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ResComp Who we're doing this for Interface The HTML interface seen by students and staff Kerberos Plug-in needed to use the HTML forms 
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What We're Doing | ||
| The goal of this service is to allow students and ResComp Networking staff to register student computers on the residence hall network via the web. Registration allows the student to obtain a static, DHCP delivered IP address, and allows ResComp Networking to bill the student for use of the network. The ResComp Networking staff have to register up to 6,500 students at the beginning of the fall semester as they move into the dorms. The new InSite is replacing and improving upon the old InSite Macintosh client and Oracle database. This project is a subproject of the InSite project. | |||
| Status as of Fall 97 | |||
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As of August 1997, the InSite project had defined and implemented a Java applet front end and
the communication to an sql-daemon serving oracle data (see the Insite
Architecture page), but had yet to define the backend database table structures
to our satisfaction. In order to serve the reshall staff, we decided to halt work on the full
InSite backend rewrite, and implement a subset of InSite's functionality
to give the reshall staff a tool for student registration.
With the help of reshall staff programmers, we designed web forms for the students and staff to use for registration. These forms are protected by the Kerberos Plugin, which allows the web server to know the uniqname of user who is accessing the form. The CGI programs, that are executed as a result of submitting form information, output the same data stream to the SQL-daemon as the Java applet. The student registration form allows the student to enter and modify only their own registration information. The staff registration form allows staff who are members of a PTS group to enter or modify any residence hall student's registration information. The Java application has no Kerberos functionality, and is therefore used by the staff only to view lists of student registration information. Lists of per-dorm IP addresses are stored in files on the web server, serially accessed by the cgi programs, and provide automatic IP assignment. DNS names were also automatically generated. Staff using the staff registration form can assign a new IP, or change a DNS name. The student form only displays the IP address and DNS name fields. Initially, DHCPd at the reshalls was configured to dynamically give out all IP addresses. This configuration lasted for one month, and allows students who have not registered to access the internet. After one month, a cron job is started that culls DHCPd information from the Oracle database and creates dhcpd.conf files that assign static IP addresses to student machines. DHCPd then uses these static IP assignments, and turns off the dynamic IP service. DNS forward and reverser mappings are also generated by a cron job that culls dns information from the oracle data base to produce dns configuration files. |
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| Status Update - Fall 98 | |||
| Product deployment for Rescomp for the Fall term of 1998 involved a complete replacement of all existing systems (see status update on main page). The Oracle table structures were improved upon, the java management application was packaged and delivered to the ResComp management group, and the student autoregistration system was put into operation, vastly reducing both the amount of information that students had to know about their machines and the the paperwork and staff time that were required to process the registrations. | |||