Information Technology Services

Information Technology provides a wide range of technology services to EIU students, faculty and staff. These services include providing campus telephone services; maintaining the network infrastructure; computer, telephone, and walk-in support; ethernet service in student residence halls; computer laboratory facilities for students and faculty; E-mail services; and UNIX computational accounts.

Latest Announcements

PAWS for Students, PAWS for Employees, Banner (both INB and self-service) will be unavailable beginning at Noon on Friday (June 27th) till Sunday night (June 29th). During this time ITS will be upgrading Banner General module, Banner Student module, and DARS. Thanks for your patience and cooperation.

PAWS for Student, PAWS for Employees, Banner (both INB and self-service) will be unavailable Sunday, June 22nd, 8:00 a.m. – noon. During this time, the ITS department will test disaster recovery procedures. Thanks for your cooperation and patience.

If you RETIRE from Eastern Illinois University, you can continue to use your E-mail via PantherMail. If you are on Exchange, you need to call Cheryl Crowdson at 581-7999 to get your data off of the Exchange Server and on the PantherMail Server. If you RESIGN from EIU, you cannot keep your E-mail address or the Exchange Account if you have one. If you are resigning from EIU and want your E-mail messages, please be sure you call the HelpDesk at 581-help (4357) a WEEK BEFORE YOU LEAVE to setup an appointment to request help getting the data. You will need a USB drive to copy the file on. Thank you!

There are several software packages that could conflict with the Banner software. Here they are: Google Desktop including Google Toolbar MySearch Toolbar Yahoo Toolbar If you load the following software, they could significantly slow down your computer. Weather Bug Web Shots If you have a conflict you may have to uninstall that software until the issue is resolved. Then you can reinstall it if it doesn’t cause more problems. For instance, Banner required the Java plug-in be updated. The above mentioned software could prevent the installation of that update.

Last week, Adobe released a security bulletin concerning critical security vulnerabilities discovered in all versions of Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat prior to 8.1.2. These vulnerabilities can cause application crashes and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of an affected computer. Adobe recommends the immediate update of Acrobat and Reader applications to 8.1.2. Anyone running Adobe Acrobat 7 is also vulnerable and should update to version 7.1.0. Please note that this problem affects both the Windows and Macintosh versions of Adobe products. If you require assistance with upgrading your Adobe products, please contact the Help Desk at 581-HELP. ADAM D. DODGE, ITS

As many of you noticed this morning, almost all computer systems were unavailable, some till mid-morning. The problem was due to a 4:30 a.m. generator/electrical failure of a self-timed auto-test of the backup power system. The battery-backed transition system (UPS) subsequently depleted and caused many critical gateway systems to shut down. We believe that due to the ungraceful shutdown and subsequent switch to unfiltered Ameren power caused spikes and damage to network switching equipment and servers. Spares were put into service and we were back to full service by mid-morning. We apologize for the inconvenience. Facilities are looking into the matter and are repairing the generator and/or related electrical switchgear. -ITS and FPM P.S. Reminder: As previously announced, most computer subsystems will be unavailable from Friday evening to Saturday morning of this week, for upgrades and maintenance. Please plan accordingly.

Due to a power outage scheduled for the ITS computer room, Banner INB and PAWS (Banner Self-service) will be unavailable after 5:30p.m. on Friday, May 9th. Plans are to have the systems available at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 10th. If you have any questions please call the Help Desk at 581-HELP

There are several mailboxes on the Exchange server over the quota, which is slowing down the Exchange server for everyone. Please have people delete everything and empty their deleted items OR archive. Cheryl Crowdson will start contacting people who are over the quota on Monday and assist them.

This is a friendly reminder that your EIU system passwords will be expiring on April 10, 2008. If you have changed your password since March 10, 2008, you will not need to change your password at this time. This is the password that you use for accessing Windows PC Login (if you are a Windows Domain User), WebCT, Banner, Modem Dial- up, VPN, the EIU e-mail system and personal web space. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the ITS Help Desk at 217-581-HELP(4357) Instructions for changing your password: Please use the following rules when determining a new strong password. Once you have determined a new strong password follow the steps below. Strong Password Rules: * The first character of your password must be alphabetic * Your password must be a mix of upper and lower case letters * Your password must contain AT LEAST one number * Your password must be AT LEAST eight characters long * Your password must contain AT LEAST one special character (from the following list): ! % * + - / ? : * Your password MAY NOT be longer than fifteen characters total Recommended method for Mac, Linux, Windows Users: * Open your web browser and enter https://www.ezreset.eiu.edu in the address bar at the top of the browser window. * Click on the box \"English\". * Leave the drop down box at P-Synch and enter your user name in the box to the right of the drop down box. * If you remember your current password choose \"Use a password\". * Enter your password on the next page and choose \"verify password\". * Click \"Pick a new password\" * Enter a new password using the Strong Password Rules into the \"new password\" box and enter it again in the \"confirm\" box below and click \"change password\". An option for Windows Domain Users: *An optional way to change your password at anytime on supported Windows computers on the EIU Windows network is press the Ctrl - ALT- Delete keys and click on Change Password. Your old password is your current password. Then please choose a new strong password and re-enter it a second time. Or All Users: *Call the ITS Help Desk at 217-581-HELP(4357)

PAWS for students and employees will not be available Sunday (Mar. 30th), 6:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Production BANNER (INB and self-service) will also not be available. ITS will perform maintenance tasks during this time. If you have any questions, please call the help desk at 581-HELP

