After nearly two decades the University's Usenet newsgroups service is scheduled to be retired. Its last day of service was December 31, 2007. Similar to other academic institutions, we too have seen a dramatic decline in the use of the University's Usenet newsgroups service (news.hawaii.edu). As a result staff time and hardware resources will be better placed elsewhere. Fortunately, there are free and commercial services readily available via the Internet.

Google Groups provides an extensive, free Usenet resource allowing you to read and post text messages to newsgroups. Alternatively, Newzbot assists with locating publicly accessible Usenet newsgroup services. There are also a number of commercial Usenet services for those that seek binary content -- Supernews for example -- or long retention times for articles. A Google search for "usenet access" yields additional commercial alternatives in the Sponsored Links column on the right side of your browser window.

In memorial: our venerable Usenet server has served our community very well.  It is now time to release that old hardware from service and send it off to the recyclers.

Eudora Email Client Advisory
by Naomi Okinaga

Eudora, for both Macintosh and PC, has been an email client application that has been supported by ITS for over 10 years. However in October 2006, Qualcomm, the parent company of Eudora announced that the most current versions will be its last sponsored release. All future versions will be based on the same technology standards as Mozilla Thunderbird and will be an "open source" application. This means that the company won't be the sole developer of the application, but is sharing programming code so that other developers can customize or enhance the application. Although this is a positive move, it also means that Eudora won't be as active a product that the company will be enhancing or supporting as fully as it once did.

Please be advised: although Eudora customers aren’t required to change email clients, ITS is planning to downgrade both Macintosh and PC support of the Eudora email client to “best effort” by June, 2008. This is mainly due to Qualcomm’s change of support. Best effort status means that ITS will assist with trying to solve a problem, but won't do in-depth troubleshooting or won't reinstall this client.

The Macintosh OS X’s most current version of Eudora is version 6.24. All previous versions of Mac Eudora reverted to 'Light' mode since March 31, 2007. The Light mode lacks major functionality as listed at the bottom of this article. Information on Eudora for the Mac is available at: http://www.hawaii.edu/askus/783

For those using Windows Eudora, Qualcomm supports Version 7.1. We advised our UH constituents in early March that ITS was not advocating the Windows Eudora 7.1 and advised using Thunderbird as an email client instead. As of March 31, 2007, Qualcomm downgraded all older versions to 'Light' mode.

ITS has tested this latest release and rather than moving to this new release or using Eudora Light with major features lacking, we advise changing email clients. ITS recommends Thunderbird as an alternative for those that don't want to use Eudora Light. Thunderbird also uses open source standards, but has been in existence for several years and has proven to be stable, reliable, and runs relatively fast. For more information on Thunderbird, please see: http://www.hawaii.edu/askus/779

Below are more details of Windows Eudora version 7.1 and the Eudora Light version 6 which influenced our decision to recommend Thunderbird. Windows Eudora 7.1 lacked some basic features that made earlier versions easy to use. Please be advised that Windows Eudora 7.1 is not a supported ITS email client, and is only supported with a "best effort" status. 

Windows Eudora 7.1 major undesirable features:
1. 'Delete' works differently and causes confusion and frustration as email messages aren't deleted, but 'hidden' from view when using IMAP. Although there are workarounds, it is advisable to move to an alternate email e.g. Thunderbird.
2. IMAP connections are unusually slow.

Eudora Light Features:
For our UH community that have been using any version 6 in Windows 'sponsored' mode or using any Mac versions earlier than version 6.24, these features will be lacking after March 31, 2007 in Eudora Light:

• No Junk mail filtering
• No Spell checking
• No MoodWatch (this feature checks your messages for "flame" content before you send it)
• No Statistics on how much email you send and receive
• No Autocompletion of addresses as you type
• No ability to have multiple personalities (if you have more than one email account)
• No Message stationery (templates)
• No ability to have multiple signatures
• No ability to have multiple address books
• No ability to find messages based on multiple search criteria
• No Toolbar customization
• No Advanced editing features such as centering and indentation
• No Advanced filtering options

Additional help:

Increased Wireless Coverage for Manoa
by Kevin Kawabata

New technology, convenience, and ease of use continue to drive consumer’s growing demand for wireless connectivity.  The student body, faculty, and staff at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa are no different.  Over the summer, Information Technology Services (ITS) made it a priority to improve “common area” wireless coverage on the Manoa campus.

