November 25, 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009: Symantec Endpoint
Posted in: Software Deployment

Audience: CFANS Community
Action: No Action required
URLs: http://oit.cfans.umn.edu/Antivirus.html
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Description

On Monday, November 30, 2009, beginning at 6:00 p.m., CFANS-OIT will be upgrading the current Symantec Anti-Virus software to Symantec Endpoint Protection.

Process

SCCM will be used to upgrade your software, and will require no intervention on your part. This process will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Monday evening, November 30, 2009.

Explanation

This upgrade will provide users with the latest and most complete form of virus and spyware protection offered by the University of Minnesota.

More Information

Symantec Endpoint Protection is the latest Client Security software from Symantec. It integrates anti-virus and anti-spyware protection into one package. Symantec Endpoint protects laptops, desktops, and servers from malware threats such as viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware.

If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in Software Deployment by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 9:13 AM | | Comments (0)

November 23, 2009

Sunday, November 29, 0600 to 1000: CFANS Server Maintenance
Posted in: Outages/Maintenance

Audience: Users of CFANS server resources
Action: No action required
URLs: None
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Description

CFANS server patching and maintenance for November will take place on Sunday, November, 29, 2009 between 0600 and 1000.

During the maintenance window, all servers will be updated with the latest patches for their respective operating systems and may be rebooted.

An "all clear" will be sent once the maintenance is completed.

Posted in Outages/Maintenance by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 4:02 PM | | Comments (0)

Monday, November 30, 2009, 5-7 a.m.: Brief Internet Outage
Posted in: Outages/Maintenance

Audience: Saint Paul Campus and neighborhood
Action: No action required
URLs: None
Contact: 1-HELP (612-301-4357)

Outage Description

On Monday, November 30, 2009, Internet service on the St. Paul Campus will experience up to a five- to ten-minute outage as each of several network switches on campus receive an upgrade.

University Services

* Internet and wireless

CFANS Services

* None

Process

Starting at 5:00 AM, NTS engineers will upgrade the Internetwork Operating System (IOS) on several network switches on campus (PSB-CN-01, GrnH-CN-01, BioSci-CN-01, BioAgEng-CN-01, TelecomB-BN-01 and InfoTech-BN-01). The outage area includes the St. Paul campus and Como area.

Explanation

Cisco has announced a serious bug/problem with the IOS that we are currently running, and so the upgrade is needed to resolve possible issues.

More Information

You may communicate any questions or concerns to the OIT Technical Support Center at 1-HELP (612-301-4357).

Posted in Outages/Maintenance by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 9:06 AM | | Comments (0)

November 20, 2009

Monday, November 23, 2009: Adobe Acrobat Professsional 9.2 Update
Posted in: Software Deployment

Audience: Adobe Acrobat Professional 9.1.3 users
Action: No action required
URLs: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50026.html
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Description

On Monday, November 23, 2009, CFANS OIT will begin the installation of the Acrobat Professional 9.2 patch for CFANS computer systems that currently have Acrobat Professional 9.1.3.

Process

SCCM will be used to install the Acrobat Professional 9.2 patch.
The installation will occur in the background with no interruption to service.

Explanation

Updating Acrobat Professional 9.1.3 to 9.2 will address a number of customer workflow issues and security vulnerabilities.

More Information

Information about the issues addressed in the Acrobat Professional 9.2 patch is available at this website

* http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50026.html

If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in Software Deployment by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 9:00 AM | | Comments (0)

November 19, 2009

Friday, November 20, 2009: Symantec Endpoint upgrade
Posted in: Software Deployment

Audience: CFANS Administration and Student Services Office
Action: No Action required
URLs: http://oit/cfans.umn.edu/Antivirus.html
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Description

On Friday, November 20, 2009, beginning at 6:00 p.m., CFANS-OIT will upgrade the current Symantec Anti-Virus software to Symantec Endpoint Protection.

Process

SCCM will be used to upgrade your software, and will require no intervention on your part. This process will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening, November 20, 2009.

Explanation

This upgrade will provide users with the latest and most complete form of virus and spyware protection offered by the University of Minnesota.

More Information

Symantec Endpoint Protection is the latest Client Security software from Symantec. It integrates anti-virus and anti-spyware protection into one package. Symantec Endpoint protects laptops, desktops, and servers from malware threats such as viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware.

If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in Software Deployment by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 2:07 PM | | Comments (0)

November 17, 2009

UPDATE: Laptop login change delayed; desktops scheduled for Wednesday, November 18
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience: CFANS community using Windows and Active Directory
Action: Laptop users stand by for further instructions
URLs: Directions for desktop users are here: http://oit.cfans.umn.edu/newlogin
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Laptop change delayed; desktop change goes forward

Because an adjustment must be made to encrypted laptops to allow the new login procedure to be implemented, only on-campus desktop computers will have the UMN.EDU (Kerberos Realm) login software uninstalled beginning Wednesday, November 18, 2009.

