Details
This weekend IT Staff will upgrade Banner Production Forms INB which will not cause any disruption to service so people may use Banner Forms during the upgrade. The first time you open Banner Forms on or after Monday, February 25, 2013 your browser will display security warnings prompting for add-ons or applications to be run on your machine. Depending on your browser and version, the prompts may include the following questions. Please respond accordingly.

Details
WPI IT Staff are monitoring this issue and recommend the following steps to avoid further problems:

• Do not upgrade to iOS 6.1
  
• If you have already upgraded to iOS 6.1, please apply iOS 6.1.2 patch immediately.

Details
Due to an issue with our storage server which provides the backend storage for Blackboard, the myWPI system was unavailable between 10:00 AM and 11:15 AM this morning. IT Staff addressed the problem and resolved the storage issue. The myWPI system was rebooted and service was restored.

We apologize for this interruption and appreciated your patience and cooperation as we worked to restore the system.
Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) with any questions or concerns regarding this incident.

Details
At the request of Blackboard, several server configurations setting changes require a restart of services. myWPI will be offline for a period of only 5-10 minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience this planned downtime may cause and appreciate your understanding as we work to improve the systems we support.

Details
January 19-20th (Sat-Sun):
In order to increase stability and security as well as maintain current versions, we will upgrade PROD and ODSP from Oracle 11.2.0.2 to Oracle 11.2.0.3 over two weekends. Banner and all services dependent on Banner will be unavailable for approximately two hours beginning at 9:00am and ending at 11:00am on Saturday, January 19. ODSP maintenance will begin at 9:00am as well but will be down for approximately two days from Saturday, January 19 through Sunday, January 20. ODSP maintenance only affects Argos Reporting.

January 26-27th (Sat-Sun):
We plan to complete the upgrades over the weekend of January 26 to 27. Banner and all services dependent on Banner will be unavailable for approximately eight hours beginning at 8:00am and ending at 4:00pm on Saturday, January 26. ODSP maintenance will begin at 8:00am as well but will be down for approximately two days from Saturday, January 26 through Sunday, January 27. ODSP maintenance only affects Argos Reporting.

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.

Details
The Helpdesk will be closed in observance of the holiday break starting at 5:00pm on Friday, December 21, and will reopen at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, January 2. During the holiday closure, urgent issues requiring the attention of emergency off-hours personnel should be reported via an email to helpdeskalert@wpi.edu.

All Helpdesk services will be unavailable during this time, including:
- Call Center services (phone support using 508.831.5888 or ext. 5888)
- Walk up service in the Gordon Library
- Email response via helpdesk@wpi.edu. Messages will be processed and senders will receive an automated response, but issues will not be attended to by Helpdesk staff until the Helpdesk reopens on Wednesday, January 2nd.

As mentioned yesterday by the Eco Reps at WPI, taking small actions can lead to big savings so help WPI save energy. Please safely shut down ALL office equipment including computers, monitors, printers, copiers, fax machines and scanners. Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Thank you for your cooperation, and happy holidays from the Helpdesk!

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

Details
On Friday, December 21, 2012 from 3:00 PM until 3:00 PM on Sunday, December 23, 2012 and again on Saturday, 01/05/13 from 7:00am until 10:00pm, our Banner Production database will be upgraded to Student 8.5 and HR 8.6/8.7. This is an on-going system upgrade from our vendor Ellucian. This routine maintenance will enable WPI to remain in a supported configuration.

We have reserved two days for the Banner Student upgrade and one day for the HR 8.6 & 8.7 upgrade. If the maintenance is not complete in the allotted time or if WPI experiences inclement weather causing the school to be shut down, another outage will be planned during an agreed upon time with the least impact possible to business operations.

All Banner services will be unavailable during this extensive upgrade. Information Technology staff have been working with the Division Information Analysts (IAs) to test specific Banner modules in preparation for this major upgrade. Specific concerns about impact to business processes should be directed to the appropriate Division IA.

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.

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

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 Fall/B-term grades?
This maintenance has been scheduled to occur after course grades were due to the Registrar on Tuesday, December 18th at 5:00pm ET.

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 B-term/Fall 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 content for 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. The request form can be accessed here.

