Vendor support of an ILS on a secured network is difficult. Basically,
vendor support usually consists of troubleshooting and periodic updates to
the system. If the ILS server is located in the library, troubleshooting
could be done over the telephone as you describe the problem as it appears
on the server monitor. Updates to ILS could also be done in the library if
the vendor sends updates on say a CD-ROM which you could then load. If
however, the ILS server is located away from the library on a local IT or
IM, etc, 'server farm' as they call it, then support becomes troublesome to
put it mildly. In order to satisfy all these security concerns, we had to
have our IT people physically disconnect our server from the LAN and
connect it to a high speed modem. The modem connected ILS server would
then be accessed by our vendor and any updates or troubleshooting would be
performed. As you can guess, this required all sorts of coordination
between the ILS vendor, the library and our agency computer people. It was
such a hassle that when our ILS vendor, EOSi, offered to house our system
off-site on the Web for not much more money than we were paying on our
current maintenance contract, I jumped for it. Now searching an ILS OPAC
on the Web is one thing, technical services and circulation activities are
another. To do this, we had to have a secure Citrix connection from our
site, linking our networked desktops in our library in DC to the ILS server
in California. Surprisingly we have had few, if any, problems getting this
connection up and running. Troubleshooting is a piece of cake and updates
are automatic. By and large there seems to little noticeable difference in
access time and things are going smoothly. Knock on wood.
Hoyt Galloway
Director, Information Resources Center
US Customs Service
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 7.5B
Washington, DC 20229
(202) 927-0202/1350 -voice
(202) 927-1460 - fax
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