2006 CISL/NETS Survey

Marla Meehl

Survey Purpose

Conducted survey to better serve networking users.

Results will be used to evaluate and improve networking services at UCAR.

First NETS survey

Areas

General Questions NETS Service Level UCAR Campus Network Service Connectivity UCAR Phone System UCAR Wireless Service Network Outage Notification NETS Help Desk System For System/Network Administrators UCAR Dial-In Services (Local and 1-800) Network Futures

Survey Response

Sent to ~1500 UCAR staff Available for response August 1 –

September 1, 2006 153 responded (cut off at 10%)

130 completed the survey UCAR Staff: 22 NCAR: 106 UOP: 19

Primary Location

Center GreenFoothills LabJeffcoMesa LabHomeOtherTotal

Count2379

145

12

151

Percent15.23%52.32%

.66%29.80%

.66%1.32%100%

• 36 People have multiple offices

User Classification

Scientist or Project ScientistSystem Administrator or Network AdministratorSoftware Engineer or Associate ScientistAdministrative StaffManagementOtherTotal

Count241846282210

148

Percent16.22%12.16%31.08%18.92%14.86%6.76%100%

Network Improvements

YesNo changeI was not using the network in 2004I do not knowNot applicableTotal

Count6616

950

5148

Percent44.59%12.16%6.08%

33.78%3.38%100%

No change

Yes

I was not using the network in 2004

I do not know

Not applicable

Network Connectivity

Direct attach via UCAR officeUCAR WirelessLocal dial-in1-800 dial-inBroadbandOther wireless

255103

1527

Most Frequently

13912090

229101

833

LeastFrequently

25

29321

22

11612227

37

08

33289

12

•Total Responses: 151

**Access to NETS Web Pages

DailyWeeklyMonthlyYearlyNot Applicable / NeverTotal

Count4

15294456

148

Percent2.70%

10.14%19.59%29.73%37.84%

100%

Network Performance

General network performanceNetwork speed for your workNetwork reliability

563

Very Dissatisfied

111

261

N/A221

494344

Very Satisfied

848491

•Total Responses: 143

Network Outages

The frequency of network service interruptionsThe timeliness of notification of NETS outages and interruptionsThe information content of NETS communicationsThe consistency of notification of NETS outages and interruptions

18

15

16

19

Very Dissatisfied

1

1

1

1

0

2

3

4

N/A6

9

13

11

54

50

55

48

Very Satisfied

53

55

44

48

•Total Responses: 132

Has investment in business continuity been valuable for increased network reliability? (system admin only)

Very DissatisfiedDissatisfiedNeutralSatisfiedVery SatisfiedN/ATotal

Count000874

19

Percent0%0%0%

42.11%36.84%21.05%

100%

Phone System

Reliability of the UCAR phone systemUsability of the UCAR phone systemUsability of the UCAR voice mail systemUsability of the off-hours automated phone assistance systemTimeliness of how your calls to the UCAR phone operators are answeredHow effectively the UCAR phone operators have been able to solve your phone questions

51111

20

5

6

Very Dissatisfied

100

0

1

1

12

11

4

0

0

N/A235

71

43

51

486362

24

22

19

Very Satisfied

805643

15

66

58

•Total Responses: 137

Access to UCAR Wireless Service

DailyWeeklyMonthlyYearlyNot Applicable / NeverTotal

Count9

38332524

129

Percent6.98%

29.46%25.58%19.38%18.60%

100%

Satisfaction with UCAR Wireless

Coverage of wireless service Stability of wireless service

2828

Very Dissatisfied

10

76

N/A1110

4749

Very Satisfied

2019

•Total Responses: 114

NETS Help Desk

DailyWeeklyMonthlyYearlyNot Applicable / NeverTotal

Count17

292355

115

Percent0.87%6.09%

25.22%20.00%47.83%

100%

NETS Help Desk

Usability of the systemFrequency of feedbackContent of feedback

81512

Very Dissatisfied

301

1036

N/A272929

252423

Very Satisfied

81313

•Total Responses: 84

How is NETS meeting your division’s needs? (system admin only)

Very DissatisfiedDissatisfiedNeutralSatisfiedVery SatisfiedN/ATotal

Count0016

111

19

Percent0%0%

5.26%31.58%57.89%5.26%100%

Concern - General

It's important that UCAR networking remain cooperative with the needs of groups outside the UCAR firewall.

