IT News Bulletins


Monday December 17 Exams:

Because of the anticipated storm, the Monday, December 17, 2007, exam schedule has been modified.

Morning exams will begin at 10:30 a.m. This includes all rescheduled and accommodated exams.

Afternoon exams will begin at 2:30. This includes all rescheduled exams. (Accommodated exams begin at the time originally indicated by Nina Thomas.)

If it is impossible for you to reach VLS safely on Monday, please notify the Registrar, Nina Thomas, at nthomas@vermontlaw.edu. She will reschedule your exam.

Note for Faculty and Staff: Because exams begin at 10:30 promptly, faculty and staff should try to be at the office by 10 a.m.


12/6/07: New Hot Spot in Chase

Charter Cable has installed and will be maintaining a new free and open wireless internet access point in Chase Center. The name of this access point (for those of you assisting visitors) is "VLS-public". This access point will be available from anywhere in Chase, the Chase Breeze-way or the quad in front of the library.

Visitors to VLS who do not meet CALEA criteria and need internet access may use personal laptops to check their email or browse the internet via the free & open Charter internet hotspot in Chase Center.

Charter will make another free and open hot spot available in the Library in the coming month.

Thank you for your patience and support,
VLS IT


12/3/07: Vermont Law School is closed today, Monday, December 3, 2007, due to weather conditions. No classes will be held today.


11/26: Holiday Weekend Maintenance Completed

Good morning.

Please be sure to reboot your computer this morning. If you were logged on all weekend you may be connected to the wrong network drive. Thank you.

VLS IT


11/20: Server Maintenance Over the Holiday

IT will be conducting server maintenance on Thanksgiving Day and weekend. Your J-Drive and the K-Drive will be unaccessible on Thanksgiving day and the Friday after Thanksgiving. Your J and K drives will be intermittently available on Saturday and Sunday. We thank you for you patience and support during this maintenance window.

Have a Happy and Joyous Thanksgiving Holiday,
VLS IT


10/26, 4:30pm: Phone Issues - Resolved

New parts have been installed on the phone switch and all lines are now operational. If you are still having trouble with your phone, please open a helpdesk ticket.

Thank you

VLS IT


10/25, 3pm: Phone Issues - Update

We have been working most of the day to restore service to all extensions on Campus. The failed parts that we require will not arrive on campus until Friday morning. At that time service to all extensions will be restored.

At this time, all digital phones (any multi-button phones) are working. There are still several analog lines that are not working. This includes modem and FAX lines and the single line beige desk phones and single line wall mounted phones. We will not be able to restore these lines until the replacement parts arrive tomorrow.

We apologize for this inconvenience.

Thank you
VLS IT


10/25: Phone Issues

Good Morning.

We are aware that there are several phone extensions that are not working this morning. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.

VLS IT


10/24: Network Service
Web Mail service has been restored.
Thank you for your patience.
VLS IT


10/24: Network Services
We regret to inform the community that we are having difficulties with our Web Mail service. We are striving to overcome the issues and we will let you know as soon as we have any news. For the short term Web Mail will not be accessible.

Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this critical issue.
VLS IT


10/9: Update on Network Services

The new core switches are in and stable. We expect that all network services are accessible. If you are unable to access a service that you could access prior to the switch upgrade, please call the IT help desk immediately.

You may now use network services without repercussions.

Thank you again for your patience and support,
VLS IT


9/27: Planned Network Service 10/7 - 10/9

VLS IT will be replacing the Network core switches beginning the Sunday of Fall break. This is a significant systems upgrade for the institution. The core switches represent the heart of all VLS network services. No network services will be available during the network service period.

During this network service outage the following services will not be accessible: While we have planned for the possibility of three days of network down-time, we anticipate that the network will only be down on Sunday morning for several hours. We have set aside the additional time to cover hardware malfunctions that cannot be anticipated or tested until the process has begun.

Please plan to transfer any files you will need for work on Monday and Tuesday from the network drives to your local hard drive or a USB drive. Don't forget to transfer those files back on Wednesday morning or when the update is completed (whichever is first).

Thank you for your patience & support,
VLS IT


Internet Connection Planned Service

Charter Communications (our Internet Service Provider) will be performing maintenance that will affect our services.

Date/Time (local time zone): 9/26/2007 & 9/27/2007 (1:00 AM - 6:00 AM)
Description of Maintenance: Chelsea, VT - Resplicing newly installed fiber optics
Expected Down Time: 240 minutes each day

The VLS website and all email traffic will cease during this service window.

