Information Services Announcements, September 2005

INFORMATION SERVICES
September 2005
return to Information Services

Announcements from the Bulletin, Today, Notification-L

09/30/05, NETWORK MAINTENANCE, SUNDAY 10/2
We will be moving some network equipment and installing a new component between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM Sunday, October 2. During this maintenance window, there will be some interruption of our Internet connection, authentication and printing services. Two separate changes are being performed, so not all services will be affected for this entire period. While our Internet connection is down, on-campus network access will NOT be interrupted. Authentication and printing services will be down wile the server is being moved, and will affect logging into e-mail, Moodle and other network applications that require a username and password. [Bulletin]

09/30/05, Your 2005-2006 Employee Directory is On Its Way!
The 2005-2006 Employee Directory will soon be in your mailbox. There is ONE directory per employee. Directories are not given to students or anyone outside of the College. Every effort has been made to include complete and correct information. If you note an error or omission, please contact Human Resources at x6480. Please properly recycle your 2004-2005 directory. [Bulletin, also 10/4]

09/30/05, Information Services Software Classes Available
The Library and CIT have teamed up to offer a variety of training sessions on various software packages and research methods. These sessions are completely free and are open to all Macalester faculty, staff and students. Sessions include creating Web pages/graphics with Dreamweaver and Photoshop, an overview of OCS Webmail and a session on safe computing practices (among other topics). You can check out the full listing of session being offered at www.macalester.edu/infoservices/training/. [Bulletin, also 10/4]

09/29/05, OCS System Update, 9/29, 2:45 PM
Though system stability has improved since we made the last changes, our consulting firm has not been able to define with any precision what exactly was wrong. We are contacting other firms for assistance, and are still working with Oracle engineers.

I mentioned yesterday that I'd describe how we planned to architect this system, to answer the question "If you picked the right system, why do we still have problems?" It's a complicated question which I will try to answer.

The first part of the OCS system architecture I'll cover is the hardware.

The system has three "tiers" which are just organizational divisions. Their names are: Mid-Tier, Infrastructure Tier and Data Store Tier. A tier isn't necessarily a particular computer - it is just a logical division. The three tiers could all run on a single computer, or could run on two, or could run on three separate computers. In our case, each tier runs on a separate computer. 'Tier' is just an odd word choice by Oracle. What differentiates the tiers is that they perform different functions:

The Mid-Tier runs end-user applications, like the IMAP mail server (what Thunderbird uses to get new mail), the Web mail server, the Web portal and others. I don't know why it is called 'Mid-Tier.' The name makes no sense to me.
The Infrastructure Tier runs the OCS user database. All user info in OCS, like name, password, department, etc. is stored here. When you log into OCS, you are actually logging into this tier, even though it looks like you're logging into the Mid-Tier.
The Data Store Tier holds the data. All e-mail is stored on this tier in an Oracle database.

The Data Store Tier
Working from the bottom up, the Data Store Tier runs the main Oracle database. All of your e-mail is in this database. When we move Corporate Time to the OCS system, your Calendar data will be here too. The plan is to have the Data Store tier run on a cluster. A cluster is two or more computers governed by special clustering software. The software makes the two computers function as a single system. It also manages failures, so if one of the clustered systems fails, the services provided by the cluster (in our case the Oracle database) keep running anyway. The idea is that we'll be able to provide more reliable service, so that even if one system fails or we need to take it down to work on it, users won't be interrupted.

The Data Store tier is not currently clustered. Why not? In a nutshell, we were sold equipment that we were told could be used for clustering when in fact it couldn't. The equipment was specified by the vendor, not us, so they've acknowledged the error and are working to make things right. This unpleasant surprise happened in the middle of the migration. We could have put the migration on hold for weeks while this got sorted out, or we could have just carried on. Not wanting the migration to extend into the fall semester, we carried on. We will be clustering the Data Store tier soon, which will be a service interruption we will announce in advance.

Should you be worried the Data Store tier is not clustered in the meantime? We gave this question a great deal of thought, but the answer is no, you shouldn't. Every computer we've bought for this has redundant power supplies and hard drives - which are the most common components to fail. We also have an identical system on standby, from which we could get parts or just drop in as a replacement. We've also had years of reliability with the server systems we buy (from Dell). They're just solid, and we have a 4-hour parts replacement service agreement for them also. Hardware failures just haven't been a problem with Dell servers.

