Re: [luau] Status of Mililani High School
I'd be interested in helping. I live in the Mililani area and have a few years experience with Solaris (and Linux). Also, I'm between jobs so my time is somewhat flexible. -Rick Chavez Warren Togami wrote: > ... > > What Help Is Needed for Mililani > > 1. Solaris knowledgeable help. I am going in today to install GNU tools > and SSHD so I can continue working on it from home. I think I can > handle this much, but I will need help with more difficult things like > operating system upgrades later.
Re: [luau] Status of Mililani High School
> 3. Intel Netexpress print server appliance and Samba print queue setup. > I haven't done a Samba print queue before. Has anyone configured that > before? I may need help in figuring out how the Intel appliance can be > re-configured to work with anything other than IPX. I have a Netport Express running at the house and used with Samba My Netport is a NetportExpress PRO/100 3 ports (2 par, 1 serial) Here is my printcap: epson|Epson_Stylus|printer_on_port1:\ :sd=/var/spool/lpd/epson:\ :mx#0:\ :rm=192.168.0.20:\ :rp=LPT1_PASSTHRU:\ :sh:\ :lf=/usr/adm/lpd-errs: hplj4|LaserJet4|printer_on_port2:\ :sd=/var/spool/lpd/hplj4:\ :mx#0:\ :rm=192.168.0.20:\ :rp=LPT2_PASSTHRU:\ :sh:\ :lf=/usr/adm/lpd-errs: The Netport is 192.168.0.20, lpt1 is an Epson Stylus, lpt2 a LJ4+ The relavent portion of my Samba config: [epson] comment = Epson_Color path = /samba/spool guest ok = Yes printable = Yes [hplj4] comment = HP_LaserJet_4P path = /samba/spool guest ok = Yes printable = Yes I believe I used the Intel Netport software running in Windows to find and initally configure the Netport. The software is similar in function HP's Jetdirect, except of course this is for Intel devices. You can also use the arp command (see Linux.pdf below). After it gets an ip you can use a web browser or telnet to config it further. There should be a reset switch on the set which will set it to a default config. After that is should allow TCP/IP and use DHCP. Useful links: The Intel software http://appsr.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=276 The configuration guide: http://support.intel.com/support/netport/guide.htm Configuring for Linux: ftp://download.intel.com/support/netport/10100/linux.pdf Again, I have a Netport Express Pro100, yours may be different.
Re: [luau] Status of Mililani High School
Warren Togami wrote: Yesterday I was at Mililani from 8am to 5pm working on their SunRay and Windows Celeron lab. As I mentioned earlier, the SunRay lab was extremely poorly put together with an underpowered Sun E250 server, initially with only 1 processor and 1GB of RAM. Sun donated a second processor and another GB of RAM, but it still couldn't handle 30 clients. After a wasted investment of $40,000, the school was suffering for an entire school year with an entire lab of computers that were almost useless. It couldn't handle everyone running StarOffice at the same time, and logging out took something like 10 minutes. Mililani was so displeased with the lab, that they were seriously thinking about getting rid of it for a loss, but nobody would want to buy it from them anyway. Definately someone was not thinking, that system is barely powerful enough to handle a handful of active clients using today's cpu hungry apps, let alone 30. Many of the issues here was an extremely poor understanding of Unix by whoever set this up. There was no SSH, SSHD, gcc, grep, awk and many other tools. The support person did almost entirely remote administration through telnet and FTP. I had never touched Solaris in my life, and I knew things were horribly wrong on this setup. This is not uncommon at all for a commercial UNIX system. Most commercial UNIX systems don't need a C compiler because all the software for them is sold binary only. The C compiler only takes up space and encourages people to use up valuable CPU cycles. Also, until the advent of free compiles such as gcc, a C compiler was a VERY expensive tool. Commercial UNIX systems just do without them. SSH is no where NEAR as popular in the commercial UNIX world as it is in the Linux and BSD world. I have no idea why, but most commercial UNIX gurus seem to just like using telnet. Remaining problems: From here a serious amount of work will be needed fixing up the Solaris installation. It is currently running Solaris 7 and an old version of the SunRay protocol software, and it is uncertain whether Sun will supply a free upgrade or charge money for it. IMHO Sun should provide it for free considering the amount of problems the school has had with their product. Prior to this server swap, Ginlack, the Principal of Mililani was considering approaching "ActionLine" to make public this bad situation that was bordering scandalous, with a $40,000 lab being almost completely broken for over a year - what an interesting public relations nightmare that would have made, $40k wasted taxpayer money, hundreds of kids being denied an opportunity of technology learning. If Sun won't cooperate, and you guys can get it cleared legally (blah blah - red tape here - blah blah), I would be willing to assist (not guaranteeing any results or that I'll be able to do it on my own) in reverse engineering the protocol enough to stick a Linux server in there. It probably won't be a normal LTSP server as I gather that SunRays are more like dumb VNC clients (bascially a framebuffer on a network), and then don't run X. Be aware that I'm now back at school so my free time just went down by about 90%. Of course check that this hasn't been done already before we do this, but hopefully Sun will cooperate. As with many big name installations (Cisco comes to mind...), things usually start breaking when you plug something in that doesn't have that company's logo on it. I suspect that the current Solaris 7 installation is poorly secured and possibly already compromised. Eventually I'd like to do a complete reinstall and I could use help from the group from people knowledgeable with Solaris. For now though, all the GNU tools should be installed including a working compiler, then