Scott’s Blog

Monthly Activity Report
October 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Corrected issues with PBX synchronization where AIMWorX was not updated and sent PBX tech information on issues that needed resolution in PBX.
2. Virtual Server – Moved Windows  virtual servers from AMD cluster to Intel cluster.
3. ESX Server — Upgraded 5 ESX servers to v3.5.0 update 4: its-hcvm01-ts, its-hcvm02-ts, its-hcvm05-ts, its-scvm03, & its-scvm04.  Inserted a third ESX server, its-scvm05, into the Intel-Stevenson cluster.
4. Virtual Snapshots — Compared snapshots being created against snapshots being paid for and found discrepencies.  Began creating snapshots for 3 virtual servers that were being paid for be not created. 
5. Perlscripts — Created two scripts to create text files for BellSouth charges & itemized calls journals.
6. HP3000 Decommission Testing — Transferred and /or created all billing files and journals to VIAFTP server for the month end billing in September 2009 for testing of process.
7. Higher Ground Backup NAS Share — The NAS share used for call recording backup, PBX-Recording, was alarming in Nagios because it was over 90% used.  It was decided to cut back on the amount of data moved to this share from 180 days to 150 days.  A ticket was entered with Amcom for Higher Ground to make the necessary changes to thier configuration files.  This process was completed and files removed that were older that 150 days.  However, this did not correct the over 90% issue for long.  It was discovered that the screen captures have increased in size from an average of 2.5GB of data to over 6GB of data per day.  This seems to be related to the opening of the internet to all PBX operator stations.  When the call begins the operator may be on a web page that contains graphics that increases the size of the capture file.

Monthly Activity Report
September 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Call records prior to 3/31/09 were purged.
2. Microsoft eLearning — Began online courses for Windows 2008 Server.
3. AIMWorX Work Order Template — Create a new template for Up/Downgrading OCS and added to the OCS template documentation.
4. Billing Perl Scripts — Created multiple scripts to create journal files for all types of calls as requested by MIS.  Sent test files to MIS.  This is part of the HP3000 dec0mmission project.
5. Virtual Server – Created a virtual server to replace the current WINS1 server.  This server was put into production without moving off the development ESX cluster.  Moved the new WINS1 server from development ESX cluster to production ESX cluster.  Created 3 virtual servers to replace 3 physical servers for Spectrum.
6. PBX Operators — Spent a couple hours with operators in an attempt to determine a cause for thier greetings failure.  Only on position had issues while I was there.  Ran multiple test to determine problem but came up with no answers.  However, there have been no problems reported for almost two weeks.
7. ESX Server — Received new physical ESX server.  Installed ESX version 3.5 update 3 on server, ITS-HCVM05-TS.  Moved servers from Intel-Dev cluster to new server test server.  Removed ITS-HCVM03-TS from Intel-Dev cluster and reloaded for production use, ITS-SCVM05.  Moved snapshot service to new test ESX server, ITS-HCVM05-TS.
8. AIMWorX Duplicate Billing — Created two files to credit calling card & switched calls that were billed twice on the August 2009 billing process.  These credits will be applied to the September 2009 billing process.

Monthly Activity Report
August 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Call records prior to 1/31/09 were purged.
2. AIMWorX charge for backup – Setup new process in AIMWorX to charge for server backup.  This process consist of a Perl script to reformat the data from the Storage group and then an import into the charges table in AIMWorX.  This process was documented but has not yet been implemented.
3. Server Decommission — Had the old NEC Express server removed from the rack after the drives were cleaned.  This server was used as the AIMWorX SQL database server.  This server can be returned to the leasing company.  Two other IBM servers had their harddrives cleaned and can be returned to the leasing company.
4. PBX Operators & VUSearch — When searching the Vanderbilt website using the VUSearch from a PBX operator workstation, there was a 2 minute delay before data was returned.  Dave Arkle searched the firewall logs and then captured data and found that the VUSearch engine was looking to Google.com to record statistics.  The PBX operator workstations do not have access to the internet which is why the search took so long.  Peter Woods found the websites the search was trying to contact and the workstation host file was modified to point them to the local computer so the website lookup would fail immediately and return the search results.  This information was passed to Partner so the rest of the Operator workstations could be updated.
5. Server Setup & Modifications — Created a VM to replace EMC Management.  Added a NIC & RAM to requested Owen virtual servers.  Reloaded OS, installed new RAM and harddrives on two physical servers in support of the Exchange 2007 project.  Reloaded OS on two other physical servers in support of the Exchange 2007 project.  Turned off ESX DRS on three virtual servers to keep them from being VMotioned between servers.  These three virtual servers are now locked to different physical ESX servers.
6. PBX AIMWorX synchronizations — The AIMWorX sync with the PBX has stopped updating the database when the extension changes FPCs.  The log file from the days sync is now reviewed and extensions are manually moved.  During this process extensions were found to be programmed in multiple FPCs.  This list of extensions was sent to the PBX techs for correction.
7. VPD screen pops — On Saturday, August 15, I received a call from VPD stating they had lost thier e911 screen pops from AIMWorX.  After looking through the AIMWorX logs it was determined that AIMWorX was sending the alerts.  Setup the Alarm client on my desktop and received screen pops from AIMWorX.  Talking with VPD they said their computer had been getting harddrive errors for a long time and they had a new computer to replace the old one.  Even though I was not sure this was the problem I asked VPD to install the new computer.  I went to VPD and installed the AIMWorX Alarm client on the new computer, which did not resolve the issue.  I contacted the ITS security person on call to check the firewall.  Dave Arkle looked through logs and data being sent and blocked at the firewall.  Dave reset the link between the ITS & VPD firewall and reset the Alarm client.  This resolved the issue and e911 screen pops began working again.
8. MIS HP3000 Decommission — As part of the effort to decommission the old HP3000, new Perl scripts have been created to duplicate what MIS has done for years on this server.  Four of a possible six new script files have been created to summarize call charges to directly feed the G/L software and bypass the HP3000 processes.  These new files are in addition to the detail files we currently create.
9. Laptop conversion — Backed up all files from my laptop and then installed the Windows 7 operating system.

