ITTS Update

As part of our ongoing program to improve network security and uptime, we will be installing a new firewall soon, possibly later this week. We will in fact be installing two new firewalls, in order to provide fail-over redundancy. The new firewall was already planned for this fiscal year, but has been moved up on the recommendation of our security consultants.

While we do not expect any interruptions to our services, this installation will require firewall rule changes recommended by our security consultants that will affect all network communications. We will schedule this installation for early morning or over a weekend to minimize any potential disruption. We will keep you updated via email and the ITTS Update blog (http://blogs.ala.org/ittsupdate.php) as events warrant.

Dealing with higher-priority security issues has pushed back the launch of new traffic and search reports using Urchin until November.

Other priorities have pushed the installation of the new Google search appliance off to November. Urchin has been purchased and installed.

No change.

The Web Editorial Board is proposing a "web retreat" to develop plans for the continual upgrade of the website. Plans are proceeding for a member "landing page" that will draw together sites and content of interest to members only, perhaps using an upgraded Online Communities login page as the entry point.

UserWorks is analyzing the results of the online survey that came down October 2. Focus groups were held in Silver Spring, MD on October 10 and 11. UserWorks reports a lot of good information was received. Usability testing was done the week of October 16 - 20, and results are now being analyzed as well. A full report of the usability assessment is expected by mid-November

TrackIT is installed and working and being used by ALA staff to process problem tickets and work requests. It is not yet open to the world, but we expect to be able to accomplish this soon. ITTS staff completed 280 of 371 work orders in the month of October 2006.

A critical piece of communications equipment for this project failed in October and is being rebuilt. Until that process is complete, we will be unable to proceed with the SpaceMaster implementation.

All known issues stemming from the network switch upgrade conducted in September have been resolved. We have added a network intrusion detection device, which has helped us identify and block suspicious traffic. Barring any further problems, we do not expect to make any further updates to this blog post (until the next upgrade!).

Jack Briody has developed a Cold Fusion application that will assist in the preliminary mailing to list owners. This message will ask list owners which lists they wish to keep and what they want done with list archives of lists they do not want to keep. This will kick off the migration process, which is expected to take 4 - 6 weeks, with frequent notifications of status to both list owners and subscribers.

Individuals' library activity (check outs / check ins) has been added to "My Resources." Work continues on the KMS-based feedback form.

Following the iMIS upgrade (September 19), it was discovered that changes in member profiles made via the website were not being written to the iMIS database. While the changes were not lost, subsequent visits to the member profile did not reflect any changes. The problem has been fixed and all changes have been processed. We are also working on a number of custom reports that no longer worked after the upgrade. We are now in a position to upgrade as new releases become available.

ITTS and Library/Knowledge Management Center staff met on October 30 to discuss interface issues for the feedback form. We identified several models on which to base our interface, and Karen Muller has agreed to make a first pass at defining the front page.

On Wednesday, October 18, ITTS staff discovered an intruder on the Online Communities server. The server was brought down and taken off the network immediately. Out of an abundance of caution, we moved all the Online Communities applications to a new server which we built from scratch. Then, on October 23, the new OC server was found to have been compromised as well. All three servers (the database server as well) were taken off the network, and security experts were brought in. They conducted a thorough sweep of our systems and recommended new remote access procedures, which we have implemented. The OC servers were rebuilt, while being monitored for malicious software, and brought back up on Thursday, October 26th.

Development work has been completed on the Committee Volunteer Form, and it is being rolled out to the Divisions. The timing of Division appointment activity varies, so we expect full roll-out to occur over the next three months.

Duo is proceeding with section conversions as review and correction of previously converted sections continues. Launch of AL Online was delayed due to staff vacation near the end of the month, but is expected to occur early in November. ACRL and Choice staff are currently reviewing their preliminary conversions. LITA and the ALA Library are in the process of being converted by Duo. Training for staff content managers will take place on November 1.

The "bad behavior" module for WikiMedia, which helps reduce wiki vandalism, is in the process of being installed. As previously reported, b2evolution (blog software) has been upgraded. There are currently 19 active blogs on the ALA server. New blogs this month include Student Retention Task Force, Jenny Levine, COSWL Cause, Lama Leads, Lama 50th Anniversary, and Midwinter 2007. There are currently 21 wikis on the ALA server. New wikis this month include CC:DA, ECRR, Yalsa 50th Anniversay, Virtual Reference Directory, Publications, and Law for Librarians. Plans are underway to turn the current "RSS Feeds, Blogs, and Wikis" page off the ALA home page into a wiki itself, to facilitate updating as new feeds, blogs, and wikis are created.

Last week we experienced some problems with our Online Communities server. We'll post more here when we have more information, but the site is back up and running now. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused, and we hope you'll email us at webmaster [at] ala.org (or otherwise contact us) if you experience any problems accessing or using this service. Thanks!

The B2Evolution software running ALA's blog service has been upgraded! Improvements include spam control for comments and trackback, the availability of more skins, comment moderation, and more. Jack and Matt, our blog and wiki guys, have also added the plugin that will allow podcasting through the RSS feeds.

We've been monitoring the blogs for problems, and so far we've only found minor formatting issues, which we are in the process of resolving. If you encounter any problems, please email (jlevine [at] ala.org), call (800-545-2433-2461), or IM me (cybrarygal on AIM).