Details
Security patches and system updates need to be applied to the myWPI/Blackboard 9.1 system. In order to reduce disruption, IT has scheduled the downtime after Spring/D-term grades are due to the Registrar’s office and prior to the official start of E-term.

We apologize for the inconvenience this planned downtime may cause and appreciate your understanding as we work to improve the systems we support.

Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to questions users may have about the maintenance:

What about Spring-D-term grades?
This maintenance has been scheduled to occur after course grades are due to the Registrar on Friday, May 4th, 2012 at 5:00 PM (EDT).

Students may check their final course grades online from the Student Web Information System. Course sites remain available for 21 days after the end of a term, so students will still be able to access their C-term sites following the site maintenance to review grades on individual assignments or to submit files for Incompletes. If you need a course site to remain available for longer than 21 days after the end of C-term, send a request to myhelp@wpi.edu Please note this request must come from a course instructor or administrator.

I need a course/organization/project-group site. What should I do?
Course or Organization site requests will still be processed before and after the upgrade, usually within two business days.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site on the Blackboard 9.1 server prior to the maintenance? Will I lose my content?
No content will be lost in any myWPI/Blackboard 9.1 sites. You will simply lose access to your site during the maintenance. Following the maintenance, all content and structure will remain as it did before.

Thank you,
Helpdesk
Visit the Helpdesk in Gordon Library
http://www.wpi.edu/+helpdesk | helpdesk@wpi.edu
508.831.5888 | Ext. 5888

Details
The VMS system running on the server Jake.wpi.edu will be retired on May 1, 2012 due to obsolete hardware and limited support availability.

Phase 1: The VMS/Windows Migration occurs March 5, 2012 when Banner Production job submission moves from Jake to Windows. As of noon on March 5, 2012 these changes can be expected:

Banner Production job submission will be moving from Jake (VMS) to Windows. If you run jobs in Banner Production you will see slightly different behavior, as follows:



• Job output will reside in your “My_Documents” on filer.wpi.edu (R drive) in a folder named “Jobsubmission”.
  
• The job notification emails will still be received, but the subject line text will be different.
  
• Reports will not be automatically printed. One of the job notification emails will contain a link to a pdf file. After the job finishes, you can print the file or save to any location you have access to, such as a business share. (In Banner you cannot set a default saving location for the PDF file prior to running the job.)
  

Any additional tasks not noted above that you accomplish by logging into Jake.wpi.edu need to be communicated to the Information Analyst (IA) for your division.

Details
This issue is now resolved.

On February 15th, we experienced an issue with our phone switch leading to unexpected system instability. This issue lead to a temporary but severe reduction in the call handling capability of the phone system.

Users may have experienced dropped calls, busy circuits, or other erratic behavior.

We greatly apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and believe this issue to be resolved at this time. Should additional issues still be occurring, or if you have any questions, please contact the Helpdesk. Thank you for your understanding.

Details
Systems administrators are actively working with Blackboard to determine the root of the problem.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this unplanned outage and appreciate your understanding.

Thank you,
Helpdesk
Visit the Helpdesk in Gordon Library
http://www.wpi.edu/+helpdesk | helpdesk@wpi.edu
508.831.5888 | Ext. 5888

Details
We are migrating to a new SharePoint 2010 environment on new systems. This upgrade will provide users with greater reliability, increased performance, additional features, and will allow us to continue to improve document management services to serve the changing needs of the WPI community.

Currently there are two tiers of sites for SharePoint. You can identify them by the start of the url:
•https://home.sharepoint.wpi.edu – Academic and administrative department sites, General campus use
•https://student.sharepoint.wpi.edu – Student Projects, Student organizations, Student research sites

We are planning on migrating only student sites at this time and we will work with individual departments to plan a time to migrate the “home.sharepoint” sites.

Data will be available at all times during migration. We will set all sites to “Read Only” to prevent data loss during the transition, and we will maintain the read only sites through the end of the term to provide continuity with any existing links that people may have to various documents. The only impact is that students will be unable to upload any new content until they transition to the new server.

Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding this process.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to improve the systems we support.

What is changing:
•New URL
oThe new url for the site will be https://sharepoint.wpi.edu.
oThe site that was previously https://student.sharepoint.wpi.edu/mqp/Project2012 would now be https://sharepoint.wpi.edu/mqp/Project2012.

•Increased 3rd Party Browser support
oThe SharePoint 2010 provides increased support for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

•Office Web Apps
oThe Office Documents (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) will be able to be viewed and edited through web applications without needing to download data or have Office installed.
oThe Office Web Apps are supported on IE, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari
oFor more information on the new features, please go to http://www.wpi.edu/+sharepoint.

What to expect:
•“student.sharepoint.wpi.edu” sites: These will be available for access throughout the migration, but access will be read only. Read only access will continue through the end of the term. Full access will only be available on the new server.
•“home.sharepoint.wpi.edu” sites: There will be no change to these sites. Owners of these sites will be contacted to arrange migration to the new server.
•The look and feel of migrated sites will not immediately change on the new server and will still behave just as they did on the old server. Site owners will be provided information on how to upgrade the look and feel at a later date.

Details
The Helpdesk Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system will undergo maintenance between 8:00 a.m. and 10 a.m. (EST) on Wednesday, November 23, 2011. During the maintenance, calls will be received by Helpdesk agents, but callers will not be presented with the Helpdesk phone menu and options. Callers will not have the option to leave voicemail if an agent is not available to answer your call. We thank you for your patience as we work to improve this system.

Details
Starting November 18, 2011 we will be targeting some computers with specific updates. Affected computers were deployed with early versions Windows 7 or are Windows Vista and XP machines that are running older versions of Internet Explorer.

Systems will have the patches installed and reboot over the weekend to minimize office downtime. However, systems that are unavailable prior to end of business on Friday 11/18/2011 will receive these patches on the morning of Monday 11/21/2011 and prompt users to restart their machines.

Installation may take approximately a half hour, and may occur over the weekend if the computer is left on.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we continue to maintain the health and security of our systems.

Details
WordPress will be unavailable while the upgrade is being applied. The upgrade is expected to last less than 1 hour but may take up to two hours.

The upgrade includes several new features including:
•A refreshed layout
•Improved site performance
•New editor bar when logged in and viewing a page
•CAS Login (WPI usernames will be required to edit pages/posts)
•Several bug fixes

Details
A quick reboot of our filer server (personal storage) is needed for maintenance purposes. We will be doing so tomorrow at 6:00 am, which will last approximately 10 minutes.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Helpdesk. Thank you for your understanding as we work to improve the services that we offer WPI.

Details
On Tuesday, October 18, 2011 between 7:00 PM and 1:00 AM, Information Security & Networking will be working with Juniper Networks to perform network maintenance upgrading the router software to fix known stability and security issues, and enable more redundancy features.

During the maintenance, there will be interruptions in network services while redundant components switch over to backups. Six hours have been reserved to ensure ample time to complete the upgrade and address configuration issues.

As a protective measure, Exchange Email will be unavailable while the network maintenance is taking place. Mail will not be lost – it will be queued for delivery and will be delivered following the successful completion of the network maintenance.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work to improve these critical pieces of equipment.

Details
No Helpdesk services will be available during the day on Sunday, August 28, 2011. Helpdesk will respond to all issues when WPI resumes normal business hours following the storm.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Details
On Sunday August 7th we will be performing an upgrade of our PureMessage software. As a result, there will be a downtime for approximately 30 minutes. Following the upgrade, sending/receiving of email will resume.

If you have quarantined messages, please log in here to check them prior to the upgrade: https://smtp.wpi.edu:28443. All previous quarantined messages will be cleared.

If the upgrade is performed prior to you checking your quarantine (resulting in a missed email) contact the Helpdesk. Please include information about the sender, date and time in your request. We will do our best to assist you.