The Infrastructure Tier
The Infrastructure Tier we planned on just running on a single computer. If it failed, the user directory programs it runs could be run on one of the other tiers while repairs are done. The more practical reason is that clustering software was not available for this tier when we implemented OCS, so it just had to run on one computer. The new release does support clustering this tier (the new release came out in August, mid-migration). We planned on moving to the new release in January, and may move sooner. See the last paragraph in the preceding section for info on why a non-clustered tier here is acceptable in the interim.

The Mid-Tier
Like the infrastructure tier, clustering is not available on the Mid-Tier with the release of OCS we are running now. If the Mid-Tier failed, we would use parts from the standby system, or just replace the failed system with the standby. See the last paragraph in the preceding section for info on why a non-clustered tier here is acceptable in the interim. The new release of OCS supports multiple Mid-Tiers, which we will be implementing when we move to it.

In summary, we planned the hardware infrastructure of the system to gain maximum reliability. The equipment (ignoring the equipment that was incorrect) has all performed perfectly. We haven't had any hardware problems and don't expect to see any.

So why, if we haven't had any hardware failures, have we had problems? I'll cover that tomorrow. Thank you for your patience and understanding. [Notification-L]

09/28/05, Network Maintenance Scheduled for Sunday
There will be some interruption of the Internet connection and authentication and printing services between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM on the afternoon of Sunday, October 2, while some equipment is moved and a new component is installed. There are two separate changes being done, so not all services will be affected for the entire maintenance window. While the Internet connection is down, on-campus network access will not be interrupted. Authentication and printing services will be down while the server is being moved, and will affect logging in to e-mail, Moodle, and other network applications that require a username and password. [Notification-L]

09/28/05, OCS System Status, 9/28 3:40 PM
Good news. We made some changes to the OCS system yesterday [Tuesday 9/27] at 1:00 PM. The changes appear to have had the desired effect. Since the changes, no system problems have occurred, stability has returned and performance has been very good. Some specific metrics we've been monitoring on the systems, like how busy the disk drives are, have improved greatly with the changes.

What now? I'm hesitant to claim everything is solved, but the latest changes have resulted in a measurable improvement. We will continue to monitor the system closely. We've always claimed that this system would be reliable, and people are understandably questioning our decision. In tomorrow's update, I will go into more detail of the support structure we have and the architecture of the system, so people have a better idea of where we are with OCS. [Notification-L]

09/27/05, OCS Update 9/27, 4:30 PM
I'm sure everyone was as pleased as I was to see a much more stable system today. I'd like to be able to say that we found the cause of the problem and fixed it. We didn't, but we did make some changes that appear to have helped. We have been working with the Oracle engineers today and will continue tonight.

From feedback I've received I was not clear in this morning's message about OCS Web mail. My suggestion that "...the Web-based system may just be shut down so people using Thunderbird may work normally..." caused the confusion. We will provide a Webmail solution. There is absolutely no way we would not. I suggested shutting off OCS Webmail might happen if: (1) OCS Webmail isn't working, and (2) its behavior also affects regular e-mail access. In that case, shutting down Webmail wouldn't do any more harm to Webmail users, but it would allow for system access by other users. Such a step would be only a temporary measure, and is certainly something to be avoided.

Thank you for your patience. [Notification-L]

09/27/05, Joel Clemmer to Leave Macalester
Joel Clemmer, Vice President for Library and Information Services, is leaving Macalester.

"After an even twenty years of contribution to Macalester's advancement, it is time for a change in my life and I am leaving my position," Clemmer announced. "I have had the pleasure of contributing to the strong growth of the college in this period and remain very confident in our future. I leave with fond recollections of working with the members of college community and especially with my colleagues in Information Services."

