JA-SIG 2001 Building Whistler City: From Concept to Real World Jim Hall, Web Production Support, University of Minnesota

JA-SIG 2001 Famous Quotes “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” -Thomas Watson (chairman of IBM) 1943

JA-SIG 2001 Famous Quotes “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” -Ken Olson (president of DEC) 1977

JA-SIG 2001 Famous Quotes “640k ought to be enough for anybody.” -Bill Gates (CEO of Microsoft) 1981

JA-SIG 2001 Famous Quotes “Linux will have no place in the University of Minnesota enterprise.” -Steve Cawley (CIO at U of M) 1999

JA-SIG 2001 The Beginning

JA-SIG 2001 Web Registration Part of student culture Part of student culture First web registration: 1996 First web registration: % students used web registration 95% students used web registration Implemented Peoplesoft registration: 1999 Implemented Peoplesoft registration: 1999 New web registration system required New web registration system required

JA-SIG 2001 Student Administration Functions View enrollment appointment (queue time) View enrollment appointment (queue time) View holds View holds Class schedule / course guide Class schedule / course guide Add/drop classes Add/drop classes Update personal information Update personal information View grades View grades

JA-SIG 2001 Capacity Capacity = 240 users Capacity = 240 users 70,000+ students at U of M 70,000+ students at U of M

JA-SIG 2001 Improvement Needed Poor performance Poor performance Instability Instability Students hated the system Students hated the system Support staff restart systems all day Support staff restart systems all day – Can’t do other work!

JA-SIG 2001 Poor Performance Students see “Access denied” Students see “Access denied” seconds add/drop time = “good” seconds add/drop time = “good” 2 minutes not unusual 2 minutes not unusual

JA-SIG 2001 Instability Multiple crashes per day Multiple crashes per day One crash induces another to fail One crash induces another to fail All servers are down! All servers are down!

JA-SIG 2001

Staff Morale Incentive to improve things for ourselves Incentive to improve things for ourselves Stability and performance are key Stability and performance are key Separate effort to improve PS performance Separate effort to improve PS performance Unable to improve web application capacity issues Unable to improve web application capacity issues Registration cycle starts in 2 months! Registration cycle starts in 2 months!

JA-SIG 2001 New, Improved Web Registration

JA-SIG 2001 Web Registration on Linux? “All the components to run web registration are now available for Linux!”

JA-SIG 2001 Web Registration (AIX)

JA-SIG 2001 Web Registration (Linux)

JA-SIG 2001 Web Registration on Linux? Linux runs well on IBM hardware Linux runs well on IBM hardware IBM support for all components IBM support for all components Server management tools: Server management tools: – RPM, Kickstart Ensure Linux hardware compatibility before you start: Ensure Linux hardware compatibility before you start: – SCSI, network, video

JA-SIG 2001 Requirements Support for all components Support for all components Stability Stability Scalability Scalability

JA-SIG 2001 Web Registration (AIX)

JA-SIG 2001 Web Registration (Linux)

JA-SIG 2001 Options Web registration tied to Web Sphere Web registration tied to Web Sphere Web Sphere supported on these platforms: Web Sphere supported on these platforms: – AIX – Solaris – Windows NT – Red Hat Linux Linux is best choice for short timeframe Linux is best choice for short timeframe

JA-SIG 2001 Project Management

JA-SIG 2001 Project Team A multi-team effort A multi-team effort Web Development: Web Development: – Systems Administrator – Manager Central Computing: Central Computing: – Hardware

JA-SIG 2001 How To Implement To Build Confidence Change as little as possible Change as little as possible Test before you implement Test before you implement Burn-in period Burn-in period Phased deployment Phased deployment Isolate moving parts Isolate moving parts

JA-SIG 2001 Project Management Keep the project in scope Keep the project in scope Budget Budget Time frame Time frame Features vs. effort Features vs. effort

JA-SIG 2001 Project Management Create a schedule, stick to it Create a schedule, stick to it Regular meetings for progress Regular meetings for progress s with daily status s with daily status Be honest with respect to risks, delays Be honest with respect to risks, delays

JA-SIG 2001 Overcoming Fear Challenge to the status quo Challenge to the status quo Free / open source is new concept Free / open source is new concept New paradigm New paradigm – CIO – Customer – Security staff – Our own staff – Auditors

JA-SIG 2001 Overcoming Fear Document the work Document the work – Testing – Support – Costs – Deployment – Statistics – Make information available on the web

JA-SIG 2001 Overcoming Fear Communicate key messages Communicate key messages – In-house expertise – Confidence in product – Confidence in scalability – Cost effective – Constant involvement of customer – Opportunity to pull “big red handle”

JA-SIG 2001 Results

Performance Improved (AIX) Web registration: (AIX) Web registration: – seconds response time = “good” – 2 minutes not unusual

JA-SIG 2001 Performance Improved (Linux) Web registration: (Linux) Web registration: – 74% 0-5 sec. Add/drop – 95% 0-10 sec. Add/drop

JA-SIG 2001 Stability Improved (AIX) Web registration: (AIX) Web registration: – Multiple crashes per day – All servers down not uncommon (“cascade failure”)

JA-SIG 2001 Stability Improved (Linux) Web registration: (Linux) Web registration: – 5 burps (Java process died) – e-Network Dispatch routes traffic automatically across redundant servers – No crashes visible to user

JA-SIG 2001

IBM Support IBM’s Linux support is excellent IBM’s Linux support is excellent Fast customer response Fast customer response Good customer contact Good customer contact Very knowledgeable support staff Very knowledgeable support staff

JA-SIG 2001 Findings About Java Garbage collection allows Java to recover more memory Garbage collection allows Java to recover more memory Garbage collection is exponential with more memory (AIX) Garbage collection is exponential with more memory (AIX) All other operating systems, garbage collection works correctly All other operating systems, garbage collection works correctly

JA-SIG 2001 Results U of M more receptive to Open Source: U of M more receptive to Open Source: – Bugzilla – Additional Linux solutions – Continue to derive cost benefits Improved team reputation Improved team reputation Boosted team morale Boosted team morale

JA-SIG 2001

Questions? Jim Hall Jim Hall web.umn.edu or,