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Discover the journey of building Whistler City from concept to reality. Learn about the challenges faced and how they were overcome to create a thriving and innovative city.
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Building Whistler City: From Concept to Real World Kari Branjord, Director, Web Development, University of Minnesota EDUCAUSE 2000 Jim Hall, Web Production Support, University of Minnesota
Famous Quotes “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” -Thomas Watson (chairman of IBM) 1943
Famous Quotes “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” -Ken Olson (president of DEC) 1977
Famous Quotes “640k ought to be enough for anybody.” -Bill Gates (CEO of Microsoft) 1981
Famous Quotes “Linux will have no place in the University of Minnesota enterprise.” -Steve Cawley (CIO at U of M) 1999
Web Registration • Part of student culture • First web registration: 1996 • 95% students used web registration • Implemented Peoplesoft registration: 1999 • New web registration system required
Student Administration Functions • View enrollment appointment (queue time) • View holds • Class schedule / course guide • Add/drop classes • Update personal information • View grades
Capacity • Capacity = 240 users • 70,000+ students at U of M
Improvement Needed • Poor performance • Instability • Students hated the system • Support staff restart systems all day • Can’t do other work!
Poor Performance • Students see “Access denied” • 10-30 seconds add/drop time = “good” • 2 minutes not unusual
Instability • Multiple crashes per day • One crash induces another to fail • All servers are down!
Staff Morale • Incentive to improve things for ourselves • Stability and performance are key • Separate effort to improve PS performance • Unable to improve web application capacity issues • Registration cycle starts in 2 months!
Culture • Creative atmosphere • Encourage experimentation • Performance-based vs. clock-puncher • Web is an open book
Culture • Games • Fun • Reward • Recognition
Culture • Staff are responsible, professional • Innovative thinking! • Gets results!
Culture • “Outside the box” • Free / open-source software often a way to explore new possibilities
Web Registrationon Linux? “All the components to run web registration are now available for Linux!”
Web Registrationon Linux? • Linux runs well on IBM hardware • IBM support for all components • Server management tools: • RPM, Kickstart • Ensure Linux hardware compatibility before you start: • SCSI, network, video
Requirements • Support for all components • Stability • Scalability
Options • Web registration tied to Web Sphere • Web Sphere supported on these platforms: • AIX • Solaris • Windows NT • Red Hat Linux • Linux is best choice for short timeframe
Project Team • A multi-team effort • Web Development: • Systems Administrator • Manager • Central Computing: • Hardware
How To Implement To Build Confidence • Change as little as possible • Test before you implement • Burn-in period • Phased deployment • Isolate moving parts
Project Management • Keep the project in scope • Budget • Time frame • Features vs. effort
Project Management • Create a schedule, stick to it • Regular meetings for progress • Emails with daily status • Be honest with respect to risks, delays
Overcoming Fear • Challenge to the status quo • Free / open source is new concept • New paradigm • CIO • Customer • Security staff • Our own staff • Auditors
Overcoming Fear • Document the work • Testing • Support • Costs • Deployment • Statistics • Make information available on the web
Overcoming Fear • Communicate key message • In-house expertise • Confidence in product • Confidence in scalability • Cost effective • Constant involvement of customer • Opportunity to pull “big red handle”
Performance Improved • (AIX) Web registration: • 10-30 seconds response time = “good” • 2 minutes not unusual
Performance Improved • (Linux) Web registration: • 74% 0-5 sec. Add/drop • 95% 0-10 sec. Add/drop
Stability Improved • (AIX) Web registration: • Multiple crashes per day • All servers down not uncommon(“cascade failure”)