Improvements coming to Multidrive

Michigan Tech IT is working to bring improvements to the campus MultiDrive (M:) storage system. The new MultiDrive DFS system replaces an aging infrastructure that has been in use for the last few years. Several areas on campus have been using the new system as part of a staged roll-out. IT will be changing the remainder of campus workstations to connect to the new system on Wednesday, June 7.

There is no required action or change in behavior for standard, on-domain workstations. The new MultiDrive DFS system will connect to M: upon login. Note that the Admin domain is not affected by this change.

Mac users

Mac users with the self service app can log into self service and download the Multidrive app from the Core Applications tab. Mac users without the self service app can connect using the MacOS instructions.

As part of this change, the “Mac multidrive mounter” utility is being deprecated and will stop working at a future date.

Connecting remotely

Instructions are also available for connecting to the new MultiDrive DFS system from off campus or from a wifi connection. Instructions are here: Windows instructions or MacOS instructions.

If you have any questions about the new Multidrive system, please contact IT help at 906-487-1111 or it-help@mtu.edu.

Email Delivery Issue – Update 4/10/2017

At approximately 4:30 PM Monday we started re-sending email  that was mis-directed between 9 PM Friday and 7:45 AM Saturday.  This is expected to complete by 9:30 PM.  This covers all emails that were sent to @mtu.edu addresses.

 

We continue to attempt to identify emails destined to non-@mtu.edu addresses during this time period.

 

If you attempted to send an important message during this time period, please resend it. A copy of the message should be available in your “Sent” box.

Email Delivery Issue

On Friday, a Michigan Tech email user reported to the Department of Public Safety and Police Services (DPSPS) that they were receiving abusive email from a third party. As part of this investigation, DPSPS and Information Technology worked to redirect email from this third party to the officer’s email account for further investigation.

Unfortunately, due to an error in the redirect rule we created, any email between 9:00 PM Friday and 7:45 AM Saturday was delivered to the DPSPS officer’s account. That officer’s account was locked at 7:45 AM on Saturday, and the officer was not able to read the email. The mis-configured rule was also disabled at 7:45 AM Saturday.

Due to the volume of email that was sent and received, most messages from that time period are now reporting as delayed or undeliverable.

Information Technology is working to retrieve all email that was sent to and/or from @mtu.edu and deliver it to the intended recipient. In other words, any message sent either to a Michigan Tech account or from a Michigan Tech account during this time period was held up in this process. If you attempted to send an important message during this time period, please resend it. A copy of the message should be available in your “Sent” box.

We take privacy seriously and are working to restore the email from this event. We are developing additional controls around this process to prevent future occurrences.

Please contact Information Technology at it-help@mtu.edu or (906) 487-1111 with questions or concerns.

Michigan Tech Campus Telephone System Upgrade

Michigan Tech will be undergoing a major upgrade to the campus telephone system. This project will upgrade the aging telephone system and will include new features to unify communications throughout the university.

As part of the upgrade process, changes to the telephone system cannot be made after April 14, 2017. Changes include: New voicemail boxes, voicemail-to-email setup, caller-ID changes, and phone layout changes. Emergency changes can be made, but will need to be re-done once the new system is live.

The new system is being built and configured in parallel to our current system to minimize impact to campus operations. Many of the upgrades will take place behind the scenes and will not have a direct impact on users. On Friday, May 5, 2017 through Sunday, May 7, 2017, IT will migrate all campus phones to the new system. There will be intermittent interruptions to the following services:

  • Campus Voice Mail
  • Telephones
  • Call Centers
  • Inbound/Outbound Calling

The majority of the migration will be performed on Saturday, May 6, 2017 from 8:00 am through Sunday May 7, 2017 at midnight. There may be intermittent disruption to inbound/outbound calls during this time. The upgrade is expected to be completed by Monday May 8, 2017 at 8:00 am.

Campus voicemail system will be moved to a new system. The old voicemail system will be kept up and running for 15 days after switching to the new system, allowing for access to stored information. After this 15 day period, the old voicemail system will be decommissioned and access to any information on that system will be permanently lost. Questions and concerns can be addressed to it-help@mtu.edu or 487-1111.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What happens if someone calls me during the upgrade process?
A: During the upgrade window from Friday, May 5, 2017 through Monday May 8, 2017, calls may go straight to voicemail or callers may receive a busy tone. There will be intermittent interruption to calls in and out of the Houghton campus and MTRI throughout this window as well.

Q: Do I need to reconfigure my voicemail?
A: No, your current greetings and settings will be migrated to the new system. If your voicemail goes to E-Mail now, it will continue to do so on the new system. The old voicemail system will be kept up and running for 15 days after switching to the new system, allowing for access to this information. After 15 days the old voicemail system will be decommissioned and access to any information on that system will be permanently lost.

Q: What happens to my saved voicemail messages?
A: Voicemail messages stored on the system before March 28, 2017 will be migrated to the new system. Voicemail stored on the system after March 28, 2017 will be available for fifteen (15) days after cutover to the new system allowing for access to this information. After fifteen (15) days the old voicemail system will be decommissioned and access to any information on that system will be permanently lost.

Q: How do I access voicemail messages from off campus?
A: Dial your number. When your greeting begins to play, press * and your passcode.

Q: What are the differences I might notice between the old and the new system?
A: The initial upgrades should be transparent to the end users. New features will be made available in the future as they are configured and fully tested.

Q: Who can I call if I need assistance during the migration process?
A: Please contact the IT Help Desk at 487-1111.

