ITS Strongly Recommends Against Windows 11 Update

At this time, if you are currently using Windows 10, ITS strongly recommends AGAINST making the free upgrade to Windows 11. 

There are a series of bugs that are impacting system usability. Microsoft has changed the standard layouts of key system elements, like the start menu and taskbar, which has been reported to cause confusion. Some internet networking software from Intel and AMD isn’t working properly on Windows 11, resulting in significant internet slowdowns. 

ITS recommends: That you wait for Microsoft to patch these issues before upgrading on your device. We will update the community if this recommendation changes. 

For more information about bugs from Microsoft, click the following link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-21h2

UPDATE2: Campus-Wide Network Upgrade July 31 - Aug 1

UPDATE2: As of 4:16pm, all services across campus have been restored. 

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

UPDATE: New core switches have been installed in RLC, Horan, and DLS. Core services are back online (banner, vpn). Services still down:

-Wireless across entire campus

-Horan/DLS phone servers (and therefore all phones on upper campus)

-Some redundant functions 

-Thomas and Smith Halls

The ITS team will be back on site tomorrow at 9am to restore these services.

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

The core network equipment that services the entire Manhattan College community will be upgraded Friday and Saturday, July 31st and August 1st, 2020.

What is changing?
Three major pieces of networking equipment are being upgraded to more modern and higher-performing equipment. From an end-user perspective, Internet and Intranet services will not change because of this upgrade. All changes will be made behind the scenes.

Why are these changes being made?
Manhattan College IT Services is committed to providing the best experience on both the wired and wireless networks across campus. We are also committed to keeping our technology secure, reliable, and up-to-date. The current equipment is nearing its End-of-Support (EOS) and End-of-Life (EOL) dates. Vendors have a set EOS and EOL schedule they use for all hardware. As hardware reaches its EOS and EOL dates, the reliability of the equipment begins to significantly diminish while the cost to own and operate can rise with respect to service costs, power consumption, and the lost hours of productivity we need in order to maintain aging hardware. Vendors will also no longer support the equipment nor will continue to provide upgraded and secured firmware patches.

When is this change occurring?
This upgrade is scheduled to commence Friday July 31st, 2020 at 3pm and will continue through August 1, 2020. Maintenance should be complete by Saturday, August 1, 2020.

What will be affected during the maintenance period?
Internet, both wired and wireless, on campus will be completely down throughout the entire maintenance period. Services affected include the following:

• Phones on campus (including voicemail services)
• Emergency blue light phones
• Self-Service
• Banner
• Door access control systems
• Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems
• Password resets and activations
• VPN

Users off campus will still have access to the following during the maintenance period:

• GMail
• Moodle

8/11/2017: Upgrading DegreeWorks Production to 5.0.0

Starting at 9:00 AM today, 8/11/2017, ITS will be performing an upgrade on the production DegreeWorks environment. The upgrade requires a database upgrade, as well as, moving through several point releases with the DegreeWorks product. The maintenance is expected to take several hours and the production environment will be down for the entire maintenance window. We will update this blog post as we have more information on the progress and status of the upgrade.

- - - - -

Updated @ 4:30 PM:

The upgrade is complete. DegreeWorks should be fully accessible.

COMPLETED: Upcoming Banner Maintenance: Saturday, July 22nd 6:00AM-12:00PM

The Banner (Forms) update is scheduled for Saturday, July 22nd, starting at 6:00 AM. The Banner Forms system will be unavailable while the upgrade is in progress. The upgrade is expected to take several hours.

The new look & feel will also remove the reliance on JAVA and remove the current browser restrictions.  The update is purely a facelift to the interface, which means that no processes or data will change as a result.  You will still use the same form names (SPAIDEN, etc), but will now have additional ways to access the same forms quicker and easier!

For more information on Banner's new look and feel, please refer to our previous blog post:
http://itsblog.manhattan.edu/2017/07/attention-banner-users-new-look-feel.html

- - - - -

Updated at 11:15 AM:

The scheduled maintenance is complete. All systems are functioning as expected.

Library WIFI Upgrade

ITS has already begun the process of upgrading JasperNet WIFI coverage in the O'Malley Library.  Over the course of the next few days, the existing WIFI devices in the library will be replaced with newer devices to provide better coverage and faster connectivity.  After the upgrade is complete, ITS will perform a complete test of the new WIFI system and add coverage in additional locations as needed.

As a result of the work to upgrade WIFI in the library, access to JasperNet WIFI in the library may be unavailable for the next few days until the upgrade is complete.  Check back to ITSblog for updates.

JasperNet Bandwidth Upgraded to 10Gigabits

Students and Faculty now have access to virtually unlimited bandwidth when connected to JasperNet.  An upgrade to our Internet connection to 10 Gigabits was completed on 11/18 - which represents a 10x increase from the beginning of the semester.

ITS has seen an unprecedented increase in the amount of traffic on JasperNet over the past 6 months.  Students and Faculty are accessing more online content including a significant increase in HD video.  Providing quality connectivity to these resources is a top priority, and with this upgrade, we now have the capacity for students and faculty to consume a virtually unlimited amount of content.

