June 2009 - Core-students - mailman3.cels.anl.gov

Where's that damn Max?
by maxadam＠mcs.anl.gov 19 Jun '09

19 Jun '09

Home. But my home network is jumping up and down every few seconds. my namby connections are unusable. If I can get tethering with the *Device* to work I might be able to get something done, and I'll monitor e-mail with the *Device* to try to keep up with reqs, but I better take this as a vacation day. Sorry. Ack! Hail! -- Max - mobile

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Running late
by Rick Bradshaw 19 Jun '09

19 Jun '09

I am waiting on some medication which last time was here by 8:30 but fedex seems to be running behind today. I hope to be in shortly. If not I will start working from home. Rick

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Output from "cron" command
by Super-User 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

Your "cron" job on mercury /root/bin/daily-snapshot.sh produced the following output: cannot open 'zpool1/svntransition@Thursday': dataset does not exist

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Where's Max?
by Max trefonides 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I have to bring the Volvo in to get its AC dealt with which means the Subaru needs to be available for kid shuttle, and also I need to get the check engine light turned off so I can get the emissions inspected and I need to get the registration renewed so I can have current registration with me when I go to court for today's fender bender in a couple of weeks. In short, I won't be at the lab, I will be working on some stuff sporadically, and so will be generally available on line ... When the day shakes out I'll put in for a half day or whatever depending on what happens. *sigh* -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (Darwin) iEYEARECAAYFAko7EvEACgkQaPBbFuCp8UIYnQCggacip4DOc4snFR4z76foTGlg kDEAn3+2TP5Yoioh6EG3aY6JOHvbyldI =8hxD -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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[CELS Sysadmins] Resend: Early Fourth of July party
by Craig Stacey 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

Some people didn't get this for some reason, so sending from my MCS address. And yes, the Bacon Explosion is happening. ----- Forwarded Message ----- Hey, gang! We're going to have a BBQ and general shindig on the Saturday before the Independence Day weekend! Details at http://stace.com/party -- here are the crucial bits: When: Saturday, June 27, 4:00 PM Where: 7317 W 58th Pl, Summit, IL (There are three houses that look alike, ours is the middle one) I'm pondering the grilling of a Bacon Explosion. Google it if you haven't experienced the wonder. RSVP by June 23rd if you can make it! Hope to see you there. == Craig _______________________________________________ This is the CELS Sysadmins mailing list. It is sent to memebers of: core-admins(a)mcs.anl.gov, hpc-admins(a)mcs.anl.gov, systems(a)alcf.anl.gov, aig(a)alcf.anl.gov. Do not subscribe directly to this list. Thanks.

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Where's Craig
by stace＠mcs.anl.gov 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

Taking Friday as a floating holiday. -- Craig (mobile)

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Where's Max?
by Max trefonides 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I called the Lyons police dept to confirm the address that I need to go to to get my accident report and they told me that I need to be there before 5:30. I need to be home to take care of my niece and nephew before 5:45 so I will need to leave a little early to be sure I don't get caught in bureaucracy. Leaving at 4:15 - -- max -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (Darwin) iEYEARECAAYFAko6nbkACgkQaPBbFuCp8UIG6ACgp86bGR+JWYSBpY+KaMjdIK+Z FbgAnRiFFAXVzmarzPdvnrExsZm1WeK6 =Xp06 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Where's Tina
by Tina J. Stanton-Piersanti 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

I am skipping lunch today so I can get out of here a bit early to get Vinnie. His asthma was really bad last night and this morning. I talked to the school a bit ago, they said that he was just sitting there not playing with the other kids cause he said he was tired (he tossed and turned all night due to the coughing/breathing). My poor baby needs his MOMMY! T.

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Fwd: Laptops for Admin Staff 2: Electric Boogaloo
by Craig Stacey 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

