SYSTEMS STAFF MONTHLY UPDATE - JULY 2004

WREQ Problem Reporting Tool
Email work requests and problem reports are now being entered into the WREQ problem reporting tool. You should submit all requests directly to WREQ and not to ntadmin or individual staff members. You can do this by posting a request through the web interface at: http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~wreq or simply by sending your email request to WREQ AT cs dot sunysb dot edu.

WREQ Problem Reporting Tool for Administrative Requests
There is now a WREQ Problem Reporting Tool for work requests directed to the department secretarial and administrative staff. You should use secwreq for requests such as requisitions, course room changes, office supplies, grade changes, room reservations, payroll issues, tuition issues, reimbursements and building management needs. This tool can be found at http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~secwreq or you can send mail to SECWREQ AT cs dot sunysb dot edu.

New Member of System StaffNew
We would like to welcome Madhuchhanda Bhowal, our new member of the Systems Staff. Madhu will be providing database support along with other general systems staff responsibilities. Madhu's login name for email is "madhu".

Announcement of Lab Closings
The Translabs will close at the end of the Extended Session (July 23) for hardware and software upgrades. They will re-open for the Fall Semester.

Announcement of Lab Combo Change
The combination to the graduate PC lab (1239) will be changed the first week of August. Continuing grads will receive email with the new combination. New students will receive the combination when they check in with the graduate secretary. Please do not give out the combination to our labs to unauthorized users.


New/Upgraded Software for Solaris
Perl has been upgraded to version 5.8.4. Make certain you and your scripts are calling /usr/local/bin/perl in order to use the current version.

On the Web
FAQs, Documentation and Downloads
The department systems FAQ pages and local documentation pages have moved to: http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/facilities/index.html. Please bookmark these pages so you can refer to them for answers to common systems related questions. In addition, the downloads page has moved to the Single Sign On area which is found at:
https://www.cs.sunysb.edu:8081/~sso/. Use the trailing "/" when accessing these pages and use your department username and password to sign on.

 

Infrastructure Changes and Upgrades

Single Sign On
The department Single Sign On facility is now active at https://www.cs.sunysb.edu:8081/~sso/. Use this facility to access
MSDNAA, change your anti-spam options, make a room reservation, or download software. Logon with your department username and password. Please submit a WREQ request if you have any trouble accessing these pages.

Reserveroom
Please note that the Reserveroom facility is only accessible through the Single Sign On page as detailed above.

POP Mail Access
The POP mail server now requires SSL for access. Please see the FAQ at http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/FAQ/EmailPopmail.html for complete information on setup. In addition, users of MS Outlook (not
including Outlook Express), KDmail and Evolution should note the following:

  1. Avoid leaving emails on the server. You will reduce Outlook's
    chance of giving trouble to zero if you delete email from the
    server.
  2. Don't read mails with pine, dtmail, mailx or mailtool in
    addition to popmail. These mail readers alter the
    mailbox in ways that confuse these popmail clients.
  3. Try using popmail.cs.sunysb.edu port 996 (a different pop3 over
    ssl server). If your mailer complains about lack of UIDL
    support this pop3 (over ssl) server will likely help.

Classroom Laptops
Room 2311, the new Lecture/Seminar room on the second floor, includes in its resources 20 laptops with wireless connectivity that can be used for classroom teaching. Please submit a WREQ request if you would like to use these laptops for classroom teaching.

Upgrades
The faculty PC attached to the fax machine in room 1435 is being upgraded. The new machine will include a 52X CD Burner. Over the course of July and August the 10 Compaq PCs in the graduate PC lab (room 1239) will be upgraded to Dell SX270s with 17" LCD monitors.

Future plans
Work has begun on the renovation of room 1310 into a new conference room.

PCs and Laptops
Virus/Spyware/Security
A new trojan horse exploit has been seen on the internet which is triggered simply by visiting an infected website with an unpatched copy of Internet Explorer (see http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/download.ject.html.)
Please make certain that your laptop or PC is up to date with all Microsoft patches and that your anti-virus software is scheduled to perform regular virus definition updates and file scans.

Users of Office 2003 should make sure that they have applied the following update Office 2003 Critical Update: KB828041
This update fixes a problem in Word 2003, Excel 2003 and PowerPoint 2003 files that contain an OfficeArt shape that was previously modified in an earlier version of Microsoft Office. This problem may cause data corruption.

To verify that you need the update, you can go to http://office.microsoft.com and click on "Check for Updates".

To apply the updates, you will need the original Office 2003 installation CD. If you do not have the CD, please send mail to WREQ AT cs dot sunysb dot edu to schedule the update.


HOW TO REPORT A PROBLEM or MAKE A WORK REQUEST
First you should check the FAQ pages at:
http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~faq

There is also a link to an index of FAQs.
If the answer to your question is not in the faq's you should use wreq to report the problem or make a work request.
There is a short blurb on wreq in the faq area (search by index).
Wreq lives at: http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~wreq/

You can also send email to:WREQ AT cs dot sunysb dot edu from your dept account, or campus account. The subject line should cover what is wrong or what you need. The body of the email can supply any details.

Your problem report must include the following information for us to be able to help you promptly:

  1. The room you are working in, either room number or lab name.
  2. The name of the host you are working on (hostname command in Unix, machine number in 1239, the number written on the bookshelf by your desk in the student offices).
  3. The sequence of things you did just prior to having the problem as best you recollect.
  4. The exact text of any error message you see on the screen, or a complete description of the problem that occured.

Please report problems promptly as they occur so they can be investigated under the same set of conditions as far as possible. When in doubt, feel free to send email to:

  • Unix and network problems:ROOT AT cs dot sunysb dot edu
  • PC problems:NTADMIN AT cs dot sunysb dot edu

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