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Ross has already left, and there is some uncertainty about the state of his leaving documentation. Paul Anderson would check with Alastair Scobie.
It was reported that no documentation is available.
[This item will be removed from future Minutes]
Nothing was presented at the meeting, but it was subsequently reported that EUCS have stated "it is certainly our intention that VLANs are part of the service".
[This item will be removed from future Minutes]
Ken reported that remote access to DB (from BP & KB) should be working satisfactorily - scripts supplied by him had been successfully tested by Paul.
Alastair queried the level of access to be allowed. Would all staff have access? Ken said that all the data being made available was data in the public domain, so that access would be allowed from anyone within the Division. However, what access utilities were provided, and by whom, was a separate issue.
Tim confirmed that some UID changes were still outstanding, but re-iterated that responsibility for these changes rests with the relevant individual at each site. It is hoped that these changes would be completed by the end of the (academic) year.
As previously reported, tetex 1.0.6 is now the default at all sites. There are, however, still some small problems still outstanding - but these are being investigated, and a status report will be given at the November meeting
[Action: CMS]
Craig confirmed that texmf trees are, indeed, integrated into the LaTeX environment (inasmuch as local - user - texmf trees are searched during processing.
The provision that style files should be included in the core distribution if requested by more than one person was upheld, but the situation would be reviewed if this proved to be too onerous.
Jeremy reported that starting date for the new CO to be based at Buccleuch Place had not yet been fixed - the Work Permit is still awaited. However, it was thought unlikely that this new CO would start before November.
Ken reported that the post recently vacated by Neil Brown's move to CS would be filled, but that no Authority To Recruit had yet been received. A new post has also been agreed but, again, no ATR has been received.
Ken also reported that Tom Alexander will be taking early retirement, with effect from the end of this month (30th September).
Paul reported that two new posts will be advertised, one (AD2) to fill the vacancy created by Ross Hamilton's departure, and another to replace Kathy McLean. Both posts have ATR.
Alastair reported on progress with the Beowulf cluster - money has been allocated, but a usage proposal is still required for a bulk tender.
It was agreed, after general discussion, that DB-generated lists were a Good Idea. Further work on this is required.
Ken reported that the DB could be made sufficiently flexible to allow ad-hoc additions and removals to any automatically extracted lists.
Also reported was the fact that student matriculation numbers should be available from 1st October, so that automatic UID generation should be possible from this date (subject to EUCS having the relevant information from MIS to cross-check against).
The question of login name generation was also discussed. AI and CS have a utility, written by Rainer Thonnes, which interrogates the DB and generates undergraduate logins. It was thought that this could be adapted to include MSc logins. This will be discussed by those responsible at each site.
[Action: RAB/CMS/CC]
George reported on his attendance at the KB version of this forum, which was held to offer proposals & solicit opinions about a University Security Policy.
It was felt that the basic premise was to tighten-up network security, but that not all proposals had been fully thought through, and that there was no end-user perspective.
By default, network access was to be denied unless particular hosts had been specifically named. This was thought to be problematic, but possibly workable (but see below).
A Working Party was to be set up, taking members from SciCOs, MediCOs, and other relevant groups.
It was thought that not much had yet been decided, and that further monitoring of the situation was desirable.
It was thought necessary to establish a policy on the tenure of roles with Division-wide responsibilities, so as to be able to decide how long an individual has a particular role, and how the role gets handed on at the end of the period of tenure.
Jeremy suggested that a nominated person would have a particular role for 2 years, which was felt to be a suitable length of time to allow the person to get to grips with the duties required.
It was also suggested that each Responsible Person should be "shadowed" so that someone else would acquire the skills necessary to perform the particular tasks associated with a given role. This shadow would be nominated once the post changed hands, and the shadow should then be the person most likely to take over that role at the end of the two years.
It was noted that whoever is supporting a particular service is not necessarily responsible for its technical development, although they may be.
Following discussion, it was decided that the policy should be formalised, and re-presented to the Meeting.
[Action: JMHO]
Wednesday, 25th October, Buccleuch Place.
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