ITS has been informed of a \"Phishing\" attempt in an e-mail from an agency claiming to be the \"Help Desk Center\". Be aware that ITS will not ask for passwords in email. Please ignore ANY messages which ask you to confirm your username and password in e-mail or directing you to a web page to enter this information. If you have any questions please call the help desk at 581-HELP Thank You ITS Help Desk P.S. If you are unsure of what the term \"phishing\" means, please visit: http://its.eiu.edu/email/security.php and/or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

ATTENTION: INTERNET NATIVE BANNER (INB) USERS ONLY To remain vendor supported with Banner, we need to change the underlying software used with Internet Native Banner (INB). This change will become effective Feb. 3rd. INB users need to prepare for the change by installing the java plug-in before Feb. 1st. Mac users on OS X using either Safari or Firefox do not need to take any action. Linux users will need the Java Plugin for Linux at the 1.5_11 release or later. Windows users should follow the directions below. To install the plug-in: From the EIU home page (www.eiu.edu), click on the Faculty and Staff tab. On the Faculty and Staff tab, under Important Links, click on the red Banner Project Updates box. Under Announcements, links to the installation directions and to begin the installation of the Plug-in are available. Only people who use Internet Native Banner (INB) need to install the plug-in. If you aren’t sure whether you use INB, please contact the Help Desk. If you don’t feel comfortable with the directions and performing the installation, please contact the Help Desk. Thanks for your cooperation with this change.

The ITS website experienced an outage for maintenance last week. The entire system was upgraded in order to take advantage of newer technologies that will bring additional functionality to this site. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Argos (report writer used with Banner) – was upgraded to version 3. The opening page looks different, but once they click on Argos, then choose start, then choose 3.0.1.224 for the version to launch, it looks the same as the previous version.

PAWS and all Banner systems will be unavailable Sunday (Aug. 19th), 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. during the regularly scheduled downtime. ITS will be performing load re-tuning tasks in an effort to provide better response from the Banner systems. Thanks for your patience while we work through these issues!

Please be advised that if you are using TurningPoint 2006 with PowerPoint 2007, TurningPoint 2006 is not compatible with PowerPoint 2007. TurningPoint 2008 is compatible with PowerPoint 2007 but you cannot use TurningPoint 2006 license with 2008 and vice versa. Only TurningPoint 2008 License codes can be used in TurningPoint 2008. Once you activate a receiver for TurningPoint 2008 it will only work with TurningPoint 2008. All receivers that are currently on campus are licensed for TurningPoint 2006. If you have any questions please give me a call or email at jghenderson@eiu.ed.

ITS will be performing maintenance on the Exchange mail server on Friday, July 6, between 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm. During this time, all access to Exchange services will be unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Production Banner, both self-service (Banner PAWS) and INB, will be unavailable Thursday, May 24th, 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. to allow ITS time to implement a financial aid upgrade. Thanks for your patience!

Just a friendly reminder that your EIU system passwords will be expiring here soon. You need to change your EIU system password on or before May 31, 2007. This is the password that you use for accessing Windows PC Login (if you are a Windows User), WebCT, Modem Dial-up, VPN, the EIU e-mail system and personal web space.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the ITS Help Desk at 217-581-HELP(4357)

Instructions for changing your password:
Please use the following rules when determining a new strong password. Once you have determined a new strong password follow the steps below.

Strong Password Rules:

• The first character of your password must be alphabetic
• Your password must be a mix of upper and lower case letters
• Your password must contain AT LEAST one number
• Your password must be AT LEAST eight characters long
• Your password must contain AT LEAST one special character (from the following list): ! % * + - / ? :
• Your password MAY NOT be longer than fifteen characters total

For Windows Users:

The quickest and easiest way to change your password at anytime on supported Windows computers on the EIU Windows network is press the Ctrl – Alt – Delete keys and click on Change Password. Your old password is your current password. Then please choose a new strong password and re-enter it a second time.

Or Mac, Linux, Windows Users:

• Open your web browser and enter https://www.ezreset.eiu.edu in the address bar at the top of the browser window.
• Click on the box "English".
• Leave the drop down box at P-Synch and enter your user name in the box to the right of the drop down box.
• If you remember your current password choose "Use a password".
• Enter your password on the next page and choose "verify password".
• Click "Pick a new password"
• Enter a new password using the Strong Password Rules into the "new password" box and enter it again in the "confirm" box below and click "change password".

Or All Users:
Call the ITS Help Desk at 217-581-HELP(4357)

Personal web space access will be down from 5 pm this evening until 8 am Thursday morning. ITS will be doing disk maintenance that requires the system to be taken offline. You will be able to access web pages as usual but you will not be able to ftp into your personal web space to add or retrieve files or make changes.

If you have questions please call the help desk at 581-help.

 

 

ITS will be doing maintenance on the EIU web servers on Tuesday, May 8, from 5 pm until 8 am the following morning. Users will not be able to login to their web space to upload or make changes or get to files in their personal space during that time. The EIU web site should remain available for viewing but no changes will be allowed during the maintenance time. The site may experience sporadic outages due to the maintenance but the goal is to have the site remain available as much as possible.

ITS has solved the problems that were being experienced with grade submission. In order to allow faculty members adequate time to submit grades, we are extending the grade submission deadline until 6:00pm tonight. If you have questions or problems after 4:30pm today, please call the Records Office pager at 217-348-2951. Once connected with the pager, enter your telephone number and a Records Office staff member will return your call within a short time.

