Colorado State University

This post is marked as Deprecated and therefore contains outdated information.

A New Pangea?

That’s right!  CNSIT South has purchased a new server to act as the Pangea head machine.  This new server boasts additional memory, CPU capacity, redundant power supplies, and bonded network adapters.  With any new hardware upgrade, we are also looking at how we can improve the service and simplifying administrative functions.

Below you will find some of the big changes in store for those using Pangea.  We do not currently have an estimated migration date, but will be sure to communicate this when we know more.  The migration will most likely include a period of downtime where Pangea data will be unavailable.  Also, to keep your mind at ease, all data will of course remain intact – those sources are remaining as they are, and will simply connect to a new Pangea head server.

Server Merge

Pangea Two is being implemented on new server hardware.  This new hardware will provide service to both existing Pangea instances currently in production; the Biology instance, and the BMB/Chemistry instance.   This single Pangea instance will now allow Biology members, and BMB/Chemistry members to collaborate together!

Share Structure

Pangea shares are now divided, physically, into 3 categories, and are represented by 3 separate share points.

Home Share – This has a volume name which is the same as your CSU eID that you used to log in to Pangea.

Pangea Groups – This is now the location of all affiliate groups you are a member of.  These do not include web groups.

Pangea Web – This is now the location of all affiliate web groups that you are a member of.  As before, these groups are associated with a web URL of some kind.

Pangea Connection App

As a result of the Share Structure changes, the connection apps have been updated to take into account the possibility of more than one mount point.  This primarily affects the Windows app, although the Mac App also received some backend improvements.

Macintosh App – This app will now list the three mount spaces in the new Share Structure, and you can choose which to mount locally.  All other operations remain the same.

Windows App – The Windows App is now programmed to detect multiple local mount points.  Primarily in an effort to make it easy for a new user to un-mount drives that are not their own (accidentally left mounted by a previous user).  Mapping, however, is not the default access method any more.  The new App takes advantage of the Windows Explorer to display the shares and content without mapping the drive.  A user can always choose to map the drive locally from within this Explorer Windows (right click – Map Network Drive), but this is not required.  This should be particularly useful for lab environments, where many people use the same computers throughout the day, and often forget to log out.

Other Stuff

Beyond the many changes that make administering Pangea much simpler, there are also a few that will affect end users.

Fixes

No more symlinks – This new setup and Share Structure will no longer use symbolic links to establish group membership.  Access to groups is provided solely by membership on the domain controller, and can no longer be accidentally revoked through link deletion.

No more error 86 – There is no longer a need to make changes to newer Windows OSs in order to authenticate properly.  This fix also enhances the security of the authentication process.

Coming Soon

Quota Check Web Page – Shortly after Pangea Two goes live, a quota check page will be made available through the CNSIT-TOOLS page located at https://cnsit.natsci.colostate.edu/tools (no longer available).  This will allow you to check on the usage for all groups you are a member of, at your convenience.

Pangea Access Request Form – To simplify the “back and forth” that often occurs when a new personnel is granted access to Pangea, an easy to use web form will be implemented on the CNSIT-TOOLS page located at https://cnsit.natsci.colostate.edu/tools (no longer available).  This page will allow a requestor to include all needed information to hasten the creation of any user’s Pangea access.

Improved Online Documentation – We will also be generating improved documentation for end-users.  These How-To style tutorials will provide Pangea users plenty of information on how best to take advantage of Pangea.