Integrated Action Learning Project Plan

Implementation of an upgraded server for Saint Luke’s Parish

John K. Winiger

TS4990 Integrated Action Learning Project

Instructor, Dr. Sharon L. Bender

October 30, 2005

Project Description

My IAL project would be to restructure and upgrade the server used by Saint Luke’s Parish. Concern over the health and configuration of the current server came into question after the server crashed due to a hard drive failure and was recovered. During recovery it was discovered that the server was built far outside of industry standards. The downtime that resulted from the server crash had a major impact on Saint Luke’s since they had trainers staying in RVs in their parking lot that had come up from the south to train employees the next day. The delay in the start of training came at great cost to Saint Luke’s.

Since Saint Luke’s could not afford to employee a technical person on staff they were left to trust the information and recommendations of the consultants they could find when needed. This often led to conflicts from one consultant to the next. The expertise of said consultant could not be verified which led to poorly configured equipment, which ultimately led to the mentioned failure.

The stakeholder in my project will be the Rev. Dr. William Beery, Senior Associate Rector of Saint Luke’s Parish. Dr. Beery is a key decision maker for the parish. A secondary stakeholder will be Janet Griffin, Financial Secretary, who deals with finding resolutions for technical issues that arise.

I am interested in this project because I was involved in the initial server recovered when a local repair shop required outside help. This is when I was first made aware of the problem. Community inquires were made about Saint Luke’s Parish with very positive responses and comments of their help and out reach to the community. This made them a good candidate to receive the donation of work for my Capstone project. This will also allows me to begin work in my community which has been something desired for sometime but delayed for various reasons.

Feasibility

In performing a feasibility check I examined the following areas:

1. Need – A definite need was determined when the initial server failure resulted in the inability for visiting out of state trainers to present their material.

2. Budget – Being a non-profit organization available funds are limited and donation of my time on this project is a great help to a pre-existing problem.

3. Technical – No employee has any technical expertise which has lead to uncertainties based on conflicting opinions from previous consultants.

4. Proposed Change – A clear rational must be presented to show how a new server can be built and organized to increase reliability and performance.

5. Requirements – The new server needs to provide a high level of availability and fault tolerance with minimal user intervention.

6.  Future Maintenance – A consultant who will provide future support will be orientated to the new server to ensure full understanding of what has been implemented.

Prototype

The following prototype depicts my project:

Objectives

My learning objectives in producing my IAL Project are to:

1. Interact and help the community around me in hopes that it will be something I will continue in the future.

2. Use the information learned in my risk management class to better assess and convey risks to people.

3. Learn how to be more structured in the projects and activities I am involved in.

My project objectives in producing my IAL Project are to:

1. Organize the file and user structure of the current server.

2. Build a new server with a RAID array and perform a migration from the old server

3. Utilize parts of the Windows 2003 server and other software, such as: DNS, Shadow Copy, Backup, UPS, Anti-Virus, ect…

4. Create an environment that requires minimal user intervention and support.

Project Schedule

In producing my IAL Project I will apply the following project schedule:

Tasks	Duration
Analysis Phase	11/7/05–11/13/05
Task 1: Survey Users for IDs, shares and accessed data Task 2: Identify old unneeded data and applications Task 3: Identify any additional services and software to be utilized
Assisting Resources: Literature Bender, S. L. (2003). Producing the Capstone Project. TechRepublic (2003). Windows Server 2003 Migration Pak Stanek, W. R. (2003). Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant Internet Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/default.aspx People Stakeholder, Rev. Dr. William Beery Stakeholder, Janet Griffin Church Staff Equipment Old Server Surveys
Organization Phase	11/14/05–11/20/05
Task 1: Audit and standardize user accounts Task 2: Restructure file system Task 3: Reconfigure base server services
Assisting Resources: Literature Bender, S. L. (2003). Producing the Capstone Project. TechRepublic (2003). Windows Server 2003 Migration Pak Stanek, W. R. (2003). Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant Internet Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/default.aspx People Stakeholder, Rev. Dr. William Beery Stakeholder, Janet Griffin Church Staff Equipment Old Server
Hardware Phase	11/21/05–11/27/05
Task 1: Select components to be used to build new server Task 2: Order Components Task 3: Build new server from parts
Assisting Resources: Literature Bender, S. L. (2003). Producing the Capstone Project. TechRepublic (2003). Windows Server 2003 Migration Pak Stanek, W. R. (2003). Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant Internet Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/default.aspx NewEgg.Com: http://www.newegg.com People Stakeholder, Rev. Dr. William Beery Stakeholder, Janet Griffin Equipment New Server Components
Software Phase	11/28/05 – 12/4/05
Task 1: Install Windows 2003 Server and related software Task 2: Configure Task 3: Install ACS software
Assisting Resources: Literature Bender, S. L. (2003). Producing the Capstone Project. TechRepublic (2003). Windows Server 2003 Migration Pak Stanek, W. R. (2003). Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant Internet Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/default.aspx People Stakeholder, Rev. Dr. William Beery Stakeholder, Janet Griffin Equipment New Server Windows 2003 Server Software ACS Software Anti-Virus Software
Migration Phase	12/5/05 – 12/11/05
Task 1: Migrate Data from old server to new Task 2: Remove old server from Domain Task 3: Seek feedback from the Stakeholder.
Assisting Resources: Literature Bender, S. L. (2003). Producing the Capstone Project. TechRepublic (2003). Windows Server 2003 Migration Pak Stanek, W. R. (2003). Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant Internet Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/default.aspx People Stakeholder, Rev. Dr. William Beery Stakeholder, Janet Griffin Church Staff Equipment Old Server New Server

