College of Engineering
EECS Instructional Support Group
Oct 5 2009
EECS Instructional Computing - Review and Plans
-----------------------------------------------
Fall 2009
CONTENTS:
Mission Statement
Recent Initiatives and Achievements
The "Orchard": new lab of MacPros
Larger UNIX Home Dirs, 1-Year Retention of Archives
20" LCD Displays Replace 122 Old CRT Monitors
Project Wish List
Budget Cuts
Notable Events
Mission Statement
-----------------
The EECS Instructional Support Group (ISG) installs and maintains networked
computers that are used by EECS classes. ISG provides computer accounts for
instructors and students in the Instructional labs and on Instructional
servers. ISG purchases, installs and maintains application software needed
for classes. ISG supports instructional labs in Cory Hall, Soda Hall and
Hearst Field Annex.
These are the functions in which ISG interacts with other UCB support groups:
- we obtain enrollment lists from the Registrar (Student Information Services)
- we synchronize our user accounts with the EECS department (IDSG)
- we provide cardkey pre-authorization for our students to EECS Facilities
- we bill students' voluntary printer charges to CARS
- we coordinate our use of the EECS Network Node Bank with IDSG and CNS
- we manage the computers in engineering labs with ESG
- we manage the computers in EECS conference rooms with ESG
- we manage the licenses for Synopsys/TCAD/HSPICE with the Device Group
- we manage the licenses for Cadence with the BSAC group
- we manage the licenses for Maya and Renderman with the BCAM group
Recent Initiatives and Achievements
-----------------------------------
- Opened new "Orchard" lab (200 S. Dia Hall) of 30 MacPros.
Please see below for more information.
- Installed 2 new SUN T5220 servers (Sun Niagra 2 chip with 8 cores and 8
threads at 1.6 GHz with 32gigs of RAM), donated by SUN Microsystems with
thanks to Marcelino Enriquez. These systems replace 8-year old servers
that are used by CS61A, CS3 and other programming classes on the SunRays
in the second floor of Soda.
- Installed a new Xerox solid ink color printer in 274 Soda, with a generous
educational discount from Xerox and thanks to William Chen. The printer
is called "phaser" and is available from all EECS instructional computers.
- Building a cluster of used computers that were donated by Broadcom, with
thanks to Pathma Venasithamby. The cluster may be used to issue persisent
virtual computers to students in classes such as EE122 (network protocols),
CS186 (database and WEB servers) and CS161 (computer security) to safely
develop programs that have special security or performance risks.
- Relocated the UNIX home directories to the EECS department SAN disk array.
Please see below for more information.
- Replaced 122 old CRT monitors with new 20" LCD displays in Instructionl
labs. Please see below for more information.
The "Orchard": new lab of MacPros
---------------------------------
In August 2009, EECS opened the new "Orchard" lab of 30 MacPros in 200 Dia
Hall. The computers were donated by Apple with thanks to Dan Garcia. The
lab will be used by these classes:
CS61C (Machine Structures)
CS160 (Introduction to User Interface Design)
CS39N (The Beauty and Joy of Computing)
CS194-2 (Introduction to Parallel Computing)
CS194-8 (Advanced Digital Animation)
UCBUGG (UCB Undergraduate Graphics Group DeCal)
MS-DOS X (Macintosh Software Developers for OS X DeCal)
CNM190 (Advanced Digital Animation)
rendering (a render farm for all graphics users)
The interdisciplinary DeCal classes do MacOSX development and animation.
For details about the computers, software and location of the lab, please
see http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/clients.cgi?choice=200dai
The lab space is provided in lieu of 2 labs (80 seats) in Hearst Field
Annex C, which was allocated to CS3 and CS61A until Summer 2009. Those
classes have relocated to the labs in Soda Hall that were vacated by the
users of the new Orchard lab. There has been a net reduction of 1 lab
(50 seats).