Please direct any questions or concerns to the Helpdesk. Thank you for your patience while we work to improve the services we offer the campus.

Details
On Sunday, July 17, 2011 from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM our production Banner databases will be restarted in restricted mode. The restage process will copy Banner data over to ODS. This will enable WPI to keep our ODS data in synch with Banner and to make our reports accurate.

All Banner services will be unavailable during this restage process.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work to improve the services we offer to the WPI community.

Details
At 3pm yesterday our email hub was attacked, a brief disruption occurred as a result. Email services were restored one hour later. All mail was queued and delivered following the disruption, email was not lost.

We apologize about any inconvenience this may have caused. Please direct any questions or concerns to the Helpdesk. Thank you.

Details
On Friday, June 10, 2011 from 5:00 PM until 5:00 PM on Sunday, June 12, 2011 our production Banner databases will be upgraded to Oracle 11g. This will enable WPI to remain in a supported configuration.

All Banner services will be unavailable during this extensive upgrade.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work to improve the services we offer to the WPI community.

Details
We have lifted the requirement for the WPI VPN when accessing Sourceforge from off campus. Please contact the Helpdesk with any questions or concerns you may have. Thank you.

Details
On Saturday, May 21, 2011 between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM, Information Security & Networking will be replacing network equipment in the main server room in Fuller Labs. The upgraded hardware will enable numerous future performance enhancements, most notably 10 Gigabit server connections for high speed applications, including research computing and network storage upgrades.

This will result in a number of short interruptions in network services as each rack is switched to the new hardware. 6 hours have been reserved as a contingency in case there are problems with the upgrade and reconfiguration.

Internet connectivity throughout campus (including Fuller Labs) will not be affected and will remain up and available throughout this maintenance.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work to improve WPI's critical infrastructure.

Details
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we worked to restore access to these important services.

Bannerweb users have multiple authentication options. In addition to Windows authentication, you can authenticate using your WPI ID number (found on your WPI ID Card) and your PIN number. During this morning’s disruption, this method worked as an alternative authentication method.

All Bannerweb users are encouraged to set a Security Question & Answer. Configuring this question will allow self-service PIN reset functionality which can be invoked when other authentication methods fail.

How do I reset the Banner PIN?
Use the Reset PIN button
WPI Faculty, Staff and Students can reset their own Banner PIN!
• Reset the PIN without need of contacting a WPI department
• A valid WPI ID Number must be provided
• This feature uses the Banner security question to validate identity. A correct answer to the security question is required to successfully reset the PIN.

What if I haven’t set a Banner Security Question?
The following steps will allow an already authenticated user to reset their PIN or update their Security Question:

While logged in to Bannerweb (bannerweb.wpi.edu), Click on Personal Information

To Change Banner PIN
Click on Change PIN and follow the instructions to set a PIN

To Change Banner Security Question
Click on Change Security Question and follow the instructions to set a new Security Question.

Details
WPI has adopted a new login name and e-mail address standard (approved by the IT Governance Committee at its March 2011 meeting) which will be applied to all new WPI accounts for students, employees, etc.:

•The standard will follow the first initial-middle initial-last name convention. For example, John A. Smith would receive the login jasmith and e-mail address jasmith@wpi.edu.
•Additional identities that result in the same login will be provisioned with a number appended to the login (i.e. James A. Smith will receive the login jasmith2 and e-mail jasmith2@wpi.edu).
•Login names (but not account access) will be retained indefinitely.

The login name standard will be applied to new accounts only. All current account holders, including students and employees, will retain their current login and e-mail address.

Thank you for your cooperation as we work to improve the services we provide.

Details
On Monday, May 9, 2011 between 9:00 PM and 3:00 AM, Information Security & Networking will be working with Juniper Networks to perform network maintenance to upgrade the router software to support new hardware and enable more redundancy features.

This will result in a few short interruptions in network services while redundant components switch over to backups. 6 hours have been reserved as a contingency in case there are problems with the upgrade and reconfiguration.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work to improve these critical pieces of equipment.

Details
In order to simplify the WPI Windows Domain environment, we are moving to consolidate the STUDENT domain within the ADMIN domain.

This will allow us to better serve the community by reducing duplication of efforts by having multiple domains for users to log into. This will also reduce some of the systems needed to manage multiple domains, providing savings to the university.

Students may have intermittent access to WPI resources as we move accounts from STUDENT to ADMIN. If there are access problems, we recommend waiting at least 15 minutes and try again.

Important Notes:
•After the migration, any time that students would use STUDENT\username, they would now use either username@wpi.edu or ADMIN\username.
•Students may be prompted to change their password upon first login. This will only occur if students access systems during the migration period. If you do not wish to change your password, just wait until the end of the day to access WPI resources.
•All file shares that are \\student\shares will now be \\admin\shares
(ex: \\student\courses\AR1101 will now be \\admin\courses\AR1101 )

Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding this process.

Details
Due to increasing popularity and expanding customer use of the web version of SciFinder (also known as SciFinder Scholar), Chemical Abstracts Service will be discontinuing the client version of SciFinder at all U.S. and Canadian academic institutions on June 30, 2011. As of that date the web version will be the only way for WPI users to access SciFinder.

The web version has been available to WPI SciFinder users for nearly two years. If you aren’t using the web version yet, we encourage you sign up for a SciFinder user account today. Please see the Gordon Library’s SciFinder help page for details, https://www.wpi.edu/academics/Library/Collections/ER/Restrict/scifinder.html.

If you already have a SciFinder account you can access the web version at https://scifinder.cas.org/. Remember to use the WPI proxy server if you are accessing SciFinder from off campus.

Details
An upgrade of nntp.wpi.edu previously planned for the summer has been rescheduled for Friday, April 22, 2011 due to failing hardware.

Thank you for your understanding as we work to improve the services we provide.

Details
As part of the Recreation Center construction project the phone lines servicing Alumni Gymnasium and Harrington Auditorium need to be relocated. To minimize the impact of this work, each phone line will be moved one at a time. As each phone line is moved there will be an interruption of service for that individual line lasting about a minute.

While the line is being moved no calls can be made from the phone and the phone will not ring for an incoming call. Voice mail will be unaffected so callers can still leave a message.

Although every effort will be made to check that the phone is not in use before moving the line there is the possibility that calls may be dropped or interrupted.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Details
SourceForge is a project collaboration web application used by faculty, staff and student groups to collaborate on various projects.

Security concerns have prompted us to take immediate action. Adding the VPN restriction adds a level of security that was missing from this service. We apologize for any inconvenience this required action may cause.

We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure the security and stability of the systems we support.

Details
As part of the Recreation Center construction project the phone lines servicing Alumni Gymnasium and Harrington Auditorium need to be relocated. To minimize the impact of this work, each phone line will be moved one at a time. As each phone line is moved there will be an interruption of service for that individual line lasting about a minute.

While the line is being moved no calls can be made from the phone and the phone will not ring for an incoming call. Voice mail will be unaffected so callers can still leave a message.

Although every effort will be made to check that the phone is not in use before moving the line there is the possibility that calls may be dropped or interrupted.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Details
Outages lasting 10 minutes will occur later today in order to apply a patch to \\filer. Service will be transferred between primary and standby "filer" systems several times between 5:30pm and 10:00pm. There will be a brief interruption each time service is transferred.

The following services will be interrupted for up to 10 minutes at a time:
•Email will be delayed by several minutes.
•Shared drives on \\filer.wpi.edu will be unreachable.
•Web pages and Web-based services hosted at WPI may be sluggish.
•Unix terminal sessions may get "stuck" temporarily.

Thank you for your understanding while we work to improve the services we offer the WPI community. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Helpdesk.