While I am satisfied with my routine network needs, I was extremely disappointed in the service provided for the special needs supporting a recent scientific field campaign. NETS staff did not seem to grasp the importance of our project and due to lack of planning and poor communication were ultimately responsible for a multi-week delay of full operability in the field project. Dates for completion of tasks quoted to us by NETS were depended upon by many others working on the field campaign and when they passed with no communication or action by NETS it was very detrimental to the project. This made NCAR look very bad in the eyes of the Principle Investigators within the broader scientific community, and we were left to try to explain the inability of NCAR to solve seemingly simple needs. To improve the overall quality of NETS service, I believe they need to fully appreciate that there are special needs and deadlines that arise due to the nature of NCAR tasks that are service to university research community and make changes to improve the ability to deal with these situations in a timely fashion.

Since GigE has become standard on laptops & desktops in the last year, is it time to provide GigE as a standard service?

Basically, the web pages are structured for people who know what they want. If you need something from NETS, but you don't know that's who you need it from, you're in big trouble.

Concern - Wireless NETS does a great job of providing fast, reliable networking. Still a little

room for improvement in wireless persistence and coverage, but it's improved greatly.

My "dissatisfied" entry about service is maybe misplaced. I'm griping about there not being a very good wireless service (would like to see 802.11g (or soon, n), better coverage (my SE III third floor signal is weak), and a less awkward authentication. Would be nice if we simply had network keys and could automatically gain access when in range.

Let's get out of the stone age and change all of the wireless to 802.11g or 802.11n, if it's ready. This insistence on backward compatibility is ridiculous. Simply have a few routers for 802.11b for those very few folks who still haven't upgraded. Make the 802.11g routers 802.11g-only to deal with the supposed problem of 802.11b clients downgrading the performance (I think this is an old problem that is not longer applicable with modern routers).

The only problem that impacted me is limited/non-existent wireless connectivity in the crow's nests at ML. This became problematic with all the visitors we had this summer that brought laptops. We had to request last-minute ethernet guest networks, or ask them to sit in the library (or coffee shop) to get a wireless connection.

Concern - ExtraView

My use various, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, and sometimes monthly. It depends on the number of meetings, retreats, and visitors that we have. Information on several of the pages I have been directed to is out of date or incorrect for the current working environment. NETS personnel is generally very good in getting you going in the right direction when you let them know this. I would like to see some additional features added to the forms processing that is currently in place to allow for more flexibility, immediate feedback screens, and email confirmations sent to responder in addition to 1-3 organization people.

My dissatisfaction is due to an outstanding "ExtraView" request to correct Chris Fischer's directory information. Upon first submission 7/7, I got a very positive & helpful response, but then when I was made aware of the fact that info was still incorrect in a variety of places & submitted a 2nd request, I have not heard a word back.

The NETS help request system is somewhat cryptic- getting started with a new username and configuring the system to show you the appropriate queue seems especially convoluted. I also find it confusing to receive so many "update" emails about when the ticket has been "taken", "given", "resolved", "deleted", etc, especially since the subject lines and messages are started with the HD000xxxxxxxxx ticket number, which means nothing to me.

Miss the days of being able to make a request without being directed to a web ticket system.

CISL – Security / VPN If I'm not at the office, I generally use the VPN from

wherever I can get internet access. This usually works great, unless I'm at a conference with other NCAR users -- then we bump each other off if multiple people try to connect from the same local access point. Until you know what is going on and start looking around for another NCAR user near you, it can be pretty mysterious.

VPN needs to be improved Aside from the periodic VPN issues over the last few

months, everything seems steady as a rock. Well, VPN stability is an issue, and most of all, visitor

solutions are absolutely miserable, but then that does not apply here... wonder where

Our security is more cumbersome than some of the DOE labs (but not all ;-)

CISL – Security / Wireless I've used the web page which allows local users to create a

wireless login for guests (when hosting meetings here) and that's great. It's nice to not have to call someone and wait for a login to be set up.

