| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
The mission of the Server Support Group is to provide technical support for the File
Servers for the George Mason University Local Area Network (LAN). Our goal is to support our customer’s diverse business needs by delivering a non-stop, reliable, and scalable server infrastructure, which is able to quickly meet the ever-changing business requirements of a world-class University.
The Server Support Group maintains the computing infrastructure for both servers and desktops across the Wide-Area Network of the three major campus sites of Fairfax, Prince William, and Arlington as well as for many smaller offsite locations. The Server Support Group supports both faculty and staff of the Administrative and Academic units, Academic Computing Labs, Departmental Computing Labs, and also provides internal ITU technical support.
The Server Support Group currently supports George Mason’s Enterprise-Wide system using Novell Directory Servicesä (NDS). NDS provides a centrally administered interface for user authentication which provides secure access to mission-critical distributed resources such as server-based applications, databases, and shared departmental data. NDS also provides services for network printing as well as an interface and methodology for desktop platform management.
The Server Support Group is comprised of a team of computer systems engineers experienced with Novell, Microsoft and Linux technologies. The Novell side of the Server Support Group is comprised of four full-time systems engineer positions and currently, one part-time liaison from Desktop Support Services.
Kenny Stewart (CNE5), Brian Davidson, and recent hire Mark Van Pelt fill the team systems engineering positions. Karen Gardner (MCSE, CNE) manages the team.
Kristen Jennette, a Field Service Technician from Desktop Support Services, works part-time with the Server Support Group in a cross-training/support/liaison position. This liaison arrangement has led to improved communications and understanding between the Server Support Group and the Desktop Support Services.
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
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Contact Information |
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Karen Gardner, Manager 993-4004; kgardne2@gmu.edu |
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Brian Davidson, Server Administrator 993-4005; bdavids1@gmu.edu |
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Kenny Stewart, Server Administrator 993-3443; kstewart@gmu.edu |
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Mark Van Pelt, Server Administrator Starting 7/29/2002 |
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
Server-Based Application support - Administrative and Academic Units
̀ Assist departments with software assessment and requirements analysis to determine server and network compatibility prior to acquisition.
̀ Installation and configuration of server-based applications.
̀ Provide IT assistance to departmental contact and application support vendor for troubleshooting, diagnostics and problem-resolution.
̀ Centrally manage University Site License for Norton Antivirus Software.
Shared Data Access
̀ Assess and configure security restrictions as defined by departmental contacts.
̀ Provide cross-departmental sharing of data resources.
̀ Perform nightly backups for off-site data protection and restoration.
Network-Based Printing Access
̀ Support network-based printers including server configuration management, testing, and troubleshooting.
̀ Assist with desktop configuration management, testing and troubleshooting.
Academic Computing Labs
̀ Support the Academic Computing Labs distributed across the three main campuses. Administration includes, account creation, installation of software license updates to server-based applications and nightly backups of data.
̀ Assist Academic Lab Staff as needed.
Departmental Computing Labs
̀ Support Departmental Computing Labs distributed across the three main campuses. Administration includes, account creation, installation of software license updates for server-based applications, plus nightly backups of data and policy based workstation images, updating of workstation images, troubleshooting hardware/software support issues.
̀ Assist Lab Manager as needed.
Internal ITU Technical Support
̀ Daily management tracking of server status and health including hardware, operating system and virus alert monitoring.
̀ Maintain database for tracking and reporting server events and changes.
̀ Problem investigation, coordination, and installation of vendor provided patches.
̀ In-house development of administration tools for server monitoring, reporting and management.
̀ Daily server administration tasks (e.g. print queues, LAN account management, phone support, Novell Directory Servicesä health checks and maintenance, disk space monitoring and management).
̀ Management of Software License Metering.
̀ Function as “unofficial” second tier technical resource for ITU support personnel.
̀ Actively research, identify and recommend future technology directions and solutions.
̀ Participate in move coordination for GMU departmental moves.
̀ Installation of new server hardware and software.
̀ Identification and documentation of best-practice procedures for server operation and maintenance.
