As usual, information technology support folks around campus have been busy over the summer working to improve performance, reliability, security and ease of use. Below are a few of the advances you may want to know about:
Additional Internet Capacity
The UVM Internet connections include bandwidth from Adelphia and Verizon plus academic and research bandwidth (Internet2) for a total of 90 megabits (100% more than a year ago, 35% more than last semester).
Network Backbone
The campus network backbone has been enhanced with newer more powerful electronics capable of handling more of our ever-increasing network traffic.
Student Residences Network
New 100 megabit connections to the gigabit backbone are being installed in all UVM-owned student residences. About 60% of the residences are now complete; the remainder will be finished during the semester.
Many other significant campus network upgrades were completed (or started) over the summer. For a full list see:
Virtual Private Network
A virtual private network (VPN) is now available. This facility will allow you to access services that otherwise would be available only on the campus network. Users login to the network using their UVM Net ID and password. The special software needed to access this service may be downloaded from
Wireless Security
The CatsPaw wireless network has been converted to a virtual private network (VPN). The VPN provides encrypted service to authenticated users. Refer to VPN information above for details. For more information on UVM's wireless network, see
Email Authentication
Email authentication and encryption through UVM's simple mail transfer protocol (smtp) server (smtp.uvm.edu) is now available. This secures your off-campus email transmissions and allows UVM affiliates (but not spammers from around the world) to use our mail distribution server from off-campus. See http://www.uvm.edu/cit/email/?Page=settings.html for details on configuring your email program to use this facility.
Other Security Efforts
The Security Team is in the middle of a major security enhancement for computers on the UVM network. This project involves new security policies, installation of a firewall, security scanning software and virtual private networks (VPNs). The residence halls and many other locations around campus are now being protected by the firewall. For further information, see http://www.uvm.edu/networksecurity/
An additional terabyte (a trillion bytes) of storage has been added to the primary computing cluster, bringing the total to over 2.5 terabytes. About half of this new storage is allocated to supporting mail services, the other half to user space (Web pages, research data, etc).
The School of Natural Resources (SNR) and CIT have collaborated to create a new Spatial Analysis Teaching Lab in Aiken. The new lab will feature new Dell Windows XP Professional workstations4 with 19" flat screens.
Upgrades to the Aiken Macintosh lab is likely to occur over semester break.
The College of Agriculture and CIT have replaced the computers in the Morrill computer lab with new Dell Windows XP Professional workstations with 19" flat screens.
The College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Geography have upgraded the Geography Computer Lab in Old Mill with Dell GX240 workstations running Windows 2000 Professional.
Common Authentication Method
Most public computers across campus (now including Bailey-Howe) will now use a common authentication method (network id & password).
Cyber Cafes
The Library Cyber Cafe opened last semester in former Bailey-Howe computer lab. Drop by to have a latte while check your email, surf the Web or complete an assignment.
The Waterman Cyber Cafe is scheduled to open for the spring semester. In the meantime, please excuse the construction mess outside CIT's second floor offices.
The popular Webmail system now has greater capacity and clustered servers for improved availability.
The email system or "inbox" capacity has been increase from 20 to 30MB per user. The per message limit has been raise from 5 to 10MB. Note that stored email (in other mailboxes) is not normally limited. You can check your current usage at http://www.uvm.edu/account where you can also:
- Change your password
- Set an email forwarding address
- Set a "vacation" autoresponse message
Light Weight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Support
The Light Weight Directory Service (LDAP) is ready to replace the older CSO online directory service (still available). LDAP provides a common authentication mechanism as well as directory information services. For more information, see http://www.uvm.edu/cit/projects/ldap/
The UVM Web space is now served by 2 more powerful servers in a high-availability configuration.
A new more powerful common gateway interface (CGI) server is now available. CGI is a programming facility for Web pages. See http://www.uvm.edu/www/cgi.html for details.
The UVM Web site now has a fast, accurate, versatile Google search engine.
All Lafayette & Old Mill Annex classrooms have now been updated with new ceiling mounted data/video projectors.
Six classrooms have been upgraded with high resolution digital document cameras connected to a ceiling data projector.
Six classrooms (254 Votey, 11 Carrigan, 102 Rowell, 237A Rowell, A303 and A304 Old Mill) have been upgraded to Level One which includes laptop/notebook computer connection, campus network access, and VHS/DVD playback to ceiling mounted data/video projectors.
All rooms with technology systems have been tested, serviced, instructions posted, and readied for fall semester.
Windows XP and Mac OS X supported. As announced by the IT Standards committee in April Windows XP is now supported. For details, see
<http://www.uvm.edu/itnetwork/standcom/?Page=standards-2002.html> The UVM Microcomputer Depot is currently delivering Windows systems with Windows XP and Apple systems with OS X (+OS 9).
Note that network protocols Appletalk and IPX (Novell) are being phased out -- though no firm expiration has been set.
Many of the computing Web pages have been updated, and new pages cover more topics than ever before. Refer to the computing home page <http://www.uvm.edu/cit> for the latest news and frequently asked questions.
updated September 19, 2002