IS Services Desk Announcements

[Important] - IPTel - Current Issue - 20 November 2009

2009-11-20

To IPTel Users,

Information Technology Services advise that extension mobility is unavailable. We are also currently experiencing a delay on outgoing external calls. There may be a 20 – 30 second delay as the line establishes a connection.

This has been raised with the vendor and they are investigating the issue.

[For Information] - Windows 7 - General Notification - 18 November 2009

2009-11-19

To Microsoft Users,

Good afternoon to our WINDOWS user Community. The following is an update regarding WINDOWS version 7.

ITS have been working with Microsoft to develop our transition to Windows 7, while we understand many of you will be keen to move to the new operating system, we have identified a number of our Computer systems, servers and internal application that need to be upgraded before we move to ensure a seamless transition from Windows XP to Windows 7. Therefore Windows 7 is not yet approved for production within the University. At this stage our plan for the release of Windows 7 is Q3 2010, however please note that this will be dependent on upgrading of our back-end infrastructure, and testing of all University systems (E.G. Themis, SSP, Networks, Hosting, training of ITS Support Personnel etc).

However in saying this we realize that some Faculties IT departments would also like to perform testing of Windows 7 for their areas, therefore a limited number of Windows 7 CD’s with attendant license keys, will be made available to Faculty and Department IT Managers, under the strict proviso that this software is used specifically for testing purposes only. The software cannot be put into production till the Change Advisory Board (CAB) approval is given.

Testers of the software are required to submit a copy of the findings from any testing completed, to include in our CAB submission.

Faculty and Department IT Managers are required to contact the service desk to log a request for a Windows 7 CD for your department or faculty.

[Urgent] - Exchange Email and Calendar - Required Maintenance - 19 November 2009

2009-11-18

To Exchange Users,

Information Technology Services advises that as a result of ongoing problems with the Exchange Service, Microsoft has informed that emergency maintenance on some of our mail-stores is required.

Unfortunately, from 6:00 pm on Thursday 19th November 2009, your access to Exchange will be disabled to allow this emergency work to proceed, this includes the ability to send and receive email and use of calendar functionality. All incoming email will be stored and delivered to your Exchange account when the maintenance is complete and the service has been restored.

It is estimated that the work will take up to 6 hours to complete. To enable a smooth reconnection when the service becomes available it is recommended that you logout of your email client (Outlook or Entourage) before 6:00 pm this evening.

We apologise for the outage to this service and the inconvenience it will cause.

[Critical] - Networks - Current Outage - 17 November 2009

2009-11-17

To All Staff and Students,

ITS advise that services are currently in the progress of being restored after a major outage.

For further updates you can visit the announcement website at [http://servicedesk.unimelb.edu.au/servicestatus] or you can contact the IT Service Desk on 8344 0888.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

[Important] - Desktop Support - WSUS Update release for November 2009

2009-11-16

To Windows Desktop and Server Administrators,

Following testing of Microsoft Windows patches for November from participating system administrators, patches have been approved for distribution from the ID-WSUS server that were described in the IT Service Desk announcement:

[http://servicedesk.unimelb.edu.au/announcements/display_full.php?id=939]

However, there is a known issue with Security Bulletin MS09-65 (Vulnerability in Windows kernel-mode drivers could allow remote code execution) where users using ATI Radeon HD 2400 Series video adapters found their computer did not start correctly. ITS recommends users uninstall Catalyst Control Center before applying patch, then download and install the latest ATI video driver from the ATI website, users whom have already applied patch and is experiencing this issue to refer to link for more info [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969947]

With Security Bulletin MS09-067 (Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel could allow remote code execution). The prerequisite for Office 2003 is Service Pack 3 and for Office 2007 is Service Pack 1.

Article number KB976749 resolves an issue that occurs after applying security update 974455 (MS09-054), the security update needs to be installed before applying this fix.

ACTION REQUIRED:
================
System administrators and end users should ensure that all Windows OS based computers are up to date either by enabling automatic updates or manually updating affected computers.
Computers which are configured to use the ID-WSUS server for their updates will have the deployment monitored although should administrators notice issues relating to release of Windows Updates through ID-WSUS we request that information be forwarded to either the IT Service Desk via [http://servicedesk.unimelb.edu.au/] or on extension 40888.
Please refer to Wednesday's announcement for full information about the updates to be approved: [http://servicedesk.unimelb.edu.au/announcements/display_full.php?id=939]

[Important] - Turnitin - Required Maintenance - 21 November 2009

2009-11-09

To Students and Staff,,

Information Technology Services advise that Turnitin will be unavailable on Saturday, 21st November 2009 from 6.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. whilst the Turnitin website undergoes scheduled system maintenance.

Submission of assignments will not be possible during this downtime.

[For Information] - Account Registration System - Decommission - 2009 - 2010

2009-10-09

To Staff,

Information Technology Services is replacing ARS, our Account Registration System, with a new Identity Management System. The complete replacement of ARS will take place incrementally over the course of 2010. Work will commence in late 2009.

Whilst ARS will continue to be maintained until fully replaced, limited changes or modifications to the retiring ARS system will be undertaken during the replacement period. Currently there are no pending requests for changes to the ARS system, and only critical new work will be considered after 16 October.

Please direct all queries to Terry Brennan, Identity Management Project Manager.

Further information about the Identity and Access Management Project is available at [http://go.unimelb.edu.au/sa6]