Monthly Activity Report
July 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Imported yearly Housestaff pagers for PBX operators.  SMDR for April, May, & June were backed up to CD and sent to an off site location.  Call record prior to 12/31/08 were purged.
2. AIMWorX Templates – Completed new work order template for the OCS project to setup billing in AIMWorX and to request an OCS account.  These templates were imported into the production database.
3. AIMWorX Data Purge — Purged data prior to 2006 from CHARGES, TRANS, Trouble Ticket tables in AIMWorX.  Work Order purge failed due to ‘database error’.  Research into this issue has found no errors in the AIMWorX database.
4. AIMWorX Work Order Scheduling — An issue was resolved that was causing work orders to not show up on the technician calendar.  In work order there are two types of tasks: Group & Task.  The group type tasks does not get populated with hours the order will be scheduled for on a particular date, that information is suppose to be on the task type.  For some reason, on one order this information was populated on a group task, this was the cause of the issue.  With help from Paul Lockaby, the incorrect work order was found and the hours information was removed. 
5. SQL Reporting Services — Began the learning process of this report writing software and created five AIMWorX reports in the process.
6. OCS Reports — Requested reports for OCS license information were unable to be created that gave an accurate number.  This was due to the way AIMWorX stores work order information.  SQL Reporting Services was tried but ran into the same problems.
7. IBM Amber Light — There was an amber light found on its-hcwnap64 that was reported to IBM.  The problem turned out to be a bad power supply which was replaced.
8. Virtual Servers — Created two new virtual servers (DC-10, ITS-HCWNAP66) and rebuilt a virtual server (DC-SB1) for iDev test environment.
9. Exchange Servers — Build 3 of 9 new physical server for Exchange 2007 environment.

Monthly Activity Report
June 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a mock billing cycle on AIMWorX3 to create a BSITM.gl file because this data was not imported into the production database for proper billing.
2. AIMWorX Templates – Completed new work order template for the OCS project to setup billing in AIMWorX and to request an OCS account.  These templates were imported into the production database.
3. Accordent Trial – Worked with an Accordent technician to correct issues their recorder was having with the servers scheduling software.
4. Higer Ground backup Server — New OSIS-CR02 server was recieved from vendor and racked in Bryan Building.  Setup server to meet VU server standards and put into production.  Worked with Higher Ground technicians to complete setup of server.  Copied some detail files from old server to facilitate a quicker setup.  Retrieved log files for HG prior to cleaning the hard drives of the old OSIS-CR02 server and sent back to vendor. 
5. NEC License Manager for MA4000 — Installed License Manager software and discovered that passwords were stored in clear text.  Since the ’sa’ password was used during setup this software was disabled until this was changed.  Opened a ticket with NEC and worked with a technician to remove the ’sa’ password and setup a new login that is specific to this database.  Also, setup https for web interface.  Once these issues were resolved the License Manager software was turned back on.  The LM software looks to FPC01 for PBX verification.  Since FPC01 has problems with connections, the LM software is not working.  This causes MA4000 to not function properly because it thinks it is not licensed.  The PBX technicians have an open ticket with NEC concerning FPC01 connection issues.
6. Sharepoint Servers — Rebuilt test Sharepoint server (its-hcwnap51-ts & its-hcwnap52-ts) per Roland’s request using the virtual server template.
7. AT&T BMS file changes — Business & Planning is moving some charges to a new billing structure that is requiring changes to the BMS process.  Worked with Paul Lockaby on changes to these changes. 
8. Virtual Servers — Created 3 servers (its-hcwnem98, its-hcwnem18, & its-scwnem19) for the Email team as requested and approved.  Rebuilt template for Windows 2008 32bit server because it was corrupted.  Updated OS on all Windows virtual templates.

Monthly Activity Report
May 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Calls prior to October 31, 2008 were purged from the production AIMWorX database.  Reviewed work orders that were several months old, asked Analyst/CSR to look into each one or canceled tasks where work was already done to setup billing.  Promoted new IBM server to production database server to replace the unsupported NEC Fault Tolerant AIMWorXBE02.
2. AIMWorX Templates — Working on a new work order template for the OCS project to setup billing in AIMWorX and to request an OCS account.  Updated ’No-PBX’ templates where problems were found from testers.
3. Call Detail — Provided Business & Planning with call detail for multiple approved requests for information.
4. Cubical Move — Gathered phone port information for those involved in the cubical rearrangement.  Worked with Phyllis Gray to get the work order setup properly.  Moved to new cubical.
5. Servers — Setup new virtual server for the Accordent trial.  Worked with Accordent technician to install scheduling software.
6. OSIS Servers — Worked with PBX operators in an attempt to get personized greetings and on-screen transfers working from OSIS-TAPI01.  Rebooted OSIS-TAPI01 approximately 10 times over the last two weeks in conjunction with PBX Techs making changes in the PBX.  Properly labeled OSIS-CR02 & OSIS-VAT02 in the Bryan building and requested NOC inventory be updated with correct information.
7. Higer Ground backup Server — OSIS-CR02 unexpectedly shutdown multiple times.  The only way to bring server back was to unplug power and then power on.  In a conferance call with Higher Ground they stated that the VU version of hardware has had problems with the power supply.  Since the hardware does not offer a hot swappable power supply, Higher Ground is building VU a new server.  OSIS-CR02 is alarming in Nagios until this new server is put into production.
8. PBX-Recordings NAS share — This share is used as backup to PBX operator call recordings, 6 months worth of records in 498GB and the share is 500GB.  It was decided to increase the share size by 100GB to 600GB, this cleared the Nagios alarm.
9. Software Store — Installed latest RPEG software on ITS-HCWNAP21 server.

