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2006 Technology Update Schedule
A schedule of known infrastructure changes is cataloged here for use by information technology consultants on campus.
| December 2006 | ||
| November 2006 | ||
| October 2006 | ||
| September 2006 | ||
| August 2006 | ||
| July 2006 | ||
| June 2006 | ||
| May 2006 | ||
| April 2006 | ||
| March 2006 | ||
| February 2006 | ||
| January 2006 | ||
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University official lists for mass e-mail defined and
procedures documented
The OIT Office of Printing and Mailing now offers a free service to departments and offices that, with proper approval, need to send out e-mail messages to large groups, or segments, of the University community through the use of automatically generated e-mail distribution lists. For more information on official University e-mail lists and the procedure to use these lists, see: http://www.princeton.edu/printing-mailing/pm_services.html. Please call OIT Printing and Mailing at 8-3115 or e-mail mailing@princeton.edu with any questions. -
December 2006: Wireless connectivity enabled in the
Hibben-Magie Apartments
OIT is pleased to announce that wireless Internet access has been enabled in the Hibben-Magie Apartments. Internet access will also continue to be provided through hard-wired wall box connections in your apartments; in fact, hard-wired access is recommended for intensive computing across the network. If you have a non-SCI computer which is capable of using wireless, you need to register its wireless interface at: http://www.net.princeton.edu/hostmaster/dormnet.html. See www.princeton.edu/wireless for more information and frequently asked questions about wireless connectivity, as well as a wireless coverage map of campus and instructions for configuring your computer. Please contact the OIT Help Desk at 8-HELP(4357) or helpdesk@princeton.edu if you have any questions. -
December 2006: Password Security marketing
campaign continues
Since June of '06, OIT in conjunction with the Office of Communications has actively been promoting safer and more secure computing practices through the Password Security Campaign. The latest effort is the Change it - don't share it campaign poster that you will soon see prominently displayed in many locations on campus. The poster is currently being mailed to all department office heads for display on bulletin boards, and The Daily Princetonian is publishing a version of the poster weekly. Student dormitories, computing clusters, and all public OIT locations will also have the poster displayed. As a "thank you," at the end of each month from June 2006 through March 1, 2007, OIT will award a 4GB iPod Nano to an individual randomly selected from those who used the Password Management Facility to change their passwords during that month. For more information on the Password Security Campaign, see www.princeton.edu/password. -
November 2006: OnTime Calendaring to
retire
OnTime Calendaring will be shut down on Wednesday, December 6, 2006. Currently there are no longer any users of this service. For more information, see: kb.princeton.edu/3996. -
November 2006: Wireless connectivity
resolved
During the week of October 30, OIT resolved network connectivity issues that have been causing sporadic interruptions to the Internet for wireless users. Laptop users across campus had been experiencing random occurrences where they appeared to be connected to the wireless network and have good signal strength, yet their computers were unable to receive any incoming data. OIT identified this sporadic connectivity disruption to be a problem with the Wireless Access Points servicing the campus wireless network. The vendor of the access points acknowledged this as a bug in the firmware version being used at Princeton. To restore full service to the campus wireless network, OIT downgraded the firmware in all campus Wireless Access Points during the week of October 30th. -
October 2006: Class of '06 accounts closed
Class of '06 computing accounts were closed the week of October 16. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the OIT Help Desk at (609) 258-HELP (4357), option 1, or send e-mail to helpdesk@princeton.edu. -
September 2006: New OIT home page
OIT is pleased to announce a new OIT home page which combines the best features of both the previous OIT and Help Desk pages. The new page provides all the useful, timely information from the Help Desk page, as well as links to OIT services listed on the OIT page. The layout of the page is more consistent with the new PU web page style. The page also includes "quick links" to frequently visited OIT pages. No other pages on the OIT site have changed because of this update. To comment on the new page, please use the "Web page feedback" link in the lower left of the page. -
August 2006: OIT announces multiple RSS feeds available
for news and updates
OIT now provides RSS feeds to help keep the campus community informed. For more information, see OIT RSS feeds: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). -
August 2006: New server available for OIT's 64-bit
service
OIT's 64-bit service has been augmented by a new server called lxiv. This new server runs Redhat Enterprise Linux 4 and has the same software suite available as the existing server sixtyfour. Lxiv has 4 Dual Core AMD 885 CPUs and 16GB of RAM to help meet the demands of the computationally intensive work occurring on tombstone and sixtyfour already. Users who have already registered for the 64-bit service will be able to login to lxiv. New users of the service will be required to register for the service by visiting a registration web page. If a registered user does not log in to the service for a consecutive period of 5 months, mail will be sent warning the user of registration expiration in a month unless the user logs in again within a month. Open source and commercial software is provided via the Princeton Software Repository, /usr/psr (www.princeton.edu/psr) and the licensed software file system /usr/licensed. -
