Email Services is working to bring the Sametime instant messaging server, Spruce, back on-line.

Posted by Connie Lowery at 4:11 PM | Permalink

UPDATE 3: Network access to servers, shared drives, and other resources has been restored at this time. The passwords that were in place to govern access to these networked resources however will need to be recreated for most people. In many instances people will be asked to reset their mapped shared drive passwords. These are not eID passwords. The passwords are specific to the resource you are trying to access over the network. To reset these passwords or if you are having difficulty getting to drives or folders that you normally can get to, please contact the Technology Services Help Desk at 804-828-2227.

UPDATE 2: We have reports this morning that some in the VCU community are still having problems accessing some network shared drives or even logging in. This seems to be an intermittent problem and does not affect everyone. For example, two people who should have access to a network drive might find that one can access the drive while the other cannot. The VCU Computer Center is aware of the problem and is working to resolve. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) to report any additional systems or access problems.

UPDATE: The affected servers have been restored and access to Windows-based servers should be available at this time. Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) to report any additional systems or access problems.

Some may be experiencing problems accessing network Windows servers due to a network issue. Network Services is aware of the problem and working to resolve the issue. Please check here for updates.

Posted by Sam Kennedy at 1:44 PM | Permalink

On Friday evening, the VCU Computer Center lost all cooling due to a water main break in downtown Richmond. All major systems including the VCU web, Blackboard, Banner and email were partially or fully shutdown to prevent heat damage to the servers and other equipment. Water and cooling were restored to the Center by early Saturday morning. All major production systems, with the exception of the myVCU portal, were back online by 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Hardware problems due to the sudden shutdown led to issues that kept the portal from coming back online immediately. At 7:30 p.m. these problems were solved and the myVCU portal came back online.

Please contact the VCU Help Desk (828-2227, help@vcu.edu) to report any additional systems or access problems.

Posted by Sam Kennedy at 2:26 PM | Permalink

UPDATE 2 (8/22 7:50 p.m.): The city of Richmond has notified Technology Services that they must shut off the water to fix the water main break. This means the chillers that cool the servers in the computer room will go offline. All servers in the VCU Computer Center must be taken down immediately. Systems such as email, the VCU website, library services, Blackboard, and Banner will not be available. We do not have an ETA as to when the computer center chillers will come back online. Keep checking back here for additional information as it becomes available. Should you have questions please contact the Technology Services Help Desk at 804-828-2227.

UPDATE (8/22 2:10 p.m.): The VCUCC chillers continue to be stable at this time. All test and nonessential servers that have been taken down will remain offline over the weekend. As this is the first weekend of classes we are doing everything possible to not interrupt service of critical applications for the VCU community. Please contact the Technology Services Help Desk with any questions at 804-828-2227.

A water main break on Main Street in downtown Richmond is impacting the chillers that cool the VCU Computer Center (VCUCC). The chillers are used to cool servers for critical applications such as Banner, myVCU portal, email, Blackboard, and many other systems. The VCUCC is currently shutting down nonessential and test servers in order to adequately cool the critical University application servers. These critical University application servers may be affected later in the day which will result in shutting down those systems. Check back to determine the status for these systems. Please contact the Technology Services Help Desk at 828-2227 with any questions.

Posted by Sam Kennedy at 10:33 AM | Permalink

Email Services is working to bring Oak4 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Aspen4.

Posted by Connie Lowery at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The University Computer Center has allocated additional storage space drive for the Domino servers. Users reporting performance issues are being moved to the new storage path. If you require assistance with switching to your alternate email server, please contact the Helpdesk at 828-2227 or Doctor Notes (dnotes@vcu.edu).

Posted by Connie Lowery at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Email Services is working to bring Aspen2 back on-line. Users can connect to their alternate server, Oak2, via the Notes client of IMAP clients.

Posted by Connie Lowery at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Network Services will be renewing the authentication certificate for the VCU wireless network between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Monday, August 18th. This is needed for network security purposes to ensure we all have a safe and stable wireless network. During a 10 minute period of this 1-hour window we will not be able to log into the wireless network. If this problem occurs wait 10 minutes and try again. Should log-in problems persist after waiting 10 minutes then please contact the Help Desk at 828-2227 or via email.

Posted by Sam Kennedy at 8:36 AM | Permalink

On Sunday, 8/17/08, from 10:00 a.m. to approximately 10:30 a.m., the UCC will be applying Microsoft patches to the ImageNow server. ImageNow will be unavailable during that time frame.

Posted by Eric Doersch at 7:57 AM | Permalink

Email Services is currently working to bring Aspen3 back on-line. Expected availability time is before 4:00 p.m. Users can connect to their alternate server, Oak3, via IMAP or the Notes client.

Posted by Connie Lowery at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The myVCU portal will be down maintenance from 5am to 7am on Friday August 15th. During this time, alternative links will be provided fot the main services, but customized content will not be available.

Thanks,
The myVCU portal team

Posted by Hugh Eaves at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Complete - Server maintenance will occur on all LANDesk servers between 5 am and 7am on Thursday, August 14. All services should be restored by 7am.

Posted by Mary Young at 9:45 AM | Permalink

Scheduled maintenance will be performed on the E-mail system Saturday, August 16, between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. During this maintenance window, access to e-mail may be unavailable on your primary server. Access to your e-mail via your alternate server should be available automatically when accessing through VCU Mail Anywhere, or via your alternate server using an IMAP connection or the Notes client.

Posted by James Pociluyko at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Aug. 5th Update: The regularly scheduled Blackboard downtime maintenance for Friday, August 8, 4pm to midnight has been CANCELED. The system will not be taken down.

The next scheduled maintenance will be Friday, September 12, 4pm to midnight.

For further assistance contact:
Technology Services Help Desk Contact Information
Phone: 828-2227
Email: blackboard@vcu.edu
Help ticket: http://www.ts.vcu.edu/helpdesk/
Blackboard FAQ: http://faq.vcu.edu/ts/

Bb Training/Instructional Assistance
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/it/search.asp (enter Keyword: Blackboard)
Center for Teaching Excellence - http://www.vcu.edu/cte/

Posted by Jana Avery at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)