« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »
February 28, 2008
Goodbye to Another Good Guy
Well, when it rains it pours they say. Alex worked his last day yesterday. That's three of our top hands that have left for greener pastures in the past month or so. Alex is going to work with Joe Crowe in Corvallis, and I wish them both all the best! This is a free society we live in, so they were able to make those decisions themselves, or else we would have never let them go! I have enjoyed working with Alex, and we were just about ready to do the 10gR2 upgrade together, which would have been fun. But, it's not to be. Brad is going to help us out now.
I'm just wondering out loud if anyone out there knows or cares how much work is done by the UCS department behind the scenes? I know you care when everything goes to h - e - double hockey sticks, but how about when you just turn your computer on and can do your work. Michael Ellis did an informal study of IT departments around the country. For our size, WOU has about 50 - 60% of the average number of IT employees. This would explain why we have all developed two (or more) jobs. We were hired for one job, but we've all wound up doing an extra job because there just isn't anyone else to do it. Do not think this is a slam against Bill Kernan, because it is just the opposite. Bill has somehow managed to not only keep things running smoothly, but to put WOU at the leading edge of technology. I'm just saying, we could use some help! Also, this might help us to keep some our talent from taking off for greener pastures.
Well, that's just my opinion.
Posted by rossm at 8:42 AM | Comments (0)
Astra Behaves Itself, Much Work Is Done
This has been a really good week for the Astra project. It appears that we have now managed to shake out all the system bugs that plagued us last week, and that has allowed us to move forward with events configuration. Jill and I met and began work on form and report modifications. We are adding such things as our logo instead of the Astra logo, and customizing the data displayed. Jill and Jerrie Lee have gotten together to put the finishing touches on "resources" - the items that are checked out by the WUC and the Library. Yesterday I made a modification to the web to require a telephone number when an event request is made. I also did some research on installation and use of Crystal Reports to create our own set of custom reports. Jill has begun entering events so that she can further refine our configuration into a usable state. And that's just events.
Rose Ann and the class scheduler group are just about ready to load Fall 2008 term from Banner into Astra for scheduling. They have just done an awesome job of getting that part of Astra working for them.
On the horizon, I see some web customization that needs to be done, and the notification system still needs to be configured. Once Jill gets her events side ready, then we will shift focus to the Library and work on bringing them online, too.
Posted by rossm at 8:28 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
Astra Weekly Upgrade
This week in the Astra world was a bit frustrating - until today. Jill's problems I reported about last week culminated in a "bug" report, and required a programming fix from Astra. The bug occurred when attempting to modify how a customer type was charged (full price, half price, waived) for various components. Astra would accept the changes, but when you went back none of them were saved. Yesterday, Astra support called me and they had the bug fix done, then we applied the fix to our application. Today it appears to be working correctly.
Since the bug bottleneck is behind us, Jill has been able to complete some more setup and now has the customer types set up with their correct charging information. Her work looks very good. Next, we have some report modifications to make so that such things as event confirmation forms and routine reports have the necessary information in them. This should not slow us down, though, this is just one of the next steps we need to take.
The class schedulers are rapidly becoming savvy, experienced Astra users. They have begun working on Fall 2008 term, but had some difficulties with "rolling over" the Banner data. The rollover worked, but required a lot of tweaking to make individual items correct. We will be loading the Fall 2008 Banner term data into Astra pretty soon.
As you know, I was very impressed with Astra during the implementation phase. It is a complex application with many different components that must all work together. The implementation was as painless as any I've been involved with - by far. Their halo has slipped a bit, though, with two "bugs" we discovered as we work through our setup phase. The first problem was a programming error that prevented us from putting our practice term into production. The second was Jill's bug, which is really amazing to me that this slipped by so long with Astra in production - surely someone else must have had this problem??? Anyway, the support people and the implementation people at Astra are really great to work with. Problems are bound to come up, and it is a real plus to know there is a "real person" you can contact for help, and that person will actually provide assistance.
Posted by rossm at 8:57 AM | Comments (0)
10gR2 Production Upgrade Scheduled
Friday, March 7th, beginning at 5:30 p.m., several of the UCS staff will be having a fun time upgrading our production database from the 9i version to 10gR2. We have created a 10gR2 database on our production server together with an HTTP server. These will be used as part of the upgrade. Our plan of attack is to shut down the database, make a copy just in case, run the upgrade, move all the datafiles to their new Oracle Home, recreate all configuration files to point to the new Oracle Home, then restart the upgraded database. Ron will move our SSL certificate, and Alex will be responsible for all the Unix heavy lifting - file copies and such.
We have learned that we can create our DAD's with names that mimic our existing structure, so that we should not have to go to each package and procedure to enter the new paths. This will save us a bunch of time. This upgrade is long overdue, so it will be nice to get the 10g version into production. It has many features that will resolve some long term issues, such as Oracle Wallet for our website, increased number of sessions, and a much better way to do upgrades and patches. It's supposed to be more efficient, too, but let me tell you it is one very busy application! I am constantly amazed at the wide variety of things that use the Oracle database. The improved performance may not be all that noticable at the user level, primarily because our current database is already running at such high speed. It's like going from 100 mph to 120 mph - one is surely faster, but both speeds are pretty fast.
With any luck at all, we'll have a sweet 10gR2 production database up and running by March 8th. Then I can work on the upgrade to 11i - ah, job security!
