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03.11.96

Open Computing Facility Board of Directors meeting

March 11, 1996

Attendance Board of Directors

William Perret Michael Constant (Site Mgr) Nevin Cheung Thomas Cheng Lara Lee Alan Coopersmith Steve Martinot Jennifer Snider Andrew Swan Elaine Chao (General Manager) Erik Agee Wang Lam Kenneth Nishimoto

Meeting Highlights

  • Discussion concering the Site Manager's account continues. (See Old Business.)

  • The OCF considers its moving options. (See New Business.)

Announcements

  • No announcements in particular.

General Manager's Report

  • Kenji Hubbard then Alan Coopersmith take over as temporary General Managers during Elaine Chao's absence.

  • Budget is due Friday. The General Manager Elaine Chao talked with Jennifer Snider and will have one ready by Wednesday for Board approval.

  • As reported earlier, the General Manager is meeting with Information Systems and Technology (IST) tomorrow.

  • A letter from Trumpet Winsock International arrived concerning OCF's request to distribute Trumpet Winsock as part of OCF's own Internet kit.
    The letter notes that Trumpet only allows distribution of licensed copies which the OCF cannot afford; therefore the Internet kit project has been suspended.

  • The OCF received an invitation to the International House Springfest.

Site Manager's Report

  • No report. "I haven't been particularly been Site Managing."

Sparc Managers' Report

  • A machine will be moved to Eshleman Hall for hookup to asuc-86, pending parts from Kenji Hubbard , such as a keyboard and a mouse!

Old Business - Inquiry into Site Manager continues

  • Steve Martinot's mail entry turned up few details. The accounting files revealed a mail process running, but it did not create more processes (which the Site Manager interpreted as, therefore, no text of the mail was displayed). While information is unavailable concerning how long the process was running, it took 4 seconds of CPU time, which the Site Manager remarked was a long time for a mail process; it took but 0.2 seconds CPU time for him to page his entire mailspool.

  • The Site Manager notes he had no malicious intent; logs can be defeated (for instance, destroyed), but this did not occur.

  • Steve Martinot notes that the OCF Staff training he knows never involved scanning mailspools.

  • Jennifer Snider notes she reactivated an account that was logged for being "over quota, had a copy of Netscape in mailspool," signed mconst. The restored account was but 500K, and the Netscape binary was gone. Michael Constant testifies he never deleted the binary, using x, not q, to exit mail. It appears all but impossible to discern what happened to the binary.

  • The Site Manager requests that his account be reactivated. The motion to reinstate his account passes 5-0-2.

  • The motion to restore his root privileges with the stipulation of logging root activity and enforcing it as staff policy was voted at 3-0-4. Unfortunately, three is not the majority of those present or a majority of the Board; the Board was not sure whether this was a pass or fail, and so by voice vote agreed to nullify the vote and deal with this issue again Wednesday, with Robert's Rules of Order in hand.

New Business

  • The General Manager appoints Alan Coopersmith treasurer.

  • On the impending move, the Board expects it to occur over Spring Break. The offer the OCF received from IST is the 118-square foot 72 Barrows, about the size of a bedroom. 74 Barrows used to be a computer lab, and the Board found that more useful to the OCF (at 970 square feet). That room was designated "open lab," but no one (including the Barrows building manager) knew what that meant.

  • Secretary's note: This information has been superseded by later information presented at the following 3/13/96 Board meeting.

  • 60 Barrows was a conference room, with no net connections, and was tossed out. 61 would be ideal, being an even roomier computer lab, but the Board figures it is not likely the OCF would get such space.

  • Erik Agee suggests the Board measure the space the OCF currently has in the Evans basement, and note at the meeting that the OCF would be taking some percentage reduction in space by taking 72 Barrows.

  • The backup mail server war could be arranged to be moved to CSUA or UCSEE space to catch incoming mail during the move, to prevent mail loss.

  • The Board urges the General Manager to determine at the meeting whether the move to Barrows is temporary (for the Math Department's remodeling) or permanent.

  • The budget Jennifer Snider writes to the blackboard (copied below) passes the Board 7-0-1. Operating Expenses & General Revenue [an ASUC form] Operating Expenses Stipends 0 Benefits 0 Advertising 100 Computer/Copy Supplies 600 Printing 400 Programs and Events 9000 Campus Departments 0 Membership Dues - Equipment Maintenance 750 Equipment Repair 750 Miscellaneous Expense 0 Equipment Rental 0 Photocopying 250 Postage 50 Stationery and Supplies 100 Other 0 Total Expenses $12000

Miscellaneous

  • No miscellaneous.

Corrections (after the meeting)

  • Erik Agee adds the following concerning the March 5, 1996 minutes:

    After all, Erik Agee notes, "it may have just been an honest mistake" [concerning OCF Staff policy]. `I guess I missed this while the draft was out. I don't recall saying this... To me it's clear that the Site Manager's conduct was not so much an "honest
    mistake", but a willful execution of improper procedure.'

  • The Secretary recalls the comment, in the context of a general discussion allowing Michael Constant at least a defense before
    the Board takes further action. Apologies to anyone who read the comment to imply Erik Agee considered "an honest mistake" to be the actual situation. It was meant as a possibility, and should not carry any more weight than any other possibility, from the Secretary's perceived context of the statement.

Wang Lam OCF Board of Directors and OCF Board Secretary March 11, 1996