CAMPUS ACTIVE DIRECTORY PROJECT – Pilot Completed
The Active Directory Project is an initiative of the Technology Round Table. The Technology Round Table is a joint committee of Senior IT and department leaders across campus, representing Faculties, Administration and Students whose goal is to promote a shared vision and collaborative approach to technology strategy across McMaster. The Active Directory Project began in 2009 with an objective to implement a single Active Directory domain structure for the university.
A major benefit, derived from this initiative, is achieving centralized authentication. With the implementation of a campus-wide Active Directory schema, there will be the potential to convert other campus computer systems so that one username and password may be used to access multiple applications and resources. Not only will this implementation facilitate the enterprise deployment of Microsoft-based applications across the University but also it can act as the foundation infrastructure component to the future implementation of Directory Services. The project will have achieved a successful outcome when there is a central repository of Active Directory authentication credentials for the University.
The first phase of this multi-phased project, completed in December 2010, involved the assessment of the current Active Directory domains within the university and the proposal of a solution that would accommodate the University's needs. The second phase of this project – the POC Pilot - is due to wrap up by the end of December 2011. The POC Pilot phase was completed in conjunction with an external vendor and involved the acquisition and installation of the new Active Directory framework, an eight to ten month testing phase, and a pilot migration of user, group, and computer accounts from each of the six participating departments/faculties.
The pilot for this initiative has been more challenging than originally expected and resulted in a two-month pilot extension. One of the key issues involved the variety of desktop configurations across the university. Due to the varying desktop configurations, a number of migration scripts, approaches, and plans have been required. All variances found during the pilot have been reviewed, scripts tested, and a draft migration plan has been developed. Now that these issues are behind us, the project team will begin the migration of additional user and computer accounts throughout 2012.
The third and final phase includes the migration to the new Active Directory framework and the decommissioning of existing directories. The third phase has just begun and is expected to take twelve to sixteen months to complete.
In order to ensure there is no disruption to your business/operational cycles, departments will be consulted prior to scheduling their migration. Many of the user accounts and computers should be able to be migrated remotely, and thus only require a "reboot" of your system following the migration. Once fully migrated, the only change you should see is that your log-on screen will display "ADS", whereas the previous log on domain name was "AP1". University Technology Services (UTS) and Student Affairs (Student Accessibility Services – SAS (previously CSD)) accounts and desktops have already been fully migrated to the new Active Directory environment.
Steering Committee members include:
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Computer Services Unit - Rocco Piro
- Library Services - John Fink/TBD
- Research and High Performance Computing Support - Patricia Monger
- University Technology Services (UTS) – Ron McKelvie
- University Technology Services, Enterprise Systems - Brian McEntegart
Working Committee members include:
- Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) - Terry Greenlay
- Faculty of Health Sciences, CSU - Graig Kelly
- Library Services - Roger Periard
- School of Business – Randy Walinga/Gordon Helwig
- Student Affairs - Mike Sowerby
- University Technology Services, Enterprise Systems - Wayde Nie
- University Technology Services, Enterprise Networks - Gerry Gysbers
- Project Manager/Customer Contact – Patricia Girling
- Note: A number of additional individuals are participating in and contributing to this initiative, as well as the primary contacts listed above.
Participating Departments/Faculties:
- University Technology Services (20,000 accounts & 2,800 desktops)
- Faculty of Health Sciences (2,500 accounts & 2,500 + desktops)
- School of Business (300+ accounts & desktops)
- Student Affairs (50+ accounts & desktops)
- Library (300+ accounts & desktops)
- Faculty of Engineering
- Research and High Performance Computing Support
Active Directory Project Team (as of December 8, 2011):
- Brian McEntegart
- Chris Draksler
- Deridor Collier
- Doris McGuire
- Gerry Gysbers
- Gordon Helwig
- Graig Kelly
- Herman Poon
- Michael Curwin
- Mike Maier
- Mike Sowerby
- Patricia Girling
- Peter Draksler
- Roger Periard
- Tasha Kassa
- Ted Kelaidis
- Terry Greenlay
- Wayde Nie
Should you have an Active Directory domain and/or Exchange e-mail service in place at this time (excluding Faculty of Health Sciences & Facility Services) and have not yet been approached by any of the Active Directory project team members, please contact the Project Manager, Patricia Girling, girling@mcmaster.ca subject "My AD or Exchange".
Service Desk
| Hours: | Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 4:30 pm |
|---|---|
| Phone: | 905-525-9140 x24357 (2HELP) |
| Email: | uts@mcmaster.ca |
| Location: | Main Campus BSB Rm. 245 |
| Service Catalog: | |
| http://www.mcmaster.ca/uts | |
Service Bulletins
- There are no Service Bulletins at this time