President Brian Rosenberg said: "I want to thank Joel for his years of service and commitment to Macalester and, on behalf of the community, wish him well in the future." [Bulletin]

09/27/05, OCS Status Update
We have no new hard information on the OCS system at this time [9:35 AM]. We are continuing to work with Oracle engineers, and all options are being considered to regain a stable system. Yesterday was the first time the Web-based OCS system caused a performance issue for the client-based mail system (i.e. for people using Thunderbird). If that happens again today, the Web-based system may just be shut down so people using Thunderbird may work normally.

Troubleshooting can only go so far, there must be a time limit to it. If troubleshooting down several paths yields no results in that time, you just have to take a more severe or radical action. That's radical in the sense of a large system change, not in the sense of allowing possible e-mail loss.

Another update will be sent later today. Thank you for your patience and understanding. [Notification-L]

09/26/05, Today's OCS Problems
We are aware of the problems with the OCS system today [Monday, September 26]. We have been on the phone, working with Oracle engineers throughout the day and will continue tonight. The seemingly random ups-and-downs of the Web portal were the results of us making changes to the system, attempting to fix the problem. To be frank, we don't know exactly what is causing the problem though it appears to be a configuration issue related to SSL.

E-mail access with an e-mail program like Thunderbird has been much less affected by the problems. We did make a change to the system today which required a reboot to take effect, causing Thunderbird to also not work for about 1/2 hour. Otherwise, Thunderbird access to e-mail has been much more stable.

It is difficult to send out a notification-l message about this, because we have little new information to share. This is a configuration issue that will be resolved - it is not a problem endemic to OCS. We will not have a new e-mail system with chronic mystery problems, like the old one had. We will work through these problems until we deliver the stability and reliability we have been promising. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

For those students who have been relying on the OCS web system for e-mail, we invite you to try out Thunderbird until the problems with the OCS Web system are resolved. Thunderbird is an e-mail client for Windows or Mac OSX computers which most people really like. It has an easy-to-use interface and a rich feature set. We've made installers for Mac OSX and Windows platforms, to make installation easier. Just download the installer for your system below and run it. You'll be prompted for the minimal information necessary to make the program work for you.

Download Thunderbird for Mac OSX
Download Thunderbird for Windows [Notification-L]

09/23/05, Telecomm Tip
If you are hosting an event on campus that will involve outside guests, please notify Colleen Nelson, our switchboard operator, with details. Helpful information includes: what, where, when, who and any costs. Please call x6000 or e-mail nelsoncm@macalester.edu. This would be a great help to her, your participants and you! [Bulletin, also 9/27]

09/23/05, E-Mail Vacation Messages: Yes You Can!
If you will be unable to check your Macalester e-mail for a full day or more, you can set a vacation message telling your correspondents you're away, as well as informing them when you expect to return. Your incoming e-mail will be delivered to your account normally in your absence.

Vacation messages can be set and unset within OCS Webmail (not in Thunderbird). It's a quick procedure. Instructions may be found on page 5 of this document:

www.macalester.edu/cit/docs/ocswebmail.pdf

Alternatively, you can login to OCS directly and set a vacation message, as well as linking to the relevant section of the above documentation, on this page:

mail.macalester.edu

Under 'Vacation Messages,' clicking the image of the chimpanzee logs you into OCS Webmail and takes you directly to the Preferences window to set or unset your vacation options and text. (Make sure you're not logged into OCS or Thunderbird already before clicking here!) There is also a text link directly to the documentation noted above. [Bulletin, also 9/27]

09/22/05, 'Account Alert' Scam Warning
My e-mail today included the following 'phishing' attempt, with the words "Account Alert" in the subject field. It purported to be from "admin@macalester.edu," an address I know to be bogus. If you get this message, or one like it, simply delete it. Please do not follow the link, as that will tell the scammers on the other end that "we've got a live one here!" Rest assured that any formal communication from CIT will be recognizable as such (like this warning), will be written in grammatically correct English, and will not open with the salutation "Dear Valued Member."

