Lab Use Data
This is a proposed service for departments, colleges, and campuses ("units") to capture and use data on the use of their classroom and lab computers. This was introduced in 2005, but no one expressed interest, so we didn't develop it any further. CLM participants get lab usage data as part of that program. If you are interested, please let your ITS consultant know and we'll revisit the possibility of making the service available.
Background
In 1995 CLC staff designed and wrote the "Page Accounting and Login Server" that would keep track of who was logged into which computer and would control and keep track of printing. At first, the information about who was logged in where was just for printing, but is soon became apparent that information about lab and classroom use was essential for managing these resources. Various kinds of summary reports have been generated over the years, but when PALS data was loaded into an MS SQL database in 2002 the development of web-based reporting tools was started.
Today there are several kinds of data that can be used various ways. The "session" records consist of a record for every login and logout. There are many of these records and queries are slow. But they are collapsed nightly into daily session totals, with one record for each platform/room combination, with the total number of logins, the number of different addresses (computers) logged into, and the total session time (the logout records have the length of time elapsed since the login). These daily totals can be easily summarized by semester, room, room type and platform.
You cannot add up the number of unique users across days to get a picture of how many different people used a room, so additional tables are generated at the end of each semester with the count of unique users per room and platform for the semester.
How busy or how will utilized can inferred from the individual session records and the daily totals, but another measure that is collected on a 5-minute timer is the highest usage for the day, or the maximum number of simultaneous sessions for the room/platform. This results in one record per room/platform per day, which is more manageable than a record for every 5 minutes. The time of the peak use is also saved. With this data one can determine things like "room x was never more than 50% full", or "room y was more than 80% full on 12 days last semester".
Need
Reports from these data are obviously useful for budgeting, planning, and management. Some of the questions that can be answered are things like "do we need more Macintoshes in room x", or "should we pay for staffing for room y to be open after 10:00pm".
The individual session records are also made available to the ITS Security Operations and Services unit, which investigates incidents of computer abuse and computer security problems.
Process
When the system is ready, lab administrators will do the following to use it:
- Register for access. You will have to be a network contact on a network owned by your department, college, or campus, or have a network contact authorize you for access to this system.
- Install software. There are clients for Windows XP, Macintosh OS X, and Linux. This software sends a record to PALS when someone logs in, and sends another when they log out.
- Define buildings and rooms. Each room that has computers that are to be tracked have to be in the database first.
- Define IP address ranges. Ranges of IP addresses for each room/platform are entered next. The addresses don't have to be contiguous, but that makes it easier.
- Review daily totals. The next day, daily totals for each room can be reviewed to be sure the room assignments are working.
Details
Detailed documentation and instructions are available to registered administrators.
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This page was last modified: 9/5/2007 1:37:00 PM.