6 IT Facilities & Programmes CSIR-NISCAIR is disseminating scientific information and delivering various services through the use of modern IT infrastructure, which has also helped the Institute to take up new ventures in the field of science communication, dissemination and S&T information management systems and services. The main thrust during the year was on strengthening the activities in the following areas: (A) ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Certification of DIRF Data Centre; (B) Management of DIRF; (C) CSIR Subscribed E-Journal Resources; (D) Hosting of CSIR IPU Patents Database; (E) Hosting of SAARC Documentation Centre E-Learning Portal; (F) IT infrastructure development; (G) Online Access of CSIR-NISCAIR s Primary Journals (NOPR) & Popular Science Magazines; (H) Implementation of Online Publishing Software OJS; (I) Maintenance and updation of NISCAIR Website and Blog; (J) Development of Facility Management Software and (K) IT Human Resource Development. A) ISO/IEC 27001:2005 CERTIFCATION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION RESOURCE FACILITY (DIRF) DATA CENTRE The Digital Information Resource Facility has been created to provide uninterrupted, authorized and secure access of NISCAIR and CSIR Resources to the scientific community and researchers all over the world. These include NISCAIR Online Journals, Subscribed CSIR E-Journal Consortium and many other Digital Resources Databases. 51
CSIR-NISCAIR Annual Report 2013-14 A view of the Data Centre 52
Recently, DIRF has been awarded ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification by DNV. DIRF houses the Digital Resource Access Centre, State-of-the-art Class Room Facility, Software Development Laboratory and Discussion/Conference Room. All devices in the Data Center are in redundant configuration to provide 100% DC availability. DIRF Data Centre is available for hosting of digital resources for CSIR and its Laboratories. B) MANAGEMENT OF DIGITAL INFORMATION RESOURCE FACILITY (DIRF) Some of the routine activities carried out in DIRF include: Upkeep of server/services Performance monitoring of server resources (CPU, Memory, disks) Monitoring access logs and application logs Virus prevention, detection and cure Intrusion detection and protection Firewall policy formulation and implementation Data backup and restoration on request Application of service packs, hot fixes and security rollouts Customizing login scripts Backup procedure schedule Onsite/Offsite backup Media Logs/Replacement C) CSIR SUBSCRIBED E-JOURNAL RESOURCES (http://cser.niscair.res.in) CSIR and its laboratories are accessing E-Journals through a consortium of E-Journal Publishers managed by CSIR-NISCAIR. Publishers provide the dump of E-Journals already subscribed by CSIR and its Laboratories for archival. The data of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Publisher for the year 2009-12 has been made available as an archive to CSIR and its labs, who had earlier subscribed to this data. The subscribed journals data from other publishers, as and when provided, will be made available to users. D) HOSTING OF CSIR IPU PATENT PORTAL IN DIRF DATA CENTRE CSIR-IPU Patent Portal has been hosted in the Data Centre. This facility is exclusively for Patent Attorneys and CSIR IP Coordinators. 53
CSIR-NISCAIR Annual Report 2013-14 E) HOSTING OF SAARC DOCUMENTATION CENTRE E-LEARNING PORTAL IN DIRF DATA CENTRE Online course on Information Retrieval by SAARC Documentation Centre E-Learning portal (http://elearning.sdc.gov.in) based on an open source software Wordpress was implemented for offering online course on Information Retrieval by SAARC Documentation Centre and has been hosted in the DIRF Data Centre. F) IT INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT NISCAIR has LAN infrastructure of 250 nodes at Pusa location with 100 Mbps (1:1) and 360 nodes at SV Marg with 16 Mbps (1:1) Leased Line Internet Connectivity. NISCAIR scientists are making use of the IT infrastructure for data transfer, communication, exchange of manuscripts and data with authors and referees. Following services are rendered by the IT Division to the Institute: 1. Uninterrupted Internet connectivity to all the nodes 2. Monitoring of network traffic and resolving problems related to bandwidth choking 3. Creation of Firewall policies depending upon the requirement 4. Identifying virus or malwares and fixing the problem 5. Technical evaluation, analysis, & technical document preparation 6. Upkeep of Web Server, Application Server, Database Server, Firewall, DNS, etc. 7. Resource sharing As a part of the IT Infrastructure development following purchases were made during the period of report: 1. 2 KVA Online UPS with 60 Minutes Battery Backup 2. Two stackable, manageable layer-2 switches. 3. 16 SFP (Fibre), 16 Fibre Patch Cord, Hard Drives 4. Host Partition License for IBM Tivoli Backup, Bare Metal Recovery License for Windows and Linux. (i) Maintenance of NISCAIR Mail on Microsoft Exchange 2010: Maintenance of NISCAIR Old Mail System, running on Open Source Squirrel Mail, and new mail system on Microsoft Exchange 2010 with 550 user accounts. Following activities are being carried out: 1. Creation of new email ids with quota 2. Exchange Monitoring and Reporting 3. Automated Exchange Backup on Tape Library 54
