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Building Whistler City: From Concept to Real World

Discover the journey of building Whistler City from concept to reality. Learn about the challenges faced and how they were overcome to create a thriving and innovative city.

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Building Whistler City: From Concept to Real World

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  1. Building Whistler City: From Concept to Real World Kari Branjord, Director, Web Development, University of Minnesota EDUCAUSE 2000 Jim Hall, Web Production Support, University of Minnesota

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

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

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

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

  6. The Beginning

  7. Web Registration • Part of student culture • First web registration: 1996 • 95% students used web registration • Implemented Peoplesoft registration: 1999 • New web registration system required

  8. Student Administration Functions • View enrollment appointment (queue time) • View holds • Class schedule / course guide • Add/drop classes • Update personal information • View grades

  9. Capacity • Capacity = 240 users • 70,000+ students at U of M

  10. Improvement Needed • Poor performance • Instability • Students hated the system • Support staff restart systems all day • Can’t do other work!

  11. Poor Performance • Students see “Access denied” • 10-30 seconds add/drop time = “good” • 2 minutes not unusual

  12. Instability • Multiple crashes per day • One crash induces another to fail • All servers are down!

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

  14. The Culture

  15. Culture • Creative atmosphere • Encourage experimentation • Performance-based vs. clock-puncher • Web is an open book

  16. Culture • Games • Fun • Reward • Recognition

  17. Culture • Staff are responsible, professional • Innovative thinking! • Gets results!

  18. Culture • “Outside the box” • Free / open-source software often a way to explore new possibilities

  19. New, ImprovedWeb Registration

  20. Web Registrationon Linux? “All the components to run web registration are now available for Linux!”

  21. Web Registration (AIX)

  22. Web Registration (Linux)

  23. Web Registrationon Linux? • Linux runs well on IBM hardware • IBM support for all components • Server management tools: • RPM, Kickstart • Ensure Linux hardware compatibility before you start: • SCSI, network, video

  24. Requirements • Support for all components • Stability • Scalability

  25. Web Registration (AIX)

  26. Web Registration (Linux)

  27. Options • Web registration tied to Web Sphere • Web Sphere supported on these platforms: • AIX • Solaris • Windows NT • Red Hat Linux • Linux is best choice for short timeframe

  28. Project Management

  29. Project Team • A multi-team effort • Web Development: • Systems Administrator • Manager • Central Computing: • Hardware

  30. How To Implement To Build Confidence • Change as little as possible • Test before you implement • Burn-in period • Phased deployment • Isolate moving parts

  31. Project Management • Keep the project in scope • Budget • Time frame • Features vs. effort

  32. Project Management • Create a schedule, stick to it • Regular meetings for progress • Emails with daily status • Be honest with respect to risks, delays

  33. Overcoming Fear • Challenge to the status quo • Free / open source is new concept • New paradigm • CIO • Customer • Security staff • Our own staff • Auditors

  34. Overcoming Fear • Document the work • Testing • Support • Costs • Deployment • Statistics • Make information available on the web

  35. Overcoming Fear • Communicate key message • In-house expertise • Confidence in product • Confidence in scalability • Cost effective • Constant involvement of customer • Opportunity to pull “big red handle”

  36. Results

  37. Performance Improved • (AIX) Web registration: • 10-30 seconds response time = “good” • 2 minutes not unusual

  38. Performance Improved • (Linux) Web registration: • 74% 0-5 sec. Add/drop • 95% 0-10 sec. Add/drop

  39. Stability Improved • (AIX) Web registration: • Multiple crashes per day • All servers down not uncommon(“cascade failure”)

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