Faced with the need to equip its students with personal computers that permit data access from a variety of campus locations, Clemson University found a way to bypass the path taken by many institutions of higher learning -- the requirement that students use portable computers.
The answer to the problem was to provide a universal user ID through Novell's NetWare 4.1. This allows students at the university to use any of 700 desktop PCs in any of 33 computer centers across the campus to type papers, back up data and access course materials on a variety of servers.
It would have been a major expense to equip each student with a laptop computer, and either the university or the students themselves would have had to pay for the computers.
Besides cost, there are other drawbacks to portable PCs: They are more difficult to maintain than desktops, and they present a high risk of theft or damage as students pass between classes.
The university terms its implementation a "virtual laptop" environment because it delivers many of the benefits of portable computers. Students can log in to any computer and work as if the system belongs to them. Software, backup files and other information are automatically downloaded to them.
If students log in to the network at another workstation, their settings and preferences for applications appear at the new location. The programs include Microsoft's Office and Netscape Communications' Navigator and Communicator.
A gradual process The building blocks for the virtual laptop environment fell into place slowly. The 33 computer centers were established in the mid-1980s. Initially, students worked with dumb terminals in the computer centers. They were allowed to store data in specific computers, but they did not have access to data in a variety of host systems.
Eventually, PCs and workstations were added, but data access was still limited to specific servers. In addition, as David Condrey, a LAN systems manager at Clemson, explained, departments and independent colleges were free to select their own systems for the various laboratories. This made maintenance difficult, however, because of the need to understand different systems and handle different makers' spare parts.
In 1995, the university decided to roll out NetWare 4.1 throughout its network, which supports 37,000 users.
"We wanted a system that offered a distributed directory service so we could tie all of our users together into a cohesive whole, rather than have them work in separate groups," Condrey said. "NetWare was the only system available then -- and is still the only one -- that could perform that task."
Directories act as computer and network gatekeepers. They store lists with the names and addresses of every end user and computer resource, which could be an application or a printer. Before any connection is made or access to any resource granted, applications check directories to ensure that users have the proper credentials.
Historically, LAN operating system directories worked autonomously and provided clearance only for users connected to specific servers. NetWare features NDS (Novell Directory Services), a global directory service, so no matter where a user logs in, he or she is able to access information stored on any server.
By moving to NDS, Clemson was able to provide each student with a user ID and workspace on a server for storage of personal data. With a little help from software that Clemson developed, NDS controls access to all network resources. "The information our users needed resided on many different computer systems -- IBM mainframes, midrange servers and PCs -- and they wanted to be able to access it from any desktop system," Condrey said.
To provide this access, the university needed authentication software that would tie a variety of clients and servers to NDS. Clemson programmers wrote a series of NetWare Loadable Modules that accept requests from clients and redirect them to the proper application. The authentication system is multithreaded, to handle simultaneous requests from many clients, and operates on multiple servers for redundancy. Once authenticated, users have access to all of their defined network resources and personal workspaces. NDS also provides information about printers they can use, servers where application software resides, and the class and departmental groups to which they may belong.
Users tap a campuswide Post Office Protocol mail server to send and receive e-mail.
The change enabled the university to cut its maintenance costs. "Because our users worked with so many different applications, they had a number of different passwords to access different applications," Condrey said. "They would constantly forget their passwords, so we were constantly resetting these systems."
After completing the move to NDS in the summer of 1996, Clemson examined applications that could benefit from the new network. Scott Hammel, a systems programmer, said students needed applications, documents and data delivered wherever and whenever they were -- in classrooms, computer labs, dormitory rooms and off-campus locations -- and the information had to be delivered securely and reliably.
Since NDS offered those capabilities, the virtual laptop project was born. To implement the project, the university had to revamp the hodgepodge of computers at its laboratories. The number of PCs doubled, as terminals and Unix workstations were phased out. While the departments and colleges can still select any type of PC, each device must be able to run Windows 3.1.1 or Windows 95.
Students seem to enjoy the change: The lab machines, which are up from 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, are quite busy. "The utilization rate is close to 80 percent," Condrey said. "Because the new computer system is so convenient, students constantly use it." He wouldn't have it any other way.
Case File Institution: Clemson University Headquarters: Clemson, S.C. The need: To enable students and employees to access various servers from different parts of the campus.
The solution: Installed NetWare 4.1, which provides users with personal workstations on university servers.
Top challenge: Building links from various mainframe, midrange, PC and Unix applications to NetWare 4.1's NDS.
Bonus benefit: Students do not have to purchase laptop computers to access university resources.
Status report: 700 "virtual laptop" PCs are available in 33 locations across campus.
Toolbox The servers: Custom-built PC servers running NetWare 4.1, NT 4.0 and NDS. The desktop: Gateway P5133 and E3000 PCs running Microsoft Windows 3.1.1 and Windows 95.