Please be aware that "spam" email is making its way around that internet that purports to taking the user to a site that shows live camera-phone footage of the Virginia Tech killings. Do not link to this site -- it contains a spyware virus which would be downloaded to your Windows-based PC. Please Note: ITS reminds you that the EIU spam/virus detection system (from Barracuda Networks) labels email that it believes to be spam -- it does not block the text of the email (which is what this particular solicitation would be.) You can adjust your own Barracuda settings to block spam based on your personal tolerance of spam by "spam score." To learn how to do this, please see: http://its.eiu.edu/email/barracuda/Barracudauserinstructions.pdf ITS Help Desk

Production Banner (INB) will be unavailable 9:00 ‚Äì 9:30 p.m. Friday evening (April 27) to allow ITS to make a configuration change.  This change will eliminate a possible problem we may have otherwise encountered this weekend.  Self-service Banner will remain available during that time. Thanks for your patience while we make this change.

It has come to our attention that the web browser from Microsoft called Internet Explorer 6 (IE-6) is having compatibility issues with the the online Faculty Senate voting system. Those faculty who are still using the older IE-6 will experience inconsistent login issues. Faculty are requested to either upgrade to IE-7, or preferably, to use Firefox instead. Firefox works on both PC's and Macs. In addition Macs can also use Safari. If you don't already have Firefox on your computer, you can get it at http://www.getfirefox.com, or if you would rather upgrade to IE-7, you can get it through Windows Update (in Windows Control Panel) or http://microsoft.com/ie You are advised not to erase the old IE-6 because (as of this time of writing) IE-7 is incompatible with Banner. ITS

Panthermail will be down this evening March 16th, 2007 from 9pm to 1am. We will installing updates to the system to resolve a number of important issues. Please contact the Help Desk at 581-HELP if you are experiencing and issues after the update.

All instances of Banner, including PROD, will be unavailable 4:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. today (Monday, March 12, 2007). Thanks for your patience as we continue to recover from the weekend power outage!

Due to the planned power outage this weekend all systems and services will be unavailable Saturday March 10th from 12am through 6pm. This will include Internet access, campus web sites, WebCT, email, home directories, and Banner.

Power will be unavailable all day Sunday, March 11th to all campus buildings. Core services located in the Student Services Building such as campus web sites, WebCT, email, home directories, and Banner will be available off campus.

A more complete list of system and service availabilities follows:

Saturday March 10th:

On/Off Campus: Unavailable

Internet access, all campus web sites, WebCT, Panthermail(Zimba), Exchange mail, home directories, and Banner Systems, NetBackup systems, P-Synch, CashNet, E-Print, OnBase, VPAASRV, FINAID, ARGOS, Ad Astra, Reportal and Oracle management servers (OEM10SRV and OEMSRV), Keyserver, Citrix Servers, Windows Media Streaming Services, Facilities and Planning servers, Campus Card Server, Telecommunications Servers, Cbord Housing servers, Continuing Education Servers, GIS Servers, and Graduate School Servers.

Sunday March 11th:

On Campus: Unavailable

Internet access, all campus web sites, WebCT, Panthermail(Zimba), Exchange mail, home directories, and Banner Systems, NetBackup systems, P-Synch, CashNet, E-Print, OnBase, VPAASRV, FINAID, ARGOS, Reportal and Oracle management servers (OEM10SRV and OEMSRV), Keyserver, Citrix Servers, Windows Media Streaming Services, Facilities and Planning servers, Campus Card Server, Telecommunications Servers, Cbord Housing servers, Continuing Education Servers, GIS Servers, Graduate School Servers, and Old Main servers.

Off Campus: Available

All campus web sites, WebCT, Panthermail(Zimba), Exchange mail, home directories, Banner and CATS Windows Media Streaming Services.

Monday March 12th:

On/Off Campus: Unavailable

Citrix Servers

Revised! Please note that Monday and Tuesday buildings have switched places from the original notice. The power will be out all day in the following buildings on the dates listed: Monday, March 12 -- Coleman Hall, Lumpkin Hall, Taylor Hall, Andrews Hall Tuesday, March 13 -- Lawson Hall, Klehm Hall, Thomas Hall, Tarble Arts, Human Services

Information Technology Services is cautioning campus PC users that their computers could experience system clock and calendaring discrepancies in March due to a change in the date when Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins.

Starting this spring, DST will start three weeks earlier than usual -- on March 11 this year -- and end one week later -- on Nov. 4. This change, mandated by Congress in 2005 to reduce energy consumption, will conflict with time and calendaring features programmed into Windows operating systems before the legislation was passed. As a result, software created before 2005 is set to automatically adjust for DST according to the old schedule rather than the new one. Because of this, unless updates are applied to your PC, it is possible that the time settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect starting March 11. In particular, you must make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated.

The result is a glitch reminiscent of the Y2K bug, when cataclysmic crashes were feared if computers interpreted the year 2000 as 1900, and Microsoft Corp. is warning that users of its calendar programs should view any appointments as suspect until they communicate with all meeting invitees.