(ii) Video Conferencing Facility: This facility is one of the projects covered under ICT Project of CSIR. Video Conferencing Facility is functioning with 100 Mbps leased circuit. (iii) CSIR National Knowledge Network Project: CSIR and all its labs have to prepare themselves to avail NKN connectivity. For this Nodal Officers from each of the CSIR labs are nominated to take up responsibilities associated with ICT infrastructure upgradation and associated network architecture & applications that would leverage the NKN bandwidth. Currently NISCAIR has IP Pool of 256 and is functioning as Fibre Ring for Pusa connecting NPL, NISTADS, ICAR KAB-II and IARI. LAN is currently running on NKN Internet connectivity of 100 Mbps. NISCAIR also acts as a repository on Library and Analytical facilities under CSIR-National Knowledge Network (NKN) Project. G) ONLINE ACCESS OF NISCAIR S SCIENCE JOURNALS & MAGAZINES A solution called NISCAIR Online Periodicals Repository (NOPR) has been implemented based on the open source digital repository system software - DSpace. This has enabled NISCAIR to host online its research journals and popular science magazines. All the 18 research journals have been added under Open Access mode for accessing full text [http://nopr.niscair.res.in]. Research communities including students not only in India but all over the world are being benefited by open access of NISCAIR journals. This has enabled NISCAIR to increase accessibility, visibility and subscription base of its journals. Impact factors of NISCAIR journals have also been increasing after online & open access as per JCR. Current issues of all the research journals are published online in NOPR for open access well before the publication of print version for immediate benefit of researchers. Online access of back issues for 1999-2006 for all 18 primary journals has been completed. The repository has data spanning from 1999 till current issues. The repository has about 24890 articles. To increase visibility of NISCAIR journals, all the 18 journals have been registered with Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR), Directory of Open Access Repositories (DOAR), Google Scholar and other prominent search engines. NOPR also hosts a quarterly electronic open access repository of current information on natural products and resources entitled Natural Products and Resources Repository (NPARR). 55
CSIR-NISCAIR Annual Report 2013-14 H) IMPLEMENTATION OF ONLINE PUBLISHING SOFTWARE OJS A system called Online Publishing @ NISCAIR (OP) has been implemented for automation of editorial process for NISCAIR research journals. It is based on open source publishing software Open Journal Systems (OJS) which has been customized as per NISCAIR requirement. This system is available at http://op.niscair.res.in. Presently, the system is being used by eight research journals (ALIS, IJCT, IJFTR, IJNPR, IJPAP, IJRSP, JIPR & JST). This step will streamline the editorial process and place NISCAIR journals at par with International journals in adapting standard international practices being followed for online publishing. I) MAINTENANCE AND UPDATION OF NISCAIR WEBSITE AND BLOG NISCAIR website (www.niscair.res.in) is being maintained and updated regularly. Information about NISCAIR s 18 research journals, two abstracting journals, three popular science magazines and popular science books is available on the website. A newly re-designed website was launched for improvement of end-user functionality and easy access of information. Hindi version of NISCAIR website has been developed using Unicode fonts for proper display of Hindi fonts. NISCAIR blog (blog.niscair.res.in) is being used as an institutional blog for science news dissemination. J) DEVELOPMENT OF FACILITY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Many Facility Management Softwares have been developed in-house as a process of automation of various functionalities in the organization. 1. Online examination for six-month trainees: NISCAIR organized an Online Examination for Six-Month Trainee Students for the first time. This mode of examination can be extended for recruitment purposes also. 1. NISCAIR sales invoice system: IT Division has successfully implemented the software for automating the generation of Performa Invoice for the sale of Journals. The system is less time consuming as compared to manual system, provide for online generation of Invoices, has an auto suggestion-enabled search which helps in searching records when the database becomes large & for getting the exact match. Reports can be generated either for each customer, location specific customers or on-demand reports. 2. Online submission of application form for recruitment to the post of Group III: NISCAIR initiated online reception of applications for the recruitment of Group III posts. IT division developed the software for online submission of forms with unique ID generation and printout of filled forms. 3. DMIS software: Document Management Information System (DMIS) is a web-enabled application, which is developed with an aim to keep pace with the integrated office procedure. The functionalities include online entry for receipt and dispatch, action taken, reply receipt 56
and dispatch, file creation, file transfer to different officials and maintenance of letter and file movement data. It enables the users to maintain a consistent watch over the movement of various important documents in the process of decision-making. This would help in identifying the bottlenecks that a file might face. 4. Guest house management and maintenance: The software for online booking of guest house helps online booking of rooms in Guest House. The user can freely express their suggestions and comments about their stay in Guest House through a feedback form. 5. Receipt & issue management system (R&I): The Project R&I System keeps the record of all Ordinary Posts, Speed Post letters and Cheque Diary information. The software provides the interfaces for adding details of Ordinary Posts, Speed Posts, Cheque, and Received Letters. These details can be searched and report for each of these postal items can be printed for a day. There is provision for creating users to calculate the number of entries made by that user. The system is designed as per the requirements of R&I Section of NISCAIR. K) IT HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT NISCAIR provides six-month training (from January to June and July to December) to MCA students and to other students pursuing Computer Science/IT course leading to M.Sc., B.E., B.Tech., M.E., and M.Tech. Degrees to work on projects in the area of application of IT as partial fulfilment of their degree course requirements. In the year 2013-14 a batch of 22 students attended the training programme. 57