Monthly Activity Report
April 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Calls prior to August 30, 2008 were purged from the production AIMWorX database. 
2. AIMWorX PBX synchronization — PBX synchronization does not run through all switches.  Since the SV8500 update, the synchronization fails at different points during the process.  PBX connection fails not only during the synchronizations but also during daily processes.
3. AIMWorX Templates — Updated work order templates to send an email when a red phone is installed/removed to Rick Carlton, Dave Mathews and others so their red phone database can stay updated.  This change is now in production, email list was created.  All work order templates were backed up.
4. AIMWorX Duplicate Extensions — Due to an unknown issue between work order and PBX synchronizations, some extensions were duplicated in AIMWorX.  All duplicate extensions were removed and data associated with the remaining record.
5. AIMWorX Purge — Sent a list of data that could be purged from the AIMWorX database to responsible parties for thier input.  Data listed is from work orders, trouble tickets, billed charges, & traffic information all prior to calendar year 2006.
6. Call Detail — Provided ITS Security with call detail for multiple approved requests for information.
7. Server Decommission – Two servers, OpenWorX & AIMWorXFE01 physical, were decommissioned, hard drives wiped or removed and servers were put in the Oak room.  The AIMWorX server was leased and will be sent back to leasing company.
8. OCS project – Installed OS and default software on 3 servers to operate within the OCS project.  (its-hcwnem51, its-hcwnem52, & its-hcwnem53)  Setup RSA connection.  One server, its-hcwnem51, had some hardware issues which IBM was contacted.  Several parts were replaced before the server was working properly:  RAID memory board, system board, power backplane, & two hard drives.  Ultimately, the problem was with the power backplane.  An issue with the RSA connection on its-hcwnem52, turned out to be a duplicate IP address.  Worked with Kendra & Barry to setup proper cabling and VLANs for teamed NICs on OCS servers.
9. Nagios checks — The Nagios server IP address’ were added to all Windows firewall rules to allow for RDP check to each server.
10. Virtual Desktop Project — Extened the evaluation license for VMware View.  Worked with VMware View software to provision a desktop and push MS Office  through Thin App.  So far without success.
11. Snapshots — Worked with Kenon who modified the snapshot script to copy the current snapshot to a {servername}.old directory, create the new snapshot, then remove the .old directory.  This was to make sure the old snapshot was still there if the new snapshot failed.  This updated script was tested and put into production.  This was done at the request of Owen.  Updated snapshots of several ITS servers: its-scwnwb01 (Mediasite), its-hcwnap14 (SCALA), & its-hcwnap27 (MA4000). 
12. Certificates — Updated the certificate on its-scwnap03 (BMC Magic) with a new 2 year certificate from GEO Trust.

Monthly Activity Report
March 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Archived calls from October, November, & December 2008 to CD and sent off-site.  Calls prior to July 31, 2008 were purged from the production AIMWorX database.  Created two new reports requested by Business & Finance.
2. AIMWorX Equipment Lifecycle — Life cycle replaced physical AIMWorXFE01 server with a virtual server.  Received new physical hardware to replace AIMWorXBE02.  Loaded OS and waiting to have it moved to data center to complete install and put into production.
3. AIMWorX PBX synchronization — PBX synchronization does not run through all switches.  Since the SV8500 update, the synchronization fails at different points during the process.  PBX connection fails not only during the synchronizations but also during daily processes.
4. AIMWorX Templates — Updated work order templates to send an email when a red phone is installed/removed to Rick Carlton, Dave Mathews and others so their red phone database can stay updated.  This change is not yet in production, waiting on Partner to create an email list.
5. Call Detail — Provided ITS Security with call detail for multiple approved requests for information.
6. Virtual Desktop Project — Installed VMware Thin App software and researched how to ‘package’ software for streaming to virtual desktops.
7. ESX snapshots — At the beginning of March all snapshots were deleted from the snapshot store.  It was determined that a blank line in the snapshot.conf file was the reason.  The snapshot Perl script was modified to recognize the blank line and produce an error instead of removing all from directory.  All snapshots for Owen, VULS, & VUSM were recreated.
8. Snapshots Moved — Snapshot processing was moved from its-hcvm01-ts to its-hcvm04-ts to remove services off the AMD platform.
9. Server Background — Installed BFinfo on all servers to show server name in production (red) or non-production (green).
10. AMD to Intel — Moved all Windows servers in the ESX environment that were running on the AMD ESX servers to an Intel ESX server.