Larger UNIX Home Dirs, 1-Year Retention of Archives
---------------------------------------------------
In August 2009, we relocated the UNIX home directories from our aging
NetApp servers (400GB) to the EECS department SAN disk array (1000GB).
We raised the default UNIX disk quota for student accounts from 100MB
to 500MB. We gained space for instructor accounts that are installing
new SVN and image repositories.
This will allow us to phase out our old NetApps. They use a lot of
machine room space and electrical power in 287 Soda.
A side effect of this is that we also adapt the data archiving policy
that IDSG supports for the rest of the department. Up to 4 months of
deleted files are retained on the disks and accessible to the owner,
in the hidden .snapshot directories within each subdirectory. Up to
1 year of deleted files are retained on dump tapes that are stored
off site. We would have to pay a fee to recover data from those
tapes, and that cost will be charged to the owner of the data being
requested.
We encourage users to keep backup copies of their data on their own
media, either using USB memory or file transfers to their computers.
20" LCD Displays Replace 122 Old CRT Monitors
---------------------------------------------
In September 2009, the University offered a program to trade in old CRT
monitors on campus for energy-efficient LCD monitors. This project is
sponsored by the Vice Chancellor's Administrative Council (VCAC), the
Office of the CIO (OCIO), and Cal Overstock and Surplus. Each LCD
monitor that replaces a CRT monitor saves the University about 344 kWh of
electricity ($30.96), or 104 kg of carbon dioxide emissions, per year.
Thanks to the efforts of Eric Fraser (EECS IT Director) and extraordinary
funding from EECS, we are able to replace all of the remaining CRTs in the
EECS Instructional labs with Dell 20" E2010H widescreen flat panel LCD
displays. This purchase has a value of about $18,000 after the generous
discount and rebates that the sponsors negotiated.
During October 2009, the Dell 20" E2010H LCD displays will be installed in
271, 273, 277, 330 and 349 Soda, and at a few workstations where CRTs are
still in use in the Cory Hall labs.
Project Wish List
-----------------
Here is a wish list of projects that we would like to do. We lack the
funding to do any of them:
1) upgrade workstations in Instructional labs ($234K total)
- replace 30 PCs (circa 2002) in 105 Cory for EE20N ($90K)
- replace 8 PCs (circa 2003) in 111 Cory for EE117 ($24K)
- replace 8 PCs (circa 2002) in 218 Cory for EE143 ($24K)
Benefit to approx 750 students in CS152, CS160, CS162, CS164,
CS169, CS170, CS172, CS184, CS186, CS188, CS194, CS198, EE117,
EE143, EE20N.
2) renovate 105 Cory: new furniture, wiring, A/V ($30K)
105 Cory is a teaching lab that is used primarily by EE20N
but is also available to other classes. It has an overhead
projector and is well-suited to hands on instruction. The
lab benches, chairs, network and electrical cabling are in
disrepair from years of use.
3) salaries for 2 student staff for 1 year ($60K)
To meet the FY 09-10 budget cut (21%), we have reduced our
student staff. As a result, we have a higher incidence of
delayed repairs and deferred maintenance in the labs. This
funding would support staff for projects such as:
- check physical condition of labs and do routine maintenance
- install new equipment (such as with items #2 above)
- update our UCB Scheme software (CS3, CS61A) for home users
- install an RSS feed server for use by instructors
This would benefit all 6800+ students who use our computers.
Budget Cuts
----------
The funding that supports Instructional computing were cut by 21% ($116K)
starting July 1 2009. This funding supports computers, software, service
contracts, printing, network fees, furniture, supplies and salaries. This
is in addition to the %8 cut in staff hours and salaries due to furloughs.
A FY 2009-2010 budget projection will be posted
soon at http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~kevinm/budget/.
Notable Events
--------------
See http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/notices.html for current events.
For additional information, please contact me:
Kevin Mullally, ISG Manager
EECS Instructional Support Group
378 Cory Hall, (510) 643-6141
kevinm@eecs.berkeley.edu
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/
source: ~inst/public_html/reports/managers/Spring_2009