Details
A 10 minute interruption in service will occur at 5:30 pm today. The following services will be interrupted:

 Email will be delayed by several minutes.
 Shared drives on \\filer.wpi.edu will be unreachable.
 Web pages and Web-based services hosted at WPI may be sluggish.
 Unix terminal sessions may get "stuck" temporarily.

Thank you for your understanding as we work to improve the services we provide for the WPI community. Please contact the Helpdesk with questions and concerns at the contact information above. Thank you.

Details
We have lifted the requirement for the WPI VPN when accessing Sourceforge from off campus. Prior to the recent upgrade to TeamForge 5.4, we required the VPN for security purposes. We are now ready to lift this requirement.

Please contact the Helpdesk with any questions or concerns you may have. Thank you.

Details
To ensure that WPI calls are routed to the proper extension and voicemail, please log into Banner Web and verify that your WPI contact information is correct.

To do so, please see the following steps.

Please direct any questions to the Helpdesk. Thank you.

Details
A reboot is required to resolve current issues we are having with Banner reporting services. Expected downtime is less than 15 minutes.

The following Banner services will be unavailable during the reboot:
-Banner Forms (Production)

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to restore these important services.

Helpdesk
Visit the Helpdesk in Gordon Library
http://www.wpi.edu/+helpdesk | helpdesk@wpi.edu
508.831.5888 | Ext. 5888

Details
System maintenance will be performed to restore myWPI services to a production state following the February 18, 2011 unplanned database server outage when myWPI services were moved to a temporary system. There will be no updates to the layout or features of myWPI. No action is required by users.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to improve the systems we support.

Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to questions users may have about the maintenance:

What about C-term grades?
This maintenance has been scheduled to occur after C-term course grades are due to the Registrar on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 5:00 PM (EDT) for Undergraduate courses.

Students may check their final course grades online from the Student Web Information System. Course sites remain available for 21 days after the end of a term, so students will still be able to access their C-term sites following the site maintenance to review grades on individual assignments or to submit files for Incompletes. If you need a course site to remain available for longer than 21 days after the end of C-term, send a request to myhelp@wpi.edu Please note this request must come from a course instructor or administrator.

I need a course/organization/project-group site. What should I do?
Course or Organization site requests will still be processed before and after the upgrade, usually within two business days.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site prior to the maintenance? Will I lose my content?
No content will be lost in any myWPI sites. You will simply lose access to your site during the maintenance. Following the maintenance, your myWPI site will appear exactly as it did before.

Following the maintenance, will I still be able to copy content from prior courses like I could before?
Yes, prior course content will still be available for copying into current and future course sites.

Details
On Friday February 18th a key database server experienced a software failure that brought some IT Services offline. In order to restore services quickly, the server was put into a minimal working state. This state is less than ideal.

The goal of the scheduled maintenance is to bring the server back to full working order to mitigate the possibility of further unplanned disruptions.

Services Affected:
CMS - Website content management system (http://cms.wpi.edu)
Sharepoint - Collaboration sites (http://home.sharepoint.wpi.edu)
BES - BlackBerry Enterprise Services
Office Communicator Client (OCS)- Instant messenger, and video chat client
Account Maintenance -Account Creation and Password Reset (http://www.wpi.edu/+accounts)
Event Scheduling - RESOURCE25 (http://scheduling.wpi.edu)
Locks Administration - Locks on campus will continue to function; administration software will be offline
DIALVISION - Planned Giving Phone Room Software
fsaATLAS - International Student Database

Virtualized Applications Affected:
CES Edupack
Google Earth
Google Sketchup
Harvard Thermal TAS
Design of Machinery
HCS2000
LC-3
Stran4
Working Model
Crossfire Commander
SciFinder Scholar
MathCad
MD Solids
Nasa Worldwind
Polymath
DrRacket
R-Project
SPSS
X-Win33
iThinkAudacity CD Burner XP
Putty
ReadPlease
TeraTerm
TextPad
WinSCP
Sigmaplot
Camtasia
Snag-It
TecPlot
7-Zip

Please note that myWPI services will not be impacted by this maintenance.

Thank you for your understanding as we work to ensure the stability of the services we provide.

Details
WPI Information Technology has doubled our IP address pool from approximately 2,000 to approximately 4,000 concurrent addresses to support increased mobile demand on campus. Connections to the entire WPI wireless network are more available as a result.

No additional configuration change is needed to connect if your device is already configured for the WPI wireless network.

More information about wireless networking.

Please direct any questions or concerns to the WPI Helpdesk. Thank you.

Details
A team of systems administrators is actively working to repair the server and restore impacted services with vendor support as soon as possible. Updates will be provided as soon as new information is available.

We apologize for the inconvenience this unplanned outage will surely have and appreciate your understanding as we work to restore all impacted services.

Details
SourceForge is a project collaboration web application used by faculty, staff and student groups to collaborate on various projects.

Security concerns have prompted us to take immediate action. Adding the VPN restriction adds a level of security that was missing from this service. We apologize for any inconvenience this required action may cause.

We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure the security and stability of the systems we support.

Details
WPI IT recently discovered that documents stored in SharePoint in a document library are currently not checking in and out properly. WPI IT is working hard to resolve this matter, and will notify the community once fixed.

Until resolved, please download documents by clicking “retrieve documents” by clicking the arrow next to the document and select "Send to" then "Download a Copy".

After finished working on a file, upload a copy of the updated file with a new file name until this issue is resolved.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the WPI Helpdesk for assistance. Thank you for your understanding while we work to resolve this matter.

Details
After working with Blackboard WPI IT has resolved the previously posted issue concerning unplanned myWPI disruptions.

myWPI was experiencing short unplanned disruptions in service every six hours. myWPI stability is now restored.

Thank you for your understanding while we worked to resolve this issue. Please contact the Helpdesk if you have any questions or concerns.

Details
Information Technology staff have an open issue with BalckBoard, the myWPI software vendor, and continue to actively seeka timely resolution to this problem.

Until further notice, WPI Community members should plan their myWPI work around the specified timeframes to avoid potential problems.
- Midnight (EST)
- 6 am (EST)
- Noon (EST)
- 6 pm (EST)

Again, these disruptions are usually brief and service is generally restored shortly after each of the time frames listed above. Saving work in advance of the specified times or connecting to myWPI 15 minutes after the specified times is the most prudent way to minimize risk of disruption.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding as we work to resolve this issue.

Details
As of 6:00 pm (EST) on January 6, 2011, Exchange mail services were restored. The potential for further disruption exists, but WPI IT continues to work with Microsoft Support to determine a cause and implement a solution to prevent further issues.

We apologize for the inconvenience this unplanned service disruption has caused. We appreciate your understanding as we work to resolve these issues.

Details
The Helpdesk recommends that all unnecessary office equipment be powered off over the holiday. Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Thank you for your cooperation. Enjoy your Holiday!

Details
We will be installing a patch to fix an issue that impacts Instructors and TAs when attempting to download files from the Grade Center. We apologize for this inconvenience but since the current problem is affecting many faculty who are in the process of finalizing grades, which are due on Monday (graduate courses) or Tuesday (undergraduate courses), we have no recourse but to apply this fix as soon as possible

Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to questions users may have about the maintenance:

What issue is this downtime addressing?
The myWPI Support Team received several reports today from Instructors and TA users that they were unable to download individual submissions through the Grade Center. Blackboard has supplied WPI with a patch that will resolve the issue. In order to prevent further disruption, we intend to apply the patch as soon as possible.

I need files before the patch is applied. Can I still retrieve them?
Files can be batch downloaded through the Grade Center. The issue only impacts individual user downloads.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site prior to the downtime? Will I lose my content?
No content will be lost in any myWPI sites. You will simply lose access to your site during the update. Following the update, your myWPI site will appear exactly as it did before.

