On Friday, July 25th, ITS will be performing maintenance on the main storage system.  Please note that these outages include university email accounts, Novell Storage Space (H & J drives), and R25.  From 7:00pm until approximately midnight, the following services will be unavailable while the work is being done:

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An automatics update for Windows users currently running Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2) will begin on July 31st, 2008. Workstations that meet the requirements for update will be updated to Windows XP SP3 (service pack 3).  

The install icon(Windows XP SP3 Update) displays on NAL in the My-Campus > Updates-Installs > Windows-Updates Folder. This update does not update IE6 to IE7. The install icon will appear a few days before the automatic update, allowing users to choose the time they wish to run update.

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Note from ITS:

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Research/Issues

Encountered binding issues with Open Directory while deploying Student Media's OSX Leopard test Environment.  Have been researching solutions along with Apple regarding fixes to the issue and also researching alternative image creation strategies for the OSX platform involving the use of packages to install and test applications, namely those which are managed by a server (i.e. Font Agent Pro).

Begun researching information to be placed in the SUAR IT whitepaper for SUAR’s migration to Macintosh workstations.

Met with Auxiliary Services staff and Ricoh sales and support staff to discuss options for copiers and printers in the Student Union and Student Activity Center. Mark will meet with Ricoh in August to obtain actual costs based on a proposed plan which the Student Union Technology Team is currently working to complete.

Weekly meetings with the Student Union Technology Team to research and recommend new tech for the Student Union. Current hot topics: Planning printer/copier/workstation moves and purchases for the transition, satellite vs. cable for in-house television, laptop checkout program and public web stations.

Started planning for Fall 2008 SGA Elections. The Fall 49er Vote will start in September.

Projects/Support

Media's Test environment deployment has been delayed due to issues that were encountered during the directory binding process of workstations.  SUAR IT is currently working with Apple and Francis Shepherd to resolve the issue.  The problem seems to lie on the workstation side, and is apparent when more than one machine imaged with the same image is bound to Directory Services. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mike Teague

Completed new printer installation in CAB. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mike Teague

Transferred and installed an older printer from Student Media in the SAC Crew Quarters. This updated printer replaces the vintage HP5N originally purchased in 1996. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mike Teague

Completed a successful Staff Council online nomination process and vote. This is the second year in a row that SUAR IT has provided campus wide support for the Staff Council voting process. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Completed RecTrac training, server install using VMWare, initial work for Banner data import, Backup configurations, Citrix deployment in test and initial work for thin client driver installs. Will be meeting the week of 6/30 to plan completion of phase I for this project. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Deployed the SUAR IT online peer evaluation system. Peer evaluations end on 6/27. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Mark provided web design and development consultation for the Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs' webcms/design project.

Mark continued participation with the UNC Charlotte WebCMS Team. The team released and completed a survey. Assisted with data analaysis of the survey data.

Locknetics upgrades are underway. Completed install, registration and initial setup of the LockLink Express III software on a newer Dell X1 laptop. Neil Talley is working on the input of data since there is no way to migrate our existing Locknetics data from the old version of the software. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Setup new photo gallery system for the Niner on Weekend web site - http://now.uncc.edu. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Completed test deployment of the new Religious and Spiritual Life web site. This site should go into production in July. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Continuing work on studentunion.uncc.edu and the new Halton Arena web sites. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Completed production deployment of the new Safe Zone web site - http://safezone.uncc.edu. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Continuing work on the new conestaff.uncc.edu student employee portal for launch in August for student employee training. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Consolidating and configuring new Apple Xserves for test, dev and prod usage.

Working to complete the new Campus Events web site with R25 API integration by mid-August. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Working with Cone Center and Recreational Facilities Management maintenance staff to deploy a work request system. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

Deploying Room Viewer Deluxe for usage by SUAR departments. The push for this upgrade is to allow import of AutoCAD diagrams for room/event planning. SUAR IT Staff Lead: Mark Shropshire

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The Apache web server on the cone02osx test server has been updated to 2.2.9. If you noticed any problems with this server, please contact Mark immediately.

ITS will be changing the way Banner INB access is configured on July 15th. You should not have to make any changes in preparation for this update. If you have any problems, please contact SUAR IT Support and we will be glad to assist.

More details are available at the link below:
http://helpcenter.uncc.edu/banner/banner_jre.html

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The software updates performed Friday night on our OSX Servers resulted in corrupt files on one of our test/dev servers. I have recompiled the software and the server is functioning again.