If you use a University desktop running Windows XP, follow the updated directions to change your login domain from UMN.EDU (Kerberos Realm) to AD. Again, changing your login domain will not affect your files or settings. The new login procedure has been extensively tested and deployed throughout the University.

Please make the change now to avoid any future login problems.

Laptop Users

Although the removal of the UMN.EDU (Kerberos Realm) login has been delayed to ensure that you will not be locked out of your laptops, the University will be decommissioning the Kerberos service on January 9, 2010, so the change must be made prior to the Christmas holiday. CFANS will provide further instructions after we return from the Thanksgiving holiday.

More Information

For more information, visit http://oit.cfans.umn.edu/newlogin. If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 4:11 PM | | Comments (0)

November 11, 2009

Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 10:30 to 11:30 p.m.: Wireless Outage
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience: University of Minnesota Community
Action: Plan for service disruption; users may have to re-authenticate
URLs: None
Contact: OIT Technical Support Center at 1-HELP (612-301-4357)

Outage Description

On Tuesday November 17, 2009 between 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., there will be periods of Wireless service disruption on the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses, and users may need to re-authenticate.

University Services affected

* Wireless service

CFANS Services affected

* None

Process

OIT/NTS engineers will be upgrading the software code on all Twin Cities and Rochester campus Wireless controllers.

Explanation

This is to correct several outstanding bugs and known issues.

More Information

You may communicate any questions or concerns to the OIT Technical Support Center at 1-HELP (612-301-4357).

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 4:03 PM | | Comments (0)

Sunday, November 15, 2009, 5-9 a.m.: University IT Services Outage
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience: University of Minnesota Community
Action: Plan for an outage of the services listed.
URLs: See https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo2 for more information.
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Outage Description

University IT Outage: Sunday, November 15, 2009
On Sunday, November 15, from 5:00 a.m. to 9 a.m., many important University of Minnesota IT systems and applications will be unavailable for use.

University Services

* A complete list is available at https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo2.

CFANS Services

* No CFANS-run services will be affected by this outage.

Process

During the disruption, all Cisco load balanced servers will be impacted. Because of this, the applications, databases, or other services using this load balancer will be unavailable.

Explanation

This outage is necessary so that the Office of Information Technology (OIT) can resolve ongoing stability problems with the current configuration of our Cisco load balancer.

More Information

For more updates and information, visit https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo2. If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 3:36 PM | | Comments (0)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009: New Windows Login Procedure
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience: CFANS community using Windows and Active Directory
Action: Log into AD rather than UMN.EDU (Kerberos Realm)
URLs: Directions are here: http://oit.cfans.umn.edu/newlogin
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

New Windows Login Procedure

If you use a University computer running Windows XP, follow the directions at the CFANS OIT website to change your log in domain from UMN.EDU (Kerberos Realm) to AD.

Beginning Wednesday, November 18, 2009, the UMN.EDU (Kerberos Realm) option will no longer be available. Please make the change now to avoid any chance of being locked out of your computer. Laptop users, please read the special caution below.

The change will not affect your files or settings. The new login procedure has been extensively tested and deployed througout the University.

NOTE: Macintosh computers will not be affected.

Special caution for laptop users
To avoid being temporarily locked out of your computer, laptop users who log in to UMN.EDU (Kerberos Realm) will need to log into AD on campus using a wired Ethernet connection to complete this domain change, just as you do after changing your passwords. This on-campus wired login needs to be done ONLY ONCE. After that, you may log into AD on your laptops whether on campus or off campus, using Ethernet, wireless, or no Internet connection at all.

Please do this right away to avoid future problems. Detailed directions are available here: http://oit.cfans.umn.edu/newlogin

More Information

For more information, visit http://oit.cfans.umn.edu/newlogin. If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 2:47 PM | | Comments (0)

October 27, 2009

Sunday, November 1, 2009: University IT Services Outage
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience: University of Minnesota Community
Action: No action required
URLs: See https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo2 for more information.
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Outage Description

University IT Outage: Sunday, November 1, 2009

On Sunday, November 1, from 5:00 a.m. to noon, many important University of Minnesota IT systems and applications will be unavailable for use.

During the disruption, all Cisco load balanced servers will be affected. Because of this, the applications, databases, and other services using this load balancer will be unavailable.

For a list of services that will be affected by this work, to view OIT's timeline for completing this work, and to view the backout plan, visit: https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo2.

University Services

* A Complete List is available at https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo2.

CFANS Services

* No CFANS-run services will be affected by this outage.

Explanation

This outage is necessary so that the Office of Information Technology (OIT) can resolve ongoing stability problems with the current configuration of our Cisco load balancer.