Details
We will be performing system maintenance of myWPI (http://my.wpi.edu) in order to ensure efficient system operation. There will be no updates to the layout or features of myWPI. No action is required by users.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to improve the systems we support.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers to questions users may have about the maintenance:

What about B-term and Fall semester grades?

This maintenance has been scheduled to occur after B-term course grades are due to the Registrar on Monday, December 20, 2010 at 5:00 PM (EDT) for Graduate courses and Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 5:00 PM (EDT) for Undergraduate courses (http://www.wpi.edu/Admin/Registrar/events403.html).

Students may check their final course grades online from the Student
Web Information System at http://bannerweb.wpi.edu. Course sites remain available for 21 days after the end of a term, so students will still be able to access their B-term sites following the site maintenance to review grades on individual assignments or to submit files for Incompletes. If you need a course site to remain available for longer than 21 days after the end of B-term, send a request to myhelp@wpi.edu. Please note this request must come from a course instructor or administrator.

I need a course/organization/project-group site. What should I do?

Course or Organization site requests submitted using the forms found at http://www.wpi.edu/+Collaboratory/HowTo/MyWPI/forms.html will be processed when WPI reopens on or about January 3, 2011.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site prior to the maintenance? Will I lose my content?

No content will be lost in any myWPI sites. You will simply lose access to your site during the maintenance. Following the maintenance, your myWPI site will appear exactly as it did before.

Following the maintenance, will I still be able to copy content from prior courses like I could before?

Yes, prior course content will still be available for copying into current and future course sites.

Details
The Helpdesk recommends that all unnecessary office equipment be powered off over the holiday weekend. Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Thank you for your cooperation. Enjoy your Holiday!

Details

Repair Schedule

Details
In order to install a software enhancement to the Meridian voicemail system it will be necessary to shut down the voicemail system starting at 6:00 pm (EDT) tonight. The system should be down for about an hour.

Between approximately 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm, there will be no access to the voicemail system and no new messages will be received or recorded.

After successful completion of the installation, the system will return to its normal state with all prior greetings and messages intact.

Thank you for your understanding as we work to improve the services we provide.

Helpdesk
Visit the Helpdesk in Gordon Library
http://www.wpi.edu/+helpdesk | helpdesk@wpi.edu
508.831.5888 | Ext. 5888

Details
On Wednesday September 8th, 2010 starting at 5:00 am the SourceForge collaboration website will be off line for one hour. The downtime will occur in order to migrate SourceForge data to the new WPI EMC Network area storage device.

Please direct questions or concerns to the Helpdesk. Thank you for your patience while we work to improve the services we offer to the WPI community.

Details
Our production reporting database (ODSP) will be upgraded to the latest version (8.2.1) of the ODS (Operational Data Store) software. This is a major upgrade and will cause the ODSP database to be unavailable for reporting for the duration of the upgrade.

Reports that pull data from the ODSP database using any method, including Argos, Discoverer, Excel or any tool that connects to this database will not run.

Please contact the Helpdesk with any questions or concerns that you may have. Thank you for your patience while we work to improve the services we offer to the WPI community.

Details
In order to install a software enhancement to the Meridian voicemail system it will be necessary to shut down the voicemail system starting at 6:00 pm (EDT) tonight. The system should be down for about an hour.

Between approximately 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm, there will be no access to the voicemail system and no new messages will be received or recorded.

After successful completion of the installation, the system will return to its normal state with all prior greetings and messages intact.

Thank you for your understanding as we work to improve the services we provide.

Helpdesk
Visit the Helpdesk in Gordon Library
http://www.wpi.edu/+helpdesk | helpdesk@wpi.edu
508.831.5888 | Ext. 5888

Details
Monday, August 23rd Helpdesk will be open from 8 am - 4 pm but closed from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. to prepare for evening Computer Network Setup visits to the First Year Residence Halls. Helpdesk will re-open at 6 pm and close at 8 pm.

Tuesday, August 24th & Wednesday, August 25th and first week of A-term Helpdesk expects unusually high call volume on these days. Response times will be longer than usual and some callers may be diverted to voice mail.

We appreciate the understanding and support of the WPI Community as we work to address the needs of all those who seek our assistance. Thank you in advance for your patience during this busy time.

Details
The following services will be impacted by the upgrade:
Email
There will be a disruption of email service for people who use procmail on the UNIX systems to process their mail.
• Incoming mail for these users only will not be delivered during the upgrade.
• Mail will be queued for delivery when the upgrade has completed.
• Normal delivery will resume at 8:00 am and queued messages will begin to be delivered then, too.

All other mail should flow normally throughout the entire period.

Web pages
• WPI Departmental web pages will be accessible, but not changeable, from 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm Friday evening.
• Personal web pages will be frozen from 8:00 pm through 8:00 am Saturday.

UNIX services
• During the upgrade, UNIX systems will accept login, but no updates can be made in user file spaces
• UNIX Services will be disrupted while servers are rebooted following the completion of the upgrade.
o Server reboots will begin at 8:00 AM on Saturday morning and should be completed by Noon
o During the server reboot stage, users should expect services to be occasionally unavailable.
o All IT services dependent upon UNIX servers or UNIX services will be impacted during this stage.
This includes but is not limited to services such as:
 VPN authentication
 Proxy authentication
 Account Maintenance
 Directory lookup

• The path to UNIX home directories will not change. It will remain: /home/username

File Storage
• There will only be read-only access to files stored on toaster.wpi.edu via Windows drive mapping (\\toaster.wpi.edu\username) from 8:00 pm through 8:00 am.
• At 8:00 am, access to personal storage will change to \\filer.wpi.edu\HOME
Note: there is no longer a need to specify your username when mapping the drive

What will happen to all my files?
All files previously stored on toaster.wpi.edu will be moved to the new server: filer.wpi.edu.
This process should take approximately 12 hours.

How do I access my files on the new server?
On WPI IT Managed Windows computers:
The drive mappings will be automatically updated following a reboot.

On personally owned computers:
Disconnect the drive mapping for toaster.wpi.edu and manually reconnect to \\filer.wpi.edu\HOME
1. Right-click on the Computer icon and choose Map Network Drive...
2. Select a free drive letter such as "R:" by clicking on the drop-down next to Drive:
3. In the Folder field, type the new path \\filer.wpi.edu\HOME

On Macintosh systems:
1. In Finder, select Go, then pick Connect to Server...
2. Enter smb://filer.wpi.edu/HOME and click Connect.

More operating system specific drive mapping instructions are available online.

We recognize the inconvenience this upgrade may cause as many WPI Community members prepare for the new academic year. It is our goal to complete the upgrade in advance of the academic term to minimize disruption to the important academic work that will begin on August 26, 2010.

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we work to improve the services we provide.

Details
Since yesterday, we have been experiencing intermittent stability issues with the WPI Network.

What are we doing to minimize impact to faculty, staff and students?
Network Operations staff are working with Juniper engineers to resolve issues as they arise. While extensive testing was completed in advance, a certain amount of configuration issues can be expected when dealing with a network as complex as WPI’s. Network Operations and Juniper engineers have been on-site working through the night and will continue to maintain 24-hour watch over the systems for any signs of impending instability until the root cause is identified and a permanent resolution is applied.

What can I do?
We encourage the community to utilize best practices to minimize the impact of unplanned outages by frequently saving their files, allocating extra time to complete work, saving local backup copies of important files (such as presentations, lectures, or coursework) and preparing well in advance of critical deadlines.

We thank you for your understanding and patience as we work with the vendor to stabilize the network. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Helpdesk.

Details
As part of the Gordon Library renovation, the Helpdesk will be moving to permanent location on the entrance floor (2nd floor) of the Gordon Library.