JasperNet Bandwidth Upgrade - Maintenance Wednesday 6:00-6:30AM

ITS will be performing a bandwidth upgrade to JasperNet on Wednesday 11/18 at 6:00AM.  During this time, we expect a brief period where access to off-campus network services will be unavailable.   The planned upgrade is the 2nd and final phase of the bandwidth upgrade performed on 10/1:
http://itsblog.manhattan.edu/2015/10/jaspernet-receives-bandwidth-upgrade.html


After the upgrade, JasperNet will support total bandwidth capacity of 10Gbps - an increase from 2Gbps since October 1st (and 1Gbps since the beginning of the semester).

UPDATE 6:11AM - Maintenance completed with no downtime.

Online Registration Improvements

ITS had received reports from students on Monday 11/2 that online registration for Spring 2016 operated slower than expected.  ITS has confirmed that the self-service system had experienced higher-than-expected load which likely resulted in students experiencing longer-than-expected delays when attempting to register for classes at 7AM on Monday.

ITS immediately reviewed the configuration of the self-service system on Monday 11/2 after the 7AM rush.  Since the system had been upgraded over the summer, we identified a few new configuration settings to be optimized before the next online registration (for Juniors) on Wednesday 11/4.  The new configuration was completed prior to Wednesday and ITS added additional monitoring of the self-service system during Wednesday's 7AM rush.

The chart on this page shows the number of online registrations over time for the Monday 11/2 (BLUE) and Wednesday 11/4 (RED) sessions.  As you can see, the Wednesday (RED) session for Juniors shows a significantly higher number of registrations completed as soon as registration opens at 7AM - a significant improvement over the same period on Monday 11/2 (BLUE).

Despite experiencing minor delays on Monday, over 1000 students successfully registered for classes.  On Wednesday, approximately 550 students completed registration.

JasperNet Receives Bandwidth Upgrade

A network update performed on 10/1/2015 has increased the amount of bandwidth available to JasperNet users from 1Gbps to up to 2Gbps.  This is the first phase of an upgrade that is expected to be completed later this month that will expand connectivity even more.

When students returned to campus for the fall semester, ITS observed an unprecedented demand for network resources - especially rich media content such as streaming video from YouTube and Netflix.  The increased demand resulted was slower-than-normal download speeds and videos that sometimes buffered.  With the recent and planned upgrades in October, ITS will deliver significantly more capacity to support the increased demand for network connectivity from faculty and students.

Below is a network traffic chart showing 100% utilization throughout most of the day, then the utilization after capacity was increased:

The graph shows network utilization at our Internet Service Provider's connection point.  The connection previously operated at maximum capacity from approximately 10AM-2AM since the beginning of the semester.  The peaks at the right of the graph show the time that the additional capacity was added.  Enjoy!

Wireless Projection - Campus Classrooms Receive AirPlay Upgrade

Airplay technology has been added to 85 campus classrooms

(and counting...) as well as a number of conference and meeting rooms to enable wireless connectivity to the room projector.  Airplay works natively with any Apple laptop or IOS (iPhone and iPad) device as well as any Faculty laptop received through recent FLI cycles (enabled by the use of AirParrot software installed on Faculty laptops).  ** Faculty with a laptop older than 1-2 years should contact ITS to enable Airplay on their device (requires installation of AirParrot software).

A list of campus spaces with Airplay technology can be found online in the new 25Live Event planning system by selecting the room feature "Tech-Airplay Connector".  Airplay upgrades were completed over the summer by a team of ITS student interns that worked together of various aspects of the project.

Airplay enables audio and video signals to be sent wirelessly to devices such as projectors, speakers, and/or TVs.  To learn more about Airplay, and how to access Airplay enabled devices on campus, visit the ITS Knowledge Base

Welcome Back

Welcome Back
_____________________________________________________

We want to take a minute to welcome everyone back for a new semester. Please take a minute to read through the following Reminders and Announcements:

Kick off the New School Year Right!
____________________________________________________________________

Keep everything.  Share anything.  Get Drive today.  Click here to find out more.

Security is important. Passwords should never be hand-written/visible to the public. In an effort to maximize security and minimize the number of post-it notes with passwords on them, we recently added SSO (Single Sign-On) to Banner Forms.

Add to your professional network. Below are some sites that you might find relevant and interesting:

• Google Educator Groups
• Google Apps for Education Community
• Chronicle Forums
• The Chronicle of Higher Education - Blogs
• NACUBO (scroll to the bottom of the page for many more listservs)

ITS Summer Updates
_________________________________________________________________

The Rodriguez Room now has a new Pixie Plus A/V Control Unit.  No Remote needed!

Airplay device installations have expanded to more classrooms.  We expect to have Airplay devices in all classrooms by the beginning of the Spring semester.  Check out our Airplay Knowledge Base Articles to find out more.

WiFi improvements in the dorms have been occurring throughout the summer.  If you are experiencing any WiFi issues, we want to know about them.  Please email its@manhattan.edu or call 718-862-7973 to let us know. 