Monthly Activity Report
February 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Processed the weekly update f cost centers and student information. 
2. AIMWorX Equipment Lifecycle — Attempted to lifecycle the front end AIMWorX server to a virtual server but ran into a problem with the AnyWhere USB device.  The device would not stay connected.  The change was rolled back until it could be determined why the device was having connection issues.  A problem turned out to be a duplicate IP address on the network.  The IP was changed and DNS updated.  A new change request has been entered for attempt number 2.
3. AIMWorX PBX synchronization — The weekly process of synchronizing the PBX data to AIMWorX has failed since the student PBX network was upgraded to the SV8500 version.  Synchronizations were run manually on the Student PBX network to update the AIMWorX data.  This had some concequences with work orders.  The PBX techs had worked orders for 100 Oaks moves prior to the move so the data was updated in AIMWorX.  When the work order was finally executed tasks failed.  This caused the Analyst to reinput some data onto the order.  Currently, on Monday-Wednesday-Friday AIMWorX synchronizes the Admin PBX network and the Student PBX network is updated on Tuesday-Thursday.  This will stay into affect until the Admin PBX network is upgraded to the SV8500 version.
4. Call Detail — Provided ITS Security with call detail for multiple approved requests for information.
5. ESX Servers –  Rebuilt 8 ESX servers to meet new standards for drive configuration and vswap file space.
6. IBM Servers – Updated firmware on its-hcvm09 at the request of IBM to correct several amber lights.  Warrenty replaced harddrive on its-hcwnem02.
7. Virtual Desktop Project — Downloaded and installed VMWare View for virtual desktop creation.
8. Virtual Servers — Rebuilt ITS-HCWNAP38-TS for Frank Kyle for Shibboleth testing.  Created virtual server for Printing Services (Print-CMYK2).  Increased the amount of RAM used by Mediasite virtual server.
9. Desktop Returned — Cleaned one desktop and turned in to DOA support.
10. Virus protection — Installed/updated ePo on multiple servers and desktops.  Upgraded McAfee Anti-Virus software to version 8.5 on OSIS-TAPI01 & 02.
11. MA4000 — Uninstalled and reinstalled MA4000 & CAS software for setup on production SQL servers.  Moved virtual server to permenant IP, virtual server cluster, and SQL server getting ready to put into production.

Monthly Activity Report
January 2009

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied SMDR and CDR backup files to CD for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.  Purged all calls prior to May 31, 2008 from the AIMWorX database.
2. AIMWorX OS Patches — Installed Windows critical OS patches, approved by NEC, on both AIMWorX production servers.
3. AIMWorX W/O templates — Created a new work order template for use with changing the cost center for Application Hosting charges.
4. AIMWorX Call costing — Discovered that not all international calls were being costed and billed to the customer.  Researched what new coutry codes have been added that were not being costed and added this information to the costing database.  Unbilled calls since the last invoice (12/28/08) were recosted and will be billed properly.  An outcome of this research was an Excel spreadsheet of all country codes and their per minute rate.
5. AIMWorX Lifecycle — Created a virtual server to replace AIMWorXFE01.
6. VMWare snapshots — One of Owen’s snapshots does not work, Otto.  Opened a ticket with VMware, information has been going back and forth with no resolution as yet.  Customer has been kept up to date with the status of the ticket, through SDM.
7. Virtual templates — Updated 2 VM templates to latest versions of McAfee & OS security patches.
8. Windows Licensing — Rebuilt 4 servers using Technet OS licensing.
9. Upgrade Legato software — Upgraded Legato to latest version (v7.4.3) on its-brwnap01 & 02.
10. Server availability for 2008 — Worked through spreadsheet for servers I am responsible for.  Could not resoncile downtime with the numbers on the spreadsheet provided for AIMWorX production servers.  Came up with fewer minutes but could not determine which weeks were different from spreadsheet.  All other servers were reconciled.
11. Certifications – Passed the ‘Information Security for Everyone’ test from Act Online web site as requested.

Monthly Activity Report
December 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied SMDR and CDR backup files to CD for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle. 
2. Virtual Desktop project — Spent time recreating entire Citrix environment in an attempt to get around problems provisioning a desktop.  Ticket was submitted to Citrix through Patrick Coble, LPS.
3. Virtual Servers — Created two new VMs for testing of Enterprise Licensing Server.  Created replacement servers for production Sharepoint for moving to Windows 2008 64bit.  Updated virtual servers with new VMware Tools that had their ESX server upgraded to v3.5u3, Intel Hill & Stevenson Hill.  Then moved the servers in Intel Hill cluster to the Intel Hill 7100 cluster.
4. Snapshot service – The weekly snapshots of Owen failed for multiple servers.  Determined all but one had a snapshot created through VI client.  Removed these snapshots and re-ran the snapshot process over night.  One snapshot failed, Otto.  Owen was notified.  A ticket was submitted to VMware to assist in correcting the problem with this one virtual server.
5. VCP – studied for exam
6. Training — eLearning web seminar for ‘Powershell 101′.

Monthly Activity Report
November 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied SMDR and CDR backup files to CD for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.  Restored a production backup file to the test database.  Purged calls prior to April 2008 from AIMWorX production and test databases.
2. AIMWorX Web page — Upgraded AIMWorX-web2 server from MSDE to SQL 2005 Server Express as requested by security to correct vulnerabilities.
3. Perl Script –   Modified the snapshot script to created one vmdk file instead of multiple files.  Ran a snapshot on the AIMWorX-web2 server to verify the script change.  Running a Perl script to summarize all long distance traffic over NOSET LINES for the fax server project.  The script takes around 5 hours per month.
4. Virtual Desktop project — Worked with Patrick Coble, LPS, & Kenon to setup XenDesktop for a proof of concept.  Ran into problems where the Desktop Delivery server relys on Microsoft AD & DNS.  An attempt is being made to get around this problem for now and get a few virtual desktops working.
5. Virtual Servers — Updated the SCOM & Legato clients on all servers I am responsible for.  Updated all virtual server Windows templates with the latest Microsoft OS security patches.  Updated all VM’s in the development ESX environment with the new VMware tools after the development ESX servers were upgraded to ESX v3.5u3.  Setup two virtual servers to implement the proof of concept for XenDesktop.
6. ESX Servers — Upgraded its-hcvm02 & its-hcvm04 to latest version of ESX software (v3.5u3).
7. Snapshot service – The weekly snapshots of VULS failed over the weekend of October 26, 2008.  Determined that one of the virtual servers had been rebuilt and placed on a different LUN.  Changed the snapshot.VULS.conf file to reflect this change.  Ran the snapshot process for VULS to verify the script change.
8. MA4000 — Upgraded MA4000 software from v7 to v7.1 to v7.2.  Also, worked with NEC to complete the setup of SSL security (https) on the MA4000 webpage.
9. Power Outage — Assisted with the DR process with the entire App Hosting team when the VU campus lost power.
10. Training — On-line training for MA4000 software from NEC.