Helpdesk response times during the move may be slower (duration is approximately three days). During that time, users are encouraged to leave a detailed voice message so that we can respond to requests as soon as possible. Walk up services will not be available during this time. People who have urgent requests are asked to plan accordingly and contact the Helpdesk prior to August 3rd.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Should you have any question or concerns please contact the WPI Helpdesk.

Details
Maple 14 is now available for the community to install (VPN required if off campus).
\\rivet.wpi.edu\applications\Maple

Maple 14 is not backwards compatible with earlier license server versions requiring Mac and Linux installations requiring a manual license installation. Windows users should be able to run the installer without a manual install of the license file.

To manually install the Mac or Linux license file, please see the install folders (linked above) for further instructions. A “how to Install Maple” or “Maple14-Linux-licensing” text file will provide specific steps.

Please contact the WPI Helpdesk for assistance or questions. Thank you.

Details
Information Technology detected an issue with mail delivery to Exchange mail users early this morning. The issue was resolved around 10:50 am.

Mail delivery from external senders (those outside of WPI) to Exchange users failed and generated bounce messages. Outside senders who received delivery error reports (bounced message notices), will need to resend. Resent mail should deliver normally now.

Outgoing mail delivery - from WPI Exchange users to external recipients (those outside of WPI) - was not impacted by this issue and should have delivered normally.

We apologize for any inconvenience this outage may have caused. Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding this issue.

Thank you.

Details
Taking the necessary precautions will result in cost savings for WPI from decreased power utilization. Thank you for your cooperation in this important endeavor.

Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Thank you.

Details
WPI Information Technology will update the login page of Outlook Web Access (OWA) to match the look and feel of the WPI main website.
The login process will also change at this time. Instead of clicking a link and entering your email address and password on a pop-up window, you will now enter your information directly on the web page.

Upon logging in, OWA will look the same as it has previously.

An example of the new look can be found on the existing OWA login page.

Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding this process.

Thank you.

Details
Why the July 1st Deadline?
This deadline allows the Systems Administrators adequate time to test and configure the software for deployment in the labs prior to the start of the term. To ensure that required software is installed and working without disruption to A-term and B-term classes, Fall 2010 Software Requests must be submitted on time.

Is this a new policy?
This notice does not reflect any change in policy. Please see the CCC Software Installation Policy for more details regarding academic software requests.

How do I submit a request?
To complete the request form, simply visit: Software Installation Request form and click on the New button. When the form opens, complete the form and click on the Submit button when done.

If you experience troubles using SharePoint or completing the form, simply contact the Helpdesk.

Windows 7 Compatibility
Requested software must be compatible with Windows 7 64-bit for use in campus computer labs.

Questions?
Do not hesitate to contact the WPI Helpdesk with any questions or concerns you may have.

Details
On Friday, May 21, 2010, beginning at 6:00 PM (EDT) and lasting about 6 hours, the campus phone system will be upgraded. During this time, no campus phone services will function. The WPI PBX (Private Branch Exchange) will be upgraded to enable enhanced functionality which will position WPI for future service offerings.

Emergency Call Boxes
WPI Community members should be advised that during this phone service outage, no campus emergency call boxes will work. In the event of an emergency, please use your personal cell phone to:

• Call campus police at: 508.754.1889


OR


• dial 911

Details
On Friday, May 7, 2010, beginning at 6:00 PM (EDT) and lasting about 6 hours, the campus phone system will be upgraded. During this time, no campus phone services will function. The WPI PBX (Private Branch Exchange) will be upgraded to enable enhanced functionality which will position WPI for future service offerings.
Emergency Call Boxes
WPI Community members should be advised that during this phone service outage, no campus emergency call boxes will work.
o In the event of an emergency, use your personal cell phone to call campus police at: 508.754.1889
o OR dial 911

Thank you for your patience while we work to improve the services we provide to the WPI Community.

Details
As part of the ongoing Gordon Library renovation, the Helpdesk will be moving to its temporary location in room 303 of the Gordon Library.

Please be aware that Helpdesk response times during the actual move, may be slower (duration is approximately three days). During that time, users are encouraged to leave a detailed voice message so that we can respond to requests as soon as possible.

The Helpdesk will move from GL303 to the newly renovated location on the 2nd floor of the Gordon Library early in August.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Should you have any question or concerns please contact the WPI Helpdesk.

Details
The ADP Computer Lab, located on the basement level of Fuller Laboratories will be unavailable for use after May 4, 2010. Please see the full CCC lab listing for alternative computer labs - some of which are available for use 24 hours a day using an active WPI ID.

All labs have our core, standard software configuration. Please note that a number of academic software titles can be utilized “at home” using Windows and Macintosh systems through Virtual Lab web services. More information on how to connect can be found here.

Learn more about the Gordon Library renovation project.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Should you have any question or concerns please contact the WPI Helpdesk.

Details
Information Technology plans to deploy Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Edition to the CCC Managed Labs, E-Classroom instructor workstations and new computers beginning this summer.

Test-drive Windows 7
Computers in SL123 will be available for testing after D-term ends. WPI IT encourages faculty, staff and students to experience the new operating system and test how it works with WPI-supported software before A-Term 2010. If you have a specific question regarding the Windows 7 lab deployment schedule, please contact the Helpdesk.

Academic Software & **A-term request deadline**
The CCC has been actively testing most academic software titles; to add a title to validation list contact the Helpdesk.

WPI’s Windows Software Installation Policy requires a minimum of 8 weeks notice for any computer lab software requests. In order to properly validate software compatibility with Windows 7, we must strictly adhere to this policy. As such, all requests for A-Term must be made prior to July 1st, 2010.

New Faculty and Staff computers will have Windows 7
Windows 7 will be installed on newly deployed faculty and staff computers. As with past releases of the Windows operating system, we do not plan to upgrade existing Windows XP and Windows Vista systems to Windows 7. WPI owned computers requiring a reimage will be imaged with Windows 7 by default moving forward.

Learn more about WPI supported operating systems.

Want to learn more about Windows 7?
Learn about using Windows 7 at WPI or contact Deb Dexter to schedule a remote training session and request a Windows 7 Quick Start Card.

Details
We will be performing system maintenance of myWPI (http://my.wpi.edu) in order to ensure efficient system operation. There will be no updates to the layout or features of myWPI. No action is required by users.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to improve the systems we support.

Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to questions users may have about the maintenance:

What about D-term grades?
This maintenance has been scheduled to occur after D-term course grades are due to the Registrar on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 5:00 PM (EDT) for Graduate courses and Friday, May 7, 2010 at 5:00 PM (EDT) for Undergraduate courses (http://www.wpi.edu/Admin/Registrar/events403.html).

Students may check their final course grades online from the Student Web Information System at http://bannerweb.wpi.edu. Course sites remain available for 21 days after the end of a term, so students will still be able to access their D-term sites following the site maintenance to review grades on individual assignments or to submit files for Incompletes. If you need a course site to remain available for longer than 21 days after the end of D-term, send a request to myhelp@wpi.edu. Please note this request must come from a course instructor or administrator.

I need a course/organization/project-group site. What should I do?
Course or Organization site requests submitted using the forms found at http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/HowTo/MyWPI/forms.html will still be processed before and after the maintenance during regular business hours. However, during the downtime, we will not be able to process any site requests. Any submissions during this time will be queued until after the maintenance is complete. myWPI course requests are typically completed within two business days of form submission.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site prior to the maintenance? Will I lose my content?
No content will be lost in any myWPI sites. You will simply lose access to your site during the maintenance. Following the maintenance, your myWPI site will appear exactly as it did before.

