Lancaster University ISS

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Wed 24 Dec - Departmental Filestore

Users should now be able to access all their departmental filestore areas, however, some users currently remain unable to edit work. ISS are working to resolve this continuing problem.

Tue 23 Dec - Easy PC Fault Reporting and Departmental Filestore

ISS added a new 'PCInfo' icon on to the Managed XP PC desktop to allow users experiencing problems to simply double click it and find all the information ISS require to assist in resolving the problem. (Users were advised they may need to reboot to see the desktop icon). Users were reminded all such faults should be reported to the ISS Service Desk on extension 10987.

Work continued on the restoration of the departmental filestore and consequently, some users were still experiencing difficulties accessing files.

During the 'at risk' period today, a UPS was replaced in the Faraday building. This affected ResNet and the Croft along with some servers. Work began at 07:00 and completed by 08:30.

Mon 22 Dec - Departmental Filestore problems and HPC Service

Departmental Filestore being restored to service

A number of Departmental Filestores went offline on Saturday due to a hardware failure. Having fixed the problem, ISS are now working to clear the residual access permissions problems. During this time, users of Lancs/Depts/ISS and Lancs/Depts/others will find their access restricted to read-only while ISS undertake the necessary work.

HPC Service now available

The HPC is available again after the weekend shutdown. This morning's problem was traced to one of switches in the cluster's internal network.

Sun 21 Dec - Departmental Filestore update and ResNet Problems

Departmental Filestore being restored to service

Some of the affected departmental filestores are now available, work is continuing to fully restore the service.

ResNet Problems

ResNet should now be fully operational again. Users still experiencing problems are advised to restart their PC.

Sat 20 Dec - Power interruption and Departmental Filestore problem

Power interruption

The electrical maintenance work commenced on Friday was completed on time, and most services were restored by 2pm. Sometime later there was a failure in an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), which caused a number of service delivery problems. Having investigated and determined the cause of this failure, ISS restored all services by 5pm. Further work will now be undertaken on Tuesday morning (23 Dec), to replace the UPS.

Departmental Filestore unavailable

Some departmental filestore areas are unavailable due to a hardware failure. ISS are currently investigating both the cause of the problem and potential solutions. More information will be provided as soon as it becomes available.

Fri 19 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Electrical Maintenance

A number of ISS services will be unavailable or offer reduced access whilst essential electrical maintenance is undertaken. The work is due to commence at approximately 6pm today and continue until 6pm on Saturday 20th. Services affected include:

the central Web service - will be read only;
the central Unix service - will be unavailable;
the High Performance Cluster - will be unavailable (until Monday morning);
ResNet - will be unavailable;

Thu 18 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Internet Explorer Vulnerability Patch Available

At midday today ISS commenced the automatic updating of PCs on-campus. This Microsoft patch fixes the Internet Explorer vulnerability which was reported on yesterday. No action is necessary from users on campus, but homes users should visit the 'Windows Update' web site at their earliest convenience to update their systems.

Wed 17 Dec - Internet Explorer patch, and Interactive Unix Service maintenance

Internet Explorer Security Warning

There have been reports of a major new security vulnerability in all versions of Internet Explorer. The flaw can allow PCs to be infected with a damaging 'Trojan' after visiting an infected web site. Microsoft are investigating the problem, but until they provide a patch, users are advised to be cautious while browsing the Internet using Internet Explorer.

Users are requested to report any warnings from Symantec AntiVirus pops-up (or other security programs) to the ISS Service Desk although at this time, ISS has not yet seen any evidence of the vulnerability in Internet Explorer being exploited on-campus.

Finally, all users can rest assured ISS are looking into ways of blocking such attacks on-campus.

Interactive UNIX Service

The Interactive Unix Service (unix.lancs, cent1.lancs) was unavailable between 13:00 and 18:00 for essential maintenance work.

Tue 16 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Mon 15 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Fri 12 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Thu 11 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Wed 10 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Tue 09 Dec - LUVLE Modules Problem (Module evaluation and online assessments)

The module evaluation and online assessment server stopped responding yesterday at around 5pm and was unavailable until approximately 2am this morning. The service is currently running fine and the situation will continue to be monitored.

Mon 08 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Fri 05 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Thu 04 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Wed 03 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Tue 02 Dec - All systems ran without problems

Mon 01 Dec - LUVLE Logon Issue

Some students are having problems logging on to LUVLE. A common cause of this issue is an 'expired' Windows Network password. Windows Network passwords have to be changed at least once a year. For more information see the ISS password security webpage.