FireNet Network Overview


FireNet Network Overview


The Fire and Emergency Services Division of the Directorate of Safety, Health, and Environment operates an information management system based on Macintosh workstations operating on local area networks in each fire station which are tied together to form a single zone wide area network.

Headquarters:

Located in Building 2200 in the Aberdeen area of the Proving Ground, the fire department network consists of individual productivity workstations on a 10BaseT Ethernet network. All of the division file, mail, world wide web, ftp, and NT servers reside in the FireNet data center in this facility. 2 Shiva LanRover remote access servers populated by Practical Peripherals MC288LCD v.34 modems are available which provide connections into the network via Apple Remote Access (ARA) 2.0 software from Macintosh PowerBook laptop computers used in the field.
Fire department headquarters is connected to the APG campus FDDI backbone utilizing Farallon Star Controllers and Compatible Systems RISC Router 3000E ethernet routers to access the Internet.

Following are the specifications for the major hardware installed in Building 2200:

File Server
Power Macintosh G3, 300 mhz PowerPC 750 processor, 128 meg RAM, twin 4 gig HD's, CD-ROM, accelerated graphics, 10/100 BaseT Ethernet, running MacOS 8.1, and AppleShare IP v5.02

Mail Server/Time Server
Power Macintosh 6100/66 with a Sonnet Technologies G3 (PowerPC 750) processor upgrade, 72 meg RAM, 500 meg internal and 2 gig external HD's. Running MacOS Sys 8.1, Quarterdeck Mail Server v4.1, Quarterdeck SMTP gateway daemon v4.0, and NetTime v2.6 This machine also runs our time server software which synchronizes all of the Mac's on the network with the US Naval Observatory's master clock for those systems running Mac OS 8.1 or less. Mac OS 8.5 and up has the ability to perform this task as an integral part of the OS so NetTime isn't needed on machines running Mac OS 8.5 and above.

Web Server
Power Macintosh 6100/60 with a Sonnet Technologies G3 (PowerPC 750) processor upgrade, 72 meg of RAM, 250 meg internal HD, 2 gig external HD, and a 100 meg Iomega 'Zip' external drive. Running MacOS Sys 8.1, and WebSTAR v2.1

FireNet Calendar Server
Macintosh LC II, 40 meg HD, 12 megs RAM, running Mac OS System 7.5.5 and the Now Up-To-Date multiuser calendar database.

Linux server (developmental)
Macintosh 7100/66, 40 megs RAM, 1 gig HD, CD-ROM, Mac OS 8.1 and MkLinux DR3 (Linux 2.0.33-osfmach3 on a PowerPC 601)

APG 911 Center:
Dual Intergraph Interserve Servers running Windows NT 4.0 server, Oracle7, SNA server, and multiple custom apps.
2 - Intergraph TD 300 CAD dispatch workstations running Windows NT 4.0 and Intergraph I/Dispatcher CAD software
2 - Gateway 2000 P5-166 workstations, one at the calltaker position and one in the CAD administrators office
1 - TCI TC-1100 ANI/ALI controller and 2 - Proctor PBX ANI-Link devices to manage incoming E911 data being fed to the dispatch software

Typical desktop workstations in Building 2200 include:

- Power Macintosh G3 mini-tower, 192 megs of RAM, 6 gig HD, DVD-CD, Rage 128 graphics with 16 megs of VRAM, 17" Applevision monitor, Mac OS 8.5.1 and Virtual PC with Win98
- Power Macintosh 7200/120 PC compatible, 96 meg RAM, 1.2 gig HD, CD-ROM, 17" AppleVision monitor, Mac OS 8.5.1 and Win95
- Power Macintosh 7200/90, 88 meg RAM, 500 meg HD, CD-ROM, Apple 15" multiscan monitor, Mac OS 8.5.1
- Power Macintosh 6100/66, with Sonnet Technologies G3 processor upgrade, 72 meg RAM, 1 gig HD, CD-ROM, Apple 15" multiscan monitor, Mac OS 8.5.1
- Macintosh Quadra 950, 72 meg RAM, 1.5 gig HD, 17 SuperMax color monitor, Mac OS 8.1
- Macintosh Quadra 650, 40 meg RAM, 1 gig HD, 17 SuperMax color monitor, Mac OS 8.1

- Apple LaserWriter IIg printer
- Apple LaserWriter Plus printer
- Apple Color LaserWriter 12/600 printer
- Hewlett Packard Deskjet printers

Airbase Fire Station:

Located in Building 1059 in the Aberdeen area, the Airbase fire station contains a local area 10BaseT network consisting of a single workstation (at the present time) and an Apple Laserwriter NT that is connected to fire department headquarters via the APG campus FDDI backbone utilizing a Farallon Star Controller and Compatible Systems RISC Router 3000E ethernet router.

Typical desktop workstation in Building 1059 is:

- Power Macintosh 6100/66, with Sonnet Technologies G3 processor upgrade, 72 meg RAM, 1 gig HD, CD-ROM, Apple 15" multiscan monitor, Mac OS 8.5.1

Edgewood Fire Station:

Located in Building E5180 in the Edgewood area of Proving Ground, the Edgewood fire station contains a local area 10BaseT network that is connected to fire department headquarters via the APG campus FDDI backbone utilizing a Farallon Star Controller and Compatable Systems RISC Router 3000E ethernet router.

Typical desktop workstations in Building E5180 include:

- Power Macintosh 7200/90, 88 meg RAM, 500 meg HD, CD-ROM, Apple 15" multiscan monitor, Mac OS 8.5.1
- Power Macintosh 6100/66, with Sonnet Technologies G3 processor upgrade, 72 meg RAM, 1 gig HD, CD-ROM, Apple 15" multiscan monitor, Mac OS 8.5.1
- Macintosh Quadra 650, 40 meg RAM, 1 gig HD, 17 SuperMax color monitor, Mac OS 8.1
- Macintosh Color Classic, 8 meg RAM, 80 meg HD

- Apple LaserWriter IIntx printer

Laptop systems in use by the division include a pair of PowerBook 170's, a PowerBook180c, and a pair of PowerBook 520c's. The PowerBooks are finding ever expanding use as vehicles for telecommuting while at home, or while on travel. These units operate 14,400 bps fax/data modems that utilize ARA 2.0 to enter FireNet through the Shiva LanRovers and Practical Peripherals MC288LCD v.34 modems. Security is provided using multi-level password protection at all levels of the network.

The major productivity software package in use by the department is Clarisworks 4.0v6 (now called "AppleWorks"), but other software is uses where needed such as FileMaker Pro, Virtual PC (with Win98), Netscape Communicator , and various other speciality applications that are utilized as they are needed.