What will happen if I am working on a course or organization site on the myWPI server 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, all content and structure will remain as it did before.

Thank you for your patience while we work to ensure the security and reliability of the systems we support.

Details
On Friday, December 21, 2012 from 3:00 PM until 3:00 PM on Sunday, December 23, 2012 and again on Thursday, December 27 from 7:00am until 10:00pm, our Banner Production database will be upgraded to Student 8.5 and HR 8.6/8.7. This is an on-going system upgrade from our vendor Ellucian. This routine maintenance will enable WPI to remain in a supported configuration.

We have reserved two days for the Banner Student upgrade and one day for the HR 8.6 & 8.7 upgrade. If the maintenance is not complete in the allotted time or if WPI experiences inclement weather causing the school to be shut down, another outage will be planned during an agreed upon time with the least impact possible to business operations.

All Banner services will be unavailable during this extensive upgrade. Information Technology staff have been working with the Division Information Analysts (IAs) to test specific Banner modules in preparation for this major upgrade. Specific concerns about impact to business processes should be directed to the appropriate Division IA.

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.

Details
As of 7:00 AM today, December 12, 2012 there have been some reports of issues accessing mapped drives on admin.wpi.edu. While many have not been affected and not all drives seem to have the issue, some are reporting ongoing problems. IT system administrators are presently working on a solution. If you are having problems, the file shares can still be accessed using the workaround below.

Mac users are not affected and no data has been lost.

Workaround:
1. Click on the Start globe to locate “Search programs and files”.
2. Type the full name of the file share (Example: \\admin.wpi.edu\fc\helpdesk).
3. Click “Enter”.
4. This will open a folder window and you will be able to browse the files directly.

Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu) if you need assistance with the workaround, or have any questions or concerns regarding this issue.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we work to restore normal operations for this important service.

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

Details
The Helpdesk will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday starting at 12:00pm on Wednesday, November 21, and will reopen at 11:00 AM on Sunday, November 25. During the holiday closure, urgent issues requiring the attention of emergency off-hours personnel should be reported via an email to helpdeskalert@wpi.edu.

All Helpdesk services will be unavailable during this time, including:
- Call Center services (phone support using 508.831.5888 or ext. 5888)
- Walk up service in the Gordon Library
- Email response via helpdesk@wpi.edu. Messages will be processed and senders will receive an automated response, but issues will not be attended to by Helpdesk staff until the Helpdesk reopens on Sunday.

Over the Thanksgiving break, we recommend that all unnecessary office equipment be powered off. Taking these necessary precautions will result in cost savings for WPI from decreased power utilization. Please note that if you intend to remotely access your WPI desktop while away, it must remain powered on.

Thank you for your cooperation, and Happy Thanksgiving from the Helpdesk!

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

Details
We have restored services after an email server issue early this morning. Affected users were unable to access OWA or connect to Exchange via Outlook or mobile devices. Email sent during this down time to the affected mailboxes was queued for later delivery.

Thank you for your patience as we worked to restore services to the WPI community. Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888 or email helpdesk@wpi.edu with any questions or concerns.

Details
We are currently working to restore services after an email server issue early this morning. Affected users are unable to access OWA or connect to Exchange via Outlook or mobile devices. Email sent during this down time to the affected mailboxes will be queued for later delivery.

Thank you for your patience as we work to restore services to the WPI community. Please contact the Helpdesk (call Ext. 5888) with any questions or concerns. If staff or faculty in your department did not receive this notice they are welcome to contact the Helpdesk to confirm if they are affected, and/or receive a call back when services are restored.

Details
On September 19, 2012, Apple Inc. released iOS 6, a new version of its operating system for mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad. Issues have been reported that declined meeting responses are not sent correctly. In a few instances when a meeting was declined from an Apple mobile device running iOS 6, a meeting cancellation notice was sent to the entire invite list, rather than just the meeting organizer. This effectively cancels the invitation for all attendees. When working properly, it should only send the declined response to the meeting organizer. Both Apple and Microsoft are aware of the issue, but a fix is not yet available.

We have also seen an issue with wireless connectivity where a mobile device appears to connect to the wireless network but receives zero data though WiFi. Instead, the data is transmitted through Cellular Data connections which can rapidly increase Cellular Data usage.