Aging Web Kiosks in the O'Malley Library Internet Cafe and by the elevator on each floor have been replaced with new Dell Chromebox computers.

Audio Visual Technology enhancements have been made in the Chancellors Room and the O'Malley Library Teleconference room.  Both rooms have been outfitted with new Crestron control units and Airplay devices.  The Teleconference has also been outfitted with a Chromebox for meetings.

The following rooms have been outfitted with a Mini Displayport cable.  This precludes the need for a Mac VGA adapter.  To access the Mini Displayport input, click "INP2".  List of rooms:

• DLS 307
• DLS 312
• MGL 307
• MGL 312
• HAY 201
• HAY 202
• MGL 305

The Proactive Projector Replacement Initiative has made much progress through the summer and will continue throughout the year.  We have added new mounting brackets to this initiative.  These new mounts fit into the existing ceiling tile grid, making them much more seamless.  Also, they have a quick swap secure mount, making projector replacements quicker and offering a high level of security.

An effort to secure all projectors on campus was initiated this summer.  This effort is a combination of a secure mounts and network monitoring.

Summer 2015 Classroom Renovations
The following rooms have have been renovated this summer.  Renovations include installation of a new Crestron control unit.

• Miguel 304
• Miguel 306
• Miguel 308
• Miguel 314
• Leo 242
• Leo 330
• Leo 333
• Leo 318
• Hayden 306
• Hayden 404
• Hayden 406

Leo 102 is now a brand new engineering computer lab.

The Teacher's Station in DLS 314 has been replaced with a wooden podium.

Summer 2015 Computer Lab Upgrades
The following Computer Labs received new computers this summer.

• RLC 102 (Expanded to 33 stations)
• RLC 208
• RLC 102A
• RLC 104
• MGL 305
• DLS 309

Please keep informed by checking our Known Issues page.

Reminders
____________________________________________________________________

Have a question?  Check out our Knowledge Base first.

The best way to get in touch with a Client Services representative is an email to its@manhattan.edu or a phone call to x7973 (718-862-7973). Note that email and voicemail for this line go to our ticketing system so we encourage you to leave a message.

Remember that we will never ask you for your password. We encourage you all to please reset your computer and provide the temporary password to ITS prior to dropping it off at Client Services. If you do not do this prior, please allocate an extra 5 minutes to work with a Client Services representative so that they can assist you in changing your password when working with us. Upon completion of work on your computer, please allocate another 5 minutes so that a Client Services representative can assist you in changing your password back to its original state. This is necessary in order to safeguard your password. Remember that you should never give your password out to anyone under any circumstances. Note that the same procedure holds true when you are requesting assistance with one of your Manhattan College accounts.

Client Services can NOT lend out equipment to students. If a student needs equipment for a project, they must have a Manhattan College employee sign out equipment on their behalf. Note that the Manhattan College employee is responsible for that equipment.

Client Services can provide short-term loaner equipment such as laptops and projectors by reservation. Note that if equipment is needed long term, it should be purchased via your department.

In lieu of loaning certain cables and remotes, Client Services has installed commonly used VGA and Audio cables as well as projector remotes in all yet-to-be-renovated classrooms. Network cables will be provided to faculty upon request. Faculty requiring other specialty cables or adapters (such as Apple VGA adapters) should contact Client Services for assistance purchasing this equipment as they are not stocked or provided by Client Services.

The Client Services office does not work on personal computers. We will train employees and students and instruct them on how to fix their computers, but personal computers cannot be dropped off for service. No personal items should ever be left in any of the Client Services offices.

Please remember to plan event setups in advance. We work with limited resources so we cannot always complete last minute requests.  You can reserve rooms here.

Client Services currently has 3 convenient locations: Jasper Basement, LIB 502/504, & RLC 103. Please stop by the location closest to you. We encourage you to call first to be sure that someone is available as we are constantly assisting the Manhattan College community.

Client Services Hours of Operations can be found here.

Computer Lab Hours can be found here.

Campus-owned computers are purchased with hardware support provided by the manufacturer. ITS will diagnose and determine whether manufacturer hardware support is needed. For the fastest service, users are also able to contact the manufacturer directly to access hardware support and replacement.

Your feedback helps us improve our service and should be sent to http://manhattan.edu/tellits

Don't forget to add us to your Google+ circles +ITS and follow us on Twitter @MC_ITS

Check out our Blog: http://itsblog.manhattan.edu/

Check out our known issues page: http://itsblog.manhattan.edu/p/known-issues.html

Thank you for your attention.

Windows 10 Upgrade Scam Warning

According to this blog post and others like it.  There are malicious emails circulating masquerading as invitations to upgrade to Windows 10.  Please note that the safest way to upgrade to Windows 10 is through Windows Update.  We have not received reports of Manhattan College accounts receiving these emails.  We are proactively warning users to be cautious should they receive and email as described in this blog post.

New Printer in RLC103

We are pleased to announce that we have installed a new printer, an HP LaserJet Enterprise M806, in the RLC103 computer lab: