29-Apr-2019

Windows Laptops OpenVPN Client Upgrade: Tuesday, 30-Apr-2019 @ 10:00 AM

On Tuesday, 30-Apr-2019, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon, the OpenVPN client on CLASSE-managed Windows laptops will be automatically upgraded. This upgrade is taking place during business hours because we recommend that laptops be on wired network connections for the upgrade. Please connect your laptop to a docking station or an LNS Protected ethernet cable before 10:00 AM. During the upgrade, active VPN sessions will be disconnected. If you have trouble connecting to the VPN after the upgrade, please submit a ServiceRequest.

ESET Endpoint Protection Upgrade: Tuesday, 07-May-2019 @ 12:00 noon

On Tuesday, 07-May-2019, beginning at 12:00 noon, we will begin upgrading the ESET Endpoint Protection software on CLASSE-managed Windows computers. This upgrade should be transparent, except that you will be prompted to reboot your computer to complete the update. Please reboot at your convenience.

Transition from Replicon to Timesheet in June/July 2019

The Replicon application for tracking effort at the lab will be retired this summer and replaced with Timesheet. Timesheet is a web application developed by CLASSE-IT and the Business Office. Some groups have already transitioned over to Timesheet and we will continue asking others to make that transition incrementally. If you would like to be an "early adopter" of the new app, please contact Bill Franklin.

• All hourly employees will use Timesheet exclusively starting 20-Jun-2019.
• All salaried employees will use Timesheet exclusively starting 01-Jul-2019.

In the meantime, look for some lunchtime presentations about the new app, which will be announced in this newsletter.

CLASSE Linux Distributions

For over a decade, CLASSE has relied on the Scientific Linux (SL) distribution for exceptional stability, reliability, and support. Scientific Linux is a recompiled version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux put together and supported by the High Energy Physics community (primarily Fermilab and CERN). With the changes seen over the last decade, including the "acquisition" of CentOS by Red Hat and subsequent improvements, the HEP community is shifting towards helping make CentOS an even better platform rather than continuing to develop SL.

Towards that end, CLASSE expects to deploy CentOS 8 (or later) as our next Linux distribution. Given that both CentOS and SL are binary-compatabile recompiled versions of RHEL, very little will change for our users.

Fermilab and CLASSE will continue to support SL7 through the remainder of its lifecycle, and SL7 will remain as our standard linux distribution for the foreseable future.

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General network and server maintenance will occur every Tuesday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM. The CLASSE-IT group will always announce any expected disruptions in our NewsLetter and via CLASSE-IT-NEWS-L, but with the size and complexity of our network there is always the potential for something to go wrong. We will do our best to contain all network maintenance and planned outages to Tuesdays from 12:00 noon to 2:00 PM.

Unless other arrangements have been made, CLASSE-managed Windows systems may be updated and rebooted on Tuesday morning at 2:00 AM, so please avoid critical or lengthy operations at that time. For more details, please see SystemExpectations.

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Questions or problems? Submit a service request.

Other resources:

• CLASSE IT Home Page
• Previous newsletters

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