Monthly Archives: March 2011

Professional Development Funding Application Form

The new Professional Funding Application form is now located in the ITS Staff Docs folder on eDocs.  Please use this form to obtain approval for attending meetings or conferences that require travel.  The form is an Adobe Acrobat fill-in form.  Complete the form and then click on the email form button at the bottom to submit your request for approval.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you.

https://edocs.uis.edu/Departments/ITS/ITS Staff Docs/Professional Funding Application.pdf

Skillsets online training

This is a monthly reminder that there are 7 vouchers left. The vouchers will No longer be available starting Oct. 11, 2011. I would hate to see you lose these available vouchers. Some training is better than none. It is VERY IMPORTANT to note that we do not necessarily encourage or discourage that you finish any particular course in a SkillSet. What we do encourage is that you get the training and knowledge you wanted to get from a given course. In some cases that may mean completely finishing a course and in other cases it may mean focusing on those parts that matter the most to you. This flexibility is one of the key benefits of our program. Our online courses also support all the major certifications such as MCITP, CCNA, etc. Our courses are a combination of instruction, exercises, simulations and test preps. A typical course takes about 3-5 days to complete. Each voucher has a life of 2 weeks so you get basically a 2 week window to take what amounts to a 3-5 day course. You can start/stop the course as much as you wish during the 2 week period. Very flexible! We are always expanding our library with more and more ADVANCED courses in key subjects like VMware, Cisco, Server 2008, Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, .NET, Windows 7, SQL 2008 and more. Updated Releases now available: SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Office 2010, Windows 7, CCNP, Microsoft .NET, Oracle 11g. Please visit the following link to see a listing of SkillSets available at http://skillsetsonline.com/skillsetschoices.html. If you have any voucher requests please let me know.
Thanks,

Alicia Jimenez
SkillSets Online
Phone: (925)457-8935
alicia.jimenez@skillsetsonline.com
http://www.SkillSetsOnline.com

ITS Team Profiles

When we had our staff retreat last February, one of the key suggestions was for some form of expanded employee profiles that included topics such as background, role(s) in ITS, personality strengths, areas of specialization or interests, etc. I am putting together a team to work with me to bring this about, and am looking both for volunteers as well as suggestions on how this would work best.

One of the things I’m looking for is examples of other web sites that have public employee profiles that are closer to what has been described above. If you know of one, or if you have other ideas or suggestions that would help in this process, please include it as a comment to this post. I’ve you would like to volunteer to work with me, please send me an e-mail.

Thanks!

Curtis

Mozilla Firefox 4 and Unicenter

Currently Mozilla Firefox version 4, which has recently become available, is not compatible with our Unicenter service desk software. Unicenter can still be logged into via the new version of the browser but tickets cannot be opened once in. It is the current recommendation that if you have to access unicenter that you not upgrade to firefox version 4 at this time.

Thanks
todd

Proposed VLAN 103 Reorganization

The Infrastructure and Network Team is proposing a change to how VLAN 103 is populated and is seeking feedback from all ITS stakeholders. Here is the background for this proposal.

This VLAN currently contains a wide variety of devices related to labs and classrooms that total well over than 500 at this time and spans across multiple buildings. These devices include teaching stations, lab workstations, smartboards, lab printers and others. Having this many devices in one VLAN increases the probability that a single malfunctioning device could produce widespread disruption to multiple classrooms at the same time, possibly interrupting ongoing lectures, classwork or exams.

The proposal is to break up VLAN 103 into separate VLANs that align better with strategic plan for networking on this campus. Basically, this means that the new VLANs would not span buildings, and common devices would be grouped into their own VLANs, such as lab printers in one, and individual computer lab PCs in another.  This strategy significantly reduces the risk of wide-spread impact due to a rogue device.

We think there may be some adjustments that might need to be made to existing processes for maintaining lab and teaching station PCs, but that the impact would be minimal. However, we are committed to ensuring that management of these devices would not require more time and effort than it does today and could require less. There would also be some behind-the-scenes network management benefits gained by implementing this change.

Please comment to this post to share your thoughts on this proposal.

Thanks!

Curtis

HSB Server Rm Humidity

The HSB Server room alarmed this morning with low humidity. The alarm system is working well, however the new ceiling mounted units that provide both cooling and humidification are not doing so well. According to Cecil the humidification cylinders are undersized for our need. What appears to be happening is as the temperature is lowered by the air conditioning units the humidification units cannot keep up and humidity in the room drops below the alarm set point. The units continue working and eventually the humidity is high enough that the alarm ends.

Jamie Voyles
HSB 119
217 206-7840

Significant EAS 4.1 Issue that impacts UIS

FYI

________________________________
Subject: RE: Significant EAS 4.1 Issue that impacts UIS

Addition:

The impact of this will be that while clients can update their EAS password with the link provided, the UIS NetID password and EnterpriseID password won’t be kept in sync until the fix goes in tomorrow.

_____________________________________________
Subject: Significant EAS 4.1 Issue that impacts UIS

UIS ITS Help Desk:

EAS 4.1 went live this morning. I want to bring to your attention one fairly significant issue that has been uncovered during production readiness testing.

The “Reset Password” functionality accessed via the “Enterprise” link on the www.uis.edu page is not working correctly.

<>

We are hoping to have a fix in place tomorrow. In the interim, please direct callers to https://eas.admin.uillinois.edu/eas/servlet/EasBluestemReset to reset their password.

I will keep you apprised of developments.

Thanks,

Suzanne

Suzanne Elise Zelle, PMP
Systems Integration Specialist
Integration Competency Center
Administrative Information Technology Services
University of Illinois
50 Gerty Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
M/C 673
217.244.0333
szelle@uillinois.edu

ICTO New Hires

Ian Fitzgerald and Dale Vick, two UIS alumni, have been hired as Instructional Communications Technical Operators for ITS.

Dale Vick will provide classroom support of audio and visual equipment.  He will also support  specialized classroom set-ups including distance learning and video conferencing.  Vick served as a Media Lab Operations Assistant for ITS from 2007 to 2011 and as an extra help employee responsible for installing and troubleshooting programs and equipment in campus learning spaces. He earned his BA in Communications from UIS in 2007.

Ian Fitzgerald will handle duties related to surplus and in-house transfer systems, including inventory and distribution of equipment.  He is also responsible for the maintenance, installation and operation of equipment, as well as software installations, hardware repairs and imaging of computer systems.  Ian Fitzgerald served ITS on the Learning Spaces Support Team from 2007 to 2011 and as a student worker for Media Services prior to that. He earned his BS in Psychology from UIS in 2007.

The Instructional Communications Technical Operators play an essential role in maintaining educational technology in campus learning spaces. ITS welcomes Ian Fitzgerald and Dale Vick to these key positions.

IPv6 Information and Reference Materials

Many of you have asked for more information about the upcoming transition to incorporating IPv6 into the UIS campus. Here are some links to no-cost reference material that can help you in that process:

Skillset training: Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 &2, Cisco Certified Network Associate Part 1 & 2, and Implementing Cisco IP Routing

Educause Live Event: Migration to IPv6—Has Tomorrow Finally Arrived?

The IPv6 Experts

Arin IPv6 Wiki and main web page.

TeamArin

IPv6 on the UIUC Campus

 

I welcome comments and other suggestions.