* Dr. Internet columnist Steve Blass discusses preparing for daylight-saving changes * Help Desk columnist Ron Nutter discusses connecting a building to the campus LAN
* Getting systems ready for daylight-saving changes
By Steve Blass
Q: Daylight-saving time starts on the second Sunday in March this year instead of on the first Sunday in April as it used to. What steps do we need to take to avoid trouble with our computers and networks because of this change?
A: Check with your hardware and software vendors to find out whether you need to upgrade or install patches to change the built-in time zone rules for the daylight-saving time transition. You can find information about updating the time zone definitions for Windows desktop and server systems here.
To read Steve’s response in its entirety, please click here.
* Connecting a building to the campus LAN
By Ron Nutter
Q: I have been asked to connect a building to our network that isn’t currently connected. While this building, albeit a small one, is a stone’s throw from two other buildings, the decision was made when the fiber backbone was installed between the building to not include this building because it was due to be torn down in the near future. That was several years ago and before my time but the building still exists. I have now been asked by a department head to provide costs estimates for connecting connecting the building to the network. After consulting the drawings for the fiber backbone, there is conduit running to the building but only phone lines were run to the building. Only a couple of people are expected to be in this building at any given time. What will be the best option for connecting this building to the network?
A: Keep in mind when looking into the different cost options that the best option may not be the cheapest. Since you already have conduit running to the building, that could help save some significant costs on connecting the building. The first thing to check will be to find out how much space is available in the conduit. Hopefully since just phone line is in the conduit, there may be sufficient space remaining to put a couple of pairs of fiber. While the temptation might be to pull just the pair you need, having a spare pair for use later on could be real life saver. You shouldn’t have to pay that much more for pulling an extra pair of fiber, most of the cost should be in the labor for the pulling and for termination of the fiber. To further save some money, see if you can run the fiber from this building to one of your existing buildings that have fiber connectivity and connect there to s pare pair of fiber so you don’t have to run a fiber connection all the way back to your computer room or wherever your fiber terminates for the other buildings.
To read Ron’s response in its entirety, please click here.