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
(25 servers; 33 computer labs; 77 departments; 3917 active users)
Arlington Campus Support
̀ Law school
̀ Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science
̀ Arlington labs
̀ VCU lab - Arlington room 105
̀ Office of Continuing and Professional Education
̀ Adult Learning & Professional Development
̀ Accounts Payable
̀ Fiscal Services
̀ General Accounting
̀ Human Resources
̀ Payroll
̀ Purchasing
̀ Psychology Clinic
̀ Academic Advising
̀ Admissions
̀ Army ROTC
̀ Biology Department
̀ Board of Visitors,
̀ Campus Ministry
̀ Campus Police
̀ Capitol Connection
̀ Career Development Center
̀ Center for Global Education
̀ College of Arts and Sciences
̀ Communications Department
̀ DoIT Support Services
̀ Economics Department
̀ Events Management
̀ Facilities planning
̀ Fire & Environmental Safety
̀ Foreign Languages and Literature
̀ Geographic and Earth Sciences
̀ GMUTV
̀ Graduate School of Education
̀ Health Sciences
̀ History Department
̀ Housing & Residence Life
̀ Information Services
̀ Institute of the Arts
̀ Intercollegiate Athletics
̀ Internal Audit
̀ IT Project Office
̀ Krasnow Institute
̀ Legal Affairs Department
̀ Minority and Student Affairs
̀ New Century College
̀ Nursing Department
̀ Office of Budget and Information Management
̀ Office of Continuing and Professional Education
̀ Office of Environmental Safety
̀ Office of Sponsored Programs
̀ Parking Services
̀ Patriot Center
̀ Philosophy and Religion
̀ Physical Plant
̀ President's Office
̀ Provosts Office
̀ Psychology Department
̀ Public and International Affairs
̀ Registrar's Office
̀ School of Information Technology and Engineering
̀ SCT Banner Project
̀ Sociology and Anthropology Department
̀ Student Health Services
̀ Technology Systems Division
̀ The Institute for Public Policy
̀ University Development Office
̀ University Equity Office
̀ University Relations
̀ University Services
̀ Work Control
̀ Field House lab
̀ Johnson center labs - jc340
̀ Johnson center labs - jc341
̀ Johnson center labs - jc343
̀ Robinson labs - room 101
̀ Robinson labs - room 105
̀ Robinson labs - room 106
̀ Robinson labs - room 107
̀ Robinson labs - room 109
̀ Science & Tech labs - room 124
̀ Tops lab
̀ West labs – room 142
̀ West labs – room 144
̀ West labs – room 145
̀ West labs – room 150
̀ Biology lab
̀ Chemistry lab
̀ Foreign Language lab
̀ Human Emotions Research Lab
̀ Music lab
̀ Nursing lab
̀ Pe212 lab
̀ Psychology lab
̀ Prince William Freedom and Aquatic Center
̀ Office of Continuing and Professional Education
̀ Administration of Justice
̀ Prince William College of Arts and Sciences
̀ Initiatives in Educ Transformation
̀ Prince William campus library computers
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc224
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc228
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc229
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc230
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc231
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc232
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc302
̀ Prince William labs – room Pwc318
̀ Mason Enterprise Center/School of Public Policy
̀ Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
̀ LAN Infrastructure Review – This project included a Requirements Committee and Technical Subcommittees, which were tasked to provide a requirements analysis and functional description of the how the technology fulfilled those requirements. This research and review process culminated in presentations to the Technology Council by each technical subcommittee. During this evaluation and analysis period, all major changes and upgrades to the current LAN infrastructure were on hold. This has been the most significant project over the last 6 months and has included extensive involvement of all members of the Server Support Group.
̀ Norton AntiVirus (NAV) Protection – the Server Support Group has been actively working to promote campus-wide user awareness of the benefits and increase the number of workstations running managed NAV. The Server Support Group has tested and installed NAV to all file servers; provided the software media for distribution; provided training to the Support Center and Desktop Support Services; given presentations at Technology Coordinator meetings; and developed internal monitoring tools. We have seen the number of managed NAV workstations increase from 46% to57%. This increase however slight has made a significant improvement in virus identification, isolation and containment. The NAV project has made a noticeable improvement on network performance, server availability, and has reduced the loss of user data and productivity.
̀ SSG Website – A significant accomplishment for the Server Support Group has been the development of a departmental website. Phase one of this initiative focused on the development and documentation of our services, policies and procedures. Phase two will focus on including more dynamic features, links, and forms.
̀ Security Updates – The systems engineers proactively monitor security alerts and apply new vendor provided patches when they become available. In addition to managing server patches, over 500 Jetdirect network devices were updated as new firmware updates become available to address SNMP vulnerabilities.
̀ Server Uptime – A combination of hardware upgrades and ongoing server maintenance activities have had significant increase in server uptime and system availability.
̀ Task Force Involvement – The Server Support Group participated in various task force groups such as the Customer Service Team, JetDirect Printers and XP Support.
̀ Manager Meetings – The Server Support Group participated in biweekly Manager Meetings, which were formed in an effort to facilitate communication and coordination of technology activities within the IT departments.
̀ Banner – The Patriot Project is a university-wide initiative to convert George Mason’s Finance, Human Resources and Student Information System to SCT Banner Software. The Novell File Servers and engineers were heavily involved in the first phases of development and piloting the Banner Forms. Novell Server Support activities included setup for file, application and forms storage/ development, accounts, printing, managed desktops and installation of the Oracle products for the Banner Training. The Pohick Development Lab and T.O.P.S. Training Lab have been setup using Novell Z.E.N. delivered applications and policies for centrally managed desktop computers. The Novell File Servers continue to support the ongoing staging and development of the SCT Banner forms and applications.
̀ Account Cleanup – The goal of this project is to synchronize all accounts within NDS with the master accounts database. Once the databases are synchronized, this will enable us to automate the process of account creation.
