Information Technology Services, fall 2022

Throughout the summer, ITS staff welcomed new incoming students including transfer and international students. ITS had a strong staff presence at 12 summer Orientation sessions and one New Faculty Orientation session. Network access improvements, Google 2-Step Authentication/Enrollment, password help, connecting BYOD (personally owned devices) to the campus network, and guidance on purchasing new computers seemed to be the most common themes inquired about.

It was a very successful summer for completing critical projects. ITS continued to successfully complete projects that were highly visible and potentially significant. One such project was reducing Google Workspace storage space use. After offering unlimited storage more than a decade ago, Google drastically changed its policy and now only offers a rather small amount of storage space for free, the rest at a significant cost. As a result, ITS collaborated with the Alumni Office to develop revised policies and practices to aid this effort. Specifically, after months of communiques and calls to specific alumni, ITS disabled the Google Drive (storage) accounts for alumni in July. The coordination among the Alumni Office, ITS and individual alumni resulted in almost zero calls to the Help Desk after alumni Google accounts were disabled.

Enterprise Systems and Applications Group

The Enterprise Systems and Applications (ESA) Team performed system and security maintenance upgrades on major software and hardware systems, all designed to boost performance and overall system security. Here are just a few of the tasks completed:

Developed procedures for students to easily set up MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication). The students appreciated being able to set up MFA easily and the number of MFA calls to the Help Desk decreased.

• Continued the multi-month project to migrate servers and data onto the new powerstore storage subsystem. The summer focus was on migrating all of the LINUX servers. These efforts further support the true data/server redundancy of ITS.
• Upgraded/patched critical systems/applications such as SAS, BANQA, BANPROD and BANDEV to ensure they remained viable and compliant for the University.
• Continued weekly patching and updating of over 300 servers during the summer.
• Updated the Academic Oracle environment to the most current version.
• Updated the University Bulletin vhosts, Infosilem and the Academic (version 14.1) test system.
• Worked closely with Purchasing and the Business Office in support of the KeyBank installation and also completed the Nelnet conversion.

Other significant projects included:

• Restructured and improved the Google environment to user groups to allow for a finer level of control for entitlements for specific groups of users.
• Neared completion of the disaster recovery redundant storage project. ITS is working with senior campus leaders to determine a date to complete the next phase, which will impact system access to all users for potentially a full day or more.
• Continued working with the functional areas to allow insight and configuration of the Banner 9 SSB implementation.
• Completed Phase 2 of the online.binghamton.edu project.
• Completed the installation of the new MX7000 chassis in the UDC data center.
• Integrated the Infosilem data into the Electronic Paper Sign system with Visix that is used to direct campus to classrooms and event areas and to display which activities are in certain rooms at a given time.
• Completed VMWare failover site construction and design.This is another facet of the ITS disaster recovery plan.

Operations and Infrastructure Group

The Networking Team, in addition to the normal complement of summer upgrades and installations, evaluated Wi-Fi infrastructure equipment from multiple vendors. One vendor, Ruckus, whose equipment looked extremely promising was tested in the Tech Hub. The Wi-Fi equipment in the Tech Hub was replaced with Ruckus Wi-Fi products and key applications such as eduroam, welcome2bing, mydevicesbing were tested for ease of use/connectivity and performance. Overall, the test went well and ITS now has a new potential Wi-Fi product vendor. Here are just a few other tasks completed:

• Performed upgrade to a newer version of SecureW2 Wi-Fi onboarding tool.
• Refreshed Wi-Fi certificates for eduroam, ensuring we were fully compliant before the start of the fall semester.
• Upgraded Wi-Fi APs (access points) in all areas (either software, hardware or both).
• Completed Phase one of exterior door access installs for the West Gym, Nelson A. Rockefeller Building and the UU Loading Dock.
• Upgraded the distribution network router in Admissions and Newing/Dickinson.
• Configured cameras for construction time-lapses and/or streaming.

Other significant projects included:

• Significantly improved the campus cybersecurity profile by placing the student network behind the edge firewall. Continued conducting Wi-Fi site surveys. A survey of the CIW Library identified a need to upgrade and expand Wi-Fi capability there. Once the equipment is onsite, an upgrade will be scheduled.
• Worked with Physical Facilities to create and test a dynamic VLAN/network for the Siemens Energy Management System. This provides a direct access and secure method for PF staff to manage and monitor the Siemens system; whereas before, access was via a circuitous process through the PF network.
• Specified, implemented and configured custom software integration and trained staff on the Events Center’s video scoreboard system to provide a more responsive and in-depth fan experience.
• Completed the Mountainview CCTV camera depreciation upgrade
• Completed new fiber optic installations in Hillside residence halls.
• Completed the installation and upgrades for the network router in the CIW community.