Thank you for your patience and support,
VLS IT


8/30: Server Update/Patch - 7:30 am
Thursday morning we will be updating/patching one of our Microsoft SQl servers. This will mean that for a short period there will be no access to R25, PFaids and most parts of the Public Web Server (www.vermontlaw.edu). Email and file services will not be affected. This should take approximately 1/2 hour and will start at 7:30 am.

Thank you for your patience and support,
VLS IT


8/13: AC Unit Repairs TODAY

The AC unit in the Debevoise Hall server room is having major repairs today. The other unit is fully functional and we expect no service interruptions. However, the unexpected could happen. Please save your work often today.

Thank you for your patience and support,
VLS IT


8/8 : Network Upgrade Scheduled for August 8

In an effort to accommodate the growing network storage needs of the VLS community, IT will be installing additional disk space today. The vendor is scheduled to arrive on campus at 9:00 a.m. and depart at 5:30 p.m.. During this period the J drive, K drive and email may be inaccessible for as much as a two hour period and be intermittent throughout the period. Internet access will remain available during the installation.

IT recommends that staff and faculty take a moment on now to place necessary files on a USB drive or the hard drive of their computer for use when we take the J & K drives and email servers offline.

When the installation is completed we will notify everyone.

Thank you again for your patience and support,
VLS IT


8/2/07 - 8/3/07: Charter Communications Planned Network Maintenance

Our upstream internet provider, Charter Communications, will have a scheduled maintenance period of one hour tonight between midnight and 6 AM. During this period your email will be inaccessible from off campus, the web sites will be inaccessible from off campus and there will be no internet service while on campus.

We are sorry for any inconvenience and the short notice.

Thank you for your patience and support.

VLS IT


7/11/07: Thunderstorm Warning (AGAIN) Today

Remember folks: save early, save often!

VLS IT


7/10/07: Severe Thunderstorm Watch Today
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 505 IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

IN VERMONT THIS WATCH INCLUDES 12 COUNTIES

IN CENTRAL VERMONT: ADDISON ORANGE WASHINGTON

IN NORTHEAST VERMONT: CALEDONIA ESSEX ORLEANS

IN NORTHWEST VERMONT: CHITTENDEN FRANKLIN GRAND ISLE LAMOILLE

IN SOUTHERN VERMONT: RUTLAND WINDSOR

Please remember to save your work often as our power may fail or surge.

VLS IT


VLS Wireless Access: Change in login procedures
Student laptop MAC addresses have been removed from the VLS wireless network Blue Socket controller. This means that all students will have to log in each time they need to access the wireless network. We will no longer be registering student MAC addresses in order to be more in line with security requirements.

When you open your browser, you will be automatically directed to the secure BlueSocket login page, where you enter your Novell network username and password. In some browsers, particularly Internet Explorer 7, you will first see a page that says there is a problem with the site's certificate - choose to proceed to the page anyway.


5/25: Network Slow at 4pm
At 4:00 IT will be imaging the new computers in the Chase Computer Lab. The network may become very slow or inaccessible during this time.

We expect the network to be very slow for as much as a half hour.

Thank you for your support and patience! VLS IT


5/24: Server Updates
On Thursday May 24, from 7:00 am - 7:30 am VLS servers will be inaccessible. We are applying security patches and upgrades to our internet router and firewall.

Webmail and the VLS website will be inaccessible for a period of time during this upgraded window.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you for your support and patience.

VLS IT


4/25: Network Outage

A single network cable plugged into two different jacks caused today's network outage (think of an extension cord with two plugs, both plugged into wall outlets). This situation created an extreme feedback loop and shut down our network.

With finals looming on everyone's horizon, please be careful of our network. If you have any questions, file a help desk ticket or call the help desk. We'd be pleased to assist you.

Thank you for your patience as we worked to remedy today's network problem.

VLS IT


4/16: As of 6am this morning, Monday, April 16, VLS will have a delayed opening (9:55am) today, due to the weather. Please click here for additional cancellations.



Vermont Law School will close today, Thursday, April 12, at 3:35 due to the weather. Click here for any other cancellations.


Evidence Labs A and B canceled today, Tuesday, April 10, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.


