The Scoop

ITS will be doing maintenance on the network servers starting at 10pm Saturday, April 30, 2005.

We expect the outage to last four to six hours. Services that will not be available during this time include:

F, G and H drives
NetStorage

ITS

Help Desk
SUL Information Technology Services
443-4300

Posted by rusilver at 10:02 AM | Permalink

Information Technology Services (ITS), in conjunction with the Technology Associates, will begin rolling out Windows XP's service pack 2 to staff workstations on April 25, 2005. Think of service pack 2 as being a really big patch for Windows. Mostly, it contains a number of security enhancements for Windows XP and Internet Explorer that are transparent to the user. The one noticeable change is that Internet Explorer now has a built-in pop-up blocker. This pop-up blocker stops pop-up windows from automatically opening up as you visit web sites. If you specifically click on a link or button, the window will still open, but windows can no longer open on their own without any user interaction (more on the pop-up blocker in the next issue of the Staff Newsletter).

For a three-week period (April 25 - May 15), staff members can choose one of two options to get XP SP2 installed on their PC:

• upgrade to SP2 - you can schedule a time with your Technology Associate (or Information Technology Services, if you don’t have a TA) to have your PC upgraded to XP SP2. This option will preserve all existing data, software, and configuration settings on the PC. However, since there is always a chance that something can go wrong, ITS recommends that you back up any important data (not software) that is on your C: drive to your H: drive before the upgrade occurs.
• rebuild the PC - your PC will be completely wiped out and loaded with a clean, fresh standard build that now includes SP2. Any data and software that you loaded on the PC will be erased and will need to be reloaded, so you should back up any data you have on the C: drive to your H: drive before the rebuild occurs.

Depending on the model of computer you have (check the Dell tag on the front of the PC), the "rebuild the PC" option can be faster than the upgrade option. Upgrading to XP SP2 takes about 1-1/2 hours on the GX1 and GX100 models (which are cream-colored) and about 30 minutes on a GX240 or GX260 (which are black). Rebuilding a PC takes from 45 minutes to an hour.

If you want to upgrade to SP2, you should schedule it to run during a time when you are away from your PC - such as during lunch or while you are at a long meeting. If you are in an area that is locked and inaccessible to the public when it is not staffed, you can also schedule it to be started when you leave for the night. (Do not let the install run unattended in a publicly accessible, unsupervised area since the install may fail and leave the PC up and logged into the network and servers). Be sure to close all open programs (except the "Novell-delivered Applications" window) before the install is started and do not open any programs while the install is running.

The PC will automatically reboot if installation of XP SP2 was successful. You should log in with the same account after the reboot. This first login will be a bit slow as Windows XP completes the installation process.

When the three-week period for scheduling installs ends on May16th, ITS will begin forcing installation of the service pack. So, if you don't get XP SP2 loaded before May 16th at 8:00am, the install will start automatically during your first login after that time. The install will then tie up your PC for up to 1-1/2 hours. Do not try to cancel the install, as this may leave your PC in an unstable state. We realize that it is inconvenient for staff to have an automatic push of this length, so we encourage everyone to get their PC upgraded or rebuilt before May 16, 2005.

Posted by jdmorgan at 02:28 PM | Permalink

Libnet2 will be restarted today at 10:30 am. The server is current experiencing a problem that needs to be correctly before it becomes a more serious issue. This server hosts the following services:

staff printing
public printing
project drives (L:)
S: drive
Z: drive

Users that are already logged in will temporarily lose their connection to this server. Once the server comes back online connections will be reestablished automatically. If you encounter any connection problems after the outage, please restart your workstation.

Posted by rusilver at 10:17 AM | Permalink

The illiad.syr.edu web site, and all Illiad services, will be down on Tuesday, April 19th, from 8:00am to 10:00am for system maintenance.

Posted by jdmorgan at 03:32 PM | Permalink

ITS is scheduling an outage for our servers for
Tuesday, April 19, from 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM. Services that
depend on these servers and will be unavailable during this time
include:

Public printing
Staff printing
The BSD-Systems Project area (L: drive)
The Digital Imaging Lab project area (L: drive)
The Special Collections project area (L: drive)
The Novell-delivered Applications window
S: drive
Z: drive

This outage will allow us to perform updates and configuration changes
to these servers.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank everyone for your
cooperation.

Help Desk
SUL Information Technology Services
443-4300

Posted by rusilver at 01:41 PM | Permalink

Due to a server software update, the server that hosts file and print services for the G-SIC lab will be unavailable Thursday, April 14 from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM. All network services from the lab will be unavailble during this time.

Posted by rusilver at 10:43 AM | Permalink

The illiad.syr.edu web site, and all Illiad services, will be down on April 12 from 8:00am to 1:00pm. The system will be upgraded during this time. Please do not open the Illiad client or use any Illiad services from 8:00am to 1:00pm on Tuesday, April 12, 2005.

Posted by ljradiga at 12:31 PM | Permalink