Following the maintenance, will I still be able to copy content from prior courses like I could before?
Yes, prior course

Details
Over the weekend, Hotmail, Live.com, and MSN setup an email block that prevented WPI email accounts from successfully sending email to @msn.com, @hotmail.com, and @live.com accounts.

Why did this happen?
This block was a direct result of someone at WPI falling victim to a phishing scheme. The compromised WPI email account was used to generate high volumes of SPAM. To MSN, WPI appeared to be a SPAM source. To protect their members from attack, they blocked mail from WPI while they investigated.

More about Phishing . . .
Phishing schemes are common occurrences and as such all members of the WPI community must remain vigilant at all times. Phishing is a high-tech scam that often uses e-mail to deceive people into disclosing sensitive personal information that can then be used to enable identity theft. Please remember that:

No one in WPI IT will ever ask you for your password and you should never provide it.

Details
This upgrade of myWPI (http://my.wpi.edu) will address known issues and provide security updates. No action is required by users.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to improve the systems we support.

Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to questions users may have about the upgrade:

What about C-term grades?
Course sites remain available for 21 days after the end of a term, so students will still be able to access their C-term sites following the upgrade to review grades on individual assignments. If you need a course site to remain available for longer than 21 days after the end of C-term, send a request to myhelp@wpi.edu.

I need a course/organization/project-group site. What should I do?
Course or Organization site requests submitted using the forms found at http://www.wpi.edu/+Collaboratory/HowTo/MyWPI/forms.html will still be processed before and after the upgrade. However, during the downtime, we will not be able to process any site requests. Any submissions during this time will be queued until after the upgrade is complete. myWPI course requests are typically completed within two business days of form submission.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site prior to the upgrade? Will I lose my content?
No content will be lost in any myWPI sites. You will simply lose access to your site during the upgrade. Following the upgrade your myWPI site will appear exactly as it did before.

Following the upgrade, will I still be able to copy content from prior courses like I could before?
Yes, prior course content will still be available for copying into current and future course sites.

Details
At the end of each term and semester, Library computers and computer lab resources are in high demand. When these resources meet capacity, students who intend to use computers for personal entertainment (game play, online shopping, movie/video, etc.) are asked to refrain from these uses and leave these resources available for academic use.

The following labs are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to support academic work. A valid WPI ID card is needed to gain access.

•Salisbury Labs 123
•Kavin Hall 202
•Kavin Hall 207
•Higgins Labs 230

Full CCC lab listing (some not 24hr).

All labs have our core, standard software configuration. Please note that a number of academic software titles can be utilized “at home” through terminal services for Windows and Macintosh systems. More information on how to connect can be found here.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Should you have any question or concerns please contact the WPI Helpdesk.

Details
Over the course of the last few weeks, we’ve been having stability issues with our myWPI servers. We are actively working with Blackboard support to resolve the issue.

We encourage the community to prepare for possible outages at critical times by downloading content from myWPI in advance of when it is needed, such as for presentations or lectures.

We apologize for any inconvenience. We will send another update as soon as the issue is resolved. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Helpdesk.

Details
On Monday issues were reported with sending email from myWPI, Banner, and also from scanners on campus. After investigating these issues, we learned that high server balance caused large emails to be delayed for hours.

Attempts to prevent the actions that led to the recent Hotmail, Live, and MSN block of WPI email resulted in the mentioned imbalance on the mail server. More demanding jobs (like delivery of large files or mail to large distribution lists) were deferred by the mail server as it attempted to process all the jobs effectively. Some people may not have noticed this as most messages were delivered without a delay.

We have since resolved this issue, and email and scan jobs are now sending without problem.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Helpdesk. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Details
Hotmail, Live.com, and MSN previously placed a block resulting in WPI not being able to send email to @msn.com, @hotmail.com, and @live.com accounts.

Due to WPI patrons providing their WPI password to a SPAM source, WPI email was blocked by MSN. At that time, MSN determined WPI email to be SPAM as they received numerous SPAM messages from WPI addresses.

A ticket was placed with MSN to release the block as WPI IT addressed the SPAM issue. MSN has since released their block of WPI email.

Email sent during this issue will have resulted in a bounce. Those messages will need to be sent again, as there was no way for WPI IT to queue them for future delivery.

Please do not ever give your WPI password to anyone else or enter it in any non-WPI web site. University and corporate computer accounts are desirable to spammers because our servers can send a lot of email very quickly. In this case, one shared password allowed nearly 300,000 pieces of junk mail to be sent in just a few hours.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Details
This morning, Hotmail, Live.com, and MSN placed a block resulting in WPI not being able to send email to @msn.com, @hotmail.com, and @live.com accounts.

Due to WPI patrons providing their WPI password to a SPAM source, WPI email has been blocked by MSN. MSN has determined WPI email to be SPAM as they received numerous SPAM messages from WPI addresses.

A ticket has been placed with MSN to release the block as WPI IT has addressed the SPAM issue. Unfortunately, this is out of WPI our control to resolve at this point.

Please do not ever give your WPI password to anyone else or enter it in any non-WPI web site. University and corporate computer accounts are desirable to spammers because our servers can send a lot of email very quickly. In this case, one shared password allowed nearly 300,000 pieces of junk mail to be sent in just a few hours.

As developments occur, we will keep you posted. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Details
On January 26th, a new license architecture for Matlab will be put into place. The new architecture will allow for improved access to and more reliable use of Matlab licenses going forward.

Installations of Matlab versions prior to 2009a using license number 193168 will need to be updated. Failure to make the required updates will render Matlab unusable.

Please see the following notice for instructions on how to update your personal license configuration.

Details
Taking the necessary precautions will result in cost savings for WPI from decreased power utilization. Thank you for your cooperation in this important endeavor.

Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Happy holidays and best wishes for a wonderful 2010!

Details
A major software upgrade is required on our Banner database. Expected downtime is approximately 4 days.

The following Banner services will be available during the upgrade:
- The ability for students to view grades
- The ability for employees to view pay stub information

The following Banner services will be unavailable during the upgrade:
-Banner Web Information System
(with the exception of viewing grades for students and pay stub access for employees as indicated above).
-Banner Forms (Production)
-ARD
-ODBC Connections to the Banner Database
-On-line conference payments
-Web Admissions applications
-On-line giving
-Course Schedule lookup
-CCC account creation and maintenance
Reporting from the ODSP database will be available during the outage, and will contain data from the end of the business day on December 23rd.
Please feel free to contact the Helpdesk with any questions regarding this planned downtime. Should there be a major conflict, please let us know.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to improve the systems we support.

Details
On January 18th, a new license architecture for Matlab will be put into place. The new architecture will allow for improved access to and more reliable use of Matlab licenses going forward. Installations of Matlab versions prior to 2009a using license number 193168 will need to be updated. Failure to make the required updates will render Matlab unusable.

Directions to update Matlab license number 193168

To check Matlab license number and verify installation folder:

Note: Off Campus users will need to connect to the VPN before following this procedure.

1. Start Matlab. At the Matlab command prompt, type: license <return>
2. Matlab should answer with: ans = 193168.
*If your answer IS NOT 193168 then no further action is necessary.
3. If your answer is 193168, type: matlabroot <return>.
*The matlabroot command will provide your system’s $MATLAB installation folder.

Windows
On Windows the client license.dat file is located in $MATLAB\bin\win32 (for R2007b and earlier) or $MATLAB\licenses (R2008a and newer).

Linux / Mac OS
On Linux/Mac this license.dat file is placed in $MATLAB/etc (for R2007b and earlier) and $MATLAB/licenses (R2008a and newer).

4. Once you have located your license.dat file, rename it to license.dat-mlm.


To Update Matlab license number 193168:

Windows
Additionally Windows Users will need to:
Run \\rivet\applications\matlab\MATLAB_LICENSE_TRIAD.VBS to update your system variables to use the new Matlab servers.

