To: wg-migration committee

From: Richard Wertheimer

CC: Myron Lentz, Bernie Manning

Date: January 14, 1997

Subject: PPS Modem Pool / District Snapshot

As you know, the PPS modem pool is up and running. The modem pool consists of 24 phone lines that are accessible 24 hours per day and 56 phone lines that are accessible from 5:00 PM until 6:00 AM. This memo describes the load on the modem pool as it is being utilized by PPS Staff. It also includes a single district snapshot of activity.

Methodology

Data was collected once an hour during the time period from Monday, January 6 through Sunday, January 12. The modem pool routers were fingered on the hour to determine the number of lines in use. This does not indicate the total number of users accessing the modem pool. It is a sampling of lines used at any given time. This also does not indicate how the modem pool is being used (ie. Email, WWW browsing, Usenet news, etc.).

Results

Figure 1

This data represents the number of lines in use strictly accessing the 24 hour lines (24 available). The range is from 0 to 23. During the day, the lines are taken up mostly by libraries at schools without LAN access to the Internet. The mean number of lines in use is 11.7 with a standard deviation of 7.1. The data indicates that this router and set of lines is heavily accessed, yet not working quite at capacity. The data shows that this phone line (622-8245) is preferred by our users, even during off hours. This is probably due to ease of use (since the user would only have to use one phone number at any point in time). Since the pool seldom (if ever) has all 24 lines in use, there is no immediate need for the users to use the other phone number. As new LANS are put in place, the number of users during the school day on this line should decrease. However, new schools getting phone lines will put a strain on the 24 line limit. This set of lines should be closely monitored.

Figure 2

This data takes a sample 24 hour period on Wednesday, January 8. The graph shows a typical usage pattern with minimum usage in the early morning, increasing during the day with maximum usage during lunch, immediately after school and during the early evening. The average number of lines in use during the school day is 12, the average outside of school is 14. There seems to be a clear indication that teachers have to access the net when they have free time. In fact, the data indicates that staff will access the Internet at very late hours in the evening. The data also indicates that both phone numbers (622-8245 and 622-8273) are used.

The following table shows the hour by hour numbers for Wednesday.

Time # of lines in use

1:00 AM 7

2:00 AM 3

3:00 AM 1

4:00 AM 1

5:00 AM 2

6:00 AM 5

7:00 AM 6

8:00 AM 14

9:00 AM 14

10:00 AM 11

11:00 AM 15

Noon 19

1:00 PM 11

2:00 PM 13

3:00 PM 11

4:00 PM 22

5:00 PM 26

6:00 PM 24

7:00 PM 14

8:00 PM 26

9:00 PM 19

10:00 PM 24

11:00 PM 20

Midnight 23

Figure 3

This is a 24 hour sample from Sunday, January 12. This sample was taken as a contrast to the Wednesday, midweek sample. The pattern of usage is almost identical on an hour-by-hour basis. The main difference is that the mean is 17. This indicates that on average, a greater number of people (+3) are using the modem pool on the weekend. This would indicate that the user population has home access and is using it as regularly as they would school access. It would also substantiate the research that points out the the need for individuals to access technology in a convenient manner. The data also indicates that both phone numbers (622-8245 and 622-8273) are used almost equally on the weekend.

Figure 4

This figure represents total weekly usage. The number of lines in use at any given point in the week range from 0 (Friday at 6:00 AM) to 38 (Tuesday at 10:00 PM). The average number of lines in use over the one week period was 14.7 with a standard deviation of 9. Usage patterns appear to be nearly identical for each day during the week.

Comments

At any given point in time the PPS modem pool is being accessed by an average of 15 people with a range of 0 to 38. There have not been complaints pertaining to busy signals or bandwidth degradation. There have been reports of modems hanging and not being reset. Bob Taylor and Gene Hastings are working on this problem. This problem did occur during the week that was studied. The effect of this problem (if any) would be to lower the actual usage numbers by denying access due to hung modems. It is not believed to have caused significant problems.

District Snapshot

An attempt was made to take a snapshot of Internet activity in the school district. The snapshot was taken at 12:15 on Tuesday, January 14. During that instant the following data was collected:

17 staff members were logged into CK:P servers.
2 students were logged into CK:P servers.
18 lines were in use in the PPS modem pool. Of the 18 lines, 6 were logged into a server. This probably means 12 were using Netscape.

This snapshot cannot obtain information about people using networked machines to access the WWW or do client based email.