Risk Management

In producing my project I performed the following risk assessment:

Risk Factor Checklist
Risk Considerations		Low Risk	Medium Risk	High Risk
WinACS Application Corruption				X
Unavailable or back ordered parts		X
Old Server Crashes				X
User Loss of Access			X
Reduction of User Productivity		X
Loss of Funding				X
Software Conflicts		X
High Risk Analysis
Risk Considerations	Risk Significance and Potential Solution
WinACS Application Corruption	Significance: WinACS is the central application for church operations. Corruption of this application would fault business. Solution: Maintain parallel copies on each server until the new instance has been confirmed and working.
Old Server Crashes	Significance: If the old server crashes before the data can be migrated to a new server church operations will be faulted until the new server is in pace. A crash will add complexity to the migration. Solution(s): Data migration would be performed from backup copies of the data, although this is more complex it can be achieved.
Loss of Funding	Significance: loss of funding would result in project failure. Solution: none.

Contingency Plan

After completing a risk analysis it has been determined that the high-level risks to the successful completion of my project are:

1. WinACS Application Corruption

2. Old Server Crashes

3. Loss of Funding

Efforts to offset these risks are in place. However, if for some reason my project does not appear to be developing successfully regardless of the efforts made, I would present reasons why I am unable to proceed with the project as planned. Appropriate redirection of the plan would take place upon instructor and/or stakeholder approval and the new direction would be discussed in the final project report. Redirection might be to permit a documented outline of recommended hardware and software configuration of my project to constitute my project in its entirety. The outstanding phases: hardware, software, and migration, of my project would, in such case, be completed outside the scope of the capstone project. Upon approval, such redirection would represent my project in its entirety.

Literature Review

I performed the following literature review concerning the value in producing my project:

Internet

1. Microsoft (2005). Introducing the Windows Server 2003 Operating Systems, Retrieved on October 30, 2005, from

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/overview/family.mspx

Microsoft Server 2003 operating provides one of the best platforms to date from Microsoft. This article highlights new features and benefits provided by server 2003. The ability for server 2003 to function in various roles: File and print server, Web server and Web application services, Mail server, terminal server, remote access and virtual private network (VPN) server, Directory services, Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, and Windows Internet Naming service (WINS), and Streaming media server makes it able to suite almost any need right out of the box. Far too often people are unaware of all that Server 2003 has to offer and can do, leaving it greatly under utilized. By focusing on the four primary benefits of Windows 2003 server: dependability, productivity, connected, and best economics, people are provided with the tools required to create a meaningful infrastructure. The only thing missing is an understanding of the operating systems and a reference to the best practices to be applied to it.

2. Microsoft (2005). Managing Windows Server 2003 Best Practices Retrieved October 30, 2005, from

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/events/windows2003srv/tnt1-106.mspx

          This page on the Microsoft site is a hidden gem! This page not only provides best practices for the Windows 2003 server but also provides variety of demos to show this information in a real time view. The ability to sit back and watch these practices being put to use adds an entirely new dynamic that will help people better understand what is going on. This page not only covers all the basics that anyone who touches a Windows 2003 server should know to more advance topics that might only be used once and a while. This is an excellent resource for both experienced professionals who could use a little review to people who have no experience at all. If more of these demo pages where available from all vendors it would reduce software problems through more educated users. I hope anyone who reads this will tell others about this great page.

3. The UU Voice (1998). Reprinted, Religious Institutions in the Information Age Retrieved October 30, 2005, from

http://www.danhotchkiss.com/articles/UUV%20Religious%20Institutions%20in%20the%20Information%20Age.htm

            No one, nor place, is immune to he effects that new technology has on the world and religious institutions are not exception. Past technological advancements such as the telephone and the printing press greatly changed the face of the world by changing the way information and messaged were able to be dispersed. The direct effect on religious institutions was the ability to create pamphlets and literature to spread their message as well as the ease of communication with the onset of the telephone. With the onset of the computer age we have reached new levels. Pamphlets and literature can now be mass mailed through e-mail in order to keep people even more aware of things and reach entirely new markets. This also gives people the opportunity gather much more information about religious institutions in order to find a more precise fit to their needs. Religious institutions just like any other institution will suffer greatly if they do not embrace the technologies and new markets to keep up with the world around them and stay in touch with perspective markets.

Appendix

The following appendixes would be added to the Integrated Action Learning Project Final Report to provide a sample of my work and to evidence satisfactory project completion:

Appendix A: Schematic of the Upgraded System

Appendix B: Letter of Project Completion from Stakeholder, Rev. Dr. William Beery

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