Mac
1. Map to smb://rivet.wpi.edu/applications/matlab
2. Drag and drop the MacOS-Linux-matlab-license-updater.sh script to your home directory.
3. Open a terminal window and run the update script:
sh ./MacOS-Linux-matlab-license-updater.sh <return>
(The script will update the user profile. In addition the script will locate any additional matlab license files and report the information back to you.)

Final Step:
In order to use the new license environment you must log off and on to your computer.

For additional assistance, please contact the Helpdesk. Thank you for your support while we work to improve the services we offer to the WPI community.

Details
The CCC recommends that all unnecessary office equipment be powered off over the holiday weekend. Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Thank you for your cooperation. Enjoy your Holiday!

Details
As part of the deployment of Office Communication Server (OCS) (coming to students in December) we are working to configure Office Communicator to connect with the Google Chat. It is necessary to reserve the WPI domain with Google to allow for communication between OCS and the Google Chat network. As a result, Google accounts registered with a WPI email address will no longer be able to log directly into the Google Chat client. Users should log in directly with the associated @gmail.com account for continued functionality.

If you have any questions please contact the WPI Helpdesk (helpdesk@wpi.edu, 508-831-5888).

Details
The IT division has upgraded the Windows Virtual Lab environment to now support Virtual Lab Web Access and has increased the capacity of the Virtual Lab environment. Virtual Lab Web Access utilizes new technologies from Microsoft called RemoteApp® and Terminal Services Web Access which allows access to individual applications within the Virtual Lab while appearing to operate on your local computer.

To access the new Virtual Lab Web Access, logon to http://tsweb.wpi.edu

Please note that Virtual Lab Web Access requires Internet Explorer 6.0 or later and Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection 6.1 or greater which is available through Windows Update.

For more information regarding RemoteApp® and Terminal Services Web Access check out: http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/CCC/Help/Software/termserv.html#2

Instructions for getting started with Virtual Lab Web access can be found here:
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/CCC/Help/Software/remapp.html

Please address any questions or concerns to the Helpdesk calling x5888, (508)831-5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu

Details
A software upgrade is needed on the Banner database. Expected downtime is approximately 4 hours.

The following Banner services will be unavailable during the outage:

- Banner Web Information System (bannerweb.wpi.edu)
- Banner Forms (Production)
- ARD (used by Alumni Office)
- ODBC Connections to the Banner Database
- On-line conference payments
- Web Admissions applications
- On-line giving
- Course Schedule lookup
- CCC account creation and maintenance
- Reporting from the ODSP database (Discover, Argos, etc.)

Please contact the Helpdesk with any questions or concerns regarding this planned outage. Should there be a major conflict, please let us know no later than Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 9 am.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to maintain the security of the systems we support.

Details
We are updating WPI accounts to ensure Exchange services are available to all faculty, staff and students. This update allows account owners the capability of easily requesting Exchange services going forward. This update will not force anyone to change the preferred mail client that they currently use.

Due to problems with the way that Outlook’s Auto-Complete feature caches e-mail addresses there may be problems sending messages to the updated accounts. E-mailing updated users may result in a bounce message that looks like this:

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:
Lastname, Firstname
This recipient e-mail address was not found. Microsoft Exchange will not attempt to redeliver this message for you. Please check the recipient e-mail address against the Global Address List and resend this message.

If you have verified this recipient exists, your issue might be resolved by clearing the name from Outlook AutoComplete, seen here.

If you are unable to find the user in the Global Address List, you may be able to search for the WPI Community member's email address using the Campus Directory search utility found here. If you need more assistance, please contact the CCC Helpdesk at helpdesk@wpi.edu or (508) 831-5888.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This issue is easily fixed by following the directions to remove the obsolete Auto-Complete address specified in the bounce message.

Once the obsolete address is removed, the correct address will be added to the Auto-Complete on first use. The message which failed to deliver will need to be resent.

If you continue to run into problems please contact the WPI Helpdesk at (508) 831-5888 or helpdesk@wpi.edu.

Does this affect off-campus users?
No, this does not affect off-campus e-mail. This only affects internal WPI Exchange users who use Outlook.

Will this issue happen again in the future?
No, this update will fix all WPI email accounts so that this issue does not occur in the future.

Will I lose any e-mail?
No, existing e-mail will not be lost by this change. Messages sent to updated users after the update occurs will immediately be bounced back indicating to the sender that the message was not sent. Once they make the changes noted in this message to remove the errant cached address, they will be able to resend the message without a problem.

We apologize in advance for the inconvenience this may cause and ask for your cooperation as we work through this change to improve future services for all WPI community members.

Details
Web pages currently available via "http://users.wpi.edu" will be redirected to the replacement server at 9:00 am (EDT) on Tuesday, 8 October 2009.

Web visitors should not notice the change. We expect web sites to be available during the switchover. New features available on the new server include:

*Apache2 (2.2.13)
*FastCGI (2.4.6)
*FastCGI development kits for Ruby, Python, Perl, and C
*Ruby (1.9.1p243) on Rails (2.3.4)
*Python (2.4.3)
*Perl (5.8.8)
*Passenger (2.2.5) available to clubs with virtual hosts to launch Rails, Rack, and WSGI applications.
*SuEXEC CGI for virtual hosts.
*PubCookie for authentication using WPI accounts
*Move from i686 to x86_64 CPU architecture
*Upgrade from RHEL4 to RHEL5
________________________________________

For those accounts utilizing a .htaccess file to secure their web pages:
Those who secure a portion of their website using WPI passwords will need to make the changes detailed below. Those who use CGI programs linked with shared libraries may need to recompile if the libraries have changed significantly.

Those who use "AuthType Basic" with a private "htpasswd" file need not change.

Authenticating your site visitors using WPI accounts
This applies to those who have the following line in a ".htaccess" file:
AuthPAM_Enabled on

If that line appears in a ".htaccess" file, that entire line should be removed and the line "AuthType Basic" should be changed to:
AuthType EGNetID

Additionally, all pages secured this way must be served via HTTPS.

Virtual Hosts
For those managing virtual hosts, you must reference secured pages using a URL under "https://users.wpi.edu/" rather than under the virtual host name. Once you have made the changes specified above, please contact the Helpdesk to have your virtual hostname moved.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work to improve the services we provide.

Details
Phishing is a high-tech scam that often uses e-mail to deceive people into disclosing sensitive personal information that can then be used to enable identity theft.

Please remember that no one in WPI IT will ever ask you for your password and you should never provide it. Any such requests are fraudulent.

For additional details about phishing threats and to increase your own awareness, see:
http://www.wpi.edu/+infosec/phishing.html

============================================================
General guidelines:
Beware of Email Phishing schemes

No one in WPI IT will ever ask you for your password and you should never provide it. Any such requests are fraudulent.

A “phishing” scheme is a form of identity theft. Phishing relies on social engineering, forging fraudulent requests from seemingly trustworthy sources.

If you receive an email and it seems questionable (requests that you provide or confirm password, PIN or other private personal information), do not reply and follow these steps:

 Do not click on any links in the message
 Do not reply to the message
 Forward the message and full headers to Information Security at phishing@wpi.edu for reporting and follow-up
 Delete the message
 If the message could be legitimate, contact the source via another medium. For example, if you receive an email phishing message, telephone the source to confirm. Remember, banks and credit card companies never ask for your account numbers; they have them. WPI will never ask for your password.
 Keep your virus and anti-spyware software up to date.

For more information:
http://www.wpi.edu/+infosec/phishing.html

Details
Users of myWPI who are currently running Google Chrome and Firefox 3.5 may experience difficulties while using the system.

