warner's RoadRunner, securing your
home computer becomes an important issue. Vulnerabilities in your computer's
setup could allow intruders to gain access to your files.

The following information has been provided by the SANS (System
Administration, Networking, and Security) Institute (see http://www.sans.org
for more information about SANS).

We encourage you to run this security scan against your home computer.

WARNING: Do NOT run it against any computer in the Department!

                                               

Personal Security Tip
No. 99-1
The SANS Institute

News stories about cable modems and DSL lines allowing people to get into
your computers and read your files are too true. If your personal computer is
running any version of Windows, it's very possible that your machine is
vulnerable even when it is connected over a regular dial-up line or a
corporate network. (One exception is AOL which blocks the vulnerability on
behalf of its subscribers.)

A new, free service has just been posted that will help you find such
vulnerabilities and correct them.

It was developed by Steve Gibson, one of the industry's pioneering
programmers. He is the developer of many useful PC utilities, including
SpinRite.

To read about the free service, to test your system, and/or to see how to fix
the vulnerability, point your browser to

   http://grc.com

Then click the ShieldsUP! icon there.

Steve's step-by-step directions are presented and illustrated better than
other Windows guidance I have seen.

                                               

Personal Security Tip 99-02: A Burglar Alarm for Your PC

This is the second installment in the series designed to offer ideas for
individuals interested in working toward improving security on their personal
computers.

If you spend a lot of time connected to the Internet and use Windows 95/98 or
NT, BackOfficer Friendly will show you how often you are getting scanned by
curious people and programs. Firewall and intrusion detection guru Marcus
Ranum says, "BackOfficer Friendly can pretend to be a telnet listener, web
server, ftp server, or BackOrifice server, interacting with the attackers, as
they probe your system. You can see what they attempt to do to you.
BackOfficer Friendly wasn't intended to be a proactive tool like a firewall
or virus filter; it's primarily informational and diagnostic." It's free
from

   http://www.nfr.com/products/bof/



11) General News: Campus Internet Capacity Increased:


Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 09:42:19 -0400
From: Sally Hritz hritz.1@osu.edu
Subject: Campus Internet Capacity Increased

The return of students and faculty to campus for the start of Autumn Quarter
increased the load on the campus connection to the Internet and on Monday,
September 20 resulted in occasional problems connecting to the Internet
and/or slow response time after connection.

University Technology Services is taking the following steps to deal with the
problem. Effective September 21, we increased our Internet bandwidth capacity
by 25%. This increase in capacity, plus other actions, such as implementing
web page caching (in which the system looks for web pages in a local database
before sending a request out to the Internet) will help alleviate some of the
demand on OSU's bandwidth capacity. We will also be implementing a news
server that will provide a single news feed to campus, saving bandwidth
currently used by redundant feeds.

UTS and OARNet will continue to monitor the campus's Internet use and take
action to ensure that users' needs are met.

If you have any questions, please contact the Technology Support Center at
8-HELP.