Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Students at Ohio State University (2002) and Ohio high school students are offered
remote access to servers to study and practice Calculus & Mathematica with Remote Calculus
Mentors. The automated help is based on “Socratic interactive model”: student questions
are answered with more questions instead of giving a straight answer. The implementation
platform includes UnixWare with Apache HTTP Server.
Keeping grades and online attendance of sessions is an important task of group remote
online sessions. Software such as Gradekeeper (2002) can help faculty with course manage-
ment. An instructor can record the session attendance and the performance scores of a
student for the entire course. “Personalization” of supervised remote sessions can be
enhanced by allocating specific times for “instant messaging” with students in a course.
The concept of remote access lab can be extended further to remote experiment lab. One
example of implementation of this concept is Remote Experiment Lab at Federal University
of Santa Catarina (2002). The lab allows students to log remotely and to perform
Remote
Experimentation
and interact with the physical world via external devices connected to a
remote server. Among the main benefits cited are better uses of university-networked
computers, and users (both students and faculty) access to the resources that may not be
available otherwise. It is also beneficial in building students' skills of managing, configuring,
and troubleshooting computer applications remotely, saving time and expense.
Remote DBA
A new business challenge for database administration is that Database Administrators
(DBAs) can no longer specialize in just one database. They frequently need to respond
quickly to database problems in multiple distributed databases on various platforms.
Remote DBA for management, monitoring, and mentoring is an innovative and growing
component of database administration services. It can be implemented with various technolo-
gies: SSH for Access Networks (2002), Web-enabled PCs, and wireless devices.
Remote database administration from a browser-enabled PC is a user-friendly approach
for novice users' remote DBA technology. BMJC Software (2002), a leading international
software provider, developed SmartDBA Cockpit (also formerly known as Web DBA), a tool
that allows DBAs (experienced and novice alike) to manage various databases with a Web
browser. Connected from any Web-enabled PC, users of SmartDBA Cockpit can perform user
administration functions (roles, privileges, etc.), editing and running DDL scripts for routine
database functions, data objects management and performance monitoring, and viewing and
editing multimedia-rich data (.gif, .jpg, .mp3, and .avi, etc.). SmartDBA Cockpit is an ideal tool
for a novice DBA, allowing tasks normally done by senior staff to be easily performed.
SmartDBA Cockpit also serves as an integrated launch point for other BMC's expert
DBA tools for a real-time diagnostic and visualization, intelligent space management, SQL
analysis, and tuning. A list of database management systems using Web-only browsers is
available on the Internet Product Watch (2002) http://ipw.internet.com/data_management/
database _gateways/957540653.html.
Contemporary Technologies Inc. (CTI) (2002) is a pioneer in providing remote Oracle
Database Administration for client sites throughout the United States. With a proliferation
of small- and medium-sized database servers, such service is a unique and cost-effective
alternative to an on-site DBA. DBA training supported with RAUL is targeting the pool of
such installations. Remote DBAs provide clients with more project-oriented DBA activities,
such as migration, upgrade, validation, design, backup and recovery, and installation.
Monitoring focuses on ongoing database management with software agents and problem
