WNUG Menu

Licensing – Kevin Snow, Tammara Edgin (Microsoft)
Kevin Snow indicated that he was waiting to receive a response from all the departments so he could complete the Campus Agreement renewal. He asked if anyone present had not received a notice from him regarding renewing the Campus Agreement to please contact him.

Tammara Edgin, our Microsoft Marketing Rep, was also present to talk about licensing. She also stressed that it was critical for us to get our renewals in to Kevin as we are already two months past our expiration date of the existing agreement. She indicated that under the Campus Agreement, an individual could install Microsoft Office on a home workstation. However, this is no longer true for the operating system or other components of the Campus Agreement that can be installed on the office workstation.

Tammara presented the new Microsoft pricing structure as she understood it (she, herself, just received the information the day before). A copy of her PowerPoint presentation can be found on the WNUG and CCC web pages.

• Things that didn’t change
• CAL is still required to authenticate to a Windows server
• No CAL is required for internet only access – meaning no authentication to a Windows 2000 server is required
• New things
• User-based CAL – This CAL covers user access to all devices he/she accesses
• Per Device – formerly known as the “per seat” licensing where every device that accessed the Windows 2000 server had to have a CAL.
• External connector (formerly internet connector) – allows non-organization members to authenticate to a Windows 2000 server within the hosting organization.
• Terminal server CALS are being removed from the server and workstations
• SQL Licensing
• SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition can now be licensed on a per processor basis or a per device (per seat) basis.
• SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition can no be licensed on a per processor basis or a per device (per seat) basis.

For more information on licensing, go to the Microsoft licensing web page at -
Website: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/Default.asp


Exchange Update – Ron Page, Nate Wilken
The MBA server mailbox move did not occur during their recent trimester break. It will be scheduled for the next trimester break.

The new Network Appliance NAS devices are due in any day now. Once they are installed, all the information stores will be moved from the existing fibre devices to the NAS devices. It’s possible that with the increase in the amount of disk being installed, mailbox quotas will be increased.

There are still some problems with the public folders. The most recent one to be resolved had to do with an age limit that had previously been set on the public folders under 5.5 as a default. Nate reset all the age limits and removed this option from the public folders.

VPN/Firewall Update – Dave McKee, Jack Hsu, Robin Manke-Cassidy
Dave and Jack clarified that the firewall software and the VPN were both running on the same physical piece of hardware. A change was made to fix the problems that were occurring with the home user access and the library access.

They are still seeing packet loss during video conferencing and are working on finding a resolution to this. As a result, the firewall is completely down.

VPN is still in, but not functioning for everyone.

The question was asked as to what was being blocked at the border firewall. Dave indicated that nothing was being blocked at this time. However, if there is a need to block something, then we need to contact Data Comm to discuss what needs to be blocked and why. Currently the policy that was written providing guidelines for what can/will be blocked is under review for approval. What actually gets blocked is either the port on the switch or the IP itself may be shutoff.

SQL Slammer is still alive and well on the network. Dave asked everyone to check to make sure their SQL servers were patched and to also look for servers/workstations running applications that utilize MSDE. The suggestion was made, based on a Microsoft knowledge base article, that if the application can communicate to the SQL database using named pipes, then this is the preferred method to use and TCP access should be shut off completely.

E-Mail Spam Blocker Software – Joe Metzger, Cecilia Winnegar, Debi Karl


• Spamnet (Joe Metzger)
• One of the reasons Joe looked for a spam blocking package is because he believed that the native Outlook tools and server side screening in Exchange aren’t enough to effectively block the spam that is constantly coming into his mailbox.
• Spamnet uses a consensus model in that if someone reports a piece of mail as spam, it sends a vote back to Spamnet to indicate that the mail address is spam. This information is added to the Spamnet heuristics.
• The software scans mail as it comes in and based on what it has learned to be spam and what you have manually indicated to be spam, blocks the message. The software is doing a check back to the Spamnet server to verify what is and isn’t spam based on the consensus model. However, he also believes it is maintaining a blacklist on the local client.
• Joe believed that it has been catching about 80% of the spam without any manual intervention on his part.
• The product works with Windows 98 or better on Outlook 2000/2002
• To find out more information about Spamnet, you can go to their website at
  Website: http://www.cloudmark.com
• iHateSpam (Cecilia Winnegar)
• iHateSpam offers many of the same features as Spamnet
• The product is fully configurable as far as what options you want to be invoked and when.
• It has “bounce” capabilities so mail can be returned to the sender as bounced mail.
• You can configure it to either take an active part in the learning process or manually be configured.
• You can manually add enemies and friends.
• It provides the ability to report spammers to Spam Abusers
• There is a 30-day evaluation version of the product.
• One license covers both a desktop and laptop.
• The product costs $19.95 for single users; volume pricing is available. To find out more on pricing or the product, contact Glenn Paliki:
  (glennpa@sunbelt-software.com) The Arizona Sunbelt Software rep, or go to their web site at Website: http://www.sunbelt-software.com
• Spam Inspector (Debi Karl)
• This product was evaluated by the IT Help Desk because they use a number of generic user Ids that are constantly being spammed.
• The product works with Outlook 2000/2002, Outlook Express and AOL
• It will scan public folders. This is a manual setup and can be turned off after the initial scan is made or left on for automatic scanning of the public folders.
• With Spam Inspector, you can set as lenient or as stringent of scanning options as you want.
• You can manually define enemies and friends.
• It goes through a learning process.
• Places the files in a folder – default is under the deleted items folder in Outlook; however, you can change the location of the folder.
• You can setup exclusion lists based on rules
• ASU has entered into an agreement with Giant Company for a reduced rate on Spam Inspector. The price is $12 per individual copy. You can also get a popup eliminator package by them for $2. To get to the ASU partnership site, go to the following URL – Website: http://www.giantcompany.com\partner\asu.aspx
• Debi stressed that just because IT has an agreement with Giant for reduced pricing on their product, they in no way are endorsing this as the end-all to spam blockers. They will not be providing technical support for the product. This can be obtained by following the instructions on Giant’s web site. IT will not be obtaining a site licensing agreement similar to the one they currently have with NAI for virus software.

A general article on spam was distributed. This article can be found at
Website: http://www.pcmag.com\article2\0,4149,858362,00.asp


General Information
The new communications CD will be available shortly. One thing of interest that will be on this CD is a recommended personal firewall that will be free to users.

A suggestion was made as to whether we should setup a WNUG/CCC discussion forum on myASU. Robin is going to check into the feasibility of doing this and will report back via e-mail

The April 3, 2002 meeting will be hosted by Dell. They will be presenting their new product line as well as bringing in other vendors they work with to present. They will be providing refreshments and give-aways. It’s been rumored that an Axim might even be up for taking! More details will follow shortly.

Robin is working to get Dr. Crow and Dr. Glick scheduled to speak at the May meeting and Dr. Lewis for the September meeting.

WNUG and CCC will take the summer off and use that time to put together the new year steering committee for each group.


NEXT Meeting – Thursday, April 3, 2003, IT Computing Commons 9:00 – 11:00 (note this is a time change from our normal meetings to accommodate the presentation) Presentation by Dell of their new product line. Refreshments will be served. Prizes (or so the rumor goes)