By Teresa Craighead
Computers that support the Cornell Campus Network and the Theory Center's supercomputing environment will be consolidated at Rhodes Hall by the end of 1997.
"The purpose of the consolidation is to move computing and communications resources to high-quality space, improve collaboration between technologists and scientists and strengthen support for the Theory Center," said Clint Sidle, director for Institutional Planning and Research.
Not only computers will be moved, computer specialists responsible for operations and infrastructure also will move to Rhodes Hall where they will work alongside researchers already located there. H. David Lambert, vice president for information technologies, said the potential for development of synergistic working relationships between researchers and infrastructure staff due to this arrangement will be unique to Cornell.
The withdrawal of the Theory Center's National Science Foundation funding, announced earlier this year, prompted the university to explore ways to drive down operational costs while continuing to support advanced research computing.
Lambert explained, "Integrating operations that support the computational science program with those that support general campus and administrative computing will allow significant cost savings and strengthen our ability to provide efficient support for all Cornell technology users."
The consolidation also will take advantage of space in Rhodes Hall that was designed specifically to house high-performance computing equipment. "It is the first time the campus has had a facility that wasn't retrofitted to house technology," said Lambert. "By integrating operations in a new facility, we are avoiding significant costs associated with upgrading the Computing and Communications Center (CCC) to support new technologies."
Jay Blaire, deputy director of the Cornell Theory Center, noted that due to necessary construction work in the Theory Center's main computer room to accommodate the consolidation, all Theory Center computer service, including service from the IBM SP and HPSS, will be interrupted starting at 6 p.m., Nov. 7. Service should resume at 6 p.m., Nov. 11, and possibly earlier.
More details about the move, including backup schedules and protecting batch jobs, will be sent to users via e-mail and will be available at http://www.tc.cornell.edu/UserDoc/HotTips/. Users who have concerns or questions can send electronic mail to consult@tc.cornell.edu or call 254-8686 and ask to speak to a consultant.
During the Thanksgiving break, the IBM mainframe computer (CornellC) that provides administrative computing services, including database access for several Bear Access offerings (Just the Facts, Employee Essentials and Faculty Advisor) and the electronic Cornell Library services, will be moved from the Computing and Communications Center to Rhodes Hall. These services will be unavailable from 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 27, until 6 a.m., Monday, Dec. 1.
"This move makes excellent sense from a variety of perspectives for the Cornell community as a whole," said Sarah Thomas, university librarian.
"Since the move will impair library services over the Thanksgiving recess especially on the Sunday (Nov. 30) before classes resume, which is traditionally an exceptionally busy day for the library library readers will need to plan ahead to avoid complications caused by the unavailability of the online catalog and other networked resources," Thomas said.
"The library will make provisions to provide what services we can manually, although, again, users should anticipate some delay and inconvenience. We ask for patience as this important move takes place," she said.
The most extensive part of the move is scheduled for the low-usage period from Dec. 26 through Jan. 2, when the fewest number of people will be disrupted by the move of a large number of systems from the CCC machine room to the consolidated location in Rhodes Hall. During this move, every effort will be made to keep library services, other mainframe-based administrative services and Theory Center research computers in service.
Network connectivity, both across campus and to the Internet, is expected to be fully available during this period. The move of certain servers, however, will interrupt some of Cornell's network services; these include electronic mail, CUinfo and other Websites, and many Bear Access offerings. EZ-Remote, the network dialup system, may be disrupted for brief periods during the first 12 hours of the move. Departmental services that rely on servers housed in the CCC machine room also will be subject to disruption, and departmental printers may be affected. Specialized servers, such as those that support RSRCH and INSTRUCT accounts, will be down.
"Despite the complexity of the move, we will make it a priority to restore electronic mail, EZ-Remote and other key services as early as possible," emphasized Peter M. Siegel, director of Network and Computing Systems at Cornell Information Technologies. Siegel added, "We encourage people who wish to work during this time to call our Network Operations Center, as the move unfolds, for timely, accurate information."
The Network Operations Center (NOC) can be reached at 255-9900. The NOC is always in operation and will remain in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, during these moves.
Follow up articles in the Cornell Chronicle will provide more details about the consolidation and the order in which services are expected to become available during the Dec. 26 through Jan. 2 period. CIT is currently consulting with groups most affected by the consolidation and expected service interruptions.
In the meantime, those with additional questions can send electronic mail to computer_move@cornell.edu.