Hello everyone. SLX Debian Labs is starting a project for improving user administration in Skolelinux/debian-edu in general and wlus in particular. The background for the project is mainly feedback from users.
We had a meeting in Oslo on this subject with Andreas Schuldei, Ragnar Wisløff, Knut, Vidar and myself present. What follows is based on conclusions from that meeting. 1. Problem with "junior admin" rights ------------------------------------- This issue has been raised from (among others) Trond from Kongsvinger. Password administration takes too much time, and it should be possible to authorise users to change other users' password. Andreas told us that there is already a solution to this, although it is not 100% packed and documented yet. TODO: Ragnar will try the solution out in Kongsvinger and report back to Halvor if it works or not. If it does work, Andreas will complete a "read me" file or something for documentation. 2. Password policy ------------------ We agreed that the first time a user logs in (with a pre- defined password), he will get a message saying that the password is expired and be requested to enter and confirm a new password (this is similar to Windows). Whether this feature will be configurable or not is not yet decided. Andreas told us that administration of password restrictions (length, numbers etc) is already implemented in wlus, including a user interface for administrator. TODO: Andreas will check if pam in our setup can do this. TODO: Andreas will check if kdm can be used to do the entering and confirmation of a new password (it can be done in wlus). 3. Mass import -------------- Kongsvinger has reported a general problem doing mass import of user data into ldap. Ragnar informed us this had to do with the general poor performance in entering new users which takes approximately 5 minutes per user(!). We do not know at the moment the reason for the problem. Kongsvinger has around 2700 users in their ldap database. TODO: Ragnar/Trond will try to increase the cache_size parameter in the ldap config file. If that does not help, they will try to install ldap 2.2 which should be 10-100 times faster than the current version in Kongsvinger (Andreas told us that wlus is functioning together with ldap 2.2). If that does not help, some serious debugging will need to be done. Update: Ragnar has tried to change parameters in ldap config file and it did not work. 4. Other wlus problems ---------------------- There has been some general complaints about the user interface. This will be addressed later in this summary. Apart from what is already covered, there are no known major bugs in wlus. But there is no good and updated user documentation. TODO: Create a new user documentation for wlus. Person to do it will be assigned later. 5. Data import -------------- Knut and Halvor had a meeting with Morten Dahl who is the project manager for FEIDE. Based on his recommendations we decided that we would use the XML interface developed by Uninett ABC for importing data from School Administration Systems (SAS). Further clarifications will be done together with Uninett ABC. Skolelinux will *not* use Cerebrum for anything. There are a number of different data formats for student data. Among them are Microsoft Active Directory, Novell eDirectory and different kinds of spreadsheets. In order to have a documented specification we will use the same XML interface for transferring data from external systems other than SAS. TODO: Andreas will do what is necessary to support a new unique key in ldap for data import. In Norway this will be "personnummer", but the format will need to be generic. TODO: Write a program for importing data from XML interface to Skolelinux' import format to ldap which is a comma/colon separated file. Person to do it will be assigned later. 6. Data export -------------- There are a number of systems that may need to import data from Skolelinux. Examples are LMSs like ClassFronter, It's Learing! and Micrsoft Learning Gateway. We decided to use Uninett ABC's XML interface for User Administration Systems (BAS) for exporting data from Skolelinux. TODO: Write a program for downloading data from the Skolelinux ldap database to Uninett ABC's XML format. Person to do it will be assigned later. 7. Technical architecture ------------------------- It was agreed that we need a three-tier application architecture for user administration in Skolelinux to be able to support different types of user interfaces. WebMin is probably not the right tool, and we will decide on a new development framework as part of the overall project. We will also create a new KDE client covering all operations currently defined as use cases in wlus. TODO: Select development framework. Will be done later. TODO: Create updated use cases as starting point for new KDE interface and user documentation. Person to do it will be assigned later. TODO: Create new user administration interface in KDE. Person to do it will be assigned later. TODO: Write new business logic in a three-tier application architecture. Person to do it will be assigned later. 8. Project plan --------------- SLX Debian Labs will propose a time schedule for the projsect after decisions have been communicated to everyone involved and reactions from users taken into account. TODO: Make project plan for new user administration system in Skolelinux. Person to do it will be assigned later. 9. +++ ------ Andreas told us about two other parts of wlus that needs be improved: (1) regression testing framework (2) special permissions for exams Activities related to this will be integrated into the overall project plan. Halvor -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? 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