August 2006: public_html folders move to secure directory
structure
On Tuesday, August 15, OIT made a system change to the public_html folders on the Central File Server. All public_html folders for all users were moved to a new and separate directory. This change was made to allow for security enhancements to the Central File Server in the future. No changes need to made to any of the Web files as all links will work as they currently do. For Windows users, no changes need be made to your web publishing procedures, and the integrity of all links in your Web pages will be maintained. For Mac OS X users and Linux users, please see the following KB solution: Mac OS X: How to publish web pages to your public_html folder. -
August 2006: 64-bit public Unix/Linux servers upgrade to
Solaris 10
The two servers which are part of OIT's 64-bit public Unix/Linux computing environment were upgraded in early August. On Monday August 7, the server tombstone was upgraded from Solaris 9 to Solaris 10. On Tuesday August 8, the server sixtyfour was upgraded from Redhat Enterprise Linux 3 to Red Hat Linux Enterprise 4. -
August 2006: Campus wireless computing project
begins
OIT begins an 18-24 month project to bring wireless computing to all major academic and administrative buildings on campus as well as graduate student housing complexes. The 14 buildings of the Lawrence apartment complex were completed in August 2006; Hibben-Magie is expected to be completed by spring semester 2007. A map of campus wireless areas is available at www.princeton.edu/wirelessmap. -
July 2006: Charging for OIT quota overages to begin
July 1
As a result of newly acquired disk technology and efficiencies achieved through better server management software, OIT has expanded e-mail quotas and reduced costs to users. Default quota for e-mail has been increased from 55 MB to 200 MB. This change applies both to users of the IMAP mail service as well as the Exchange service. This quota increase will provide much needed relief for customers who are now battling to reduce their e-mail folder sizes. Cost for disk storage beyond the quota limits has been reduced to 50 cents per 100 MB per month, which is a 50% reduction. Charges reflecting the new billing will start in July of this year; “preview” bills will be available in May. See kb.princeton.edu/4926 for more information. -
July 2006: OIT to increase networking capacity over
the summer
Princeton has network connections to the Internet, as well as Internet2. The University's connection to the Internet provides general connectivity, while the connection to Internet2 provides a direct link to other research institutions. During the summer, the University will increase its connection to the Internet to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) and raise its Internet2 connection speed to 500 megabits per second (Mbps). This total represents a five-fold increase in bandwidth that will facilitate such activities as transferring large data sets, conducting interactive or remote research projects, and sending, or receiving, live lectures or classes over the network. The increased capacity will also position Princeton well among our peer institutions. -
June 2006: Ontime users to migrate to Exchange for
calendaring on campus
The current vendor of the calendaring software OnTime no longer supports the product in use at Princeton. OIT has therefore been examining alternatives to OnTime. Since a large segment of the University community already uses Outlook Exchange, OIT is pleased to announce that Exchange e-mail and calendaring will be made available to all current University OnTime users. See kb.princeton.edu/3996 for more information. -
June 2006: Student privacy within Dormnet to increase;
netIDs to be removed
OIT is now in the process of changing the way hostnames are assigned in order to enhance student privacy. The goal of the project is to change the Dormnet hostname registration system to remove the netID on June 13, 2006. This project will require rewriting several internal administrative tools that depend on having NetIDs within hostnames. See kb.princeton.edu/9819 for more information. -
June 2006: Major OIT computing service outage, June 9
- June 12
An extended computing service outage is planned from 7 p.m. Friday, June 9, through 6 a.m. Monday, June 12, 2006 to install a new electrical transformer. OIT's computing facility, which is currently at maximum electrical capacity, will require this upgrade to meet the University's growing computing needs. This data center power outage will affect nearly all of OIT's computing services. In addition, departmental services provided by servers hosted in the machine room at 87 Prospect Ave. will be affected. The campus community should expect most central computing services to be unavailable throughout the outage. However, OIT expects to be able to make the following key central services available during this period: the University's main Web pages, connectivity to the Internet and networking (in the buildings and between buildings). Also, OIT is expecting e-mail functions to be available although some enhanced features, such as setting vacation messages may not work. A Web page will be updated with information about the status of service availability throughout the June 9-12 outage at: www.princeton.edu/main/administration/infotech/outages. Office or department representatives who need to discuss business continuity plans to minimize disruptions should contact Donna Tatro at (609) 258-2845 as soon as possible. -