Delayed Opening Today, Thursday, April 5, 2007
VLS will open at 9:45; second period classes will be held
Click here for class cancellations


Class Cancellations for Monday, 3/19/07

03/16/07: GroupWise Calendar
Has been completely repaired. The calendaring features of GroupWise Web Access are now completely functional. The calendaring functions are available in both the GroupWise client and Web Access.

Enjoy the Weekend,
VLS IT


03/13/07: All of your appointments will appear incorrect if viewed using a web browser in WebAccess.

They are correct in the system. Please DO NOT change them.

Please use only the GroupWise client to manage your appointments until IT confirms that the WebAccess patches have installed correctly (and functioned correctly!). We've applied all of the patches, but the WebAccess patch does not function as promised. We hope to fix the problem soon. We will announce a successful patch when everything is functional.

Thank you for your patience,
VLS IT


03/12/07: DST Update for Groupwise Tomorrow

The final updates to fix the Daylight Savings Time change will occur tomorrow morning. GroupWise Webaccess will be unavailable while these updates are occurring. We expect this to be brief (approximately ? hour). In the meantime appointments viewed through the web will be inaccurate. Times will be earlier by one hour until this update is performed. We will also be upgrading the GWIA and email to and from the internet may be delayed for a short while also.

Appointments viewed through the GroupWise client may or may not be accurate and all appointments should be reviewed for accuracy during the 3 week time period beginning March 11th, 2007.


03/12/07: DST Reminder...
Daylight Savings Time began on March 11 (Sunday early morning). The change in Daylight Savings Time could have caused clock/time related computer malfunctions. VLS IT has updated computer systems campus wide to accommodate this change. However, many people use different calendaring software, such as Outlook, and those people should install whatever patches are available from the manufacturer.

Take a moment to think about the devices you rely on that usually adjust to Daylight Savings Time automatically. This year those devices may not adjust for three weeks. Please set aside time to do the necessary updates.

Thank you,
VLS IT


03/09/07: Daylight Savings Time Fiasco

This weekend marks a new daylight savings time period, adjusted to occur three weeks earlier than it did last year. This action was taken by the government with the expectation of saving energy. Unfortunately, this change caused many time and calendar difficulties in the computer world. IT has worked hard attempting to resolve the inherent scheduling and appointment issues this small time change wrought. More on the New Daylight Savings Time...

The good news is that most GroupWise calendar issues caused by the time shift have been resolved - however we urge you to VERIFY ALL APPOINTMENTS PARTICULARLY TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS AND IMPORTANT MEETINGS from March 11, 2007 through April 1, 2007. When making new appointment during this time period, we ask that you include the date and time of the appointment in the subject line of the appointment.

If you have a computer system, we encourage you to:
  1. Read these instructions for updating your Windows operating system and apply that patch prior to Sunday at 1am.
  2. Then read these instructions for reviewing your appointments in Groupwise and review your appointments during the 3 week period.
** NOTE: The folders that the patch created may be removed once appointments have been verified. Do not delete individual appointments in those folders or they will be deleted from your calendar. Delete only the entire search folder (note the magnifying glass icon that indicates "Search Folder").

Again, we sorry for the inconvenience. Try to remember that we're all helping to save energy!

Thank you,
VLS IT


03/07/07: Critical Daylight Savings Time Update for Staff and Faculty Computers

Dear Colleagues,

Members of the technology staff will be coming around or calling you this morning to insure that your Windows daylight savings time patch has been correctly installed. We regret the interruption in your activities, but this patch is mandatory and must happen this morning. We will be contacting users via phone or coming to your workstation/laptop to make the update.

Please do not worry if the application of this patch causes your appointments for 3/11 - 4/1 to appear one hour late. We need to insure that the Windows patch is in place prior to running the GroupWise calendar patch.

Instructions regarding this challenging daylight savings time issue will be sent out after we update the GroupWise server this afternoon.

Regardless of the outcome of these patches, we recommend that everyone make a practice of verifying appointment times for the next three weeks.

Click here for more information on applying these updates.

Best Regards,
Jeanne Eicks


03/02/07: Classes are not in session today, Friday, March 2. The VJEL Symposium (China Conference) will take place as planned.

VJEL Symposium 2007 - The world's top experts on China and the global environment gather at VLS for engaging discussions about "China in Transition: Environmental Challenges in the Far East." March 1 & 2


2/19/07: Info Re: New Microsoft Releases

Regarding MS Office:

You may have heard that Microsoft released Office 2007 on January 30. You may be wondering what our plans are for Office 2007 at VLS.

