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National Techie Event 2008
Jason Ming Sun
Deon van der Merwe
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Introduction to Sakai
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The Sakai Community
• Composition• Academic institutions & commercial enterprises working in
partnership with standards bodies & other open-source initiatives.
• Goals• Work collaboratively to develop innovative software applications
designed to enhance teaching, learning, research & collaboration within higher education & beyond.
• Values • Knowledge sharing, information transparency, meritocracy, “do-
ocracy.”• Praxis
• 150+ production installations• 100+ volunteers active in design, development & testing of Sakai
releases.
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The Sakai Foundation
• Mission • Manage & protect IP• Serve as a liability shield for the community• Provide basic infrastructure & small staff• Help coordinate design, development, testing & distribution of software• Champion open source & open standards.
• Governance • Ten board members elected by member reps to serve three-year terms• Executive Director manages day-to-day operations.
• Partners • 112 member institutions & organizations contribute $10K per year ($5K
for smaller institutions).• Budget
• Underwritten by members ~ $1M per annum• Funds 4-6 staff members, admin services, computing infrastructure,
project coordination, conferences, Sakai Fellows Program, advocacy & outreach activities.
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The Sakai Value Proposition
• Academic Institutions• Participate in a dynamic, peer-based community• Solve common problems through collaboration• Tap into global sources of innovation• Leverage inter-institutional economies of scale• Get project, team & code transparency
• Commercial Enterprises• Enhance brand name recognition• Establish new client relationships• Generate revenue
• Individuals• Work on cool projects • Work with cool people worldwide• Incredible opportunities for learning and development (e.g.
Programmers Café)• Hang out at International Sakai Conferences
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Sakai Users
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Sakai at Unisa (myUNISA)
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The myUnisa Team (Jan 2008)
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Decisions, decisions, decisions…….
• Keep (old system)• Build • Buy (Commercial Products and Partners e.g. BlackCT)• Borrow (Open Source e.g. Sakai & Moodle)
• User • Contributor• Mature OSS product ……Best of three words
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Why Sakai (Value Proposition)
• Academic institutions• Participate in a dynamic, peer-based community• Solve common problems through collaboration• Tap into global sources of innovation• Leverage inter-institutional economies of scale• Get project, team & code transparency
• Individuals• Work on cool projects • Work with cool people worldwide• Incredible opportunities for learning and development• Hang out at International Sakai Conferences
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Why Sakai
• In addition to previous….• In-house research and architecture development.• The Sakai Project was introduced to Unisa by a visiting Senior
Gartner consultant.• Virtually 100% match between the architecture adopted by Sakai
and the online architecture envisaged for Unisa.• Maturing product• Very active (and approachable) community• Coordinated community (Foundation)
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Deployment History
• January 2006 Sakai v2.1 • Registered students, end 2006: 120 765
• May 2007 Sakai V2.3 • Registered students, end 2007: 159 538
• April 2008 Sakai V2.5.x • Registered students to date in 2008: 185 923
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Support
• Students• Getting started pamphlets• Unisa Call Centre (Dedicated agents with ICT Team Leader)• Online Help within Sakai
• Staff • ICT Help Desk• Deployment specialist (turn complaint into an opportunity)• myUnisa Help & Tutorial Website (adding video)• myUnisa Team• Partnership with the Institute for Curriculum and Learning
Development (ICLD)• “Account Managers”
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Support
• Technical (Internal)• Portal and Academic Solutions (PAS) or myUnisa Team• Other ICT Staff• Sakai Community• Sakai South Africa Partners• SA and International Commercial Partners
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Enterprise Change Management & Training
• Deployment Specialist• Formal Training • Coffee Sessions• One-on-One training• Road Shows and Exhibits• Posters, Pamphlets, Hand-outs• Features in Institutional Newsletters • Academic Excellence Awards
• Departmental Partnerships (CCM, ICLD)• PAS Team• myUnisa Board• Many presentation at all levels
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Usage
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Over to Jason….