Monthly Activity Report
October 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied SMDR and CDR backup files to CD for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.   
2. AIMWorX Issues — The AIMWorX nightly SQL backup has been failing periodically.  The backup has been run manually on the days it fails.  Research into why this is happening has not determined a cause.
3. AIMWorX Web page — ITS Security found that the MSDE database had some vulnerabilities that needed addressing.  Since MSDE is no longer a product that Microsoft sells it was determined that SQL Server 2005 Express would need to be used.  A test AIMWorX web site was created to test this database upgrade as sell as BO Enterprise updates.
4. Perl Script — Created a script that read a list of extensions and put all work orders they appeared on in a text file.  This script was in support of the voice mail reduction project.  Created a new billing journal for Application Hosting monthly charges. 
5. Virtual Desktop project — Worked with Kenon on virtual desktop scripting for automatic desktop setup.
6. Virtual Servers — Moved 17 Windows virtual servers from production LUNs to the new test/dev LUN.  Virtual server templates were updated with the latest Windows OS patches.  Setup a new virtual server for Psychology & Human Development per their request.  Moved a bastion host from local storage to network storage so host would not go down if ESX server failed.
7. ESX servers — ESX servers SCVM03 & SCVM04 had a variety of amber lights on them.  After contacting IBM and running their DSA tools on the server, IBM determined that firmware and drivers needed to be updated.  Working with IBM the proper update tools and software were downloaded.  All updates was successfully installed on SCVM04.  Only one of the multiple updates was applied to SCVM03.  IBM stated that the updates would need to be applied individually.  This change will be scheduled in the near future.  All amber lights on both servers were corrected with the patches that were applied.
8. SCALA Digital Signage– Content Manager was upgraded to the latest version (v5 release 3.1.2).
9. Training — Attending on-site training for Diamond IP.

Monthly Activity Report
September 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied SMDR and CDR backup files to CD for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.  AIMWorX servers had NEC approved Windows OS patches installed and the servers were moved to a new rack location.
2. AIMWorX Issues — All AIMWorX reports were modified to include information for work orders in the ‘Hold’ status.  The ‘Install Phone & VM’ template was modified to automatically add an ‘ACD Agent’ charge each time an ACD phone is installed.  After the AIMWorX servers were moved to a new rack, connectivity was not restored.  It was determined that the switch ports were programmed incorrectly.  Once this was resolved AIMWorX was back online.
3. Perl Script — Created a Perl script for Dave Mathews to list FPC, extension, TEC, chargetype, cost center, & name for all ‘Phone’ type records in AIMWorX.  This file is put into an ASCII file.
4. MA4000 project – MA4000 server lost DTC connection with the database server.  To correct the issue the MA4000 and test SQL cluster servers were rebooted.  Also, the DTC port range was increased from 10 to 100 ports.
5. Virtual Desktop project — Renewed the VMware Virtual Desktop license for another 60 days.  Gave each virtual desktop machine a unique name in the domain to correct logon issues all users were having.
6. Virtual Servers — Moved redundant NIC connections on ITS-HCVM02 to second switch for HA of virtual server.
7. OSIS servers — Performed a break fix reboot of the IVR servers per a request from the PBX operators in an attempt to correct problems they were seeing.  On Sept 7, the operators were having problems with the TAPI servers, no personal greetings were being played for callers.  The OSIS-TAPI01 server was rebooted twice and Scotty McClain did a PBX ‘rebroadcast’ in an attempt to correct the problem.  After this failed, Amcom was contacted.  Spoke with Ian Campbell.  To correct the problem the greeting files had to be copied onto the production server and the PBX operators had to reboot their desktops.  It was suggested, by Amcom, that the failover test earlier in the morning had caused this problem.  On Sept 8, the PBX operators were experiencing issues with the Amcom ‘Parking Lot’ not clearing calls.  The OSIS-TAPI01 server was rebooted to clear the ‘Parking Lot’, this did not work.  Amcom was contacted and corrected the problem over the next several days.
8. Higher Ground Server –  Worked with Higher Ground to verify setup of the NAS drive for their local server login and that after a reboot the drive was still being mapped.  Also, asked Higher Ground to change their insecure password to a more secure password.  This was done while on the phone discussing the NAS drive.
9. QueWorX Life Cycle replacement –  Installed Windows 2003 server and QueWorX software on second server.  Found that the license file for QueWorX was incorrect.  Worked with NEC to correct the license.
10. SCALA Digital Signage– NEC has requested that the Content Manager be upgraded to the latest version (v5 release 3.0.2).  A change was entered and the upgrade will be installed on 9/28/08.  The software was downloaded in preparation for the upgrade.  Once this is complete, NEC will work with the SCALA users to upgrade all the players.
11. Server Decommission — Erased phyical DOAWeb server hard drives and surplussed equipment.
12. Documentation — Documents were created and distributed to essential personell for rebooting the OSIS-TAPI servers and SCALA Digital Signage emergency procedures.
13. Training — Attending 5 days of training on Exchange 2007 installation, maintenance, and trouble shooting.

