TWiki> ComputingStrategy Web>ProjectProposals2012T2 (02 Apr 2012, CraigStrachan)EditAttach

Project Proposals for project period May to end August 2012 (T2)

Development of new computing services by the computing staff is scheduled in project periods (three per year). The next project period starts in May 2012 and the process of prioritising which projects will be resourced starts now (March).

Please add your proposed project to the following table, completing the Title, Description and Proposer fields. You may wish to create a new wiki topic for your description. If you wish to lend support for an existing project, add your name to the Supporter(s) field. Computing staff may respond to the proposals in the Computing staff comments field.

Title Description Proposer Supporter(s) Computing staff comments
Increasing Energy Savings from DICE Desktops

For some years the DICE desktops in the student labs have used energy-saving sleep software, the LCFG sleep component, which was developed in project 94. More recently the sleep component was also installed on staff and postgrad DICE desktops. We should now follow up on this work by finding out how successful it has been and what might be done to increase the energy savings. The project would start by collecting statistics from machines to see how much of the time they are asleep - in other words trying to understand how much of a contribution that sleep might be making to energy saving. Depending on what the statistics say, some changes to the LCFG sleep component could be made or users could be informed about how to get their machines to sleep.

https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/234

David Sterratt  

This seems both worthwhile and straightforward to me. It's time we quantified how successful the sleep component has been and took steps to increase its effectiveness where necessary. - Chris Cooke

LCFG client code cleanup Simple code clean-up of the existing LCFG client component. If simple to implement, some pressing deficiencies would be fixed. (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/225) MPU unit    
Package Repository web front end Web search front end to package repository (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/214) MPU unit    
Allow users to choose software for DICE desktop A web search front end to the package repository (as above), which also allows users to choose software to add to their DICE desktop (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/235) MPU unit    
Virtualised DICE image trial Manually produce a virtualised DICE image for students to install on laptops. If there is sufficient takeup, a subsequent project can automate and produce a scalable distribution system (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/239) MPU unit    
Port LCFG to Fedora 17 Port LCFG to Fedora 17. Principle motivation is to keep abreast of upcoming technologies, but perhaps make available to users. MPUunit    
Intrusion Detection System We don't have any automated mechanism at the moment for spotting compromised machines. We could do with one somewhere (or perhaps one or more at each site) watching the network for the usual traffic signatures. https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/102 inf-unit    
Scanning for compromised machines The central University scanning system didn't really ever go anywhere. Do one ourselves. https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/103 inf-unit    
Perimeter filter logging Review the (minimal!) logging that's done by our perimeter filters, and consider what our options might be. https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/133 inf-unit    
Full-service jabber Our current jabber not-a-service has a few rough edges. Bring it up to scratch. https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/221 inf-unit    
Review of Forum wireless installation We have a large deployment of Cisco wireless access points (WAPs) in the Forum, but we have had at least one complaint of unsatisfactory wireless service. For an 'optimal' - or at least an improved - service, it might be that we should move some of our existing WAPs, or else add to (or subtract from!) their number. https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/233 inf-unit    
Monitoring system enhancements The School's existing Nagios framework has now been in use for a couple of years. In the light of experience with the system, a number of enhancements are now desirable, https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/230 inf-unit    
Enhancement of wallet to support X.509 certificates Our wallet system has the ability to store X.509 certificates, but there is a bit of work required first to specify our preferred format and naming conventions, and to create associated scripts. https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/240 inf-unit   Cf https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/174
Webmark Reform (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/205) RAT unit  

AFS Automation Develop tools to automate various AFS tasks (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/135) Services Unit    
TiBS component Improvements to the existing TiBS component (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/150) Services Unit    
AFS Benchmarking Develop tool for AFS performance benchmarking (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/159) Services Unit    
Bug Tracking Tool Improved Bug Tracking Tool (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/183) Services Unit    
apacheconf port Port websites using apache component to apacheconf (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/184) Services Unit    
Mail lists to Central Service Migration of existing Mailing Lists to Central Service (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/193) Services Unit    
Data Archiving How best to meet the School's requirements for archiving data (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/194) Services Unit    
Replace CVS with SVN on www.inf Upgrade core inf web server to SVN from CVS (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/226) Services Unit    
Web space to AFS Move user and group web space from NFS to AFS (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/243) Services Unit    
Streaming Media Server Extend media server (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/227) Services Unit    
ERA/PR Enhancements Investigate how best to make use of the contents of ERA within the School (https://devproj.inf.ed.ac.uk/project/show/189) Services Unit    

If a project is considered to be feasible, a member of computing staff will contact the proposer in order to flesh out the proposal (eg outline a plan of work, cost the project etc) in order that the project proposal can be prioritised against other projects.

The deadline for submitting a project for this period is 26th March 2012. Projects submitted after that date may not be considered for T2, but will be considered for T3 (September-December)

-- AlastairScobie - 09 Mar 2012

Edit | Attach | Print version | History: r7 < r6 < r5 < r4 < r3 | Backlinks | Raw View | Raw edit | More topic actions
Topic revision: r7 - 02 Apr 2012 - 13:50:57 - CraigStrachan
 
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
This Wiki uses Cookies