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EnvironmentSakai release: 2.5.x
OS: Ubuntu Server
OS version: Gutsy
Web server: Apache HTTP Server and Tomcat
Web server version: 2.2.4
Database: Oracle 10g
JVM: Java 1.5.x
JVM version: 1.5.0_11
JVM tuning: JAVA_OPTS="-server -Xms700m -Xmx700m -XX:MaxPermSize=500m"
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Hardware64-bit processing: No
Application server(s): VMware ESX3 virtual server farm = Physical Dell PE1955 Blade, 2 x Dual Core Xeon 5160 3.2Ghz 16GB RAM Virtual 6GB, 2 x CPU
Total app servers: 12
Db server(s): Oracle 10g
Total db servers: 1
File storage: Fileserver/NFS: Virtual 2GB, 1 x CPU
Cluster/load balancing: Pound/Apache-mod_jk Software Load Balancing
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myUnisa Cluster
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Pound.cfg• ListenHTTPS• Address 196.20.20.20• Port 443• Cert "/SSL/certificate.pem“• xHTTP 1• HeadRemove "(X-Forwarded-For|X-SSL-Connect)“• Service• URL "^/axis-webservices(.*)$"• BackEnd• Address 196.20.20.21• Port 80• TimeOut 500• End• End• Service • BackEnd• Address 196.20.20.22• Port 80• TimeOut 500• Priority 1• End• BackEnd• Address 196.20.20.23….• End
End
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Redundancy
• Apache mod_jk load balances over 2 tomcat application servers (e.g. tomcat failure)
• Pound (software load balancer) inherently monitors availability of Apache HTTP server and directs traffic away from the problematic node (e.g. web server reboot)
• vmware v-motion allows automatic migration of a virtual host from blade server to blade server in case of a blade’s hardware failure
• “Multiple levels of redundancy”
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Disaster Recovery
• vmware Virtual Infrastructure supported by SAN (Storage Area Network)
• SAN mirroring to remote DR site
• Complete set of blade servers at DR site ready to be commissioned in DR situation
• “Virtualization saves the day”
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Sakai Framework
• Fundamentally Java
• Spring Framework (Service/API-driven)
• JSF
• Struts
• Reasonable Server Faces (RSF)
• “Anything-Java should work - unrestricted”
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Integration
• Out-of-the-box LDAP Authentication Service
• Unisa Directory Provider (implementing the Authentication Service API) provides AD account management (e.g password change)
• “FOSS philosophy – free to modify”
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Custom Development
• Out-of-the-box discussion tool (Message Centre)
• Unisa Discussion Forums – Struts-based Sakai tool
• “Sakai philosophy – free to replace”
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Release Management
• Sakai Release Management:– Feature releases– Maintenance releases– Major releases
• Unisa Release Management:– Feature release implemented on-demand– Incremental upgrades occur in line with maintenance
releases (1 to 3 month release cycle)– Major (architecture) releases as available
• “Requires continuous involvement and collaboration”
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Collaboration Coschmagoration
• Sakai Project vs Sakai Product
• Project Collaboration vs Product Development
• Collaborative Sakai tools (like Rwiki, Blog Tool and Discussion Forums) are developed through efforts of collaboration.
• Sakai culture and DITCHE culture
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“…[while] in textbook-based learning the activity focus is to get students to remember, understand and apply knowledge, collaborative learning encourages them to analyze, evaluate, and create”
Michael Laine – Collaborative Contributor to Wikinomics Wiki
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…. and More?
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What Made it Possible?
• Attitude & Passion
• “No problems, only challenges”
• Willingness to take risks (calculated, but “bold”)
• Dedication of the Team:
• Nothing is too much effort
• Prepared to work long hours
• 24/7 availability
• Resilience, perseverance and patience
• Turning a bad situation into an opportunity
• Use every opportunity to “brag”
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What Made it Possible?
• Common goal • A vision of belonging to something larger than any one person or
institution and to be part of a global community of like-minded people aspiring to produce a enterprise system for all.
• Team spirit – participative environment, common goals and team building.
• Merger – Threat or opportunity (more of the same (play it safe) or take a chance and do something new).
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What Made it Possible?
• Influencing and aligning with university vision & goals• Organizational mission & strategic objectives, Institutional Goals, 2015
plan, Teaching and Learning Model, ICT Strategic plan• Top management approval & support
• Restructuring ICT to accommodate a Academic Solutions Directorate and eventual refocusing of ICT (Change ICT from admin-centric to Learner support and academic centric)
• Unisa’s new ODL Academic Model (Participation in development of Model)
• High prominence of technology in Vision, Mission and 2015 Strategic Plan
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What Made it Possible?
• Strategic partnerships• Intra- Institutional (Alliances with Corporate Communication & Marketing
(CCM) and Institute for Curriculum and Learning Development (ICLD))• Inter institutional (South African initiative)• Sakai community
• Engagement of Users• User centric approach• Encourage user inputs• Business analysis
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What Made it Possible?
• Management style• Empowering & trusting• Project management principles (DotProject)• Unique business model based on investment in people (staff
development) rather than technology• Strong motivation for selection of solution
• Introduction of new OSS orientated business model & value propositions
• Selling the vision rather than product (Global initiative, collaboration potential, foot in door for non ICT projects e.g. Open Courseware Initiatives, International exposure
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What Made it Possible?
• High level of (diverse) in-house expertise:• Exposure of staff to newest developments in Teaching and Learning
Technologies • Change Management & training:
• Perception Management• Combination of advocacy& enforcement• Multi-pronged approach (Top down, bottom up, peer to peer &
student pressure)• Building a support network & infrastructure
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….THE END….….NO REALLY!