Followup from moi. == Craig Begin forwarded message: > From: Craig Stacey <stace(a)mcs.anl.gov> > Date: June 18, 2009 11:16:33 AM CDT > To: mcs-supervisors(a)mcs.anl.gov > Subject: Laptops for Admin Staff 2: Electric Boogaloo > > As Rusty noted, we came up with a strategy for generally equipping > administrative staff with laptops so as to allow people to > effectively work remotely in the case of a laboratory shutdown. We > decided that, as machines are refreshed on their three year cycle, > we will replace all admin staff desktops with laptops (as well as > monitors, keyboards, and mice) so that the primary machine is a > laptop, but the portability and option to work remotely (with > supervisor approval) is addressed. > > We've hit a small wrinkle in this plan. Recently, as supervisors > and scientists have been getting new laptops, we've been getting > asked to set up their old laptops for use by their administrative > assistant. Before you promise a laptop to your administrative > support person, I am requesting that you first coordinate with MCS > Systems. Here's why... > > Laptops in MCS are, in general, self-supported. Anyone who is > buying a laptop is assumed to be willing and capable of taking on > the support of that laptop. Most importantly, this includes keeping > the system patched and up-to-date with its Operating System. Laptops > are, by their nature, nomadic and not easy for us to manage, so this > self-supported model was the best option. > > However, in the case of the administrative staff, we handle the > support for their machines. When we planned and executed the last > hardware refresh for the admin staff, we set up a model where an > admin staff member who uses a laptop does so to the exclusion of > using a desktop. Reassigning your old laptops breaks this model. > > As many of you who are laptop owners no doubt know, keeping your > environment synced between multiple machines can be a challenge. > When you give your administrative staff a second machine, you pass > that challenge on to us. We're now in the position of supporting > laptops for users who infrequently use them or, in some cases, > rarely turn them on. Thus, these machines also fall behind in > important security updates. > > When a laptop is used as the primary machine, it's generally on and > operational, and we can remotely manage it, apply patches, and keep > it secure. > > If you want your admin to be able to use a laptop, you've got two > paths I'd like you to consider. For occasional use, instead of > simply assigning laptops to your administrative staff, I suggest you > turn the laptops in to the Help Desk, where we will keep them > patched, and up to date. When your administrative assistant needs > to use one, they can let us know and we'll have one ready for them > borrow, and they can check it back in when they're done. > > Alternately, if you feel you'd like your administrative staff member > to have a permanent laptop sooner than the next hardware refresh > (scheduled for next summer), work with us and let us specify a > current machine to buy, replacing the existing desktop. This avoids > the situation of a user having multiple machines, but also lets them > have a current and generally useful machine instead of a hand-me- > down that you stopped using for a reason. We've found that even > though the admin staff aren't developing or compiling code on their > machines, they are quite capable of pushing the machines to their > CPU and memory limits, often thanks to the always efficient and > miserly coding practices that come out of Redmond. > > Thanks! > > == > Craig Stacey, IT Manager > stace(a)mcs.anl.gov > > > >

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Fwd: Swine flu, laptops, and non-exempt employees
by Craig Stacey 18 Jun '09

18 Jun '09

Memo #1 regarding laptop policy. == Craig Begin forwarded message: > From: Rusty Lusk <lusk(a)mcs.anl.gov> > Date: June 16, 2009 12:12:46 PM CDT > To: mcs-supervisors(a)mcs.anl.gov, mcs-office(a)mcs.anl.gov > Cc: "Michael E. Papka" <papka(a)anl.gov>, Jim Feigl > <feigl(a)mcs.anl.gov>, Pat Pepper <pepper(a)mcs.anl.gov>, Craig Stacey <stace(a)mcs.anl.gov > >, Janet Werner <werner(a)mcs.anl.gov> > Subject: Swine flu, laptops, and non-exempt employees > > Dear admins and supervisors, > > In response to the swine flu outbreak, the Lab undertook a study to > determine which activities would or would not be curtailed if the > physical Lab site had to be closed for an extended period. It was > determined that MCS could carry out near-normal operations in this > situation *IF* administrative assistant's computers could be taken > home. Therefore we plan to, over time, replace all administrative > assistants' desktop computers with laptops, as part of our normal > hardware refresh cycle. > > This is not intended as implied permission or encouragement for non- > exempt employees (nearly all of our administrative assistants are > non-exempt, while 600 and 700 grades are exempt) to work from home > or change the hours they are at the Lab. According to Argonne > policy, and the labor law on which the policy is based, any time > spent working beyond a normal work week of 40 hours by non-exempt > employees must be charged as overtime and must be approved by > supervisors in writing (email OK) ahead of time. Similarly, any > departure from assigned working hours at the lab must be approved in > advance by supervisors. I do not expect the amount of overtime or > off-hours work from home, of which there is currently very little, > to change as the result of the replacement of desktops by laptops > for administrative assistants. As we will be replacing the desktops > used by the admins with laptops, systems will be in charge of > administering them. Craig will have a followup memo on how this > will work. > > Thanks, > Rusty >

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