Information Security Group

The Information Security Team worked closely with the Networking Team. The number of security incidents remained low and the staff was able to focus efforts on additional tasks. Here are just a few of the tasks completed:

• Developed and maintained change management documentation, implemented the new workflow processes and ensured that all ITS staff are following best change management practices.
• Reviewed and recommended enhancements to the documentation for both internal ITS and campus-wide student firewalls. These recommendations were designed to improve the functionality and security of the firewall changes.
• Provided temporary access to alumni (approximately 200 alumni) who requested Google Drive service in order to transfer their data prior to July 2022.

Technology Support Services (TSS) Group

The summer is the Technology Support Services Team’s busiest time. Between preparing student computer labs for the fall and receiving and customizing computers from the University bulk-buy program, to the normal plethora of daily tasks, TSS managed to accomplish all major projects and tasks before the start of the fall semester. Specific projects that consumed the TSS staff’s attention were the Google 2-Step enrollment issues, computer software and hardware help, password and phishing issues, Installation, customization and implementation of TeamDynamix software. In addition, the team:

• Enabled single sign-on (SSO).
• Loaded ITS employees into the system to begin populating ticket assignment groups.
• Built out specific required groups.
• Google 2-Step Authentication.

Other significant projects included:

• Neared completion of the Annual (second year) Bulk Computer Replacement Project. The president-subsidized program is designed to assist departments and schools across the University in procuring current and relevant computers for operational and instructional use.
• Implemented a new program to manage administrative access as part of the Desktop Standards initiative.
• Installed 30 iMacs into the newly renovated computer lab in Science 2, Room 745. Additional rooms (731 and 732) will be used as a study room and a printer space. These rooms are to replace the West POD space in Science 3 that was closed for the upcoming renovation of that building.
• Upgraded/replaced 110 computers in the Bartle Info Commons, Bartle Mezzanine and Bartle Graduate Commons.
• Completed PaperCut print management customizations for the fall semester in anticipation of the students returning. The print quota limits were adjusted.
• Development by the Help Desk of a simple process to quickly and efficiently process calls about the Google Alumni Drive.
• Management of TeamDynamix Training for all ITS staff.
• Migrated JAMF, management software for Apple devices, from a locally hosted server to the Jamf Hosted Cloud Services. This increased the functionality and security of the system.
• Assisted the Theatre Department in resolving an issue with its server that is used to host its performances.

The ITS Help Desk had an increase of calls/incidents during the summer. There were over 5,000 incidents opened in June and July, with about 2,600 assigned to the Help Desk. Fifty-three percent of the incidents were resolved at the first level (Help Desk staff) of support. The preponderance of incidents were for support with Brightspace, Google 2-Step enrollment, access lockouts, password issues, phishing scams, computer software and hardware issues. The following graphs depict the spike in incidents by category:

Emerging Technology Studio (ETS), Innovation and Research Group

The Innovation team worked diligently to implement the IAMBING (Identity Access Management BING) system. This system manages the provisioning, de-provisioning and access permissions for all Binghamton University accounts associated with Binghamton University students, faculty, staff, volunteers, alumni, retirees and applicants. The IAM application for IAMBing was created to support the ITS effort to better manage and maintain the substantial resources needed for user access/accounts. ITS found that there was a substantial number of accounts no longer needed/utilized and those accounts/access rights were either deleted (accounts of individuals who are no longer affiliated with the University) or corrected to limit access as appropriate (based on current affiliation(s) and responsibilities). The outcome is to reduce the number of accounts that could be compromised, which helps reduce the University’s exposure to cybersecurity issues.

Another important project was the creation of a new system for managing and scheduling staff and faculty workshops. In coordination with the University Center for Training and Development (UCTD), the ITS Innovations team created a variety of enhancements to the existing “BComply” system to facilitate the management of training workshops for faculty and staff. This allows for self-enrollment in training workshops and provides UCTD with a variety of administrative tools for scheduling, reporting and general management.

Finally, the ITS Research Computing infrastructure and upcoming pilot was investigated and developed, which pertains to research computing and research data storage. ITS identified the specific technologies and service offerings that will be available as part of a research computing “pilot” to be conducted this fall. The outcome of this pilot will provide the data necessary for the ITS Research Computing Support group to set the direction of future efforts. This will also provide the needed information to guide the University in the purchase of High Performance Computing (HPC) and Research Data Storage hardware with a formal research offering to be made available in 2023.

ITS staff promotions and new hires

ITS congratulates and welcomes new employees and promotions:

• Kim Smey was promoted to senior Windows system administrator, focusing on Windows system administration within the Enterprise Systems and Applications (ESA) Group.
• Tim Cortesi was promoted to director of Innovation and Research Computing Support.
• Mike Behun was promoted to deputy chief information officer and chief information security officer.
• Alex Waldbaum was hired as an information security analyst with the Security Group.

ITS training

The following ITS employees completed training over the summer:

• Jill Raynor completed the JAMF Certified Tech training.
• Tony Mollo completed Fiber Optics Training 1 and Advanced Fiber Optics Training 2.