ITS conducted a survey earlier this year to gather input from students, faculty and staff regarding wireless connectivity.  Based on the survey results, ITS conducted a number of wireless site surveys to identify ideal locations for both new Wireless Access Points (WAPs), as well as opportunities to improve or tune current coverage to address coverage gaps or “dead spots”.

In addition to some of the heavily trafficked areas, such as Campus Center, examples of areas receiving new or enhanced coverage include:

The net result of our efforts over the summer has increased the footprint of the wireless coverage and eliminated many dead spots in public areas on the upper portion of the Manoa campus. As we work to improve the wireless coverage on the Manoa campus, ITS staff will continue to monitor and address concerns such as coverage and throughput. We are also continuing to evaluate new wireless technologies that will provide better support for the new generation of mobile technologies.

ITS also helps departments and colleges that wish to provide wireless coverage internally; contact Garret Yoshimi, Director of ITS Technology Infrastructure, at 956-4566 or gyoshimi@hawaii.edu

Wireless Info for UH Campuses

New Policy on Information Security Adopted
by David Lassner

UH has adopted a new executive policy on the security and protection of sensitive information.  Executive Policy E2.214 defines sensitive information, provides guidelines for protecting it, and outlines the provisions for addressing any breaches that may occur. The new policy can be reviewed at: http://www.hawaii.edu/apis/ep/e2/e2214.pdf Questions may be addressed to UH Information Security Officer Jodi Ito jodi@hawaii.edu

Techs In Paradise 2008
by Alan Whinery

The third "Techs In Paradise" will be held at the Hawaii Imin Conference Center, January 20-25, 2008. Techs In Paradise 2008, or "TIP2008", will continue a tradition begun in January 2001. The event will have presentations about high-performance networking and network applications, including tutorials and demonstrations.

TIP2008 will be centered around two anchor meetings: The Internet2/ECSS Joint Techs Workshop, and a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Area Network (APAN).

The other three major participating organizations each operate high performance "next generation" research and education networks and work to promote global cooperation in research and education.

Internet2 is a consortium of educational and research entities which operates the Internet2 Network. The APAN consortium operates APAN, a network to coordinate the development of an advanced networking environment across the Asia-Pacific region. ESCC is the ESnet (Energy Sciences Network) coordinating committee which operates a high-performance network interconnecting US Department of Energy offices and research facilities.

The TIP2008 series of meetings began in January 1998, with the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research (NLANR) vBNS Techs Meeting, and became "Joint Techs" when NLANR began holding joint meetings with Internet2 in November of the same year. Techs In Paradise 2008 will mark the 10th anniversary of the original vBNS Techs Meeting, as well as the 25th APAN meeting, which began in 1996.

To find out more about Techs In Paradise, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/tip2008
To find out more about advanced networking at UH, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/internet2

Connecting Email Clients to UH's Email Directory
by Michael Hodges and Naomi Okinaga

The University provides its community with a public directory of names and email addresses for faculty and staff. Nearly all email clients support, to varying degrees of success, LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) for directory information lookups.  So, besides hand-built personal address lists, email clients can also search the University’s public directory.

How does LDAP get its data? ITS has developed identity management software to aggregate directory information extracted from Banner, PeopleSoft HR (Human Resources), WPMS (White Pages Management System) and SCOPIS (Student, Casual, Overload Personnel Information System). Additionally, data is periodically obtained from RCUH (The Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii), and other University affiliated organizations such as the UH Foundation and the East-West Center.