The problem will affect not only computers but also may impact non-networked devices that store the time and automatically adjust for daylight saving, such as PDAs. The following are links to update instructions for your PDA and Smartphone devices:

Microsoft Windows Mobile:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.mspx
Palm:
http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/dst.html
Blackberry:
http://www.blackberry.com/select/dst2007/

Windows users who have their machines set to accept Automatic Updates may not be affected by the change in DST. Updates for dealing with the problem also are available on the Microsoft Web site at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst Additional information for Microsoft Support can be found at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928388. Information Technology Service will be pushing out the Time Zone update to all Faculty/ Staff computers that login to our Microsoft network. If you are unsure if this applies to your computer we encourage you to download the patch from: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst and install it yourself.

New PCs operating with Windows Vista are immune to the bug, since Vista was developed after the 2005 law passed.

Macintosh users who are current with System Updates on OS X 10.4.6 or higher will already have the time zone patch applies to their computer, We advise any users running OS X 10.3 or lower to update to OS X 10.4. If you are unsure if this applies to your computer we encourage you to download the patch from: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/daylightsavingtimeupdatetiger.html and install it yourself. Additional detailed information from the Apple support site can be found at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305056

If you use Microsoft Office on an Apple computer please use the Auto Update in Microsoft Office or download the latest patch at: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/Office2004/Office2004_1133.xml

Complicating matters are older computers whose makers have stopped supporting them, meaning no repair is available. For example, machines running anything older than the most recent version of Windows XP, known as Service Pack 2, no longer receive the required level of tech support. Owners of those PCs should go into the control panel and unclick the setting that tells the machine to automatically change the clock for daylight-saving time. They will then have to adjust the time setting on their computer themselves on March 11 to account for the change.

For people who store their appointments in Microsoft Outlook or other desktop-based calendar programs, the situation is more complicated.

Patches for calendar programs are available, but appointments entered before a patch was applied might still be registered in standard time rather than daylight time, and off by one hour. Information Technology Service will be applying time zone patches to our campus Microsoft Exchange servers and Zimbra based Panthermail servers this weekend on February 24. We will run time zone change scripts on our users calendars in each system. We ask that each user verify their calendar to check for correct appointment times after the update.

Microsoft advises heavy calendar users to go online and download a small program known as tzmove--Time Zone Move--that can retrofit all previously booked appointments to the new daylight-saving rules. Information technology Services will be running this script on all Exchange calendars. Users that are unsure if they are affected and are interested in running this script can download it at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e343a233-b9c8-4652-9dd8-ae0f1af62568&DisplayLang=en

Information Technology Service will help those university computer users who need assistance in updating their machines to deal with the problem. Please contact the ITS Help Desk at 581-HELP (4357).

On February 24, ITS will be updating Campus Email systems which include Panthermail(Zimbra) and Exchange to fulfill some of the requests for enhancements, and update the servers to operate with the new time zone changes March 11.   All email will be down between 7am and 2pm.

If you experience any problems after the maintenance window please contact the help desk at 581-HELP.


Some of the changes coming in the updated Panthermail are as follows:

The request for a faster log in experience will be met with the option to choose between Panthermail Basic and Panthermail Advanced.  Panthermail Basic is an option for students, faculty, and staff that do not want or need all of the advanced features currently available or are connecting to Panthermail from a slower connection such as dial-up Internet or older computers.  Panthermail Basic will still connect to EIU's email services and have all of your email available, just fewer options and some different ways to do them than the current email interface.  One of the most noticeable differences will be the calendar is not included.  You will also notice that there are tabs near the top of the screen to navigate through your Mail and Address Book.  These tabs will also be available in the Panthermail Advanced interface.

Panthermail Advanced is also getting an update.  This update will move the navigation tabs on the left of the web page to near the top.  They will also be appropriately labeled with Mail, Calendar, Address Book, Documents, and Options, making it easier to understand which tab to choose.  The log off and help buttons will be located near the top right of the web page and appropriately labeled, also making them easier to find.  Another major request that has been met is the ability to disable the preview pane, even if you log off and log back in.  This will be available under Mail in the Options tab(also available in Panthermail Basic).  Another feature that will be added is Contact Groups(or what some may know as Distribution Lists).  This feature is available in the Advanced and Basic interface.  Users will be able to group a list of email addresses under a single group.  When sending an email, you will be able to just type in that group name and all addresses in that group will be sent the email.

Another thing to note, if you want to switch between Panthermail Advanced and Panthermail Basic, anything done in one interface will be reflected in the other.  So, if you add a new contact while in Panthermail Advanced and you decide to use Panthermail Basic the next time you login, the contact will be there too.

In review, the following is a short comparison of the features in Panthermail Advanced and Panthermail Basic:

 Panthermail Advanced

•  Calendar and Documents
•  Share Address Book and Calendar
•  Drag-and-Drop mail, calendar items, and contacts between folders and dates
•  Right click capability for additional options
•  Google Search right from your mail
•  Advanced searching of mail
•  Use of the Control or Shift key to select multiple items
•  Slower login to get all of the additional features

Panthermail Basic

•  Faster to login
•  No Calendar or Documents
•  Basic searching of mail only
•  Use of Check Boxes to select multiple items
•  Must check and item and choose an option instead of right-clicking

ANNUAL SPRING ELECTRICAL OUTAGE Electrical power will be off all day in the following buildings on the dates listed: Saturday, March 10 -- Blair Hall, Old Main, Pemberton Hall, Student Services. Sunday, March 11 -- Entire campus, main switchboard, Buzzard Building. Monday, March 12 -- Lawson Hall, Klehm Hall, Thomas Hall, Tarble Arts, Human Services. Tuesday, March 13 -- Coleman Hall, Lumpkin Hall, Taylor Hall, Andrews Hall. Wednesday, March 14 -- Steam Production, Physical Science, FGD Building. Thursday, March 15 -- Facilities Planning and Management North and South, Central Stores, Burl Ives Art Studio. GARY REED

We will be performing some system moves in our main data center Friday morning between 6am and 8am. This will affect a number of systems including access to Panthermail (Zimbra), Banner, WebCT, and Clean Access. Dial-up, Exchange Mail, and Network drives will be unaffected. If you experience any problems after the maintenance window please contact the help desk at 581-HELP.

