Minutes from Central Site Working Group meeting (9/7/95)
Attendees
Myron Lentz, Emily Becker, Mario Zinga, Kevin Sullivan, Joe Charnock, Janet Stocks, Wendy Huntoon, Bob Taylor
Presentation of the Hardware, Services and Support currently associated
with the central site. Discussion and clarification of these issues
followed.
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Questions concerning the availability of commercially available
hardware, software and service products were discussed. Myron indicated
that PPS was very interested in using commercial platforms when possible.
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We also discussed server locations, which led to a discussion of bandwidth to the remote sites. It was agreed that the decision of site based vs. centrally located servers was dependent on bandwidth availability to the remote sites. With a 10 Mbps pipe, agreggation of services/server made was viable, relieving the site of the responsibility of running their own server. We decided that this topic should be tabled given the current connectivity options available to the sites.
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We discussed performance vs cost for servers. Kevin indicated that the Intel running Unix was currently the most cost effective platform while still providing adequate performance. The Alpha and other workstation based platforms were double the price without providing double the funtionality.
PPS Current Functionality
We then discussed the current and short term plans for connectivity at PPS:
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8 phone lines and modems for individual dialup using the existing PPS modem pool facility, associated with the modem pool working group.
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8 phone lines for dial up LAN access using 28.8K modems and an exising Netblazer ST. This project is also associated with the modem pool working group and will provide dedicated connectivity to a variety of PPS sites. This equipment will be used to form part of the initial PPS central site infrastructure. Some of the connection have been allocated, for example, Fort Pitt.
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10 ISDN lines have also been recently installed. They will connect to a donated cisco 4000. Sites currently slated to be connected include: West Libertyat 384K and the South Side repair shop.
Not all of the equipment has been received for the above.
Services/Security
Myron asked about security for the central site. We had a brief discussion regarding security issues and added Security as one of the central site services.Wendy mentioned that while CK:P does not have much experience in security issuesbut PSC's production networking group does and could be used as consultants on the project.
General Services
We discussed the various services listed and indicated which services were goodcandidates for migrating during the initial phase of the project. We agreed that the first phase would support the following:
* access for at least 12 PPS sites
2-3 stable CK:P sites
3 new sites (Year 4)
* ~ 400 central site accounts.
* WWW and News service
Security would have to be discussed relatively soon since it will be
an important central site service.
Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Sept 21 from 10-12 in 225 at the Board. Task assignments for this meeting include:
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Wendy will provide some prices for the existing equipment.
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Wendy and Myron will look at the budget to determine the hardware funds available for the first phase of the project.
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Wendy and Bob Taylor will provide network topologies for CK:P and PPS central sites respectively.
Let me know if you have any corrections or questions regarding the
above minutes.
Wendy (and Mario)