2013 January
Here’s an update on recent happenings with the UW Windows Infrastructure.
==== New Capabilities and Improvements ====
* Work to replace aging NETID domain controllers has resulted in 3 new DCs. This work included applying the WS2012 schema and also partially addressed some geo-redundant disaster recovery goals by locating a domain controller out of the Puget Sound region. Work to refresh existing WS2008R2 DCs to WS2012 continues.
* Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Office 2013 license activation capabilities were added by replacing the campus KMS server.
* The mail attribute value for all UWWI user accounts was changed to <uwnetid>@uw.edu to facilitate Office 365 integration, eliminate user errors, and prevent multiple users from having the same email value.
* Work to refactor the UWWI Group Sync Agent to provide near real-time sync for all UW group changes has been completed and deployed. Notable improvements include:
* Group Service latency to UWWI is significantly reduced
* UWWI groups are reconciled with the Groups Service now, which self-corrects any errors on UWWI groups that might creep in
* Course group changes are provisioned to UWWI in near-real time
====Spotlights====
* A majority of delegated OU customers have misconfigured their computers primary DNS suffix–with greater than 90% of all computers misconfigured. This problem subtly affects functionality, most notably reducing negotiated security levels. A separate announcement will include more details on this issue and plans to address it.
* A project to decommission the UW Forest by mid-February 2013 continues. All remaining domains are in the process of domain migrations either to a delegated OU or to a new Windows forest, and all are making good progress.
==== Trends ====
* Since June, UWWI has added: 10 delegated OUs (62 total), 1 trusts (54 total), ~1100 computers (5600 total), ~17k users (579k total).
* UWWI support requests remain steady. 119 UWWI support tickets resolved since June (vs. 122 in prior period).
* UWWI supports all the new types of institutional groups being piloted in the Groups Service: by degree level, class standing, curriculum, etc.
You can see metrics about UWWI at http://www.netid.washington.edu/dirinfo/stats.
==== What’s Next ====
Our objectives for the months ahead include:
* Continued support of the university-wide Business Continuity Initiative by creating geo-redundancy continuity plans for UWWI NETID domain services.
* Continued support of the Office 365 project and the UW Exchange service as it integrates the UWWI NETID domain services with an Office 365 deployment.
* Continue to investigate how Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) integrates into our overall authentication architecture for customers.
* Invest in changes needed for Unix integration
* Support UW-IT effort to investigate SCCM 2012 delegation features to enable OU customers to deploy SCCM for computer management within the NETID domain.
==== Your Feedback ====
Supporting your needs for UWWI capabilities offered via the Basic Services Bundle is our priority, so we welcome feedback on how we can make the UWWI service more valuable to you.
The UWWI service has a backlog visible to customers at https://jira.cac.washington.edu/browse/UWWI where you can get more details about possible improvements, current prioritization of that work, and even what we’ve been doing. You can “vote” for items in the backlog to help us rank priorities, or you can contact us via iam-support@uw.edu.