Clean Access services will be unavailable to all residence hall users between 8am and 11am Friday morning. We are completing upgrades necessary to function properly with Windows Vista. If you experience any problems after the maintenance window please contact the help desk at 581-HELP.

WebCt services will not be available between 8am to 4pm on February 16th, so please plan accordingly. If you or your students experience any problems after 4pm, please call the EIU HelpDesk at 581-HELP.
For more information, contact

Janel Moore (jmoore@eiu.edu; 581-7625) at ITS

Or Antoine Thomas (arthomas@eiu.edu; 581-8397) at CATS

In an effort to move to a single sign-on environment, beginning the morning of Wednesday, January 10th, the user id and password you use to access Banner Finance Self-Service will change. You will be prompted to enter your network id (same as your email signon) and network password, instead of your E number and PIN. If you experience difficulty signing on to Banner self-service, please contact the Help Desk.

If a user is a student and becomes staff or vice versa they will only have one account from now on.  The old system created a new account for both instances but with the new Banner system we only have one account for everything.

 

All campus email systems are available. If you experience any problems please contact the help desk.

The EIU campus E-Mail Systems will be down for maintenance and reloaction on Friday , December 29 & Saturday December 30th. This includes the Microsoft Exchange mail servers and the Zimbra mail servers. All campus e-mail will be out of service on those days.

The affected mail storage server is back in operation. You should be able to login and use your mail account normally. We are working at restoring mail from December 16 through December 21. This will be completed over break for accounts affected.

The affected mail storage server will be available in the morning Friday December 22, 2006. Mail will be restored through December 15. You will be able to use your mail account normally. We are working at restoring the remainder of email from December 16 through December 20 over break for those affected accounts. Mail scheduled to be delivered today is still in queue and will also be available in the morning. We thank you for your patience with this issue. We will continue to post updates as they become available.

We are continuing to work with our storage vendors to recover our corrupted storage volume. We expect mail services offered by the mail store affected to be down the remainder of the day. We will continue to post updates as they become available.

We are experiencing hardware storage issues with one our mail storage servers. This problem is affecting approximately 10% of our user base. We are in process of correcting the problem. We expect the issue to be resolved soon. We will post again when the issue has been resolved.

WebCT will be unavailble from December 20 through December 22. This time will be used for server maintenance. If everything is accomplished early, we will make WebCT available again and send email notificaion.

The EIU campus E-Mail Systems will be down for maintenance and relocation on Friday, December 29 & Saturday, December 30. This includes the Microsoft Exchange mail servers and the Zimbra mail servers. All campus e-mail will be out of service on those days.

Just a friendly reminder that your EIU system passwords will be expiring here soon. You need to change your EIU system password on or before January 19, 2007. This is the password that you use for accessing Windows PC Login (if you are a Windows User), WebCT, Modem Dial-up, VPN, the EIU e-mail system and personal web space.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the ITS Help Desk at 217-581-HELP(4357)

Instructions for changing your password:
Please use the following rules when determining a new strong password. Once you have determined a new strong password follow the steps below.

Strong Password Rules:

• The first character of your password must be alphabetic
• Your password must be a mix of upper and lower case letters
• Your password must contain AT LEAST one number
• Your password must be AT LEAST eight characters long
• Your password must contain AT LEAST one special character (from the following list): ! % * + - / ? :
• Your password MAY NOT be longer than fifteen characters total

For Windows Users:

The quickest and easiest way to change your password at anytime on supported Windows computers on the EIU Windows network is press the Ctrl – Alt – Delete keys and click on Change Password. Your old password is your current password. Then please choose a new strong password and re-enter it a second time.

Or Mac, Linux, Windows Users:

• Open your web browser and enter https://www.ezreset.eiu.edu in the address bar at the top of the browser window.
• Click on the box "English".
• Leave the drop down box at P-Synch and enter your user name in the box to the right of the drop down box.
• If you remember your current password choose "Use a password".
• Enter your password on the next page and choose "verify password".
• Click "Pick a new password"
• Enter a new password using the Strong Password Rules into the "new password" box and enter it again in the "confirm" box below and click "change password".

Or All Users:
Call the ITS Help Desk at 217-581-HELP(4357)

In order to alleviate issues with delays in e-mail delivery, ITS is going to conduct maintenance with Zimbra support representatives today in order to fix the issues. As a result of this maintenance, access to e-mail for faculty, staff and students will be intermittent all day today.

