Lancaster University ISS

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Thu 31 Jul - Outlook External Out of Office Message has been Switched Off

The external Out of Office auto-reply message was switched off on 31st July 2008. The Outlook Out of Office Feature (OOoOF) has been replying to Spam. This has caused the Lancaster University email domain to be added to (RBL) block lists. As a result some important email messages were not delivered. When 'set', the Outlook Out of Office feature will only reply to internal Exchange messages. See: More Information

Thu 31 Jul - New Wave Of Email Viruses Arrive On Campus

A new email virus with many variants, all mentioning airlines and tickets or e-tickets in the subject line or body, is being received by many people on-campus. It is similar to the previous UPS and Customs virus. Do NOT open the attachment.

Wed 30 Jul - All systems running without problems

Tue 29 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Mon 28 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Fri 25 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Thu 24 Jul - New Variation on the UPS Virus

A new variation of the 'UPS Tracking' virus was seen on campus. The new variation purported to come from 'Customs' and contained a virus in a Zip file attachment. Do NOT open the attachment.

Wed 23 Jul - Some Issues with ResNet Validation

13:45 23/07/2008 - the issues with ResNet Validation have been resolved. However, some users may experience some difficulties. In most cases these can be fixed by disconnecting and re-connecting their computer network cable. In a small number of cases users may need to re-validate. ISS apologises for this inconvenience.

Tue 22 Jul - New UPS Viruses Received

A number of people have received an email purporting to be from UPS with the subject "UPS Tracking Number NNNNNNNNNN" (number varies) about an undelivered parcel. The attachment that came with this message was a virus - More Information

Mon 21 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Fri 18 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Thu 17 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Wed 16 Jul - Exchange Email Service Maintenance

The Exchange email service will be temporarily unavailable for periods between 1PM and 5PM on Wednesday 16th July, for the application of security updates. Individual users should not see disruption for more than 20 minutes during this period. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Tue 15 Jul - Many people received a virus purporting to come from UPS

A number of people have received an email purporting to be from UPS with the subject "UPS Tracking Number 5327385021" about an undelivered parcel. The attachment that came with this message was a virus.

Mon 14 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Fri 11 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Thu 10 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Wed 09 Jul - All systems ran without problems

The Portakabin PC Lab has been closed for the summer vacation.

Tue 08 Jul - IUS (Unix cent1) back in service

Yesterday's problems are ongoing. Update at 11:45: We are awaiting a replacement disk from Sun. Sun have advised us not to return to service until the failed disk has been replaced. Update at 13:10: We're expecting Sun Engineer on site this afternoon to assist with the disk replacement. Update at 14:37: The Sun Engineer has arrived on site and is working with ISS staff to restore service. Update at 15:10: The IUS (Unix cent1) is back in service.

Mon 07 Jul - Email Phishing, LUMS Network fault fixed, IUS (Unix cent1) server problems

Email Phishing

Another 'Reconfirm Your Email Account' phish email is circulating. The email has the subject 'Your Webmail Upgrade' and threatens to close unconfirmed accounts. Delete and ignore this email. Further Information

LUMS Network fault

At 15:53 a blade failed in a router in the Management School. This broke all data connections to the Management School while the fault was diagnosed, spare parts brought down and replaced. After 28 minutes of downtime (at 16:21) the Management School had full service restored.

IUS (Unix cent1) server problems

21:30 The central unix service on cent1.lancs.ac.uk is currently unavailable due to a hardware failure. We will provide more information when it becomes available. Update at 22:50: The failure has been diagnosed as a disk failure. All data is intact, but an emergency backup is being performed in case there is a more serious underlying problem. We expect to resume service in the morning.

Fri 04 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Thu 03 Jul - All systems ran without problems

Wed 02 Jul - Some Central Systems Unavailable 09:45-10:30, and LUVLE Services Maintenance

Some ISS systems were unavailable due to a server failure in the Computer Centre. The affected services were unavailable between 09:45 and 10:30am. ISS is continuing investigate the cause of the event.

LUVLE, myPlace, My Modules, Online Assessments and Module Feedback were unavailable between 16:00-18:00 on Wednesday 2nd July for server maintenance work to be carried out.