I've been meaning to blog about the new Salt Lake City Library. With the grand opening several good pieces have been written. Not much to add there.

For most of my days at UEN I've been associated with Tebbin Salvesen and Chad Dorton. These two make the technology happen at the Library. Tebbin Salvesen is the director. What I know about Tebbin is interesting. Before the library he was a Saab salesman. He has raced airplanes and is now an instructor for that sport. And he seems to be a "take charge of his own destiny" kind of guy.

Keeping PCs going is the big nightmare for library technology types. It's no different at the Salt Lake City Library. A couple of years ago Tebbin invited me to his place for a demonstration of how he copes. Providing public access to PCs is a tricky business. You never know who is using your computers. Some pretty smart techies frequent the library. For the most part it's easy pickings and the library resources can be turned into a hackers playground.

Tebbin and Chad found themselves spending a majority of their time restoring the PCs and keeping them running. Tebbin, being a take charge guy, decided that this was unacceptable and looked for a solution. What he found has changed his job. If I were providing computer access to the public, or in charge of running a lab I would definitely talk to Tebbin.

The first time I saw his solution was in Tebbin's office. I sat down and he made me feel comfortable. He challenged me to break his PC. I deleted the Windows directory, corrupted the register and basically destroyed everything I could think of. This was a machine running Windows 95 and what I did should have killed it dead. After I finished Tebbin had a big smile on his face.

He reached over and rebooted the box. And just like magic Windows 95 booted and worked like a charm. I checked through and everything had been restored. In fact, it was the exact configuration with absolutely no changes. Okay, cool. But how was it done?

Tebbin explained that this was done with a card that plugged into a PCI slot. A copy of the Windows image resides on the card. Users can make changes. In fact, any software can be loaded to the box. Tebbin has set up his PCs for 5 minute, 30 minute and 60 minute sessions. At the end of each session the PC automatically reboots. All changes are flushed and the original image is restored. Just don't save any permanent files to the hard drive because once the power is cycled the files will be gone. Users must remember to save files to a floppy disk or to a network drive.

I've been back several times to see how things have progressed. Tebbin has worked with the hardware manufacturer to develop a LAN based management system. This has enabled Tebbin and Chad to recycle the boxes remotely and to send messages directly to the user while logged on. Another feature allows the image to be refreshed manually. That way a Lab could be set up. Power could go up and down. Only at the end of a session, and at the discretion of the LAN manager, the original image can be restored.

This is extremely useful. Tebbin claims that this system has never been defeated by one of his patrons, although some frustrated users have left humorous, threatening notes. It's no fun to have the image reset after every session. It doesn't leave much of a hacking platform to build on. One of the secrets is that this is a hardware solution. As Tebbin has pointed out on several occasions, you can't protect software with software. That's why he's avoided solutions like Deep Freeze and other similar applications.

Yes, if I were responsible for publicly accessed computers I'd be sure to call Tebbin. He is very good at protecting these assets. Tebbin can be reached at 801.524.8238. His e-mail address is tsalvese@mail.slcpl.lib.ut.us. Tebbin is a great resource. It would be worth your time to contact him. Tell him I sent you. Good Luck.

Links found in my research

CYIC System Recovery Solution: This is the manfacturer of the card that the SLC Library is using.

CYIC Presentation: This is a link to information provided by Tebbin.

That's all for now........
12:30:16 PM    comment []