OpenSSH and VNC so it can be securely administrated remotely. Java SDK should be installed. StarOffice 5.2 should be upgraded to StarOffice 6.0, but I need to write some scripts to handle automatic profile creation so people don't have to go through the somewhat confusing "Workstation" install for each user. I already have these scripts for StarOffice 6.0 on Linux, so this shouldn't be too hard if the GNU tools that it depends on are installed. After these things are stable, I'd like to replace the current CDE desktop with Gnome2. If you'd like, I can try to help with analyzing it. Email me privately. Mililani had a Windows Celeron lab served by an ancient Novell 4.10 server doing only a print queue. This lab was not uplinked into the school network, so they were running only IPX. Unfortunately the lack of Internet makes it extremely difficult because they teach Oracle and Java in that room. When they do plug the room into the Internet, the Windows machines easily DHCP and go online, but suddenly printing stops working and the Novell server beeps like crazy. After some analysis Elayne and I figured out that the Intel print server appliance was talk
RE: [luau] Status of Mililani High School
Aloha Warren, I can help you ion the Intel NetExpress prit servers. I have worked with these print servers before. I can also help you out on that old Novell 4.10 lab. I can make it over there in the afternoon on Friday. You can also give me a call if this does not work for you. Thanks, Brian Brian Low Security X 1515 Nuuanu Ave. #555 Honolulu, HI 96817 Phone: (808) 371-3571 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Warren Togami Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 10:47 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [luau] Status of Mililani High School Yesterday I was at Mililani from 8am to 5pm working on their SunRay and Windows Celeron lab. As I mentioned earlier, the SunRay lab was extremely poorly put together with an underpowered Sun E250 server, initially with only 1 processor and 1GB of RAM. Sun donated a second processor and another GB of RAM, but it still couldn't handle 30 clients. After a wasted investment of $40,000, the school was suffering for an entire school year with an entire lab of computers that were almost useless. It couldn't handle everyone running StarOffice at the same time, and logging out took something like 10 minutes. Mililani was so displeased with the lab, that they were seriously thinking about getting rid of it for a loss, but nobody would want to buy it from them anyway. Many of the issues here was an extremely poor understanding of Unix by whoever set this up. There was no SSH, SSHD, gcc, grep, awk and many other tools. The support person did almost entirely remote administration through telnet and FTP. I had never touched Solaris in my life, and I knew things were horribly wrong on this setup. To make matters worse, even though the school supposedly bought a 3 year support contract, the DOE lost their SunRay support person due to some braindead DOE reorganization. Now something like 50 schools with SunRay (mostly on Maui) have almost ZERO support. I told the Sun guys and Mililani that the group and I will support the Mililani lab on a volunteer basis. I have no doubt that we can make the lab work great because we actually have a clue how to properly use Unix. Yesterday Cliff Goto (DOE's Sun + Lotus Notes admin) came with two Sun technicians to swap out the E250 with a DOE owned E450 with four 300MHz processors and 2GB of RAM. After the server swap things appear to be running a lot smoother, StarOffice 5.2 appears to run better, and people are able to login and logout into CDE quickly. The lab is currently in a somewhat usable state, probably for the first time in its life. Remaining problems: >From here a serious amount of work will be needed fixing up the Solaris installation. It is currently running Solaris 7 and an old version of the SunRay protocol software, and it is uncertain whether Sun will supply a free upgrade or charge money for it. IMHO Sun should provide it for free considering the amount of problems the school has had with their product. Prior to this server swap, Ginlack, the Principal of Mililani was considering approaching "ActionLine" to make public this bad situation that was bordering scandalous, with a $40,000 lab being almost completely broken for over a year - what an interesting public relations nightmare that would have made, $40k wasted taxpayer money, hundreds of kids being denied an opportunity of technology learning. I suspect that the current Solaris 7 installation is poorly secured and possibly already compromised. Eventually I'd like to do a complete reinstall and I could use help from the group from people knowledgeable with Solaris. For now though, all the GNU tools should be installed including a working compiler, then OpenSSH and VNC so it can be securely administrated remotely. Java SDK should be installed. StarOffice 5.2 should be upgraded to StarOffice 6.0, but I need to write some scripts to handle automatic profile creation so people don't have to go through the somewhat confusing "Workstation" install for each user. I already have these scripts for StarOffice 6.0 on Linux, so this shouldn't be too hard if the GNU tools that it depends on are installed. After these things are stable, I'd like to replace the current CDE desktop with Gnome2. Mililani had a Windows Celeron lab served by an ancient Novell 4.10 server doing only a print queue. This lab was not uplinked into the school network, so they were running only IPX. Unfortunately the lack of Internet makes it extremely difficult because they teach Oracle and Java in that room. When they do plug the room into the Internet, the Windows machines easily DHCP and go online, but suddenly printing stops working and the Novell server beeps like crazy. After some analysis Elayne and I figured out that the Intel print server appliance was talking only IPX, and it was severely confused when the campus network is connected to that lab. It would somehow be confused by some other Novell