Our Microsoft Campus Agreement already gives us the right to upgrade any VLS-owned computer to Office 2007 - at no additional charge. We have no plans to upgrade yet!

The new version of Office is very different from the previous versions, more so than any Office upgrade in the last 10 years. Also, documents that are created using Office 2007 are NOT compatible with previous versions of Office by default. Because of this, the VLS IT strongly recommends that you do not upgrade to Office 2007 at this time. If you must upgrade, we recommend that you do not uninstall your previous version of Office. VLS IT will not be able to provide extensive support for Office 2007 and any problems caused by it may result in your computer being re-imaged to fix the problem. If your files are not backed-up there may be costs incurred when the machine has to be re-imaged.

We expect to have a decision in the next three months about the upgrade plans for Office 2007. Please stay tuned for more about how and when you should migrate to Office 2007 and have the full support of the VLS Help Desk.

Regarding Windows Vista:

The holidays came and went. People received or purchased new computers over the holidays. Those computers probably came with a gold sealed, shiny certificate for a free upgrade to Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista. Windows Vista was released on January 30, 2007.

New computer owners may be excited and want to try the new operating system on their new computer. Our advice? Be very cautious adopting a new operating system. VLS will not be supporting or adopting the new operating system for at least the next nine months. The new operating system requires more resources than Windows XP and has yet to be tested by the general public. One respectable rule of thumb: wait for the first service pack (bugs fixes) from Microsoft. We will let you know when we plan to adopt the new operating system. While being an early adopter may be an exciting adventure, we can and will learn from other people’s Windows Vista mistakes.

VLS IT will not be able to provide support for Windows Vista and any problems caused by it may result in your computer being re-imaged to fix the problem. If your files are not backed-up there may be costs incurred when the machine has to be re-imaged.

Thank you,
VLS IT


2/16/07: Vermont Law School is open for business today - some folks are still reporting being snowed in, however...

2/15/07: There will be a delayed opening today, Thursday, February 15. This means that VLS will open at 9:45 a.m.
Please check here for today's cancellations


Bulletin from our bandwidth provider:

EMERGENCY MAINTENANCE NOTIFICATION

Equipment manufacturers have identified software security vulnerabilities that affect certain core network elements. Charter Communications will be conducting nationwide emergency maintenance throughout the week of January 29, 2007. This activity will take place within the standard maintenance window beginning at 12:00 a.m. local time and running nightly throughout the week.

These upgrades are paramount to our ability to provide and maintain a secure and stable network.

While we regret these potential interruption(s) in your service, understand that the Charter engineering team will make every effort to minimize its impact. In many cases, our network infrastructure has been implemented in such a way that redundant systems will eliminate the interruption entirely. In other cases, the interruption you may experience will be very brief (minutes).

Should the need to extend this activity beyond the interval specified here, additional notifications will be communicated.

Thank you for patience and understanding in this matter.

This means that VLS students, faculty and staff may be unable to access email remotely after midnight each night. Additionally, if something should go wrong with these upgrades, we will have to work with the vendor to resolve the problem first thing in the morning. While we don't expect this to happen, we are notifying the community of the worst-case scenario.

Please file a help desk ticket if you notice any difficulties after 6am. Anomalies between the hours of midnight and 6am should be ignored.

Thank you for your patience,
VLS IT


Generator Installation
The generator has arrived (as most of you have undoubtedly noticed!) and we will be completing the necessary load testing on January 2, 2007. Electricians and Caterpillar's generator experts will be on-campus to complete the installation.

In addition to the new generator, VLS has purchased and will install a new firewall/router on 1-2-2007. This device will help insure that the ever increasing network and internet traffic will have an efficient, secure, dependable route.

We may suffer brief power outages or service interruptions while these activities are taking place. As always, we will keep interruptions to a minimum and alert you to any changes in status.

Thank you for your patience and support, VLS IT


Power Outage Today
October 28, 2006

A power outage today caused the disruption of all network services. Power and all network services have been restored. We will continue to monitor services to ensure no corruption of data or hardware damage has occurred.
We continue to wait for the arrival of generators.


High Wind Advisory
October 11, 2006

We are expecting strong storms tonight with high winds. Power outages are possible.
Please save your work often.
Although electrical work was performed on Monday for the generators, they are still in transit and have not yet been delivered and hitched up.


