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

05/31/07, ITS Summer Improvements
ITS is working on some summer projects, and we wanted to share some quick notes on these with you. All of our projects are aiming at the same goal: increasing your electronic security and protecting your privacy. More details will be forthcoming over the next few weeks - this is an initial overview.

New Usernames. We will be rolling out a new username convention for all new Macalester accounts. This will include all faculty, staff and students joining our community for Fall 2007. The naming convention comes directly from our new Banner system and is being implemented so that we can have a campus standard that matches our new ERP software. Existing usernames will not change.

New Passwords. Along with the new username convention we will be implementing a new password policy. This policy takes into account many new data standards as well as security concerns the community has been reviewing for the last few years. Existing passwords will not be changed or expired at this time. This new policy affects only new users and any users that decide to change their passwords.

Speaking of security, the Networking department will also be working on several infrastructure projects this summer. We will be requiring registration of all computers that use our wireless network, both in the residence halls and across campus. The registration process associates a computer's network address with the name of its user, in the event that we need to contact the user about problems. Also, we will be organizing network addresses (IPs) by building and department. Once completed, these projects will add more security to the Macalester network and make administration much faster and easier.

And as a final announcement, ITS will be building a new mailing list server for the campus. This new server will allow users to create and maintain mailing lists using a much more convenient and easy-to-administer interface.

Watch for more details and updates here in the Bulletin, via Notification-L, and on the ITS Web page (www.macalester.edu/its/). [Bulletin, also 6/7/07]

05/30/07, What Happened With E-Mail?
E-mail service over the Memorial Day weekend was interrupted due to a hardware failure within a physical server, not to problems with OCS itself. Network staff have made changes to our infrastructure so as to prevent a recurrence. [Notification-L]

05/22/07, Banner and 1600grand Maintenance 5/23
Attention all 1600grand and Banner users:

Both 1600grand and Banner will be taken offline tomorrow night, Wednesday May 23 2007, at 8:00 PM for approximately two hours in order to perform regularly scheduled maintenance. 1600grand and Banner are scheduled to be available again at approximately 10:00 PM.

Please contact Tim Friemann (friemann@macalester.edu or x.6879) if you have any questions about this maintenance. Thank you. [Notification-L]

05/18/07, Internet Downtime May 20
There will be some brief outages to our Internet connection on Sunday, May 20, between 8:00 AM and 12:00 noon. We will be upgrading some network services during this time; rebooting servers will cause the short outages. Only our Internet connection will be affected - e-mail, Banner, 1600grand, Novell and other networked services will function normally. The outages will be of short duration but may occur any time during the four-hour upgrade window. If you have questions please contact Geri Olson at x.6171 or olson@macalester.edu. [Notification-L]

05/17/07, Graduates: Migrating OCS Messages to Google Gmail
Congratulations once again to the Class of 2007. Earlier in May, you were sent information about forwarding your Macalester e-mail pending the closure of all graduates' accounts on June 1. (This is archived on the ITS home page, under 'Notices/Alerts.') Many graduates have been calling the Help Desk asking for assistance in moving e-mail from Macalester accounts to Google Gmail accounts.

Since a very large percentage of graduates already have Gmail accounts, we've written up a document explaining how to move your e-mail from your Macalester account to your Gmail account. You can find these instructions here: www.macalester.edu/its/gmail.pdf

Please note that ITS does not endorse or support any ISP or e-mail provider. We are distributing these Gmail instructions only for the benefit of our recent graduates. [E-mailed to all graduated seniors by the Registrar]

05/17/07, Projectors Removed for Repairs
A number of the ceiling-mounted classroom video/data projectors have been removed this week so that warranty-covered recall repairs can be made. These projectors will be repaired and re-installed by Friday, June 1. If you need to use a video/data projector in one of these classrooms before then, please make arrangements with Media Services to reserve a portable projector or to schedule one of the Media Services presentation rooms.

Thank you,
Brian Longley
Director of Media Services [faculty-notification-l, staff-notification-l]

05/14/07, 1600grand Maintenance 5/19/07
On Saturday, May 19 2007, 1600grand will be taken offline from 6:00 to 9:00 AM for scheduled maintenance. Please plan your schedule accordingly. If you have any questions, please call Ramón Rentas at x6633. [Notification-L]

05/11/07, Oracle Calendar Restored
The Oracle Calendar server is back up and running as of 10:50 AM, and no user data (your meetings and scheduled commitments) has been lost. Please quit Oracle Calendar completely before re-launching the application. A few individuals may need to reboot their computers. If you have questions or need assistance, please call the ITS Help Desk at x.6525. [Notification-L]

05/11/07, Oracle Calendar Problem
Our Oracle Calendar server has been down all morning. ITS staff have responded and are actively trying to find the cause of the problem, fix it, and get the server back up as quickly as possible. We will send further notification as soon as service is restored, or when we have more information to share. We regret the inconvenience that this downtime will create. If you have questions please call the ITS Help Desk at x.6525. [Notification-L]