The most common error currently being experienced by members of the WPI community is the inability to submit files to the Assignment Manager in myWPI. Anyone using Google Chrome or Firefox 3.5 will receive the following error message when trying to upload a file to the Assignment Manager: "Please enter a valid file".

The only resolution of this error is the use of a supported browser. Blackboard officially supports the use of the following browsers: Internet Explorer 7.0, Internet Explorer 8.0, Safari 3.1, and Firefox 3.0.

For now, the use of Google Chrome or Firefox 3.5 is not recommended for myWPI users.

If you would like more information on this error and other known browser incompatibilities please click here: http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/HowTo/MyWPI/knownbrowserissues.html.

Please direct any questions or concerns to the Helpdesk. Thank you.

Details
Anyone who feels they still have not received an email which they expected to arrive during the specified time period can login to the Unix webmail server to read or process their mail. People wishing to check their mailbox on the mail hub can do so online via the UNIX Webmail link found at: https://webmail.wpi.edu

We apologize for an inconvenience this delay may have caused. Thank you for your understanding as we worked to deliver the messages to the proper destination.

Details
Thurs. & Fri. - August 20th & 21st
Helpdesk will be conducting student staff training on Thursday, August 20th & Friday, August 21st. Since some Helpdesk staff and all Helpdesk student staff will be in training on these days, the Helpdesk will be short-staffed. Response times will be longer than usual and some callers may be diverted to voice mail.

Sunday, August 23rd
Helpdesk will be open 9 am - 3 pm to assist new students and their families.

Monday, August 24th
Helpdesk will be open from 8 am - 4 pm but closed from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. to prepare for evening Computer Network Setup visits to the First Year Residence Halls. Helpdesk will re-open at 6 pm and close at 10 pm.

Tues., August 27th & Wed., August 28th and first week of A-term – Helpdesk expects unusually high call volume on these days. Response times will be longer than usual and some callers may be diverted to voice mail.

We appreciate the understanding and support of the WPI Community as we work to address the needs of all those who seek our assistance. Thank you in advance for your patience during this busy time.

Details
As part of the deployment of a new internal instant messaging system coming soon it is necessary to reserve Microsoft Live IDs that correspond to WPI email addresses. This change is required to facilitate connecting the WPI instant messaging network to the Internet.

It was not anticipated that the approval process for this feature would be available as quickly as it was, which resulted in these emails being sent by Microsoft prior to our ability to notify the community.

Most importantly, the services you use with your Windows Live/Passport account will not change or be affected. The only required change is the email address you use to login to your Live ID for instant messaging. For more information, please visit http://support.microsoft.com/gp/Messenger/.

Included for your information is the text of the email sent by Microsoft below. Please note that this email was not malicious or spam.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

If you have any questions please contact the WPI Helpdesk (helpdesk@wpi.edu, 508-831-5888).

---------------------------------------------------------------

Windows Live ID Account Holder,

** Action Recommended by 8/22/2009**

You have been identified as having a Windows Live ID account that ends in wpi.edu

Please read on if you use this Windows Live ID for instant messaging using Windows Live Messenger, MSN® Messenger or Windows® Messenger. If you do not use your Windows Live ID for instant messaging, you may ignore this message.

1. The owner of the wpi.edu domain has selected Microsoft Office Live Communication Server for their instant messaging service.

2. If you want to continue using the Windows Live Messenger service, you must change the email address associated with your Windows Live ID account to a new domain.

3. If you attempt to use Windows Live Messenger after 8/22/2009 and you have not changed the email address associated with your Windows Live ID account than you will be prompted to do so at that time.

To change your Windows Live ID email address to either a new Hotmail account or an address of your choice, visit: http://g.msn.com/5meen_ms/95

For information and frequently asked questions regarding this change, visit Microsoft Support: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/Messenger/

IMPORTANT: Because fraudulent ("phishing") e-mail often uses misleading links, Microsoft recommends that you do not click links in e-mail, but instead copy and paste recognized URLs into your browser.

Please do not reply to this email. This is a non-monitored e-mail address and you will not receive a response.

Details
On Monday August 10, the CCC file server will be rebooted. The estimated down time will be about 10 minutes starting at 6:00 A.M. We will be performing the reboot to prepare for start of the academic year.

The following services will be impacted:
•Access to files stored on personal file shares on Toaster (via toaster.wpi.edu)
•Access to WPI webpages
•Login services for Unix accounts
•CCC account maintenance (password resets and account creation)
•CCC hosted databases (mysql.wpi.edu, oracle.wpi.edu)
•WPI Proxy Server (proxy.wpi.edu)
•WPI licensed courseware
•Inbound and Outbound email
•Exchange to Exchange email will NOT be affected by the outage.

Please contact the Helpdesk with any questions or concerns you may have about this planned service interruption. Thank you.

Details
On Wednesday, July 29th we will be officially switching over to a new WPI unix compute cluster. There will not be a downtime for this upgrade. We will be replacing outdated hardware to increase server availability and speed.

Users with data stored on the current compute cluster are urged to backup their files to a safe location before the mentioned date.

Please contact the Helpdesk with any questions or concerns. Thank you.

Details
Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) will be deployed to all WPI Windows domain systems overnight after business hours (4:30 pm EDT) on Thursday, July 30. Systems may be rebooted once the installation is finished.

On the evening of the scheduled deployment, please log off, but leave your computer powered on. Do not shutdown your computer. We recommend you add a reminder to your calendar to log off of your computer at the end of your workday on July 30. Deployments for machines not on the network at that time will be done the next day.

The installation procedure will take approximately an hour for most computers.

When Outlook is first run, the mailbox will need to be re-indexed in order to make use of the latest performance updates to the software. This may take between 15-30 minutes. During this time we recommend users use Outlook Web Access (http://exchange.wpi.edu) to access their mail. Your mail, calendar and contacts will not be affected by this re-indexing.

Office 2007 SP2 provides numerous security and performance updates to the Microsoft Office Suite. Notable features of the service pack are:
•The ability to open, edit and save documents in version 1.1 of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
•Performance and reliability updates to Outlook 2007

If you would like to manually apply the updates ahead of the scheduled update you may run the install files from the network at:
\\admin.wpi.edu\installpoint\Updates\Service_Packs\Office

The update for Office includes Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, InfoPath, and Publisher. Visio, Project and SharePoint Designer each have installers that must be run separately.

Training for Microsoft Office 2007 topics are currently available from the ATC instruction website at http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Instruction/. To register, click the ‘Schedule & Registration’ link.

Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding this process.

Thank you.

Details
On Wednesday July 22nd, we will be replacing an email server (SMTP.WPI.EDU) located at the WPI email gateway. We will be moving from a v20z server to a Sun Fire x4140 server. There will be an expected downtime of about an hour where some WPI email will be delayed. Email between individuals who both use the Exchange server will not be affected.

SMTP.WPI.EDU is responsible for relaying and filtering email that goes between systems at WPI and all mail coming from off-campus. This includes spam filtering and quarantine of email. The upgrade will improve both the speed and reliability of email at WPI.

Please contact the Helpdesk if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for your understanding while we work to improve the services we offer WPI.

Details
We experienced an issue with our BlackBerry server this morning. WPI IT worked with RIM to correct this issue. Email should now be correctly sending to BlackBerry devices connected to our BES server.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may caused. Please contact the Helpdesk if you have any questions or concerns.

Details
We are experiencing an issue with our BlackBerry server this morning. WPI IT is presently working with RIM to correct this issue as soon as possible. Until further notice, email will not be delivered to BlackBerry phones that are connected to WPI’s BES server.

A second notice will be sent as soon as we have corrected this issue.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact the Helpdesk if you have any questions or concerns.

Details
The CCC recommends that all unnecessary office equipment be powered off over the holiday weekend. Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Thank you for your cooperation. Enjoy your Holiday!