This past weekend's PantherMail migration was successfully completed. Students, faculty and staff who choose to login to use the web interface (http://www.eiu.edu/panthermail) will notice a completely new webmail engine. If, however, you are using a computer program to check your e-mail, you will want to ensure that your program is pointing to the correct e-mail server addresses. The addresses listed below are correct for all faculty, staff and student e-mail accounts:

Pop Address	pop.eiu.edu
Imap Address	imap.eiu.edu
SMTP Address	smtp.eiu.edu

Over the past month the ITS operations room has experienced power outages at various times which has caused a temporary loss of services. In an effort to fix the problems that have been causing the power outage the EIU electricians will need to take down the power in the operations room. The power in this room will be down from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Friday, September 1, 2006. The operations room houses many critical servers on campus, many ITS services will not be available while the power is temporarily taken down. Below is a brief list of services that will not be available during that time:

All Campus e-mail

Banner

Clean Access

Mainframe

Spin

www.eiu.edu and all web pages within.

Most services will be down during the maintenance window. If you run across something that is not listed you can assume it is down due to the power outage during that time. If after the power is restored at 7 a.m. on Friday you are still experiencing problems with reaching or using a specific service provided by ITS please call the help desk. Students will need to call 581-7708 and Faculty/Staff would call 581-HELP.
More information...

This fall, as a result of the Banner implementation, the entire campus community will receive new Panther Cards. New cards will be distributed beginning on Monday, Aug. 14, and continuing through Wednesday, Aug. 23, at the MLK Jr. Union vending/study lounge area.

To avoid the mass influx of students, staff and faculty members are strongly encouraged to obtain their cards on Monday, Aug. 14, and Tuesday, Aug. 15. Please bring your old Panther Card and a government-issued ID (driver's license, state ID, military ID, or passport).

For information, contact the Panther Card Office by e-mail at campusid@eiu.edu, call 581-6596, or see the following Web site: http://www.eiu.edu/~campusid

To KeyServer Users at EIU:

Members of the CATS staff are in the process of updating the KeyServer.

In order to be successful, all users of the KeyServer will need to make arrangements to leave their computers running on Friday, August 11. This includes workstations for faculty and staff, as well as computers in the labs and classrooms.

ITS has confirmed plans with the CATS staff for the upgrading process to begin at noon on August 11 and completed by noon on Saturday, August 12. Each computer will be automatically updated with information that will allow access to the new KeyServer.

If you have any protection software (e.g., Sheriff, Deep Freeze, etc.) running on the computer in your office or work area, it will need to be turned off so the updates can be applied. If you need assistance in turning off that software, please call the HelpDesk at 581-HELP (581-4357).

For the ATAC computer labs and classrooms assigned to a college, someone will need to make sure all computers are turned on before leaving at noon on August 11. Since those are ATAC computers, they will be turned off automatically once the process is completed.

Anyone experiencing difficulty accessing the KeyServer after August 12 should call the HelpDesk (581-HELP). Thank you for your assistance and cooperation in this matter.

The WebCT system will be unavailable Thursday, August 10, through Friday, August 11, for maintenance to allow WebCT to be available through the entire grade submission time period. WebCT will be shut down at or around 7:30am Thursday, August 10 and will be made available again when the migration is complete.

Our WebCT installation will be moved to a new server and software updates will be installed. For the duration of the migration process, WebCT will be completely unavailable to faculty, staff, and students.

Following migration, we will be better positioned to face the new semester. WebCT will be running on new hardware with a periodically synced backup server available to minimize downtime in case of catastrophic failure.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to continue to provide a reliable online teaching/learning environment.

Below you will find the new campus wide Faculty/Staff password policies that will be effective August 14, 2006:

Banner, Domain and Email Passwords:

• At least eight but no more than fifteen characters/digits
• Must have at least one number
• At least one special character limited to one of the following: ! % * + - / ? :
• A mix of upper and lower case
• Expiration cycle is each semester.

These password parameters will be in effect when you change your domain or Banner password on or after August 14th.

Since the parameters are more robust, you will only be required to change your password once a semester.

Mainframe Passwords:

• First character must be a letter of the alphabet
• At least six but no more than eight characters/digits
• Must have at least one number
• Special characters you may use in your password are limited to: @ # $
• Expiration cycle is every 35 days.

The mainframe will not handle stronger passwords like Banner and the domain so the expiration date is a shorter period as suggested by industry standards and the external auditors.

The mainframe password will no longer synch with any other password when you change your domain or Banner password after August 14th.

We will be performing the e-mail and web space migration on July 28 – July 30 as announced last week.

All e-mail services will be down starting at 12 p.m. on Friday, July 28, until July 31 at 6 a.m.

We are planning to have the main web page www.eiu.edu along with WebCT http://www.vce.eiu.edu:8989 and PAWS available the entire weekend.

Given unplanned circumstances there may be a brief break in service for the www.eiu.edu page but it should only be a brief interruption if at all.

Personal and group staff/faculty/student web space will also be unavailable during the migration period of 12 p.m. on July 28 through 6 a.m. on July 31.

Due to a hardware failure on the campus spam filtering system last night, e-mail delivery has been delayed. No e-mail was lost, it will only be delayed.

As we announced earlier in the week, over the course of the next few weeks Panthermail (sometimes referred to as Unix mail or UX1/PEN/IO mail) will be upgraded to run under a new mail/webmail/group office server system called Zimbra.

