This is the July, 2000 newsletter of the ITC Research Computing Support Group. If you have any questions or concerns on the information presented here please contact the ITC Research Computing Support Group via email to res-consult@virginia.edu, or at the Research Computing Support Center, 244 Wilson Hall, 243-8800. The Research Computing Support Center is open 9AM-5PM, Monday through Friday.
ITC has recently developed two new web platforms designed for web-accessible database projects, one for Windows users and another for Unix users.
The Windows web server, web.virginia.edu, has been developed by ITC to provide access to NT web hosting services for members of the University community for the purposes of instruction, research, and departmental projects. Services for web-database connectivity include Active Server Pages, Cold Fusion, ActivePerl, and ODBC drivers for MS Access and SPSS databases (SAS ODBC coming soon).
Assistance with database design and web programming is limited, and it is expected that users of this service are capable of designing and maintaining their own database and database access applications. ITC offers numerous training courses on these topics. In addition, for-fee development services are available from the Applications and Data Systems division of ITC.
The Research Computing Support Group will soon be developing simple examples showing how to make web pages interact with statistical data archived on the server. More details about the Windows server and information about how to obtain an account can be found at the following URL:
The Unix web server, dbm1.itc.virginia.edu, has been developed by ITC to provide a robust web-accessible MySQL server for UVa users. MySQL databases can be accessed through a variety of scripting languages such as Perl and PHP. While the Unix server is still in the developmental phase, pilot users are encouraged to begin using the service. More information about dmb1.itc can be obtained at the following URL:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/coo/crossdiv/mysql/
Note that the above website is a temporary one which will be changed once the service enters production status.
Users may also obtain an account on dbm1.itc at the following URL:
The Research Computing Support Center is now making Minitab 13.0 software available to individual faculty, staff and students. Previously, Minitab was made available only in the ITC public labs and classrooms and to departments for deployment on their servers. Under the new arrangement, Minitab can be installed on any University-owned computer located on-grounds. Off-grounds installation is not covered under the license agreement. An academic-discounted student version of Minitab that can be installed at home is available from Cavalier Computers.
Minitab 13.0 can be purchased for $10.00 at the Research Computing Support Center. To speed up the process when you come to the Research Center to obtain the software, complete an end-user license agreement at the following URL before you arrive:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/licensing.html
The University's license for the technical computing software Matlab has been expanded to include support for the MS Windows platform (95/98/NT) in addition to the Unix platforms that were previously supported (RS/6000, SUN, SGI and Linux). The Wavelet Toolbox has also been added to the new license to expand Matlab's data analysis functionality. Finally, the base system for Matlab has been upgraded to version 5.3.1 and several toolboxes have been updated as well. A detailed description of these updates can be found at the URL,
http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/whatsnew.shtml
Further information regarding the new Matlab license, including how to get started and get help using Matlab, can be found on the Research Computing Services Web page at,
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/matlab.html
Specific questions about the new license as well general questions concerning as the use of Matlab should be directed to res-consult@virginia.edu
This fall, the following research software will be available in all ITC labs and classrooms:
Windows
Macintosh
Individual users may obtain most of the above listed software at the Research Computing Support Center. Licensing restrictions vary by package. For details about each package, check out ITC's help pages at:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/researchers/services.html
Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It is often compared to Tcl, Perl, Scheme or Java
For more information on Python (including extensive documentation) visit the Python home page at:
Beginning on Monday 10 July 2000, the LISREL and PRELIS utilities will only be available on node1.unix, node2.unix and node3.unix of the blue.unix cluster. In order to run LISREL or PRELIS on the unix platform you will need to connect to one of these three nodes. LISREL and PRELIS will not be available on nodes 4 through 16 of blue.unix.
To connect to nodes 1 through 3 simply telnet (or slogin) to node1.unix, node2.unix or node3.unix.
This reduction in the availability of LISREL and PRELIS on the unix platform is in response to the decreased demand for lisrel (on the unix platform) and the superiority of the Windows version of the product.
Beginning in Fall 2000, LISREL and PRELIS will be available (for up to 4 concurrent users) in ITC maintained public labs. Over the next year ITC will monitor the use of the LISREL and PRELIS products on the blue.unix nodes and in our public labs. If usage for the LISREL and PRELIS products does not meet our criteria for continued purchase, ITC may elect to discontinue the licensing of the unix and/or Windows versions. (Users of the unix version of LISREL and PRELIS may wish to investigate use of the newly installed Mx utility.)
Members of the University of Virginia community who wish to install LISREL/PRELIS on their own Windows machine may purchase an additional license at a cost of $115 ($85 for the license and $30 for the media). This is a significant savings over the $575 single user cost for the LISREL/PRELIS product. This savings reduction is available to the UVa community because ITC has purchased the "base" LISREL/PRELIS Windows license.
Interested individuals should contact Scientific Software International directly via email to sales@sscientral.com or via phone at 800-247-6113. You'll need to provide the UVa CD key number: LP830-54SSI-95192.
For more information on the Windows version of LISREL and PRELIS visit:
Be aware that SSI provides a free, student version of the LISREL/PRELIS software available for download at:
http://www.ssicentral.com/other/download.htm
The UVa IBM RS/6000 SP computer was be taken down at 8am on Thursday, July 6 to upgrade the operating system on all of its nodes to AIX 4.3.3. This downtime was expected to end by 6pm the same day but some problems were encountered which required the assistance of IBM Technical Support to resolve and as a consequence the downtime was extended until 3:30pm on Friday, July 7.
Mx, a matrix algebra interpreter and numerical optimizer for structural equation modeling (and other types of statistical modeling) of data, has been installed in the /contrib" area of ITC maintained RS6000's. (Software installed in the /contrib area is provided as a service to the University community but is not supported by ITC.)
Information on Mx, including documentation and test examples, can be found at:
To test Mx download the quicktst.mx file. Then run Mx with the command:
mx < quicktst.mx > quicktst.mxo
Obtain html output with the command:
mxh < quicktst.mx > quicktst.htm