Need to be able to request guest wireless accounts for longer than 3 days. This is a huge inconvenience. Need 8 or 9 days at least to allow time to set up and test account before workshops begin.

Visitors coming from high security organizations tend to have trouble logging onto the wireless network, but the wired connection generally works for them. It would be nice to have a hint sheet of things to try (controls to modify on the visitor's computer or alternate way into the network) when logging into the network doesn't work for visitors.

Well, VPN stability is an issue, and most of all, visitor solutions are absolutely miserable, but then that does not apply here... wonder where

CISL - ExtraView

ExtraView is cryptic and mysterious. I had to call in to find out how to submit a work request.

The Extraview trouble ticket system is awkward when someone needs to change whether to submit a ticket to SCD help desk or NETS

I didn't need someone to call me every day after I put in the request. I just wanted it done. I didn't need to give feedback on the request for three days. (User submitted tickets through SCD Help Desk and Consulting Office.)

CISL – Webmail / Spam

Would still be nice to eliminate spam - all filters are on maximum but daily amount still takes major time to go through & delete.

Some problem with webmail, but this will soon change since I will go wireless (from both home & office).

CISL - Other

Using data acquisition development computers with CIT enabled can be extremely painful

When I lost my RAS password, someone got back to me promptly. When I recently transitioned from laptop to MacBook Pro, I neglected to copy the phone numbers over. My CGD Sys-admin couldn't find them on your website, so she called and got them. It might be good to publish them on the website, locked under the gatekeeper password.

I work frequently on supercomputers at other facilities. there needs to be a better (faster) mechanism for me to transfer large amounts of data between remote supercomputing facilities and scd.

CISL - Other

Too many different data bases! Phone # and room # data is inconsistent across phone/white pages/PPS Archibus/People Search.

I know it makes a big difference to you, but as a user I really do not care which group "owns" which service. If I have a guest visiting me and they need to get on the internet, I do not want to distinguish between what is NETS and what is SSG or DSG or whatever other G's there are. The services should have a unified face to the user community and the infighting should take place behind closed doors. (The survey note on this page about "NETS isn't responsible for xxx" reminded me how difficult it can be from the outside to figure out the SCD organization.)

It's also impossible to find information about CryptoCards when you're outside NCAR -- which is the only time you're going to want it.

Science or Applications available today that were not available 5 years ago - Data

Speed and capacity of the UCAR network are keeping up with the new and growing applications for our security systems.

Copying large data files for visualization or processing to home, or laptop computers is practical now. As such running models on home or laptop computers (for general debugging) is possible now and wasn't previously.

Qualitatively, the science is the same but the increased bandwidth allows for movement and processing of orders of magnitude more data. Web apps that are rich in data visualization are now possible.

Large dataset downloads via convenient web portals. Handling large data sets across the net instead of via cdrom

or dvd. High resolution modeling. Without the ability of massive data

transfer this would not be possible. Moving large files around is much more do-able. Anything

involving large datasets is much better, now.

Science or Applications available today that were not available 5 years ago - Data In a generic sense, the network has been growing along side of the

science and applications, however it seems with NLR and TeraGRID, we're now able to take on tasks that seemed too large to tackle not long ago.

We use heterogeneous computer systems: we get large data from NCEP, run models on SCD machines, send output to MMM machines for processing and distribution on the WWW - all in real-time. Faster file transfer makes such a system possible.

Easy exchange of documents for collaboration. Easy exchange and viewing of graphics and photos for publications, presentations, and the Web. Working remotely on collaborative projects. Working remotely on Web site content.

Significant data transfers over network from remote locations. This provides critical sharing of data with colleagues at home and a reliable backup of data.

Transfer of large (multi-GigaByte) data sets by network, as opposed to tape.

High volume LDM data distribution

Science or applications available today that were not available 5 years ago – remote working

Much easier to work from home, with all the resource you'd have on your desktop accessible via network. And faster.

Telecommuting. Much more productive visitor visits ... with the wireless and guest network, we don't waste time 'getting on the network'. Just to have the ability to use my laptop on the fly and access files needed is invaluable.

Just to have the ability to use my laptop on the fly and access files needed is invaluable.

I can work better from the university and other research institutions like I am in my office. The VPN is generally reliable and makes access to resources transparent, which is critical for developing distributed applications.