Monthly Activity Report
August 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied all SMDR and CDR backup files to CDR for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.  Setup charge information for new App Hosting monthly & onetime charges.  During student return weekend it was discovered that Apphost2 did not have access to AIMWorX.  Apphost2 runs a query against the AIMWorX database to give validated students their Vnet codes.  When the AIMWorX servers were moved into thier new subnet, this firewall rule was not moved.  Terry Cavender updated the firewall to allow the Apphost2 query.
2. AIMWorX Issues — The beginning of August brought problems with the OAI connections to both the Student & Admin PBX networks and AIMWorX.  These problems originally showed themselves by a constant stream of screen pops for VPD stating there was a ‘line link error’ on the FPC17 route to VPD (170).  After resetting AIMWorX and the OAI connection multiple times, the PBX techs and NECdecided that a restart of the Student PBX network NCN was needed.  This corrected the problem.  The next weekend the OAI problems presented themselves in the Admin PBX network.  AIMWorX was rebooted several times and each time the problem bounced between VPD screen pops and Authorizer.  Either Authorizer was not working or the ‘line link errors’ on the VPD route was received every minute.  This problem was worsened because the CHECKSUM process in the PBX was not working to validate Vnets.  The result was that no one could make long distance calls using a Vnet.  It was decided that the Admin PBX NCN had to be rebooted.  Again this resolved the problem.
3. MA4000 project – After installing the MA4000 software using the SQL test cluster the software was producing errors.  The DTC registry hacks were checked on both the MA4000 & SQL test cluster servers.  It was determined that a service restart did not always work, this was determined based on comments found while searching for a resolution to the DTC issues.  The recommendation was always to reboot.  So, the SQL test cluster servers were rebooted and MA4000 was able to make a connection to the database using DTC.  During this process NEC was consulted and assisted in correcting a problem with the CAS software.  The CAS software is used to validate logins with MA4000.
4. Virtual Desktop project — The three VISTA virtual desktops within VMware VDI lost trust with the domain.  These three desktops were deleted and recreated to resolve the problem.  Users are again testing.  Went and talked with LPS about the Citrix Xendesktop solution.  A pilot of this would require one physical server.
5. Virtual Servers — Created a virtual server template for Windows 2008 64 bit.  Converted the DOA web server from physical to virtual.
6. OSIS servers — It was determined that the six windows servers did not have the security setup completed on them: IVR01 & 02, TAPI01 & 02, CR01 & 02.  I have contacted Amcom and Higher Ground to determine what firewall rules are needed on the local host for their software to funtion.  Once this is received the firewalls will be setup and turned on.
7. Higher Ground Server –  On August 11, one of the Higher Ground call recording servers began sending error messages to the PBX operators every minute or so.  They contacted me, on-call, and I called Amcom per our support agreement.  Talking with Amcom support they stated that they did not support this server and that I should contact Higher Ground.  I asked them to talk with Ian Campbell, Amcom support manager.  They did and according to the tech support person he would get the server checked out.  After a while the Amcom support tech called back and said that the Amcom software was working properly and that I should contact HG.  Again I asked them to talk with Ian because my understanding was that Amcom would contact HG.  I went ahead and contacted HG and opened a support ticket because the server had not been recording for several hours.  HG resolved the problem in short order.  I continued to email back and forth with Ian about the support arrangement.  Ian stated that VU was suppose to contact Amcom when there are issues with the HG servers and that he needed to communicate this to his staff.  In the next OSIS meeting, Ian stated that we should contact him with support for the HG servers until his staff is properly trained.
8. QueWorX Life Cycle replacement –  The two IBM servers purchased for QueWorX were recieved and determined that they did not have the correct expansion ports.  The Dialogic board being used for QueWorX was a PCIx board.  The servers had two PCIx slots and two PCIe slots.  The problem being the Dialogic board was a full length/full height board.  Only one of the PCIx slots was usable.  NEC was contacted and they determined that this board was only available in full length/full height.  The install document states that PCIe slots are needed, but the board only comes in PCIx.  This prompted a discussion on whether the servers received would work since there was no expansion capibility.  During this discussion the current IVR server for node one, QueWorX is replacing this server, began having power supply problems.  So, one of the two IBM servers was loaded with Windows 2003 sp2 and the QueWorX software and installed in the Bryan Building to begin the load process to replace the server going bad.  No decision has been made regarding the second server.
9. Mediasite — Worked with Mike Vidal, of Sonic Foundry, to resolve an issue with MAC’s not being able to view presentation.  This issue was corrected with the setup of http streaming on the Mediasite server.
10. SCALA players — Before student return, several of the SCALA players were not talking with the server over https.  Tom Hunt, NEC, set the players to a http connection to allow the players to download their new content.  Now it needs to be determined why https will not work.  A new SSL certificate was installed on this server the week prior to the problems.  An emergency sign process was tested and was successful.  The process is very manual.  NEC was then asked if there was an easier way to make this work.  NEC came back with SCALA scripting that can be added at a cost to make the emergency process easy.
11. Server Decommission — The hard drives were erased or removed from four servers that need to be sent to supluss.  The server information was sent to Joy Saunders to remove them from inventory.  These servers came from the Bryan building:  Two were used for MCS, one for Codemaster, and the other I do not know. 