Q: What if I have problems with my phone/voicemail after the upgrade?
A: Please contact the IT Help Desk at 487-1111.

Update to Windows 10

Over break we patched Windows 10 lab systems and podiums to the latest build from Microsoft. Updating to the latest build provides several performance improvements including an improvement to the start menu functionality.  However the process requires you to go thru a user profile update the first time you log back in.

We highly encourage Faculty and Staff that teach in the labs and computer classrooms to go and log on to the machines they are going to use now, before they are standing in front of class the first day.

The process again should take approximately 2-8 minutes depending on the speed of the computer.  This will only happen the first time after you login to an updated machine and at logoff will be uploaded to the server.

The reason this happens is that Microsoft has changed its approach to updating, instead of releasing a new operating system every 3-5 years they will be rolling out updated builds for Windows 10. Every time one of these builds comes out they currently require a profile conversion. As this is a new process for Microsoft and us and we are working to make it as smooth as possible.

With the upgrade some items where shifted on the start menu. To logoff you can click on your user Icon, which is now on the bottom left of the start menu. It should display as the Michigan Tech logo by default.

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An alternative method is to right click on the start menu icon. You will see the following menu:

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As before there is also a Log Out icon on the desktop that can be used as well.

Again, Please try to get logged into the teaching locations before your first day of class to avoid having the profile process eat up valuable teaching minutes.

If you experience any issues please give us a call at 906-487-1111 or let us know at it-help@mtu.edu.

Google Assistant and your Michigan Tech Email account

Michigan Tech IT has received several requests regarding Google Pixel phones and Google Home devices and Google Assistant not working with user mtu.edu accounts.  We’ve contacted Google and the following is their response.  At this time, if you’re thinking of getting a Google Phone such as the Pixel or a Google Home device, understand Google Assistant will not work with your mtu.edu account

According to the information I’ve gathered, that option is available for all Pixel devices (using any regular Google accounts) but not yet for EDU users. This is caused by the fact that tracking ‘Web and App activity’ is disabled for Education accounts as per the Student Privacy Pledge Google has signed.

For detailed information about this, you may refer to the links at https://www.google.com/edu/trust/#has-google-signed-the-student-privacy-ledge and https://studentprivacypledge.org/

The Official announcement for signing the pledge and student data privacy measures taken by Google are mentioned at the link http://googleforeducation.blogspot.bg/2015/12/the-facts-about-student-data-privacy-in.html

You can keep track for any changes in the same blog via the URL http://googleforeducation.blogspot.bg/2016 and also in the Help Center articles where this should also be updated soon https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/7172657?hl=en

 

Change to Personal Web Pages

Information Technology is making changes to the way we store, secure, and provide access to faculty, staff, and student web sites hosted on Michigan Tech servers. This information is important if you maintain  personal sites or teach a course and instruct students on how to create web content.

For a long time a person’s web files were located in a folder located on a person’s H: drive (Windows) or home drive (Mac/Linux) called public_html. A few years ago, we we created a link on the multidrive called my_web_files for Windows and Mac OS users to aid them with having the correct permissions on files located in public_html.

At the end of the spring semester, IT will be moving all users’ public_html folders from their home drive to its own file system.

If you currently have web files, this means that:

  • Windows and MacOS Users – Your web files will only be accessible by visiting your multidrive and using the my_web_files folder. Files put into this directory will be written with the appropriate permissions to be accessed on your web site.
  • Linux/Mac Users – Your web files will be accessible from /local/my_web_files/[username] when logged into a Linux login server.
  • All users will be able to use programs like Dreamweaver or WinSCP to have SFTP/SCP access by using the path /local/my_web_files/[your username] on the same server you previously used.

    For Example: User J.Q. Public (userid: jqpublic) will log in to their department login server thru SSH/SCP and their web files will be in /local/my_web_files/jqpublic.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact IT Help at 906-487-1111 or email us at it-help@mtu.edu.

Efforts to cut down on spam and phishing email

Michigan Tech IT has seen an increase in spam and phishing email enabled by email spoofing—when a user or system sends an email with a forged header so that it appears to be from an @mtu.edu address. We have been working on solutions, and on March 7 a preventative measure will be enabled to help reduce spoofing. After the change is made, email sent from a forged @mtu.edu address will have a much greater chance of being marked as spam.

We recognize there are legitimate tools that include spoofing as a feature (e.g., survey software) and have pre-approved many of the services used on campus that include spoofing as a part of their normal operation. The following will not be impacted by this new tool:

  • Alumni – iModules
  • Qualtrics Surveys
  • Survey Monkey
  • Collegiate Link/Campus Labs
  • EMAS Recruiting software
  • Systems on campus that relay mail through IT-run services

If you use a tool that isn’t listed above, and the email that it sends appears to be from an @mtu.edu address, please contact us so that we can make sure your service isn’t affected. If you have any questions or experience any issues sending legitimate “spoofed” email after March 7, please contact us at it-help@mtu.edu or 7-1111.

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VPN Update

Last week we updated on-campus, on-domain PCs to use the new VPN server. Notably, the new VPN server supports Windows 10 and OSX Yosemite.

On  September 22 at 6 AM, we are going to switch everyone over to using the new VPN. From that point forward, you will be using the new hardware when you go to vpn.mtu.edu.

Documentation on installation and usage of the new VPN client is available at www.it.mtu.edu/vpn.

If you have any issues, please contact IT at it-help@mtu.edu or 906-487-1111.