Sites impacted:

ucitprojects.uncc.edu
studentunionprojects.uncc.edu
Various test sites

Thanks,
Mark

SUAR IT Staff wil be performing security updates on all OSX Server on May 30th between 10pm and 10:30pm. The servers will only be down for 5 minutes as they are each restarted.

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Beginning last Saturday, ITS started moving approximately 8TB of network data files to a new storage unit. While the files were being copied, they were able to maintain service so that access to network files was not interrupted. The final step in the process of migrating data to the new storage unit will occur this weekend and will involve a service interruption.

Access to Novell network files will be unavailable beginning at 7:00pm on Friday, May 23, 2008 until approximately 5:00pm on Sunday, May 25, 2008. During this outage, faculty and staff will not have access to network drives (H:, J:, S:, etc). Also, NetStorage (remote access to network files) and Citrix will be unavailable.

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 UPDATE: ITS reported that Exchange is operating normally now. Please let us know if you are still experiencing email issues.

Some clients are reporting issues connecting to Exchange/email services. ITS is working on it.

http://secure.uncc.edu/MessageCenter/Outages/?date=5/15/2008

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ITS anticipates that it could take up to a week to move all of the data. While the files are being moved, clients may experience some sluggishness when logging in to Novell or accessing their files, but this work will not prevent them from accessing their files.

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ITS upgraded the controller that provides wireless to Cone Center and SAC yesterday. You should enjoy faster and more stable wireless now. Please contact SUAR IT support if you have questions or any issues related to the upgrade.

Thanks,
Mark

ITS will be performing Maintenance on the campus email system on the following dates.  All email users should plan accordingly for possible service issues during these times... 

End User Quarintine Outage
On Saturday, May 10th from 6:00am until 10:00am, ITS will be upgrading software on the equipment that manages the End User Quarantine email program. During this time, you will not be able to release email messages from the End User Quarantine program.

Email Maintenance
On Sunday, May 11th, ITS will be upgrading software on the equipment that manages email flow to and from outside users. Between the hours of 6:00am and 10:00am and 2:00pm and 6:00pm, you may experience a delay in email delivery to and from outside users. If you use an SMTP or IMAP email client, you may experience connectivity issues. In order to avoid possible connectivity issues, we encourage the use of Outlook Web Access during this time period.

49er Express - Easy Access to Email
On May 13th, ITS is implementing a change that will improve the way you get to your email through 49er Express. Currently, when you log in to 49er Express and click the email icon, you are prompted to log in again with your NinerNET account to access your email. ITS is making a change within 49er Express on May 13th, that will allow you to access your email from within 49er Express without having to log in a second time.

If you have any questions about the above information, please feel free to contact a UCIT staff member...

Update: ITS Reported that one of our Exchange servers was the problem during the weekend. Exchange should be ok now. Please contact SUAR IT Support if you are still having issues.

SUAR IT Staff noticed that off campus access to unccmail.uncc.edu and some other ITS sites like www.its.uncc.edu are spotty as of Saturday night (5-3-2008). We have contacted ITS about the issue. It is our guess that this is related to DNS issues as some users can access the sites and others cannot.

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Banner Outage - Millennium Data Migration

Details:
Banner Advancement (Alumni and Friends) module is scheduled to go live during the April 30th – May 5th window.   

To facilitate this campus initiative,  Banner will be unavailable from 7 pm April 30th to 5 am May 1st.    Name, address, phone number, and other demographic data will be migrated from the legacy Millennium system to Banner during this time.

Services Affected:
Internet Native Banner, Self Service Banner, and BANSTAND

Note: ITS Reports that this issue has been resolved.

Ironhost2, one of the University's main mail servers, has crashed to the point that the vendor will be sending a replacement appliance to arrive sometime on Wednesday. SMTP and IMAP services through Ironhost2 will not be available until the appliance is replaced. If users are having difficulties connecting through the services they should reset their e-mail clients to use ironhost1.uncc.edu from off-campus or unccmail.uncc.edu when on campus. Users may experience some delay in off-campus e-mail deliveries.

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ITS will be deploying the follwing updates via the Novell Launcher from Monday April 14th - Tuesday April 15th:

Monday 4/14

Microsoft Critical Security Updates for (IE6 ( XP SP2 IE6 Cumulative Patch 4 08) and IE7 (XP SP2 IE7 Cumulative Patch 4 08)) (MS08-024 KB947864) will install tomorrow during login for ITS and Local Admins. This update takes approximately a minute.

Also, Microsoft Office 2003 security update will install. The install icon (Updts Office 2003 Apr08) displays on NAL in the My-Campus > Updates-Installs > Microsoft Folder if your machine meets the system requirements. The install takes approximately 15 minutes.

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