 

Monthly Activity Report
July 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied all SMDR and CDR backup files to CDR for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.  Upgraded McAfee to v8.5 and installed approved OS patches on AIMWorXFE01 and BE02.
2. MA4000 project – Talked with NEC about reasons MA4000 worked on week by then did not the next.  Eventually, the project team decided to move the SQL database from the mom-sql server, which was having problems, to the new SQL test cluster.  The MA4000 server was moved to the test network to remove the ITS firewall from the equation.  So, the MA4000 & NECCAS software were unintalled and re-installed using the test SQL cluster.
3. Virtual Desktop project — Spent many hours trying to install the Sun Secure Global Desktop.  It took two phone calls to a Sun technical person but have finally gotten a grasp on how it works.  The problem being that to offer up a desktop requires a desktop, a 1 to 1 relationship.  It basically gives access to your desktop on your desk via the internet.  Also, SGD can offer up software running on a server to other desktops; keeping all data on the server.  There was some good news.  The VMware VDI was setup and has 5 virtual desktops ready for testing, 3 Vista and 2 XP clients.  Servers in use: Virtual Desktop Manager, Windows Terminal Server, Vista golden image, XP golden image, Secure Global Desktop.
4. Virtual Servers — Created 3 virtual servers in support of the following projects: Virtual Desktop & Dreamspark.
5. Operator Services — Script written to update pager data in AIMWorX for the PBX Operators was run on July 1, 2008.
6. New AIMWorX Server VLAN — Moved AIMWorX production server to the new VLAN.  Several firewall issues had to be worked through:  secure remote connection to web2; access to backup environment; NTP using the DCs; and ftp connection to the MIS ftp server.
7. Business & Planning: A script was written to download monthend data files from the MIS server.  This will assit B&P with research of past billing cycles.
8. SSL Certificates: New 2 year SSL certificates were installed for Mediasite and new ITS change management web site.
9. Change Management:  Started the process of migrating the change management web site from the Medical Center to an ITS server.  This web site was put on the Apphost1a web server.  There are still a couple issues to work out with connecting to the web page. 
10. Lifecycle Replacement:  Worked with Rick Carlton on lifecycle replacement of two servers, IVR1 & 2.  The new servers will use QueWorX for ACD menuing.  Two IBM servers were ordered.

Monthly Activity Report
June 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied all SMDR and CDR backup files to CDR for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.
2. MA4000 project – MA4000 service stopped working sometime during the week of 6/16/08.  Working with NEC to resolve problem.
3. Virtual snapshots — Setup automatic snapshot service for VULS and VUSM.  VULS has 5 snapshots created on Sunday evenings and VUSM has one snapshot created Sunday mornings.  Created a one time snapshot of colo server ‘Flanders’ for Owen prior to them upgrading software on the server.  After the upgrade and Owen was satisfied the upgrade worked properly, the snapshot was removed.
4. Virtual Desktop project — Spent many hours researching & meeting with different vendors solutions for a virtual desktop.  The project team met with representatives in person or over the phone of Dell, Microsoft, Sun, VMware and HP.  Also met with OGSM and reviewed their VMware VDI installation.  We are in the process of setting up a pilot of the Sun virtual desktop solution.
5. Virtual ESX server — Completed setup of ‘Mammoth’ ESX server (its-hcvm12.an).  Setup ESX cluster between its-hcvm11 & its-hcvm12.  Removed all virtual servers from its-hcvm01 and reloaded ESX software using its-hcvm03-ts host name.  This server was placed in the development ESX environment.
6. Virtual Servers — Created 9 virtual servers in support of the following projects: UC2K7, Sharepoint, & Virtual Desktop.
7. AIMWorX & VPD — The AIMWorX alarm client stopped working for VPD on 6/2/08.  Worked with Terry Cavendar to make firewall changes to correct this problem.  Terry found encryption errors between the ITS and VPD firewalls that needed correcting.
8. DOAWeb — Attempted to convert the DOAWeb physical server to a virtual server.  Multiple attempts failed from the 194 network and the App Hosting Admin network.  Currently researching the error that caused the failure.
9. Operator Services — Every July the Medical Center has hundreds of new residents & clinical fellows that have to updated/added to AIMWorX.  This year they requested an auto load into AIMWorX.  I created a Perl script to read the file and populate AIMWorX accordingly.  This script will be run in the production database the morning of July 1.
10. AWAPI update — MIS moved the files used to update AIMWorX to their new secure ftp server.  The ITS firewall was changed to all the AIMWorX server access to this server without the use of Secure Remote.  Also, the automatic Perl script was changed to login to the new server and download the new files.
11. New AIMWorX Server VLAN — Move AIMWorX3 server to the new VLAN for testing prior to the production server move.  Had problems with WINS not being updated with the new IP address but was resolved once the firewall rules were changed to allow the WINS ports outbound traffic.  However, outside the VU IP range access does not work.
12. Windows Server 2003 sp2 upgrade to Magic-DB2 server.

Monthly Activity Report
May 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Copied all SMDR and CDR backup files to CDR for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.
2. AWAPI — Changed run times of AWAPI update to 3:25am.  This allowed the process to run without being blocked by another AIMWorX process.  This is running automatically again.
3. MA4000 project – Upgraded the MA4000 software to the beta release of version 7.0.1.  This caused a problem with the software connecting to the database.  Discovered this changed the ports used by Microsoft DTC.  After talking with NEC, they suggested setting the default ports used by MS DTC to 5000-5020.  This was done by a registry change on both the MA4000 server and the Mom-SQL server where the database is stored.  These ports were also opened on the ITS firewall.
4. Virtual snapshots — Restored a snapshot of itsproject01.  Once the snapshot was done the server would not boot.  After much research, it was found that the restore of the snapshot renamed vmdk files.  These were renamed back to thier appropriate names and the server booted.
5. Virtual Desktop project — It was determined that since NEC only used RDP to connect to the virtual machines the security did not meet VU’s standard and the pilot ws stopped before it started.  Now working with Dell and VMware on virtual desktop pilot.
6. Virtual ESX server — Completed setup of ‘Behemeth’ ESX server (its-hcvm11.an).  Setup in Nagios.  Discovered this server had a different chipset that other IBM ESX servers, vmotion will not work between IBM servers of different chipsets.  This server was setup in it own cluster and an additional server with same chipset was ordered.  Created a new virtual server for the sharepoint project.
7. Software Store project — Uninstalled and re-installed the RPEG software using the latest version supplied by e-Academy. 
8. Runbook — Updated install dates and locations of servers on Rick Williams list of incomplete server data for life cycle replacement.  Used websites of Dell & IBM to find warrenty expiration and used this date to determine install date.
9. OS updates — installed Windows 2003 server service pack 2 on Mom-SQL & MagicTest servers.