̀ Implement New Tape Backup Software/Hardware – This project replaced antiquated ARCserve IT backup software with Veritas Backup Exec v8.5 for NetWare. The software was installed with the new Exabyte 430 tape backup unit designed to handle the increased data storage requirements with faster backup throughput and completion speed.
̀ Disaster Recovery Plan – This project prepared a Disaster Recovery Plan. Information items included hardware and software inventory, contact information, as well as documentation for recovery procedures in the case of a disaster. After the document was prepared, we implemented some changes to the physical layout of the NDS architecture. This increased availability and redundancy of the directory information within the master of root and the partition replicas.
̀ Daily Maintenance Activities – The daily server administration tasks such as monitoring system hardware and software health, Novell Directory Services maintenance, and processing configuration change requests, have significantly improved the availability and reliability of the computer services provided to the community.
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
Goals 2001-2002 |
Supporting Projects |
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Fully integrate Field Services and the Server Support Group as part of the ITU reorganization. Field Services and the Server Support Group are tied very closely together because of the tight integration of the technology they implement. These two groups must work as one to ensure that our customers receive the most professional support possible. |
̀ Cross-train Field Services Technician, Kristen Jennette as support liaison between Server Support and Desktop Support. ̀ Attended Desktop Support Staff Meetings ̀ JetDirect Review Committee ̀ XP Task Force |
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Expand and improve communication between LAN/Desktop Support Services and the Support Center / Network Engineering. LAN/Desktop Support Services depends upon the Support Center to provide clear customer work requests, and Network Engineering to provide reliable Desktop/Server connections. Clear, effective communication between these groups will ensure that our customer’s needs are met professionally and efficiently – and will eliminate ‘surprises’. |
̀ Provided NAV Training for Field Services ̀ Provided NAV Training for Support Center ̀ Attend Manager Meetings ̀ Attend Technology Coordinator Meetings |
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Clarify, document, and publicize both internal and external policies and procedures for provided services. LAN/Desktop Support Services provides a multitude of services for George Mason. By documenting and publicizing our offerings, our customers will be able to determine what services we offer, and more importantly, how to take advantage of our services. This will also improve our ability to manage existing and new services. |
̀ SSG Website Development |
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
Source: Novell ManageWise
Source: Softrack
NAV Desktop PercentagesTotal Workstations 2998
Managed NAV Workstations 1729 (57%) Unmanaged NAV Workstations 1269 (42%)
Unmanaged NAV Workstations 1269 (42%)
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| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
̀ Kenny Stewart, CNE5
Kenny Stewart received the University Service Award for 10 years of service and the DoIT Spring 2002 Individual Impact Award. Kenny attended training classes for Implementing Microsoft 2000 Professional and Server, Microsoft XP Professional and NetWare 6 Upgrade Preview. Kenny completed the following online courses: Introduction to Red Hat Linux, Preparing for the Cisco Certified Network Assistant (CCNA) exam, Novell Salesperson Certification (CNS), Creating Web Pages, CGI Programming for the web, Creating Web Graphics, Javascript Programming for the Web and Introduction to Visual Basic 6.0. In addition, Kenny attended the following Byte Week classes: Beginning and Advanced Microsoft FrontPage, Beginning and Advanced Dreamweaver.
̀ Brian Davidson
Brian Davidson received the University Service Award for 5 years of service. In addition he completed the Novell Salesperson Certification (CNS).
̀ Karen Gardner, CNE5-MCSE
Karen Gardner received the University Service Award for 5 years of service. Karen attended the Dell SAN FC4500 training and completed the 9- month HR Supervisor Series Training.
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
̀ Integration and active management of student LAN accounts and disk storage
̀ Investigate remote access solutions
̀ Deploy central authentication/synchronized account management
̀ Implement centrally distributed desktop services
̀ Provide increased storage capacity and management
̀ Integration/knowledge management activities of DOIT resources (e.g. sharing of hardware/software/technical expertise)
̀ Effectively manage the implementation of Service Level and Operational Level Agreements for managed servers and provided services
̀ Complete GroupWise migration/decommission GroupWise servers
̀ Implement Dell/EMC Storage Area Network (SAN)
̀ Implement Network Operating System upgrades and redesign Directory Tree Structure
̀ Centrally distributed managed desktops
̀ Provide central authentication with directory synchronization (e.g. LDAP; NDS; AD)
| Mission | Staff | Services |
| Departments Supported | Evidence of Impact | Goals 2001-2002 |
| Capacity/Performance Metrics | Group Awards/Recognition | Improvement Opportunities |
| 3-Year Goals |
Summary
The Server Support Group has undergone major organizational changes over the past year. As a part of the ITU Restructuring, the Server Support Group became part of DoIT and was subsequently divided into two technology sections, one for Novell server support and the other for Microsoft server support. Separate managers were assigned to both the Novell and Microsoft Technology groups. Despite our reorganization, we continue to meet our goals in a timely and professional fashion. Although new project tasking has been temporarily put on hold during the LAN Infrastructure Review initiative, I am confident that regardless of the technology chosen, the Server Support Group stands ready to provide the requisite infrastructure support necessary to meet the business and academic technology needs of the University.