*********************begin scam text*******************

Dear Valued Member,

According to our terms of services, you will have to confirm your e-mail by the following link or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

http://[my e-mail address]/confirm.php?email=macalester.edu

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,Macalester Security Department

*******************end scam text**********************
[Notification-L]

09/16/05, Employee Directories Are In the Works
The Employee Directory is currently being organized, edited, and proofread, and will be delivered to you by the beginning of October. If you would like your home phone number listed in the Employee Directory, please e-mail Kelly Borke at borke@macalester.edu by 12:00 noon, Wednesday September 21. Include this information in your e-mail message: your name, department and home phone number, including area code. Home addresses will not be printed. Your e-mail message will be retained as a consent document to publish your home phone number - therefore it is important that each person respond individually. [Bulletin, also 9/20]

09/13/05, Moodle Enrollments
Faculty: enrollment in your Moodle course sites will be automatically updated nightly based on information from the Registrar. This includes ACTC students who are registered for your classes. Their usernames and passwords will be the same as those of their Novell accounts. The Help Desk would be happy to assist with any password issues, at x.6525.

In addition, you can manually add any other participants to your class, such as guest lecturers or preceptors. Please contact your AIA or Library liaison if you need any assistance. [Bulletin, also 9/16]

09/11/05, Class E-mail Lists
C.I.T. staff worked this weekend to improve performance of class e-mail lists. Sending a message to a course list, e.g. engl120-01@macalester.edu, should now be more consistently successful. This is part of the complicated system configuration necessary to adapt the new e-mail system to Macalester's needs. [Notification-L]

09/11/05, Department and Student Organization Accounts Migrated to OCS
All departmental e-mail accounts and accounts for student organizations have been moved to OCS. Also, any non-student organizational accounts and guest accounts have been moved. To move them, we had to reset the password on each account, just like when we moved individual accounts.

Departmental account examples include: 'today@macalester.edu,' 'library@macalester.edu,' 'hr@macalester.edu,' 'healthservices@macalester.edu' and 'cdc@macalester.edu.' Note that these are not mailing lists. They are actual accounts that receive electronic mail.

Student Organization account examples include: 'macweekly@macalester.edu,' 'qu@macalester.edu,' 'flying@macalester.edu' and 'blac@macalester.edu.'

Please contact the Help Desk at x6525 for the password for your account. Once you've logged in, change the account password. We would have liked to have notified every person responsible for each account individually, but we just don't have contact information for most of the accounts. [Notification-L]

09/09/05, New: Web Access to Your Files
Storing critical files on our campus network is an easy and effective way to back up irreplaceable data. But how can you get to these files quickly and easily, particularly from off-campus?

Try NetStorage. This tool permits you to access your files on any of the Novell servers - across the Web, no matter where you are. Simply point your browser to http://webfile.macalester.edu - login is required, to protect data privacy. NetStorage replaces (and improves upon) an older tool that did not work well, so if you're thinking "I've tried webfile already," it's actually an entirely new and different tool. NetStorage looks and acts the same whether you're using a Windows PC or a Macintosh, irrespective of your browser (although we encourage you to use FireFox). Full documentation is available from CIT. Go to www.macalester.edu/cit/docs/docindex.html, choose your platform, and download the document "Web-based Network File Access." [Bulletin, also 9/13]

09/09/05, Telecomm Tip
You had changed your voicemail greeting to reflect your summer hours, right? And have you changed it back? To change your voicemail greeting, access your voicemail box, then press 4 (personal options), then 3 (greetings), then 1 (personal greeting), and follow the prompts.

If you will be away from your desk for a half day or more, we suggest you record an extended absence greeting, stating when when you'll return. The beauties of this type of greeting are (1) when you return, one keystroke deletes it and puts your personal (daily) greeting back in, and (2) callers cannot bypass it. As a bonus tip - did you know you don't have to listen to someone's entire personal greeting? You can bypass (skip past) a voicemail personal greeting by pressing the # key.

If you have a phone or voicemail question that you'd like to see answered in this column, please contact Telecommunications at x6566 or e-mail borke@macalester.edu. [Bulletin, also 9/13]

09/03/05, Update on OCS Maintenance Status
More good news. Work continued late last night and resolved the two remaining 'big' issues.

Problem: Cannot upload files in OCS Eeb Files interface. Status: Completely fixed. Tested on Firefox/Internet Explorer on both Mac OSX and Windows.
Problem: Problem: Cannot send attachments using OCS Webmail. Status: Completely fixed. Tested on Firefox/Internet Explorer on both Mac OSX and Windows.
Problem: Self-service password change link broken. Status: Completely fixed.