More Information

For more updates and information, visit https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo2. If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 4:45 PM | | Comments (0)

October 21, 2009

Saturday, October 24: University IT Services Outage also affects CFANS Services
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience:  University of Minnesota Community
Action: Plan not to use University e-mail, student labs, printing, file servers, and other electronic services
URLs: For more information and updates, see https://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main/OutageInfo
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Outage Description

Beginning at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2009, nearly all University of Minnesota IT systems and applications will be unavailable for use. The outage of University services will also affect services provided by CFANS (see below). Some applications are scheduled to begin coming back online on Sunday, October 25, at approximately 1 a.m. All applications supported by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) are expected to be restored to service by 7:00 a.m. on October 25, and will become available on their normal schedule. The Outage Information webpage will be continually updated as they plan for and execute this outage.

Affected University Services

For a complete list, scroll down to the second half of the Outage Information webpage.

OIT has created the lists of which applications will be available during this outage and which will not. For the status of individual applications during the outage (between 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, and 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 25), visit the system status page. If an application is missing from this list, e-mail oca@umn.edu.

  Top Applications

Affected CFANS Services

  • Student Computer Labs
  • Active directory file shares
  • Linux Web Hosts
  • Urban Planet Web Hosts
  • SQL (college databases) Server

Process

A detailed description of the process is available at the Outage Information webpage.

During the outage, you can visit the Outage Information webpage for up-to-date information about the progress of the construction and system restart activities. In addition, the System Status page will be updated throughout the weekend to reflect the status of individual applications.

Explanation

This outage is being scheduled so that OIT can increase the amount of utility and emergency power to its primary data center, which is located in the West Bank Office Building (WBOB). This will allow OIT to increase the reliability, availability, and capacity of this data center.

If we have an event causing the loss of all power (i.e., both utility and generator backup power) in the WBOB Data Center, OIT currently does not have the capability to provide uninterrupted availability of Enterprise and University-wide Applications and many Departmental Applications. By upgrading the power system in this data center, OIT will be better able to support the applications and systems that reside there with decreased risk for unscheduled interruption to service.

More Information

For more information, visit Outage Information webpage. If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 2:07 PM | | Comments (0)

October 12, 2009

Monday, October 12, 2009: E-mail Disruption
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience: University of Minnesota Community
Action: No action required
URLs: http://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main
Contact:cfans.help@umn.edu

Outage Description

For much of the day, some of the University e-mail servers (amethyst, diamond, and sapphire) were experiencing high loads. High loads on most servers have subsided, but we continue to have issues with amethyst, which is also experiencing delayed e-mail. We expect these issues to clear up by 6:00 p.m. today.

University Services

  • E-mail

Process

Engineers are working on the problem.

 

More Information

For more updates and information, visit http://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main. If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 4:24 PM | | Comments (0)

Saturday, October 17, 2009, 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.: Unified Mesaging Outage
Posted in: Outages/Maintenance

Audience: University of Minnesota Community
Action: No action required
URL: None
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Outage Description

On Saturday October 17, 2009, starting at 8:00 a.m., NTS engineers will be performing a software upgrade to the Unified Messaging servers. Voice mailboxes and Auto Attendants will be unavailable from aproximately 8:30 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. during this upgrade while the system database is modified. Intermittent short outages may occur at any time during the maintenance window.

University Services

  • Voicemail
  • Auto Attendants

Process

NTS engineers will be performing a software upgrade to the Unified Messaging servers.

More Information

If you have questions, contact cfans.help@umn.edu.

Posted in Outages/Maintenance by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 2:42 PM | | Comments (0)

Sunday, October 18, 0600 to 1200: CFANS Server Maintenance
Posted in: Outages/Maintenance

Audience: Users of CFANS server resources
Action: No action required
URLs: None
Contact: cfans.help@umn.edu

Description

CFANS server patching and maintenance for September will take place on Sunday, October 18, 2009, between 0600 and 1200.

During the maintenance window, all servers will be updated with the latest patches for their respective operating systems and may be rebooted.

An "all clear" will be sent once the maintenance is completed.

Posted in Outages/Maintenance by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 12:41 PM | | Comments (0)

October 1, 2009

Saturday, October 3, 2009, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.: VoiceMail Maintenance
Posted in: CFANS IT Alerts

Audience: University of Minnesota Community
Action: No action required
URLs: None
Contact: 1-HELP (612-301-4357)

Outage Description

On Saturday, October 3, 2009, voice mailboxes and Auto Attendants will be unavailable from aproximately 8:30 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. Intermittent short outages may occur at any time during the maintenance window of 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

University Services

* Voicemail
* Auto Attendant phone service

Process

Starting at 8:00 a.m., NTS engineers will be performing a software upgrade to the Unified Messaging servers which will cause the voicemail boxes to be unavailable while the system database is modified.

More Information

You may communicate any questions or concerns to the OIT Technical Support Center at 1-HELP (612-301-4357).

Posted in CFANS IT Alerts by Tracy Thomas Wilson at 10:46 AM | | Comments (0)