[CompSoc-News] Major changes to skynet over next few months

[Cian Davis]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


Hi All,
Between hardware donations and finally getting a decent budget, we are
in a position to make skynet into a stable network. However, as part of
the restructuring of skynet, there will be a number of changes that will
directly affect users. We will endeavour to give as much info as
possible in as much time as possible.

First off, on a general note, we are doing a general migration to
service based name. For example, in the past, you would have used
holly.csn.ul.ie as your mailserver. Now it will be mail.skynet.ie. The
primary domain will also change to skynet.ie - this doesn't really
effect anything, since csn.ul.ie will still work, it's just more that
security certs and the likes will be issued in the skynet.ie domain.

The other thing is that many of you may have noticed messages apparently
from Skynet admins saying your account is suspended or something and
please open the attachment. Don't. They are automatically generated
viruses and did *NOT* come from Skynet admins. We will never include
vital information in an attachment, mails will always be signed off by
name and most will have a digital GPG signature. If it doesn't, reply
and ask for a signed copy.

Change: Moving of main server from holly to hex
Time frame: Change on Monday, 21st November, 2005
Affect on users: Hopefully, the only thing you notice will be a much
bigger /home and a bit of down time. Everything will have to shut down
for an hour or 2 at 16:00 on Monday while we complete the move. Mail
shouldn't get lost but might.
Problem contact: root at skynet.ie

Change: Reinitialise orac (webserver)
Time frame: End November, 2005
Affect on users: Websites might break as we move from Apache 1.3 to
Apache 2. Outages of webserver should be minimal. However, we will be
moving to a temporary webserver so you should change all references in
scripts from orac.csn.ul.ie to www.skynet.ie
Problem contact: webadmin at skynet.ie

Change: Reset holly as mail, and only mail, server
Time frame: End December, 2005 - Mid Jan 2005
Affect on users: OK, this is the big one. We will do as much testing as
possible before hand. For those of you who only use your inbox with
squirrelmail, pine or mutt, this should be effectively irrelevant.
However, for those of you with .procmailrc, they will need to be
rewritten. For one, we're moving to maildir. Also, if you have mail
scripts, they probably need to be looked at. If you want root to move
your .procmailrc or have scripts you want to keep working, mail
root at skynet.ie. Notice and further details will be given well before
this change.
Problem contact: root at skynet.ie

Change: Move mailman to its own server
Time frame: January, 2006
Affect on users: All list addresses will change from listname at skynet.ie
to listname at lists.skynet.ie
Problem contact: mailman at skynet.ie

Change: Move database server to mysql.skynet.ie
Time frame: January 2006
Affect on users: Chances are that this will break any PHP scripts that
use MySQL as, at the moment, the server is specified as localhost.
Suggestion: Set the server name as a variable in a file somewhere for
ALL your PHP files. That way, you have to change 1 line. We will let you
know when mysql.skynet.ie is up and running and before we move it so you
can test.
Problem contact: dbadmin at skynet.ie

Change: userftp.csn.ul.ie to be shut down
Time frame: Mid Decemeber, 2005
Affect on users: User FTP will no longer work. Where you used FTP before
to upload files to your home directory, you now use WinSCP.
Problem contact: root at skynet.ie

Change: Authentication moving from LDAP to Kerberos
Time frame: Mid January, 2006
Affect on users: Main effect will be that you will have to SSH once
after this change is made to initialise password. Notice will be given
before this happens.
Problem contact: root at skynet.ie

As you might have guessed, this work will require new admins. If you're
interested, it gives you a great opportunity to work with a real, live
cluster which is what employers are looking for. Mail root at skynet.ie if
you're interested.

Lastly, for those of you who can't read the MOTD, a new service called
anyterm is running at https://anyterm.skynet.ie Anyterm lets you open a
SSH session over a bog standard HTTPS connection. Handy if you're stuck
in work or somewhere with an over-the-top firewall.

Regards,
Cian Davis
Skynet Admin

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFDe7Ds2yUma7R/3b8RAtixAJ0UiIanjYgMXip0g4BwKMPXgb19wQCgy0Ta
4MEOVkkZXRcckvohBIFfbbE=
=/lhM
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----