INFORMATION SERVICES
August 2005
return to Information Services

Announcements from the Bulletin, Today, Notification-L

08/15/05, NetWare Web Server Planned Maintenance - Thursday, August 18
The NetWare Web server will be down for several hours on the morning of Thursday, August 18, beginning at 7:00 AM. Some departmenal Web pages will be unavailable while the server is being upgraded. When the upgrade is finished and the server comes back up, we will be doing some continuing work that will cause any updates to Web pages on the server to be lost. Please do not make any changes to departmental Web pages on Thursday, since those changes will not be kept. You will be able to update department Web pages again on Friday. Personal Web pages will not be affected by this upgrade, and can be updated on Thursday.

If you have questions about the upgrade, or if you have an emergency need to make changes to a departmental web page during the server upgrade, please contact Web Coordinator Sara Suelflow at x6307 or suelflow@macalester.edu. [Notification-L]

08/12/05, OCS Web Mail Workaround
We understand the serious inconvenience to off-campus employees and students posed by the Oracle Collaboration Suite's Web Mail downtime. (As noted, Thunderbird is not affected, and is working normally.) While it is critical that needed security measures be completed, a workaround is in place for those who have no alternative.

If you go to ocs.macalester.edu/, you will see an error message describing the maintenance being performed. There is a link within that message that permits access to OCS; click on the second part of the second sentence, beginning with "access your OCS webmail directly through this link." As the text warns, this workaround may be unavailable intermittently as the security work continues.

Details and current status may be checked on the Web here: www.macalester.edu/email/. We are working to finish the security configuration and put OCS into full operation as quickly as possible. Please share this information with anyone you know who is having difficulty with OCS Web mail. [Notification-L]

08/11/05, OCS Web Mail Downtime: Dig We Must
Oracle Collaboration Suite Web mail has been taken down so that critical (and complex) security settings can be fully enabled. Thunderbird is not affected, and is working normally. This security configuration could not be performed until after most other aspects of the OCS installation were completed - and it absolutely must be finished before classes begin. Given the state of today's Internet, the security settings now being erected will protect College e-mail traffic from a wide variety of attacks and threats. While highly inconvenient, particularly to those Macalester individuals who are off campus, the downtime is the lesser of two evils.

Network staff are working very hard to finish these security measures. OCS will be brought back up as soon as possible once the security is fully in place. You may check OCS status and get the latest word on this Web page: www.macalester.edu/email/. We are sorry for the inconvenience and we ask for your understanding.

Please pass this information along whenever possible to colleagues who are away from campus, since they may have no other e-mail access than OCS (and therefore won't see this message). [Notification-L]

08/09/05, Calendar Migration Cancelled
Tomorrow's migration to the new Calendar on OCS has been canceled. For all users, this means that you'll just keep using Corporate Time for now. You don't need to change or reconfigure anything. You may still access Corporate Time for the Web at http://webcal.macalester.edu.

Unresolved issues with Mac OS X Palm synchronization were the major factors that went into the decision to delay the migration of calendar data. Our goal is to provide full and enhanced functionality on the new system, and we're better off waiting for now if we have unresolved configuration problems on the new system.

Stay tuned to www.macalester.edu/email, notification-l and the Bulletin for additional information. Thank you for your patience. [Notification-L]

08/05/05, Moodle Upgrade Tuesday 8/9
On Tuesday, August 9, an upgraded version of Moodle (moodle.macalester.edu) will be put in place - and Macalester will officially move from the pilot phase to fully supporting Moodle. As part of this upgrade, our database staff have worked hard so that courses for the upcoming semester are created for you and enrollments will be synchronized with information from the Registrar.

Your AIAs and librarians are ready to help you with the new system. In addition, for this semester, we will keep an archive of the pilot-phase Moodle system available at moodlearchive.macalester.edu. We will be happy to help you transfer past courses to the new server.

Reminder: Information Services and the CST are offering a hands-on Moodle workshop from 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon on Tuesday, August 16. To RSVP, please e-mail Marga Miller millermk@macalester.edu. If you have questions, please contact Barron Koralesky koralesky@macalester.edu. [Notification-L; also Bulletin 8/9]

08/04/05, Calendar Migration Reminder and Update

Attn: All Macalester Faculty and Staff
Re: Calendar Migration Reminder and Update

Next Wednesday, August 10th, we will be migrating Calendar data over to the new Calendaring system, Oracle Collaboration Suite (OCS).

Our test migrations have gone well, but this type of migration is somewhat uncharted waters, so there may be unexpected difficulties. Rest assured that no data will be lost and there will be no long-term downtimes. We are fully aware of how important Corporate Time is to some of our users and are making every effort to make this migration as smooth as possible. If there are serious difficulties with the migration, we will simply revert back to the current Calendaring server.

In order to use your Oracle Calendar after the migration, you can log into OCS at http://ocs.macalester.edu, and click on Calendar. You can also access it through Corporate Time, but you will need to install the latest Corporate Time client. Those who are using Palms to sync with the current calendar will need to install new Palm software as well. No passwords will be reset as part of the calendar migration, so you may log in with your Novell password as you do currently.

Instructions and updates will be available at http://www.macalester.edu/email/calendar.

Please do not reply to this message. If you have questions, contact Elias Echols at x.6708 or echols@mac. [Notification-L]

08/02/05, E-mail Quotas and Attachment Sizes on OCS
E-mail quotas on the new server will be increased to 500 MB. This amount is for your entire mail and there will be no limits on individual folders, so that you may organize your mail however you choose as long as the total size of all messages does not exceed 500 MB. In addition, the size of an e-mail attachment you may send/receive at Macalester has been increased to 20 MB. This is double the former size limit of 10 MB. [Bulletin]

08/02/05, Calendar Migration Date
The e-mail migration process also includes the migration of our calendaring system to the Oracle Collaboration Suite. We have scheduled the Calendar migration for Wednesday, August 10. On that day, all the information in the current calendaring system will be moved to the new server. The new system will require a new client or palm software to access it. Details will be announced in the upcoming weeks. [Bulletin]


[return to Information Services ] [CIT homepage] [Library homepage] [Media Services homepage]