ITSC Digest

Issue 23, April 18, 2000.

Connections to the Internet and Internet Usage
The University's connections to the Internet are as follows,

HARNET/Internet - 2x12 Mbps ATM;

HKT NetPlus/Internet - 2Mbps in and 10Mbps out;

PSInet/Internet - 2Mbps in and 10Mbps out; and

UUNET/Internet - 2Mbps in and 2Mbps out.

However, as demand for access to the Internet is rising, a bandwidth allocation policy and charging arrangement has been implemented to ensure that the bandwidth of the HARNET's (Hong Kong Academic and Research Network) shared Internet link is fairly distributed and suitably managed. The primary purpose of instituting this policy is to regulate Internet usage so that the service is fairly used, especially when the link is congested.

To reduce Internet bandwidth congestion, we established a proxy server in February 1998 to cache frequently-accessed data from outside CUHK and provide in shorter response times for second and subsequent access to the same document. In addition, we have an additional connection to the Hong Kong Internet eXchange (HKIX) which is a 155Mbps ATM so that we can exchange intra-Hong Kong traffic locally without routing through the Internet. These implementations aim at reducing the chance of duplicating retrieval of the same data from overseas and helping to make more efficient use of bandwidth.

However, staff and students may still sometimes experience a slow connection speed. Statistics show that more and more University staff and students make use of the Internet in their daily work. The allocated bandwidth quota of our University, which is 2.4Mbps out of 12Mbps, is usually reached in the afternoon, resulting in a relatively slow response rate from the network. Nevertheless, it is planned to upgrade the HARNET and the Internet link this summer. We hope this upgrade will lead to a better surfing speed.

The Use of Learning Technology in Courses
This March-April, the Computer Services Centre / Information Technology Service Unit conducted a series of workshops to assist teaching staff in using information technology in their teaching.

In addition to these workshops, several interactive seminar sessions on "Computing Fundamental For Teaching", "Designing a Web-based Course" and "Multi-media Technologies" were also held and given by our guest speakers, Mr. George Jor of the English Language Teaching Unit, Prof. Ho Man Koon of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Mr. George Lam of United College and Prof. Liu Chun Wah of the Department of Economics. We are grateful to them for sharing with us their invaluable experience in applying information technology.

If you have missed these interactive seminar sessions, you can now review them on the web at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/csc/learning. You can watch a streaming video clip while simultaneously downloading it from the web, even over the dialup lines. Before watching the program, make sure that you have installed the RealPlayer G2 plug-in program into your browser.

Decommission of CSC Nettool Package Starting from April 7
Since 1995, the CSC/ITSU has been providing Nettool for Win3.1/Win95/Macintosh to facilitate dialup access to the Campus Network and Internet. As many current operating systems (e.g. Win98, Mac OS 8) are already equipped with a good web browser and provide many tools for internet access, CSC/ITSU has therefore decided to terminate the support and development of the Nettool package starting from April 7 2000.

To make a dialup connection to the CSC modem pools regardless of the operating system you are using, it is recommended that you follow the procedures found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/csc/network/dialup For any enquiries, please contact our consultant at datacom-help@cuhk.edu.hk.

Oracle - University Student Program
Oracle University HK is launching a Certification Program for University students on the Oracle8i Database Administrator Track. The Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) Program was developed by Oracle to recognize technical professionals who can demonstrate the depth of knowledge and hands-on skills required to fully support Oracle core products according to a standard established by Oracle.

Oracle University HK is now offering a comprehensive package for all University students which includes classroom training for 5 subjects and 5 examination coupons at a discounted price. Interested students please attend the program orientation on Apr 25, 2000 (6:00 PM) in Room HJ303 on the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Campus at Hunghom. For any enquiries, please contact Oracle University at http://www.oracle.com.sg/hk/edu or e-mail to training@hk.oracle.com.

Computer Services Over the Easter Holiday (April 21-24)
Consultation Room, Room 131A Pi Chiu Building
9:30am-5pm

User Area, 1/F Pi Chiu Bldg.
Open 24 hours as usual

User Area, Room 103 Wong Foo Yuan Bldg.
Closed

Information Counter, G/F Pi Chiu Bldg.
Closed

During this period, other computer systems and network services will continue operating as normal.