What's new with the Knowledge Base?

New backend servers

In May 2006, the Knowledge Base added a pair of redundant, dedicated database and file servers to its architecture. These machines provide a strong platform for future development and growth. In January 2006, the Knowledge Base moved to a new set of backend servers. The change significantly increased the speed of the Knowledge Base and also provided it with more fault tolerance.

New interface and functionality

In 2007, the Knowledge Base gained a new look and feel; hardware-based clustering, load balancing, and failover; the use of Cascading Style Sheets; cookie-based customizable user preferences; the ability to access appropriate internal information by login (see How do I log into the Knowledge Base?); ADS based access control; 256-bit SSL encryption for internal content delivery; SNMP based hardware monitoring; and the ability to search by document ID.

Virtual knowledge bases

Leveraging the functionality of the Knowledge Base, Indiana University is managing the content for several other knowledge bases, including those for the TeraGrid and Sakai.

You can visit the Sakai knowledge base; for more, see What is IU's involvement in Sakai?

UITS web site

Most of the information in the UITS web space (http://uits.iu.edu) is delivered using the IU Knowledge Base. The Knowledge Management team works with service providers and content owners throughout UITS to keep their information current and accurate.

In addition to the Services and Support section, the new site offers IT news releases, spotlights special accomplishments, and provides links to organizational information about and for UITS.

Help within applications

Help for various IU applications (e.g., Oncourse CL and OneStart) is being served from the Knowledge Base. UITS will continue to explore this use of Knowledge Base information.

New documents

The Knowledge Base contains information about the software products and services in use at IU today, as well as information about service upgrades and other changes and new initiatives in information technology at all IU campuses.

The list below contains additional Knowledge Base documents about its history and the programs that make it work.

Also see:

• What is the history of the Knowledge Base?
• May I reuse Knowledge Base content, or have the Knowledge Base code?
• How does the Knowledge Base work?
• Knowledge Base search help