September 26, 2011

Today's topics:

Email Problems

CIT is still in the process of moving email accounts from the old Exchange 2007 servers to the new Exchange 2010 servers. They've moved about 25,000 accounts, but have about 35,000 accounts yet to do.

If you have problems reading your email, please do the following three things:

1. Try reading your email using Outlook Web App at https://exchange.cornell.edu/
2. Notify the CIT help desk about the problem, including whether or not OWA works for you
   • Either send email to helpdesk@cornell.edu
   • or call them on the phone at 607-255-8990.
3. Notify the LEPP computer group
   • Either send email to service-lepp@cornell.edu
   • or fill out the Request form at https://wiki.lepp.cornell.edu/lepp/bin/view/Computing/ServiceRequest

Please do NOT use Cc: to send notices to both groups at the same time. This usually causes a mail-loop as the two trouble ticketing systems start talking to one another, causing many more problems.

Linux

Scientific Linux 5.7

Starting Tuesday morning, all LEPP SL5 systems will be upgraded to SL5.7. Please note that this update will include a new kernel and graphics driver. To start using the new kernel and driver, please reboot your computer at your convenience anytime Wednesday or later. If you would like help rebooting any computers, please submit a Service Request: either send email to service-lepp@cornell.edu or fill out the Request form at https://wiki.lepp.cornell.edu/lepp/bin/view/Computing/ServiceRequest

This update should be transparent for most users. For the SL5.7 release notes and additional information on this update, please see http://www.scientificlinux.org/distributions/5x/57/ .

CESR Control System

As we update CESR systems to SL5.7, any processes running on the new CESR Linux cluster at 10am Tuesday, September 27, may be killed. In addition, periodic delays may be seen accessing the CESR Online filesystem and CESR Control Account Home Directories between the hours of 10am and 12pm on Tuesday. Additional announcements will be sent to all CESR Control System users.

Scientific Linux 6

While pursuing features not available in SL5, LEPP has begun evaluating the recently released Scientific Linux 6 (based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6). Additional announcements will be made and extensive testing will be done before LEPP is ready to begin deploying SL6.

CLASSE Domain Members (Primarily Windows 7) Windows Updates

CLASSE domain members are scheduled to get Windows updates early Tuesday mornings, between Midnight and 5AM. Many updates require an immediate reboot. If you are using the computer at the time of the reboot, you will be given a 5 minute notice before it happens. On Monday afternoons, we recommend logging out of your CLASSE domain member computer so no data is lost. Data can be lost if you have unsaved files open when the computer reboots.

This procedure is followed in order to comply with Cornell Policy 5.10 and IT best practices.

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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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