It is interesting that 1/3 of the people using the modem pool were probably using email while 2/3 were using the WWW. However, this is just conjecture due to the other network activities that are available.

District Snapshot

Tuesday, 12:15

[oberon.pps.pgh.pa.us] 8 Staff Users

cregan Mara Cregan p9 - Jan 14 12:10

heinrich Mary Lou Heinrich p5 5 Jan 14 11:56

kern Joe Kern p1 10 Jan 13 08:03

kern Joe Kern pb 16 Jan 13 08:49

kern Joe Kern pd - Jan 13 09:16

madden Elizabeth Madden p7 - Jan 14 12:11

marsico Lynn Marsico p4 - Jan 14 10:39

pacitti Gina Pacitti p6 - Jan 14 12:14

stang Susan Tang p8 4 Jan 14 12:10

treusch Dan Treusch p0 6 Jan 14 10:52

tsulliva Timothy Sullivan p3 - Jan 14 11:43

wertheim Rick Wertheimer p2 18 Jan 14 10:40

[sparta.schenley.pps.pgh.pa.us]

zinga Mario Zinga *p0 Jan 14 08:47

[grace.carrick.pps.pgh.pa.us]

zinga Mario Zinga p0 5 Jan 14 12:12

[georgew.gw.pps.pgh.pa.us]

No one logged on.

[henry.frick.pps.pgh.pa.us]

No one logged on.

[amigo.allegheny.pps.pgh.pa.us]

No one logged on.

[piebald.knoxville.pps.pgh.pa.us] 1 staff user

lamertz larry mertz p0 Jan 14 12:02

[friedrich.schiller.pps.pgh.pa.us]

No one logged on.

[umoja.fultonh.pps.pgh.pa.us]

No one logged on.

[mother-goose.mccleary.pps.pgh.pa.us] 1 staff user

fralic Nancy Fralic pts/0 58 Tue 11:00 modem7.admin.pps.pgh

fralic Nancy Fralic pts/1 Tue 11:32 modem7.admin.pps.pgh

[jedi.sh.pps.pgh.pa.us] 1 staff user

lwilliam Laura Williams pts/0 4:13 Tue 07:57 192.204.232.19

[rodin.eh.pps.pgh.pa.us] 2 staff users

kirby Regis Kirby *p2 3:32 Jan 14 08:39

rgeorge Rhonda George *p0 51 Jan 13 14:08

[lisa.liberty.pps.pgh.pa.us] 2 staff users / 2 student users

bs1004 Brittany Sams *p1 Jan 14 12:12

cw1009 Christen Wurschmidt *p2 Jan 14 12:12

figallo Jessica Figallo *p0 29 Jan 14 11:21

kelso Karen Kelso *p3 Jan 14 12:14

[hermia.woolslair.pps.pgh.pa.us] 1 staff user

feldman Roberta Feldman *p0 1:07 Jan 14 10:05

[3rivers.phillips.pps.pgh.pa.us] 1 staff user

kostante Stella Kostante *p0 1 Jan 14 12:08

[198.206.16.3] 18 lines in use

cazen@oberon Jan 14 10:35 line120

tsulliva@oberon Jan 14 11:43 line114

heinrich@oberon Jan 14 11:55 line126

ckpadmin Jan 14 12:03 147.72.21.10:1074

croft@sparta Jan 14 12:02 line133

marsico@oberon Jan 14 10:39 line112

mcfeater@oberon Jan 14 12:06 line122

pacitti@oberon Jan 14 12:14 line116

jvalco@oberon Jan 14 11:32 line111

shoop@sparta Jan 14 11:43 line117

sharkady@oberon Jan 14 11:52 line131

fralic@mother-goose Jan 14 09:53 line125

valco@oberon Jan 14 10:24 line127

cregan@oberon Jan 14 12:10 line121

bizub@oberon Jan 14 12:00 line110

biancull@oberon Jan 14 12:07 line124

ghirsh@oberon Jan 14 12:07 line130

madden@oberon Jan 14 12:11 line115

Time	# of lines in use
1:00 AM	7
2:00 AM	3
3:00 AM	1
4:00 AM	1
5:00 AM	2
6:00 AM	5
7:00 AM	6
8:00 AM	14
9:00 AM	14
10:00 AM	11
11:00 AM	15
Noon	19
1:00 PM	11
2:00 PM	13
3:00 PM	11
4:00 PM	22
5:00 PM	26
6:00 PM	24
7:00 PM	14
8:00 PM	26
9:00 PM	19
10:00 PM	24
11:00 PM	20
Midnight	23