Posted by rossm at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2008
This Week With Astra
Let me be honest, it's been a tough week for Astra. Dale and I have spent too many hours trying to load events already scheduled in Scheduler Plus into Astra. The problem is that none of the data matches up (rooms, customer, customer types, and so on) are all different between the two systems. Astra can not recognize a regular Oracle date format for import, only a mmddyyyy format. Also, once the events are imported, they can not be modified, nor can they be canceled or deleted. So, although we have loaded over 400 events into Astra, they are only of value in that they will show which rooms have been scheduled - acting as placeholders. Also, Jill continues to run into errors as she is trying to configure Astra - that doesn't help, either. We have a meeting Friday morning to work on getting Astra configured better, so we can start actually using it for creating events. The database errors are frustrating in that they prevent Jill from adding necessary elements into Astra, such as customer types and equipment.
The library is patiently waiting in the wings while we work on the Astra configuration for the WUC. Once we can get Astra configured to allow for event creation, we should be able to bring the library on board pretty quickly. Let's hope we can make some headway on Friday.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. Don't forget that Astra now schedules every class on our campus, and does it really well. Also, if you care to look at Astra on the web, you will see why we are excited to have it working on our campus - room information is available to anyone who wants to look. You can request a room reservation right from the web, and you can see which rooms are available and which are already scheduled. Right now, we are experiencing some growth pains (and pain is the right word this week!), but we must not lose sight of the big picture. Some day we'll look back and say it was all worth it!
Posted by rossm at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
10gR2 Update
Thanks to Alex and Travis, we are moving quickly ahead toward upgrading our production instance to 10gR2. The OS parameters have been updated, and 10gR2 has been installed on the production server. The next step is to install the HTTP server, then run the upgrade script to determine what issues we have for the upgrade. Fix those issues, prepare the configuration files, then go for the upgrade. We will have to bring the database down one evening to accomplish the upgrade, and I'll bet you will be amazed at how many things quit working when we do that! The database will be down for at least several hours to allow for a complete backup (just in case!) and to let the upgrade manager run.
Many thanks to our Unix/Solaris support - Alex and Travis.
Posted by rossm at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
February 8, 2008
Astra - Weekly Update
It has been a more than busy week with the Astra project. After experiencing some system problems, we have now scheduled Spring and Summer term classes using Astra. It has really helped in scheduling classrooms.
I spent most of the week working on exporting scheduled events from Scheduler Plus into Astra events. That was really a challenge. Finally, this afternoon, with some help from Dale, the events were imported (about 450 events). If you go to the Astra web (link), log in as guest - no password, select Schedules from the left hand menu, then apply the filter, you will see a number of events listed. Unfortunately, these events can only be displayed in Astra, they can not be modified or have information such as customers added to them. So, Jill will be having to redo a lot of them, but at least the events and rooms that have been scheduled are displayed. By the way, you will be able to request event space for your event from the web in the near future (It works now, but is not entirely functional yet)! Stay tuned.
It is really neat that Astra is now able to handle the scheduling of all classrooms on our campus. You have no idea how much work was involved in setting this up to work correctly. Rose Ann Riester, Kathy Hill, and Tiffany Smith have really worked hard to get the configuration such that Astra could perform our class scheduling.
The "big picture" plan now is to get the WUC events scheduled, and also to get the Hamersly Library events into Astra, too. The final piece will be to get Nathan's equipment entered.
Astra is a very powerful application. It really works! The entire campus will benefit right now with more efficient classroom scheduling, and more visible displays for all events. Eventually Astra will also provide improved communication for event scheduling as well.
Posted by rossm at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2008
When It Rains, It Pours
After wrestling around with the MBS to Banner interface, we were finally able to get it to work reliably once again. We're still not sure what all caused the interface to break down. Some of the time the system would not generate the file for Banner to pick up, some of the time it appeared as though the file did not get picked up, or was empty. Mike Soukup tested the database connection and it seemed to be working just fine. Let's hope that one is behind us for awhile!
As a side note, we upgraded 6 of the workstations with another 512 MB of ram. These workstations are getting long of tooth, but the ram upgrades have made them a bit more tolerable for now.
Also, the tape backup has been acting up this week, too. It is having trouble reading some of the backup tapes. They will need to be replaced, it appears.
Posted by rossm at 3:19 PM | Comments (0)
10gR2 Upgrade Gets a Lift Tonight
Tonight, Travis and Alex will be doing the monthly maintenance on the server where our production database resides. One of their tasks is to make a slight modification to some Solaris parameters so that 10g can run on the server - requires a reboot of the server to activate the parameters. After that we should be getting the new Oracle Homes set up and pushing forward with the installs. Dale has been reviewing the web-based Enterprise Manager and we are continually impressed with the number of administration tasks that can be accomplished through EM.
Posted by rossm at 3:15 PM | Comments (0)
Astra Scheduling Moves Forward
This week, Astra has been causing it's first trouble. I've spent some time with Astra support, and they have been very helpful, but the Banner interface has been acting up and we have not been able to get it under control yet. The sections folks have been scheduling campus classes for Spring term, and Summer 08 term, and Astra is doing a very nice job of scheduling all of the classes on campus. Of course, we're still fine tuning our system setup to maximize the usefulness of Astra. Jill Summers has been creating charging plans, resources, and other required events items. I've spent the last couple days trying to move about 500 events from Scheduler Plus into Astra. That has been quite a good refresher on sql loader. I have the import file all ready to go as of about 5 minutes ago. I'll try that import in the morning.
Right now we are experiencing some real growth pains as we begin to work Astra harder. We have made some real gains, and will continue to develop the application until virtually all classes and events on campus will be scheduled through Astra.
Posted by rossm at 3:04 PM | Comments (0)