Monthly Activity Report
April 2008 

1. AIMWorX – Supported all AIMWorX users varying requests.  Ran AWAPI manually several times a week since this process was broken with the SQL sp4 update.  Copied all SMDR and CDR backup files to CDR for archive.  Processed the weekly update of cost centers and student information.  Ran a monthly process to remove any duplicate calls from the database prior to a billing cycle.
2. AIMWorX templates — The ‘Hotline’ template was modified to correct an error.  On the backup/test server, the install template was modified so the template would not program the PBX.  This was requested by Taj Wolff and Dave Mathews.  Currently, this is only on the backup server until the modifications have been tested.  Taj, Dave, and the group were notified of the completed request.  The header template for data ports was modified to include the short description from the work order to give the customer more information as to what the order will be doing.  This was requested by Taj & Lisa after a department received multiple emails for port orders and they did not know which order went with which building request.
3. AIMWorX billing – It was discovered that the AT&T switched calls were imported multiple times.  Unfortunately, this was discovered after the billing cycle was run.  Created a SQL script to pull only the unique call records for this type of call and sent the resulting file to MIS for processing.
4. MA4000 project – Worked through the issues with the MA4000 server.  The first problem was the networks were setup on the incorrect NIC.  This was corrected by putting the correct static IP address on the correct NIC card.  It was also determined there was a problem with the ITS firewall letting DTC requests out but not back from the SQL server.  After the specific ports were opened, Marcus was able to login and run a PBX sync on the student PBX network.  Another problem has been found that the port being used for DTC request is not static.  Attempting to determine the range of ports used by DTC so the firewall can be setup accordingly.
5. Virtual snapshots — Created virtual server snapshots for multiple servers, including 2 for VULS.  Also fullfilled a request to restore snapshots for sharept & project virtual servers.
6. Virtual Desktop project — Research various virtual desktop software packages.  Specifically, VMware VDI.  NEC will be sending hardware & software to ITS for a pilot of thier virtual desktop solution.  Working on scheduling a meeting with Dell to discuss their virtual desktop solution.
7. Virtual ESX server — Worked with Kendra on installing ESX software on the new IBM server.  After several attempts at installing version 3.0.2.  Kendra discovered that the model IBM server we have must use version 3.0.2 update 1.  After downloading this version of the ESX software the install proceeded.  Now waiting on the storage group to complete the zoning on the SAN.  Server name: its-hcvm11.an.
8. Bluetooth on XP — The bluetooth technology does not natively work on a Windows XP laptop.  Did some research on the Microsoft and other websites.  Determined that the installed bluetooth drivers had to be unloaded and a different driver installed.  This was accomplished and a bluetooth headset was setup and worked with OCS.
9. Perl Script — Created a Perl script for Rick Carlton to download UCD station peg couts from AIMWorX.
10. Old Server — Clean the drives of the old AIMWorX2 server.  This server will be placed in the test lab for use by the AD group.  This server is out of warrenty.
11. Sotware Store project — Worked with ELMS software vendor to gain acces to their ftp site for cost center uploads.  The suggested using FileZilla ftp software after WinSCP did not work.  After setting FileZilla to the vendor specifications, connection was not optained.  Sent this information to ELMS vendor and requested assistance.  Waiting on their reply.
12. Certifications — Passed Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – Implementation & Maintenance exam

Monthly Activity Report
March 2008 

1. Support AIMWorX users, database, and servers
2. Backup SMDR and archive to CD (raw call files)
3. Backup CDR and archive to CD  (SQL DB backup)
4. Weekly update of Cost Center & Student information in AIMWorX
5. Call detail lookup for Police & Security and Help Desk fax problems
6. Attended ‘Implementing a Microsoft SQL 2005 Database’ class
7. Attended ‘Maintaining a Microsoft SQL 2005 Database’ class
8. Worked with support personell at NEC to install and configure MA4000 software.
9. Modified AIMWorX templates to correct errors.
10. Modified monthend Access database used by Business & Finance to run properly in MS Office 2007.
11. Created a Perl script to create a file of e911 data to be emailed to VPD.  Discovered an issue with emailing the file because the file size is greater that the maximum attachment size allowed by VU email system.  Asked Judy Whitley to contact VPD to discuss other means of delivery.
12. Worked with ITS Security on plans to secure the AIMWorX servers in seperate VLAN.  Submitted a Magic ticket with details of what processes and ports need to be allowed access to the new VLAN.
13. Contacted IBM support over ITS-SCVM03 & ITS-SCVM04 problems.  SCVM03 had the processor board replaced and SCVM04 was rebooted.
14. Worked with Sonic foundry to correct an issue discovered by an end user, problem was resolved.
15. Manually ran AWAPI process, at least once a week.  AWAPI automatic processing was broken when AIMWorX SQL database was upgraded to service pack 4.
16. Requested and received a new 512GB LUN to expand the Software Stores drive capacity to 1TB on new VM server.  This was requested by the Software Store.
17. Created virtual server snapshots for multiple servers.  Restored two snapshots, at the request of the primary admin, after the servers could not be repaired. 
18. Created a new template for imaging Windows Server 2008 virtual servers.
19. Installed new SSL certificate on helpdesk web server.