OUCS has now worked out that it is because Microsoft ISA server appears to ignore RFC1519 (which facilitates classless inter-domain routing) and assumes that 192.76.7.255 (being a pre-RFC1519 class C address) is a broadcast address so won’t talk to it.  This is not good as RFC1519 dates back to 1993 – the year many of the current freshers were born and well before Exchange existed!  Big thanks to the Nexus team and the Network Support and Development team for their work on this, particularly to Rob Zachlod for his detective work.

Oxford eduroam’s DHCP gives private RFC1918 addresses (from 10.16.0.0/12) to clients and then these are translated by NAT to addresses in the range 192.76.7.(192-255) in a predictable way by an elegant algorithm. This means that if a client gets an address that maps to 192.76.7.255 then it won’t be able to talk to Nexus (and presumably any other Microsoft ISA servers in the world).  The predictability of the mapping means that client (strictly its MAC address) is effectively stuck in that state in that location of eduroam as the DHCP pool is large so clients will not get a different lease very often.  Note that there are several segments of eduroam in the University with separate DHCP pools in the above range so the problem may appear to resolve for a client that moves to a different part of the University (but will probably come back when it moves back to the problem location).

In order to fix this problem, the Networks Support and Development team have kindly agreed to change the way the eduroam NAT maps to public routeable IP addresses so that the 192.76.7.255 address will no longer be used. The change will not introduce mappings to addresses that were not already in use before it so nothing should break but the remapping will disconnect any connection-based protocols so SSH sessions etc will terminate for eduroam clients but connectionless things like web browsing (where state is maintained by cookies, not IP protocols) should be fine.  After the change it should be trivial to re-establish connected sessions.

The plan is to do this change in the at-risk period on Tuesday morning 11 October between 7am and 9am.  Please let us know if you foresee any problems with the change.

We are sorry if this will cause any inconvenience but after a lot of abortive efforts to get it fixed we have taken the view that it is easier to work around the Microsoft bug than wait for a fix.

Finally, please note that this is not a problem with eduroam but a problem with Microsoft that we can work around by reconfiguring eduroam for Oxford.  It would presumably affect any device with a (or that NAT-maps to a) class C address that ends in .255 or indeed a class B that ends in .255.255

A review will follow.

The course itself was very interesting, mainly as it focused on the practical user support issues that are likely to crop up through the use of the system and has given me a much greater understanding of how it actually works.

We were really helped by an excellent instructor who was very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. It’s definitely something that will help me in my day to day job working on the Help Desk at OUCS as I certainly see enough Macs that “never go wrong”

Overall I’d really recommend the course to anyone that wants to get a better understanding of how the system works. After the course finished we sat the Support Essentials exam. It was ideal having the exam straight after the course had ended as it was still fresh in the mind and I was delighted to pass to gain the Apple Certified Support Professional qualification.

The group’s membership is quite wide and includes:

• Anne Trefethen (Chair): Professor of Scientific Computing, Director of Oxford e-Research Centre
• Nigel Rudgewick-Brown: Director of Information Management Services Unit, Medical Sciences Division
• Me!
• Tom Payne: Director of Business Services and Projects
• Philip Biggin: Structural Bioinformatics and Computational Biochemistry Unit, Department of Biochemistry
• Geoff Calvert: IT Manager, Centre for Geography and the Environment
• Dave Price: Head of Systems and e-Research Service, Bodleian Libraries
• Maria Castro: Finance and Purchasing Administrator, ICT Support Team
• Ghassan Yassin: Professor of Astrophysics, Department of Physics
• David Miller: Senior Administrator, Department of Engineering Science
• Mark Bowen: Director of Purchasing, Finance Division
• Stuart Forster: Corporate Expenditure Category Manager, Purchasing Department

The purpose of the IT Purchasing Group (ITPG) is to offer expertise and advice to the University Purchasing Department (UPD) to maximise savings in IT purchasing across the
University. Members of the group are asked to provide their knowledge and expertise as individuals working with, and representing users of, IT in the University.

The terms of reference state that the group will:

1. Assist the UPD to develop a good understanding of the needs of academic departments
   both in terms of current expenditure and future requirements of the University.
2. Review and provide expertise on purchasing initiatives and their implementation.
   (i) The UPD will present papers on purchasing initiatives to the ITPG. ITPG members
   will be asked to comment on and/or endorse these initiatives.
   (ii) ITPG members will be asked to contribute ideas for potential purchasing
   improvements.
   (iii) ITPG members will be asked to assist in the two-way communication between
   Divisions and UPD, and to recommend alternative approaches if a purchasing
   initiative meets a roadblock.
3. Recommend appropriate representation for the purchasing initiative working groups.
   (i) The working groups will be set up to carry out specific initiatives. It will be important
   for the success of the initiative that the group is made up of an appropriate cross-
   section of end-users.
4. Contribute towards the promotion of cost-effective purchasing practice within
   departments.
   (i) The UPD will promote and monitor the adoption of purchasing initiatives. The ITPG
   will review and advise on the promotion of these initiatives and approaches to non-
   adopting departments.
5. Contribute to the development of effective communication regarding purchasing
   opportunities available.
6. Meet once a term and report periodically to the Value for Money Committee on progress
   made.

