Author: aucadmin

Rsync & Carbon Copy Cloner

Ashley Aitken, Curtin UniversityPart of XW12

Rsync is a very powerful and very flexible tool (and associated Rsnapshot) for backup and sync-ing on Macs (and other operating systems). Integrated with the fantastic Carbon Copy Cloner tool (CCC) (free for use in education institutions) it makes a powerful combination.

This technology and tools are not a replacement for Time Machine but fills a complementary need.  Setting up these technologies can also be sometimes confusing and complicated (e.g. setting up the keys to allow no-password ssh).  This presentation is relevant to beginner and intermediate level administrators who haven’t really explored the potential of the rsync technology.

  1.4 MB

Web-based iOS Configuration Management

Tim Bell, Trinity College, University of MelbournePart of XW12

As Trinity College’s use of iPads has grown from a small pilot study, to a medium sized cohort of students, and now a forecast 600 students and 100 staff this year, we have steadily improved how we manage the configuration of those iPads.  The presentation will briefly recap the evolution of iPad configuration management at Trinity, and look at existing solutions that are available.  However, the majority of the presentation will cover our Django-based web application.  It allows IT staff to prepare a configuration profile using iPhone Configuration Utility and upload it to the web app; students then authenticate to the web app with their LDAP credentials, and download a profile directly on their iPad over wireless, customised with their own account settings for email, wireless authentication, etc.  The presentation will include how to set up the Open Source web app for use in your own institution, as well as a quick demonstration of the app.

The technical fields the presentation will cover are the structure of an iOS configuration profile, Django and its use on a Linux or Mac OS X server, and the configuration installation process on iOS.  The intended audience is IT administrators with responsibility for iOS device configuration management for staff or students.

  7.4 MB

The Goodthink Project

Dale Hills, Waikato UniversityPart of XW12

Development of the goodthink project was driven by the evolving necessity to provide appropriate teaching and learning technology to staff and students in an increasingly BYOD environment. Most tertiary institutions have been very good at providing formal, face-to-face teaching technology in lecture theaters and classrooms. However, less attention and consideration has been given to the need for technology in the informal spaces where students congregate and can work collaboratively with each other outside the traditional classroom. This area of research is known as ‘informal learning space design’ and it is possible to provide the infrastructure and technology in any hallway, foyer, cafe or library where there is space, furniture and access to power & wireless Internet access. Our desire to provide this technology was driven by some of the positive outcomes and installations that other Universities have achieved. However, we were dismayed by the high cost of entry to some of the current costly proprietary systems that are available now. As a result, we reflected on the tools and services already available on campus and began to imagine how we might provide an informal, collaborative environment for our community.

Goodthink was prototyped on an Apple Mac Mini using exclusively open source components and existing operating system frameworks (10.7+). The goodthink system provides a wireless network for clients to connect to, along with a web interface and captive portal to route new connections to the collaborative environment (currently powered by Google Apps but other collaborative solutions are available). Connected users are free to interact with the goodthink central screen, open collaborative documents on their own devices and connect to other web resources via the goodthink wireless network (as restrictions permit).  The goal is to produce a system functionally equivalent to commercial environments such as Teamspot, using exclusively free components.

We propose a live assembly of a working goodthink collaborative environment in a hands on workshop.  Dale would explain the rationale for the development of goodthink and the pedagogical uses of the prototype, summarize some research into collaborative technologies in academia and then explain each component of the system as attendees assembles a working mockup.  Attendees would then be invited to join the collaborative environment remotely from their own devices.

Goodthink Project Web Site

To The Cloud!

Jon Rhoades & Peter Tonoli, Part of XW12
University of Melbourne

Documents on IOS devices, the legalities, practicalities & pitfalls.

iOS devices are now ubiquitous in our organisations, and there is a clear business need for our users to access their documents on theses devices.  We will be exploring how users can access their documents using popular syncing services and directly accessing your existing storage infrastructure.  We also look at the risks and implications of storing data on external company servers.

This presentation is suitable for all attendees who deal with iOS devices.