We suggest NOT upgradingyour Apple mobile device to iOS 6. If you have an iPhone 5 or have already upgraded a device to iOS 6, please do not decline meeting requests from your Apple device until further notice.

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.

Details
Beginning at 11 AM and continuing intermittently throughout the day on Sunday, a portion of the Faculty/Staff mailboxes were unavailable from any Exchange mail client (OWA, Desktop mail clients, Mobile mail clients).

Access to mail was restored by 8:30 PM. No mail was lost during this outage. Undelivered mail was spooled for delivery when the mailboxes were again available. Mail sent during this time may have taken several hours to arrive.

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 support this system.

Details
Over the summer IT staff, along with Bob Brown’s support, began the process of managing the web-based graduate application review system known as eGADS (Electronic Graduate Application Decision System). The eGADS system has been enhanced based on feedback and suggestions of its users. IT Staff will continue improving eGADS between now and the Fall term.

In order to ensure the system is ready for use in the fall, it will be taken offline for final testing. It will be unavailable from Monday, August 27th at 9:00am until Tuesday, September 4th, 2012, at 9:00am. During this time, all applications and credentials will be available for review on the K: drive (\\admin\fc\gradadm_grapp_review). Programs that are not yet using the web-based system will continue to do business as usual.

Departmental graduate administrators should already have received an invitation to our first workshops. Once the updated system is live, there will be additional workshops to introduce and review its features.

Details
Because of a change in licensing, WPI will be migrating from the Collabnet collaboration software (known as source forge or team forge) to a new open-source collaboration software named fusion forge (http://fusion.wpi.edu).

As part of the migration, any Sourceforge user accounts and projects with activity from August 1, 2011 to the present will be migrated to the new fusion system. If you discover that a project was not migrated please contact the Helpdesk and request a project migration. Contact the Helpdesk by calling x5888 or e-mail helpdesk@wpi.edu. The last day for project migration requests will be October 12, 2012. The source forge server will be permanently shut down on this date as well.

Post migration details:
•CVS repositories will no longer be supported in the fusion system. Migrated CVS repositories will be automatically converted to SVN as part of the migration process.
•The new fusion forge system will support GIT.
•Access to the fusion system will now use the standard WPI username and password to log in to the system.
•The existing source forge server will be read only once the migration is completed and will be shut down on October 12, 2012.

Details
On Thursday, August 2, 2012 between 10:00 AM and 10:00 PM, Information Security & Networking will be upgrading building switch software to address known security and functional issues.

Disruption of network services of 15 minutes in each building should be expected during this scheduled maintenance window. Buildings that contain academic & administrative offices will be done after business hours.

All network services and any IT services dependent upon network services may be impacted within the affected buildings including but not limited to:

* Internet access
* VPN (Virtual Private Network) access
* myWPI
* Email (no email will be lost)
* WPI Web site
* Network File Storage access
* Printing to network printers
* IP Telephones

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

Details
On Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Microsoft released Security Advisory 2737111 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/advisory/2737111) which detailed reports of vulnerabilities in Oracle’s Outside In libraries which are utilized by Exchange and SharePoint. As a result of this it is necessary to disable the inline attachment viewing feature in Outlook Web Access (OWA).

This does not affect Outlook for the PC or Mac, nor does it affect mobile Exchange clients. OWA is the only system affected.

WPI’s SharePoint implementation does not use the affected features and is not affected.

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.

Details
Wimba, our web conferencing vendor, will perform maintenance and upgrades to our Wimba Classroom server. This upgrade includes bug fixes to MP4 downloads and browser compatibility.

In order to complete the update a very brief interruption of services on both my.WPI.edu and Blackboard.wpi.edu will occur from approximately 7:00 am to 7:30 am, Sunday 7/15 while Wimba is brought back online. Except for this short interruption, other services on my.WPI.edu and Blackboard.wpi.edu will remain available (excluding Wimba Classroom).

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

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

Details
On Friday, June 22, 2012 from 7:00 PM – 8:00PM our production Banner database will be unavailable during a portion of the ODS upgrade that requires exclusive access to the Banner database. As soon as that portion of the upgrade is complete, access to the Banner database will be restored.

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

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.