The ability to access e-mail and important files from outside my office has increased productivity dramatically for me over the last 5 years, as I take notes in meetings and still need to stay connected to e-mail while out of the office. Wireless access in all the buildings has probably been the single biggest improvement for me during that time frame.

Science or applications available today that were not available 5 years ago - remote working

The list is huge. The fact that I can be at home, remote desktop to my work machine and run Adobe Illustrator to work on presentation figures is amazing to me. I can also bring up UNIX/linux based GUI applications, like idlde or code debugging environments when working at home on a Windows XP machine and they work. None of this was feasible 5 years ago. 5 years ago I was limited to text-based work, i.e. bringing up an xterm and typing.

Improved forms of collaboration; working from home more seamlessly Wireless access over the campus. Downloading of very large files at

home and on campus. Access to UCAR servers via VPN from (almost) anywhere in world.

The ability to access PC's and their file systems from offsite via VPN. A real timesaver. Avoids the need to copy files/directories to my laptop prior to travel. This helps with project support & engineering from offsite.

I can run jobs on supercomputers from airports, hotels, and other remote locations. in other words, I can multi task my professional activities.

Science or applications available today that were not available 5 years ago - other

Networking of instrumentation directly on the network instead of via serial connections

Web conferencing My interdisciplinary research group from 5 institutions gets

together in a room with our laptops and wireless, and we all work on the same code through our home institutions seamlessly. None of the old issues about getting local accounts, etc. We use the computers and Skype and VNC to do work sessions wherever we are in the world without having to be in the same room, arrange teleconferences, or find meeting spaces. So, the big advance has been in ways we can collaborate with less load on the physical facilities.

Streaming video It appears to me that our network has generally scaled nicely

with our requirements. In my experience, scientific progress has been far more limited by lack of applications that can effectively use the local and national network infrastructure and by... security.

Positive Remarks

Mostly the NCAR network works very well. It's rarely down. It's so invisible that I take it for granted. This is good.

The extremely responsive staff is always a pleasure to work with. What a great group of professional people! Always pleasant and

helpful. Thanks for all you do. I can count on NETS to help even when I have been a pest with problems.

The service level is great I appreciate the professionalism of all the members of NETS. Have been responsive to our needs for visitors phones and resetting

voicemail. Great service, I always get a timely answer. The service level provided by NETS is second to none within UCAR

and ranks among the best anywhere. We have excellent networking here. I've never really had to employ NETS services. But, I know the staff and

how they operate, and it appears to me that they are doing a great job.

Positive Remarks

Access to the NETS web page is more like 6 times a year. Service has always been excellent.

NETS provides excellent service and quick response times. Information is clear and concise.

Overall, our networking capabilities have generally been well ahead of our ability to effectively utilize them. Scientific work is generally optimized assuming that large-scale bulk data transfers may be conducted after an experiment/model-run, and that generally works well. When it doesn't, NETS staff are very helpful and very expert at figuring out why. TeraGrid capabilities should be a major advantage as we move forward in distributed climate modeling, and probably other distributed modeling efforts as well.

Hmmm… I don't even fully know what NETS is Never knew about the website till now. We tend to get most

information filtered through our own IT department. The one time I had an issue with Meeting maker which was handled by Heather Harris of NETS, the experience was good. Quick efficient service.

With a couple of exceptions (my phone and using the Mailguard system) NETS is invisible to me.

I think some of my questions are not that "normal" so the answers aren't that easy either. (i.e. e-mail set-up preferences, MeetingMaker preferences)

I have never really had any interaction with NETS other than using the network.

I'm not exactly sure what NETS does, but I am happy with ssh, roy server, file transfers, etc.

In technology area: Using UCAR Spam filtering through MAIA Mailguard.

Overall NETS Satisfaction

Quality of ServicePersonal Interaction with NETS StaffTimeliness of NETS responseSolutions to networking issuesInformation about plans and strategiesNETS web pages

7148

102845

Very Dissatisfied

123111

311258

N/A9

3633373843

542642434528

Very Satisfied

756961543120

•Total Responses: 149

Summary

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback.

Overall, NETS has done an outstanding job. I appreciate NETS taking the time to learn about the needs of UCAR's population to improve their service.