The new Panthermail powered by Zimbra will allow for many new features not offered by the current e-mail system. To get an overview of the new features please go to http://its.eiu.edu/zimbra

The new Panthermail system in most cases will allow you to use the same client such as Outlook, Eudora and Pine. The conversion will involve for a few users the simple process of changing some of your current settings to connect to the new server. The new Panthermail has an attractive and user friendly web interface and includes personal and group scheduling as well as several other features requested or expected by students,faculty and staff. We will have documentation available on the http://its.eiu.edu/zimbra page and ITS staff will be ready to help you through this process.

The e-mail and web conversion schedule has been changed. All e-mail services will be down between the hours of 12 pm & 7 pm on Friday, July 21. The main web page www.eiu.edu along with WebCT http://www.vce.eiu.edu:8989 and PAWS will be available the entire weekend.

Personal staff/faculty/student web space will be unavailable between the hours of 12 pm & 7 pm on Friday, July 21 also. The full migration process has been rescheduled to the weekend of July 28 th – July 30 th . We will provide more granular times for that weekend as soon as we can. We have adjusted our schedule for the migration in order to allow for additional testing to insure a successful migration. This is a major upgrade to the system but it is a necessary upgrade that will assist us in establishing and maintaining a stable e-mail and web system for the University.

NOTE: This notice does not affect users of the Exchange mail/calendar system.

Over the course of the next few weeks Panthermail (sometimes referred to as Unix mail or UX1/PEN/IO mail) will be upgraded to run under a new mail/webmail/group office server system called Zimbra.

The new Panthermail powered by Zimbra will allow for many new features not offered by the current e-mail system. To get an overview of the new features please go to http://its.eiu.edu/zimbra.

The new Panthermail system in most cases will allow you to use the same client such as Outlook, Eudora and Pine. The conversion will involve for a few users the simple process of changing some of your current settings to connect to the new server. The new Panthermail has an attractive and user friendly web interface and includes personal and group scheduling as well as several other features requested or expected by students,faculty and staff. We will have documentation available on the http://its.eiu.edu/zimbra page and ITS staff will be ready to help you through this process.

The conversion is scheduled for July 21st – July 23 rd . All e-mail services and web services other than WebCT will not be available during that time. If during the migration process we experience technical difficulties we will be rescheduling the migration to July 28 th – July 30 th . This is a well planned and thought out process that we are undertaking. It is a major upgrade to the system but it is a necessary upgrade that will assist us in establishing and maintaining a stable e-mail and web system for the University.

****This implementation will not affect the WebCT system. You may want to bookmark this link so that you have direct access to the WebCT system. www.vce.eiu.edu:8989 ****

With apologies for the late notice, the WebCT system will be unavailable Friday, June 2, 2006, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. This maintenance window is necessary for hardware replacement to ensure the ongoing stability of the system.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

With apologies for the late notice, the WebCT system will be unavailable today, Friday, May 26, 2006, sometime later this afternoon. The time is uncertain at this point because it is dependent on the arrival of a hardware engineer from off-site. This unscheduled maintenance window is necessary to ensure the ongoing stability of the system.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Information Technology Services

The WebCT system will be unavailable on Sunday, April 23, 2006, from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. This maintenance window is necessary to insure stability of the WebCT system for the remaining weeks of the semester. There have been recent hardware failures and other issues that have brought about this maintenance. We are making our best efforts to insure that these situations do not reoccur and cause any outages during the critical time at semester end. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

The server responsible for faculty/staff e-mail and faculty/staff webspace will be taken down for one hour this evening at 7 p.m. We are doing some preventative maintenance to our systems at this time so that we can insure stability over the next few weeks as the semester draws to a close. Student e-mail and web space service will not be interrupted.

As always we would not be bringing our system down if it was not completely necessary at this time.

Thanks for your understanding and patience.

Operating systems have limited life spans, and EIU support for Windows 2000 will end as of December 31, 2006. Although workstations and servers running that operating system will still function after December 31, EIU Help Desk staff will no longer provide troubleshooting or configuration assistance for Windows 2000.

EIU attempts to support operating systems for slightly longer than announced plans by the manufacturers. Microsoft has discontinued its own support of Windows 2000 and will support only Windows XP until the scheduled release of Windows Vista, the next version of the Windows operating system, in late 2006 / early 2007.

Microsoft will extend its critical, security-related patch support for Windows 2000. However, Microsoft does not assure compliance with new hardware or software, and new software implemented within the University will not be tested for serviceability under Windows 2000. This may lead to loss of functions or productivity.

For this reason, EIU recommends that Windows 2000 users upgrade to Windows XP, Apple OS X, or TBD supported Desktop Linux. Any new Windows-based workstations should ship with Windows XP. Departments should take this into consideration when preparing operating budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.

ITS will be reinstating its schedule of requiring campus computer users on the EIU Windows domain to change their passwords every 30 days. This requirement was temporarily waived during the User-ID conversion. The password change requirement will be reinstated around mid-March. If you have trouble resetting your password, please call the Help Desk at 581-HELP.

On Friday, February 17, 2006, ITS will be performing a move of one of the Storage Area Network (SAN) devices to a different location as we work to complete our Disaster Recovery procedures as requested by external and internal technology auditors. Unfortunately because of the move the following services will be down from Friday at 6 a.m. until late in the evening Friday.

Services that will be down include:

• All E-mail and Web Pages for all Faculty, Staff and Students
• Onbase Application
• Astra Application
• Financial Aid Applications
• Telecom Panther Card Application

On Thursday, February 16, 2006, the server housing the www.EIU.edu web site, departmental web sites and group e-mail accounts will be down between the hours of 6 pm and 8 pm. This maintenance period is necessary to update the system which will help ensure security and maintain stability of this web server. Thanks for your patience and understanding as we strive to maintain a stable computing environment for the entire campus.

