INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
January 2007
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Announcements from the Bulletin, Today, Notification-L

01/29/07, Oracle Calendar Alert: Daylight Saving Glitch
In 2007, Daylight Saving Time will begin earlier and end later than in previous years. We must apply a patch to our Corporate Time calendar server to update the system because of this change. Meetings that are already scheduled during the two affected periods (March 11-April 1 and October 28-November 4) may be off by an hour after the patch is installed.

We will apply this patch shortly after 4:30 PM on Friday, February 9.

We recognize that this change may cause schedule disruptions and frustrations for many at Macalester. We regret any inconvenience that may arise - but we have no choice. We must patch our Corporate Time calendar system, otherwise we risk creating more problems that will repeat themselves for years to come.

ITS will do all that we can to minimize the effects of this change. To learn what we're doing, and to find out what you need to do to help protect your calendar from problems based on this change, please see our Web page on the subject:

www.macalester.edu/its/daylightsaving/

Background: On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.

Old DST start/end dates: First Sunday in April/Last Sunday in October.
New DST start/end dates: Second Sunday in March/First Sunday in November.
Because of the change, the affected dates in 2007 are March 11-April 1 and October 28-November 4.
[Bulletin, also 2/2]

01/19/07, Argos Maintenance 1/22
Argos will be unavailable from 4:30 to 5:00 PM on Monday, January 22 for upgrades and system maintenance. There is a small chance that the work will take more than 30 minutes. After the upgrade there should be no immediate change in how Argos operates as many of the changes are in the administration portion of Argos. If you have questions please call Patrick Leder at x.6708. [Staff Notification-L]

01/12/07, Changes in Online Library Catalog
The recently completed system upgrade has resulted in quite a few changes in the library online catalog. Users will notice some of the following changes:

1. We now have cover art and clicking on the cover image takes you directly to the appropriate record at Amazon.com for reviews and other title-related information.
   
   
2. The new keyword search results display is known as the "briefcit" display. The briefcit provides the following - ability to save an item, item status, cover art, and title ratings.
   
   
3. If you are logged into "My Account," you will see the approximate number of days it will take to receive an item and/or change your pick-up location.
   
   
4. You can rate titles with one (worst) to five (best) stars. If you attempt to click on a star to rate a title, you will be prompted to log into your account.
   
   
5. The "Request" button now only shows up for requestable items.
   
   
6. You can limit results to only items that are currently available.
   and more.

01/12/07, E-Mail Issue Resolved
We apologize for the previous slowdown of the OCS system from approximately 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM. The issue was resolved by 3:00 PM but we waited to send a follow-up message until we could make sure performance was optimal.

Also remember that e-mail will be unavailable from 8:00 PM until 9:00 PM tonight. During this time, incoming mail will be held; it will be delivered after service is restored.

Please contact Marisa Brandt at brandtm@macalester.edu or x.6181 with any questions or concerns on the scheduled outage.

Gabe Stitzel
ITS, Network Administrator
[Notification-L]

01/12/07, E-Mail Slowdown
We are currently experiencing some performance problems with Macalester's e-mail system that are causing a general slowdown. The network staff is working on the problem and will send notification when it is resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.

Jesse Harman
ITS
[Notification-L]

01/11/07, Internet Connection On Campus
There will be a brief interruption of the campus Internet connection tomorrow, Friday, January 12, between 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM. The interruption will last for fewer than five minutes, but you will be unable to access off-campus Internet services during this time.

Please contact Marisa Brandt at brandtm@macalester.edu or x.6181 with any questions or concerns. [Notification-L]

01/11/07, E-Mail Maintenance Tomorrow Night
We will be performing maintenance on the e-mail servers tomorrow night, Friday, January 12th, beginning at 8 PM.

E-mail will be unavailable from 8 PM until 9 PM. During this time, incoming mail will be held; it will be delivered after service is restored.

Please contact Marisa Brandt at brandtm@macalester.edu or x.6181 with any questions or concerns. [Notification-L]

01/09/07, Banner Access Restored
Banner's Production server is once again accessible, as of 10:20 this morning. We regret the inconvenience this downtime may have caused. If you have questions, please contact Ram&oeacute;n Rentas at x.6633. [Staff-Notification-L]

01/09/07, Banner Down
As of 8:40 this morning, the connection to Banner Production has failed. Currently it appears that the Web server that connects users to the database is not working and will have to be restarted. We will be working with the vendor to get this up as soon as possible, and we will send out further notification as soon as it is available again.

The database itself is functioning properly and is still running right now. We have connected to the database and run some simple queries.

If you have any questions please contact Patrick Leder at extension 6708. [Staff-Notification-L]

01/03/07, Moodle Maintenance Today, January 3
Moodle will be briefly unavailable today from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM as we work to move the Fall courses to the archive and put a new Moodle in place updated with all the Spring semester courses. After this you will be able to access your Spring semester courses at moodle.macalester.edu. By tomorrow morning you will be able to access your past courses at moodlearchive.macalester.edu. If you have any questions, please contact Barron Koralesky, koralesky@macalester.edu. [Notification-L]

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