05/10/07, Brief 1600grand Glitch Fixed
For roughly thirty minutes midmorning today, persons logged into their 1600grand accounts may have experienced timeouts, effectively terminating the sessions. With assistance from the vendor, we have corrected this problem as of 11:03 AM. If you were logged into 1600grand when the fix was applied, you may see some error or query messages appear. Simply click 'OK.' [Notification-L]

05/01/07, Student Voicemail Boxes
All student voicemail boxes will be deleted beginning Monday, May 14, except for students who will be residing on campus this summer. This notice applies to every student, not just graduating seniors. If you want your voicemail box to remain open beyond May 14, please call Telecommunications at x.6566. [Student-Notification-L]

05/01/07, Graduating Seniors: Closing Accounts, Forwarding E-Mail
Congratulations to the Class of 2007! As you make the transition from student to alum, be aware of what will happen with your Macalester voicemail boxes, as well as your e-mail and network accounts. You have several options.

Voicemail boxes. All student voicemail boxes will be deleted beginning Monday, May 14, except for students who will be residing on campus this summer. If you want your voicemail box to remain open beyond May 14, please call Telecommunications at x.6566.

Network and e-mail accounts. These accounts will be closed on Friday, June 1. Please copy data from your accounts to your computer or to whatever backup method you prefer. This includes archived e-mail, addressbooks, Web pages, assignments and projects, etc. If you would like assistance in backing up your files, please drop by the Help Desk in Humanities 314, call us at x.6525, or e-mail helpdesk@macalester.edu. Your dropping in will give us a chance to work with you individually and answer any questions you may have about backing up.

E-mail forwarding. If you would like to have e-mail forwarded from your Macalester account to another e-mail address, please call the Help Desk at x.6525 or e-mail helpdesk@macalester.edu. We will need to know the full address to which you want your Macalester e-mail forwarded. Forwards will take effect beginning on Monday, May 14 and will remain in place until Friday, August 31. [E-mailed to all graduating seniors by the Registrar]

05/01/07, Windows Vista and Microsoft Office
The Vista and Office Workgroup (VOW) has been formed to look at our eventual migration from Windows XP to the Windows Vista operating system, as well as the campus-wide rollout of the latest version of Microsoft Office. The workgroup is still in the process of investigating options. If you'd like to ask questions or share your thoughts on the subject you can let us know in our new VOW Group Forum in 1600grand.

To join our 1600grand group, go to http://1600grand.macalester.edu and log in. Click on the Groups button. Click on the Groups Index tab. Search for "VOW" and then click on the group to join. If you need assistance, please contact the Help Desk (x6525, helpdesk@macalester.edu).

Here are answers to some of the most common questions we've heard about Vista and Office:

When are we moving to Vista?
Tentatively, mid-2008. Many important applications do not work with Vista yet. This date may change depending on when critical applications are patched by their manufacturers. There will be an announcement when the date is finalized.

What doesn't work with Vista?
Right now, Banner, PCard, the Novell Client and Novell Native File Access (on some versions) don't work with Vista. We expect this to change as vendors update their software. There may also be problems with other applications we have not yet tested.

Which version of Vista will be used on College-owned computers?
Vista Enterprise, which is an upgraded version of Vista Business.

Should I buy a computer with Vista?
While Vista may be fine for home use, we have identified several issues that may prevent it from working with important systems on campus. If you intend on using your personally-owned computer with our campus software and systems, we strongly recommend that you stick with Windows XP for now. If you have already purchased a computer with Vista we will try our best to get it working with our systems, but some things just may not work. You can contact the Help Desk (x6525, helpdesk@macalester.edu) for more information.

When can I get the latest version of Office on my college-owned computer?
We will begin making Office 2007 available in midsummer 2007 once we have finalized documentation and training procedures. Office 2007 runs under Windows XP and Vista. Office 2008 for Mac OS X is not yet available.

I received an Office 2007 file and I can't open it. What do I do?
Office 2007 uses new file formats named with the extensions .docx, .xlsx and .pptx. These extensions are not readable by older versions of Office unless you have the Microsoft Office 2007 Compatibility Pack installed. You can get it from http://macalester.edu/its/software/#office. The Compatibility Pack is not yet available for Macs. If you have a Mac, please contact the Help Desk (x6525, helpdesk@macalester.edu) for assistance converting the document. Office 2007 also has the ability to save documents in the older 2003/2004-compatible file formats. This behavior will be turned on by default on College-owned computers, but when exchanging documents with students or non-Macalester contacts you may wish to remind them to save in the 2003/2004-compatible formats.

Should I get Office 2007 for my personal computer?
We don't recommend upgrading until you have a specific need to do so. Remember that people with older versions of Office will probably not be able to read your documents unless you save them in the Office 2003/2004 compatible formats. [Bulletin, also 4/27]

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