  1 MB

Supporting Apple using Best Practice at Faculty of Education @ UoA

William McGrath, University of AucklandPart of XW12

This presentation is on best practice techniques that the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland is delivering to users this year to ensure quality of service and to improve security of our fleet. The presentation aims to inform those who are in the business of informing key decision makers of their options when deploying Apple technology in their departments, and making their Apple devices EQUAL citizens to their Microsoft counterparts. Topics covered include:

  • Mac OS X’s FileVault 2 technology
  • Securing iOS devices using Profile Manager (or potentially any other mobile device management solution) to ensure devices follow University policies and are set up (correctly) to use the wireless networks provided by campus
  • Deploying Active Directory and Profile Manager together
  • Security Best Practice for SOEs
  • Securing our Server fleet

The presentation will allude to the changes that have come to us thanks to centralization of IT, for example, our Exchange mail services moved centrally this year, and we used Profile Manager to make the changes to user’s profiles so that they would use the correct server after the migration. This may include a demonstration of how simple the changes were to implement.

  3.3 MB

Integration of iOS/OSX Devices into an Enterprise Environment

Adam Ware, Queensland University of TechnologyPart of XW12

This presentation is on Integration of IOS/OSX Devices into an enterprise environment using Profile Manager found in OSX Lion Server and Casper Management Suite. Topics covered include:

  •  Basics of Profile Manager and Lion Server.
  • Using alternatives like Casper Management Suite to standardise and deploy IOS and OSX devices
  • Setup of profiles for standardisation across a fleet of IOS devices
  • Logistics of device management.
  • Apple store/App management and deployment.
  • Push mobile profiles across devices.
  • Integration with Microsoft AD

Intended Audience is anyone support or deployment staff interested in managing larger number of iOS devices across a network.

  9.5 MB

SNMP Monitoring of Devices using Lithium

Matthew Tilney, Australian National UniversityPart of XW12

Audience: System administrators responsible for monitoring a number of
networked servers or clients. Beginner to moderate knowledge of system
administration.

Lithium is a product recently setup at ANU to provide remote monitoring
and reporting information from our Print services. Currently monitored
devices include Windows Servers, Windows XP ‘kiosk’ machines, Konica; Hp
and Lexmark printers, Custom network-serial port devices and Lion servers
associated with out student printing system. However you could use it to
monitor any SNMP (and to lesser extent IP) capable devices on your network
where up-time or responsiveness impacts the running of the service.

This workshop provides a hands-on opportunity to setup and configure
Lithium. It has been designed as a beginners introduction to the software
and how to configure SNMP reporting for network devices like printers,
desktop machines or services on servers. The software provides Email and
iPhone Push Notifications for alerts, visual graphical representation of
past trends and an internal website for clients with non-apple devices for
monitoring. Through the workshop you will be have access to a small
variety of devices to test your skills at finding information to monitor
and then implementing monitoring on the devices.

  4.1 MB

Rapid prototype development of useful apps using Filemaker + Filemaker GO 12 for deployment on iPhones, iPods, iPads and Macs.

Alistair Campbell, Edith Cowan UniversityPart of XW12

Attendees will leave with a number of personalised apps for their desired device(s).

The audience would be any one interested in rapid development and/or prototype development of useful apps with no coding for deployment on iPhones, iPods, iPads and Macs. The same app can easily recognise the device and display appropriate windows.

  1. Short introduction to the new features in Filemaker GO and Filemaker.
  2. The conversion of existing spreadsheets, a number of samples will be given.
  3. The development of a number of windows to display this information and how different types of data can be entered using standard database features.
  4. Issues that need to be considered when developing app, fonts, layout, navigation etc
  5. Explore the new ability to capture signatures, audio and video along with pictures within the app with no coding required.
  6. Deployment issues e.g. local and server based.

You are encouraged to bring your own iPad or iPhone with FileMaker GO 12 installed (a free download from the App Store).

  6.8 MB

Extending Lecture Recording Systems

Adam Reed, Australian National UniversityPart of XW12

I’ve recently done a proof of concept with our lecture recording system to automatically add chapter markers within the video. Once I determined where the chapters were I’ve extracted still frames and run them through OCR. Finally I created a HTML 5 player that would sync the text with the slides. It’s been done using free or open source software. This starts to make video “searchable”, instead of being a large binary blob.

This presentation will outline what I’ve done, the tools I used and how I have put them together. I would then like to open the session up to learn from other attendees what they are doing to add value to video assets, particularly any work around making video accessible, and / or people looking at automatic transcription of audio.

  839 KB