September 14, 2007 -- Volume 4 -- Number 2
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* New Project Space Features
On August 21, we completed the migration of project disk space
to the ZFS file system -- an open source file system developed
by Sun Microsystems. We started this project to address the
limitations in the way we were managing project space. The
biggest changes that will be visible to the users are snapshots
and the ability to support project spaces larger than 1TB.
As the name implies, a snapshot is the state of the disk (files
and directories) from a point in time. Snapshots are taken
every four hours and older ones are deleted on a regular basis
such that there are generally 10 snapshots available for various
times going back as far as 13 days. Details on ZFS snapshots is
here: https://csguide.cs.princeton.edu/storage/zfs-snapshots
* Project Space Backup Policy Changes
Due in part to the new snapshot feature of the project space
and to our experience over the past year, we have modified the
backup policy slightly. Specifically, we have eliminated the
daily incremental backups of project space. Projects that were
backed-up daily will now be backed-up weekly, monthly, or
quarterly according to their size. The backup policy can be
found here: https://csguide.cs.princeton.edu/storage/backup
* Home Directories / Project Space
Please note that the above discussion applies only to project
space and not to the home directory space. For more information,
see: https://csguide.cs.princeton.edu/storage/diskspace
* Wireless Networking Changes
We are now broadcasting the Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) for
the department's wireless network. This allows users to explicitly
select a particular service. We have made this change as a step
towards making it easier for our visitors to access the Internet
while giving registered hosts additional access (e.g., the ability
to mount file systems and to use the printers).
See https://csguide.cs.princeton.edu/access/wireless for more
details. The currently defined SSIDs are:
csvapornet
This SSID is for CS account holders using a registered machine.
This is the only SSID that allows users to print or mount file
systems.
cs-host-registration
This SSID is for CS account holders who wish to register a new
wireless device. Web (http/s) connections on this SSID are
redirected to our host registration page.
cs-puwireless
This SSID is analogous to OIT's puwireless service available
in other buildings on campus. It gives machines registered
with OIT access to the campus network and Internet.
csconference
This SSID is for attendees of CS-hosted conferences
(approximately 10 or more guests). This SSID is always
broadcasted; however, connectivity is only enabled during the
event with advance notice to CS Staff.
In the next few months, we will be supporting an additional SSID
that will give visitors Internet connectivity. This will be
similar to OIT's puvisitor service.
* CS Guide - did you know?
You'll notice that this issue of the Gazette makes several
references to the CS Guide. What you may not know is that you
can login to the CS Guide and post comments on any of the content
pages. See https://csguide.cs.princeton.edu/about/csguide for
details.