I was impressed at how this group really seems to have a good grasp of how University IT works and how decisions must be left at the local level.  I think the approach of making offers so good people will want to use them rather than being forced to use them is a really good one.  I think the trick that perhaps many of us are missing is in appreciating the value of working with the Finance Division so we can contribute to the University’s buying power and increase the value gained from that.

We also agreed that Stuart Forster, from Central Purchasing, would be invited to all future Divisional Software Licensing Group meetings so he is aware of what is being purchased and so the group can better inform Finance division of its needs.

The IT Purchasing group meets again in Week 2 of Michaelmas Term 2011.

]]> http://blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk/its3/2011/05/09/it-purchasing-group/feed/ 1 http://blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk/its3/2011/05/04/may-hris-briefing/ http://blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk/its3/2011/05/04/may-hris-briefing/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 10:50:05 +0000 Tony Brett http://blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk/its3/?p=6 Continue reading →]]> I attended another briefing on the HR Information Systems project today.

Alison Cross introduced the session as project sponsor.  There is also much  information available on the HRIS website and the slides are now available.

Agenda

Programme plan, e-recruitment, Personnel, Questions.

Project not just about open door but also revising and streamlining HR and administration processes.

HR toolkit is about personnel administration.

HR Planning and Control looks at organisation structure and make sure structure is appropriate for HESA reporting, Working with PWC internal audit.

HR information should enhance diversity monitoring and enable much better reporting for departmental HE staff.

The Vacancies website has been revamped – maximise this to reduce advertising costs.I am still concerned about the lack of clarity on IT jobs though – it’s not clear if they are in the Support and Technical or Professional and Managerial section.  I did raise this as a question.

Equal Opps (EO)  monitoring is now working better too.

E-Recruitment

Alison then handed over to Anne Harkness.

E-recruitment user road shows have been held. Help for users includes bespoke info packs, online FAQ, sessions about creating effective adverts and JDs, online data protection training.

E-recruitment rollout is about to start and the personnel module in the HR toolkit is about to be piloted.  Rollout will happen in four waves (March, April, May, June 2011) aim to complete in July 2011. Just for academic-related support staff at this stage. 322 vacancies and 5281 applications processed already.

E-recruitment aims to improve applicant experience and make process more efficient. Job information should be better and better information about working at Oxford is available to applicants.

People must do short online Data protection course (including short test); creating effective adverts and JDs course (including new JD template); Online training called UPK (user productivity kit) from Oracle.

E-recruitment has shown the huge variety of user desktops that are in operation. In situ testing is now conducted but it’s not possible to replicate every user configuration. Core is building changes to avoid these issues wherever possible.

89% of applicants so far say it’s easy or very easy to apply online.  Much more advertising is online.  Mar 2010 was 5% online, Mar 2011 shows 33% online.  Applicants entering EO information has significantly improved quantity and quality of data.

e-recruitment is just for support and academic-related staff so far but plan to include senior and academic appointments in summer 2011.  Recruitment panel self-service will be added so panel members can view applications online.  There are some software updates in the pipeline in improve management of references, correspondence and address validation.

Personnel

Aim to have a secure, shared, HR information source giving one source of the truth.  Systems will be robust and processes will be consistent to ensure compliance with various regulations.  This should reduce paper-based slowness and encourage best practice.  Staged implementation May-November 2011.

Personnel pilot aims to prove that Core can support the key HR processes at Oxford.  It will highlight the implications of process change and user roles and should identify and correct issues in time for full rollout.

Scope of pilot will be New starter (inc Transfer); Personal detialsl regrading; change in FTE/hours/funding; secondment; pay-affecting absence; leaver processes; organisational strucutre maintenance; user access and security; basic reporting; HESA module.  Out of scope will be casual staff, non-employee records and TUPE in staff.

The pilot will finally report to the HRIS project board to inform a decision on wider rollout.  Pilot will also help to improve guidance that is made available to new users.

Future additions to Personnel will include Absence Management; Staff self-service and further reporting.

When Core Payroll and Personnel are both live there will be a change for the management of casual and PAC staff.