CIT recommends using Firefox over Internet Explorer, largely because of the poor security history of IE and its susceptibility to viruses and spyware. If you don't have Firefox, get it here.

There are two remaining issues we are aware of.

Problem: Some plain text attachments do not appear in OCS Webmail. Status: A call was opened with Oracle on July 29 2005. On August 6 they determined it is a bug in OCS and are working on a fix. Hint: if people forward you e-mails and you can't see them in OCS Webmail, ask the sender to set their e-mail program to "Forward messages Inline" and NOT "Forward messages as attachment." In Thunderbird, this setting is in Thunderbird -> Preferences -> Composition -> Forward Messages (Mac OSX) or for Windows in Tools -> Options -> Composition -> Forward Messages.
Problem: Some image attachments do not display in OCS Webmail. Status: A call was opened with Oracle on June 23, 2005. On August 6 they determined it is a bug in OCS (same bug causing above-mentioned problem) and are working on a fix.

[Notification-L]

09/02/05, OCS Maintenance Status
Good news. The decision to eliminate the Webcache on OCS appears to have paid off. The stability of the system is back. Also the big three problems we had with the system appear to be largely fixed.

Problem: Cannot upload files in OCS Web Files interface. Status: Completely fixed for Firefox/Win and Internet Explorer/Mac OSX. Does not work with Internet Explorer/Windows. Does not work with files larger than approximately 300KB on Firefox/Mac OSX.
Problem: Cannot send attachments using OCS Webmail. Status: Completely fixed for Firefox/Win and Internet Explorer/Mac OSX. Does not work with Internet Explorer/Windows. Does not work with files larger than approximately 300KB on Firefox/Mac OSX.
Problem: Self-service password change link broken. Status: Completely fixed.

CIT recommends using Firefox over Internet Explorer, largely because of the poor security history of IE and its susceptibility to viruses and spyware. If you don't have Firefox, get it here. Work will continue on the system today to fix the functionality of IE/Windows and Firefox/Mac OSX write file uploads and e-mail attachments. This may mean short periods of unavailability. Check this page for updates. [Notification-L]

09/02/05, Is It OCS, or Just Me?
To keep users more informed and in-the-loop regarding the new OCS system, we are publishing a system log on the Web. Go to www.macalester.edu/email/ and look for the link to "View OCS system log." (It will be in the upper left-hand corner of the page.) The system log lists all times when the OCS system is completely or partially unavailable, such as when it is taken offline for maintenance or upgrades. Over time, the data will also show how reliable the system actually is.

Speaking of reliability, please note also that the OCS system is still being configured. This means that many of the problems you may have seen with the new OCS system are not inherent in OCS itself, but are directly related to the work now being done to finish configuring OCS. This complex system must be carefully configured in order to offer the flexibility, rich feature set and stability we've set as goals. [Bulletin, also 9/6]

09/01/05, OCS Maintenance
Oracle has been working with us today on fixing some configuration issues that have left us with several major problems. Some good progress was made today. Oracle is fairly certain that the changes made today are a large first step toward getting all problems resolved. We plan on having this wrapped up tomorrow. Here is what is to come.

Tonight sometime after 9:00 PM, the entire system will be rebooted. This will allow all of the changes made today to take effect. The reboot takes about half an hour, but after that the system should be available again.

Tomorrow morning Oracle will resume work with us. We have been told to expect little downtime for e-mail (though another reboot may be necessary). We do not have more specific information on exactly how long work will take tomorrow.

For the latest information, go to www.macalester.edu/email/ where you will see a traffic light icon in the upper-left corner. Click on the link under 'Maintenance' for updates. [Notification-L]

09/01/05, NetWare Web Server Planned Maintenance - Saturday, September 3
The NetWare Web server will be down for several hours on the morning of Saturday, September 3, beginning at 7:00 AM for a hardware upgrade. Some departmental Web pages will be unavailable while the server is being upgraded. We expect the upgrade to be completed by early afternoon. Personal Web pages will not be affected by this upgrade.

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]

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