Educational Technology

Radmind FAQ

What is Radmind?
Radmind is a free suite of UNIX tools developed by the Research Systems Unix Group at the University of Michigan.  It is designed to keep networked machines in a consistent operating state and to facilitate efficient updating of those networked machines.  The District’s Radmind system is jointly administered by the Information Technology and Instructional Technology departments.
 
How does Radmind work?
The Radmind update process is triggered at system startup time.  The laptop computer checks in with a Radmind server on the school’s network and checks to see if any updates are available.  The computer’s system and applications are scanned and updates are applied, if necessary.  No action is necessary on the part of the user—the process is fully automated.
 
Who is Radmind for?
Radmind is used to maintain the system and applications on District managed laptop computers including those issued to elementary classroom teachers, elementary and middle school principals, and Technology Teacher Leader program participants.
 
How do I start a Radmind update?
The updating process is triggered at system startup time.  To initiate a Radmind update, a user must change the computer’s network location to “Ethernet – Static IP”, connect the computer to the school’s network using an Ethernet network cable and restart the computer.
 
After the system starts up, the computer will display a Radmind progress window during the update.  When the update is completed, the computer’s login window will appear and the user can then log in and use the computer normally.
 
Are my documents safe?
All data stored within a user’s home folder (ie, documents, music, pictures, preferences, items on the Desktop) are ignored and will not be managed by the Radmind system.

How can I tell if a Radmind update completed successfully?
There are two ways to tell if a Radmind update completed successfully.  The first is to watch the update progress bar and note the feedback given.  If the update completes and “Update completed!” shows on the screen, then the update was successful.

The second way is by checking the Radmind log file.  Each time a Radmind update is started, an entry is written to a log file.  To view the contents of the Radmind log, select “Go to folder...” from the Finder’s “Go” menu.  Type the following path into the “Go to the folder” field: /var/log/ and press the “Go” button.  Once inside the log folder, find the log file named “Radmind” and double click on it to open it with a text editor.  Listed in the log file are the dates of the Radmind update and whether the update completed or failed with the most current update at the bottom of the list.  The line in the log file includes the date of the update (yyyymmddhhmm) and either “lapply completed” in the case of a successful update, or “lapply failed” in the case of an unsuccessful update.

Who do I call if I have questions about Radmind updates?
Questions regarding Radmind updates should be directed to the IT Help Desk at 742-4615.

Last updated: Friday, March 21, 2008 12:20 PM