National Cyber Security Awareness Month
October 3, 2006

VLS is doing its part during National Cyber Security Awareness Month to help students, faculty and staff understand how each of us impacts the security of our increasingly networked world. Click here to see presentation slides providing pertinent information, links and tools to use to protect yourself and our cyber environment.

Coming soon - live presentation recording (audio/video/powerpoint).


Wireless Access Interruption:
September 22 starting at 9am
21 September 2006

We have exceeded the licensing for our Wireless routing device. We are pleased to see everyone making good use of the wireless access points! To that end we are replacing the old hardware with new hardware on Friday. This new hardware will increase coverage and increase speed.

There will be no wireless access from 9am Friday morning until at least noon on Friday. In the afternoon access will be spotty. We plan to have the process fully resolved by 5pm.

Internet access will be unavailable from classrooms for this period. Students will be able to use laptops to take notes in class, but email, web access and instant messaging will not be available. Podia will be fully functional with complete network and internet access.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience.


Network outage
27 August, 2006

Our upstream Internet service provider has experienced an outage at approx 3:50 PM today. Network engineers are aware of the situation and are working to make corrections as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Battery Recalls (Dell and Apple)
25 August, 2006

For Dell Owners:
"Dell is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they could erupt in flames, the company said today. This will be the largest safety recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said." -- 14 August NY Times

Potentially affected batteries were sold with the following models of Dell notebook computers or separately as secondary batteries:

More information is available at: https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

For Mac Owners
You will need to check the model number of the battery, as well as the serial number.

https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/

VLS IT

Delayed Off-campus Email Delivery 21 August, 2006

Outgoing off-campus email was delayed today. The system was sending email very slowly. IT worked with our upstream provider (ISP) to resolve this issue.

All outgoing off-campus (not @vermontlaw.edu) email was impacted, but has now (4:30pm) been sent.

We apologize for the inconvenience and as always appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this issue.

Thank you,
VLS IT

Internal and External Routing Issues
14 August, 2006

We are experiencing some difficulties with both internal and external routing. Until these issues are resolved you may expect intermittent email and internet access problems. While we hope to have these issues resolved by day's end, a portion of the resolution relies on servers we do not control. For this reason, please do not rely on our email system for important communications today. If you have a message with an arrival deadline, please fax or use an alternative email address to assure that the communication happens in a timely fashion.

We cannot guarantee a full resolution of these issues today, though most services are back and fully functional now.

As always, we thank you for your patience and support as we work to resolve these critical issues.

Thank you,
VLS IT

Email Server Tips
for Low Bandwidth Connections
09 August, 2006

If you are having difficulty using GroupWise7.0 on a satellite or dial-up connection, please read our tutorial for suggestions.

Email Server Status
02 August, 2006

Power outages Monday wreaked havoc on our mail servers. Database corruption in one of the Mail Transfer Agents caused outgoing mail to be deferred. Today's mail has been delivered. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep the VLS community informed. Unfortunately this Mail Transfer Agent also ran the "OLD" GroupWise WebAccess. Please use the new WebAccess server. The new server is located at: https://gwmail.vermontlaw.edu/gw/webacc.
As always Thank You for your patience.

Check Your Print Balance (on campus only)
26 July, 2006

Experimental: Click here to check your print account balance from the Web

WebAccess on GroupWise 7!
12 July, 2006

GroupWise 7 WebAccess is in service. Please feel free to try it out!

Network Upgrades Continue
8 July, 2006

As we continue to finalize changes to the e-mail system until Noon on 9 July, e-mail may be unavailable at times. For complete details on the server room migration and network downtimes you can download this PDF.

Network Up Today
2 July, 2006

The first phase of the network upgrade is complete. Services will be available until tommorrow at noon, when the rest of the upgrade actions will commence. Services are expected to be return to permanent service on July 6th.

Network Outage Today
1 July, 2006

The move into the new server room commences today at 5:00 pm. The network will be down from 5:00 pm today until Noon on 2 July, 2006. This means that all connections to and from the internet from Vermont Law School will be unavailable. E-mail, printing, file access, and Library services will also be unavailable. For complete details on the server room migration and network downtimes you can download this PDF.

2006 Laptop Purchasing
May 28th, 2006

If you are interested in purchasing a laptop through VLS, the 2006-2007 laptop program has begun. The details and ordering information are available at it.vermontlaw.edu/recommend.