There appears to be an issue with the latest Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta definitions and Symantec Anti-virus. The latest Microsoft definitions mis-identify a Symantec registry key as a belonging to a keylogger known as PWS.Bancos.a. If you choose to remove the registry key, Symantec Anti-Virus will no longer function. Microsoft is pushing out corrected definition files to clear this issue up. Meanwhile, if you have already chosen to remove the registry keys marked for PWS.Bancos.a, you will have to re-install Symantec in order to fix the problem.

Network Specialists David Emmerich and Thomas MacMullen conduct monthly workshops on Exchange/Outlook basics and the use of smart phones with Exchange. The workshops are an excellent way to learn more about Exchange, refresh what you already know or discuss other topics relevent to your Exchange experience.

To sign up for one of the monthly Exchange workshops, visit the TECnet Workshop Registration page.

On Friday, February 3, 2006, the student e-mail system and student web space will be unavailable from 5 pm to 12 am. This time is needed to install critical updates on the server. Critical updates are released by the software vendor in order to maintain a secure and stable computing environment. Thank you for your patience as we are taking these critical steps to maintain this system

An electrical failure caused a disruption to some critical services Sunday. Access to Exchange Mail, Symantec managed antivirus definitions and Clean Access were unavailable between 11am and 4pm Sunday. Access to some secondary services such as Blackberry Enterprise and the EISEProject website remained unavailable until 10:00am Tuesday morning while a permanent solution to the electrical failure was being sought.

A security vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office Outlook products that could allow arbitrary code to run when you open (or view within the preview pane) a maliciously created e-mail message. Microsoft has released a patch for this vulnerability. You can obtain it bu visiting http://officeupdate.microsoft.com and clicking Check For Updates

Microsoft has released a patch that plugs a critical security flaw which allows an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it via the Graphics Rendering Engine. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. For more information, please refer to: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-001.mspx

Computer security experts are warning of a newly discovered vulnerability in Microsoft’s Windows that could put your PC at risk of infection by spyware or viruses. Unlike most attacks, which require victims to download or execute a suspect file, the new vulnerability makes it possible for users to infect their computers with spyware or a virus simply by viewing a web page, e-mail or instant message that contains a contaminated image. Until the patch is released next Tuesday, the EIU Helpdesk reccomends that users refrain from clicking on web links sent via e-mails or IM messages.

Due to the student account migration this week, student access to e-mail, WebCT and SPIN will be, at best, intermittent. Students should expect limited access to those systems for the entire week.

Clean Access users may notice intermittent outages in the Residence Hall Network today due to a necessary software upgrade. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Your current EIU email address (your CUxxx or CGxxx online username) will be replaced by a new Panther ID, over the holidays.

EIU is moving towards a "single-sign on" technology for students, faculty and staff. This means that as various new features are brought on-line for students, you will not have to remember multiple User ID's and passwords. We will be incorporating this feature into email, SPIN, WebCT, your personal Panther web site, and various new facilities which are still in the making. (On- campus residents in dormitories, Greek houses and University Apartments, will be using the new username/password combination when they sign on to Cisco Clean Access.)

EIU is retiring the old CU/CG accounts in favor of usernames which will include your initials and last name. To see what yours will be, go to http://www.eiu.edu/~myname/findnewid.php. Please take a moment to look at this site to ensure that the information we have on file is correct. Please report any errors to myname@eiu.edu.

Don't worry, you will not lose any email and your friends will still be able to send you email to your old username for a full year. Nonetheless, you should do your best to inform all who email you that they need to start sending you mail at the new address.

All student accounts (email, WebCT, SPIN, etc..) will be migrated the week of January 1st. During this week, most student systems will not be available and notifications of which systems will be sent as the date approaches. One notable exception to this is the PAWS system which will not change at this time.

You can also find instructions and information on what to expect at: http://www.eiu.edu/~myname. Information will also be available in the campus publication SCOPE which will be handed out at University Housing facilities and at Textbook Rental when you turn in your books at the end of the semester.

Thanks for your patience as we change things for the better!

In response to student concerns regarding forced daily logoffs to Clean Access, ITS has increased the amount of time a user can remain on the system without being forced to re-login for compliance checks. Effective immediatly, the Clean Access automatic logoff interval will be increased from 24 hours to 72 hours. Clean Access users will now be forced off the system every three days at 4:00am. Should a rapidly spreading network threat emerge in the future, ITS may have to initiate measures that would require Clean Access users to re-login to the system in order to undergo emergency compliance checks. However, ITS will attempt to notify the residence hall population before such an action is taken. Thank you for working with us to ensure a cleaner, more secure EIU network.

In order to correct issues with Clean Access, Residence Hall Internet access will be intermittent this afternoon between 2:00pm and 5:00pm. We apologize for the inconvenience.

A power failure early this morning caused Exchange Mail and Clean Access services to become unavailable. Access was restored to Exchange Mail by 8:50am to Clean Access by 12:00pm.

Network services to the Residence Hall netowrk has been intermittent this afternoon. General internet functions (web browsing, instant messaging, etc) was interrupted due to a failure in the server that assigns network IP addresses to machines on the residence hall network. The issue was resolved by 5:30pm.