May 2006: Digital Student Suitcase: Online tools for
graduating students launches
On May 17, OIT launched a suite of online tools to help graduating students "pack" their intellectual property in preparation for departure from the University. Students are able to automatically zip and download their e-mail messages, H: drive files, blog entries, as well as remove their Windows computers from the Princeton domain using an automated script. For more information, see: www.princeton.edu/suitcase. -
April 2006: E-mail quota increases to 200MB for faculty,
staff, and students
As of April 28, 2006, all faculty, staff, and student e-mail accounts now have 200MB of storage space. This quota increase provides much needed relief for customers who have been battling to reduce their e-mail folder sizes. -
April 2006: Secure FTP connections to OIT servers
required
As of April 24, 2006, OIT servers require that your computer use a secure connection in order to make FTP connections. By April 24, customers will have had to change their method of getting and putting files to and from OIT servers to a secure file transfer (SFTP) method. A secure file transfer means that passwords and all subsequent communications with the server are sent in encrypted form, so that they cannot be intercepted for malicious purposes.For details on Secure FTP, see Secure FTP: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). -
April 2006: Secure POP connections to e-mail server
required
As of April 3, 2006, Princeton's POP e-mail server requires that your computer use a secure connection in order to read your incoming POP e-mail. A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection means that your password and all subsequent communications from your computer to the mail server are sent in encrypted form, so that they cannot be intercepted for malicious purposes. Instructions are provided at: kb.princeton.edu/9804 to enable a secure connection for your e-mail program. -
April 2006: New IT's Academic blog launches
Last year, OIT launched an e-mail newsletter IT’s Academic. In order to provide timelier news and a way for readers to comment, OIT has changed from a newsletter to a blog format. Those familiar with blogs will find the standard features; for example, you can subscribe and comment. OIT will still send periodic updates in digest format via e-mail to keep non-subscribers informed. To keep spam at a minimum, IT’s Academic is currently available only on-campus. Please feel free to use the “Submit an article or link!” feature to contribute articles, links to external articles, or web sites of interest. The URL is http://blogs.princeton.edu/itsacademic. -
March 2006: OIT Help Desk launches RSS feed service for
OIT outages
The OIT Help Desk now provides an RSS feed to help keep the campus community informed about OIT system and service outages. The feed can be accessed via: http://helpdesk.princeton.edu/rss/outages.xml For more information about RSS feeds and how to view them in an RSS reader, see: kb.princeton.edu/9808. -
February 2006: SSL setting required for IMAP e-mail users
to receive Princeton e-mail
As of February 28, 2006, Princeton's IMAP e-mail server requires that your computer use a secure connection in order to read your incoming e-mail. A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection means that your password and all subsequent communications from your computer to the mail server are sent in encrypted form, so that they cannot be intercepted for malicious purposes. Exchange users are not affected by this system change. Instructions are provided at: kb.princeton.edu/9804 to enable a secure connection for your e-mail program. -
January 2006: Campus cellular telephone coverage
improved
The Office of Information Technology is pleased to announce that important steps have been taken to improve cellular telephone coverage at the University. On January 21, a new cell site became fully operational on the roof of the New South building. A cell site includes the transmission and reception equipment, as well as the base station antenna, that connects a cellular phone to the network. In collaboration with the Facilities department and working with Verizon Wireless, OIT has completed this important first step in the ongoing effort to improve cellular telephone services at the University. Next steps in the effort to provide clear cellular phone coverage include working with additional cellular service providers to improve their coverage. Verizon coverage should improve considerably across campus and throughout the greater Princeton area with this new cell site, although some problematic indoor and underground locations will still remain. Please contact the OIT Help Desk (8-HELP) if you have any questions or concerns. -
January 2006: Arizona servers to change operating system
to Linux
The former Arizona servers were replaced by Dell servers running Redhat Enterprise Linux. Those who formerly logged in to the Arizona servers to read e-mail with Pine, edit files with vi, and publish web pages now continue to do so on the new Linux servers, which will continue to use the Arizona name. There is no longer scientific, math, or engineering software, and cpu usage of individual processes is limited on the new Arizonas (see www.princeton.edu/register64 to run computationally intensive software). To read e-mail with Pine or do file editing, continue to use the Arizonas as you always have done. If you made modifications to your environment on the former Arizonas, you may notice some changes on the new servers. (Details....) -
January 2006: Visitor Wireless service no longer requires
a password for authentication
Starting on the morning of January 5, 2006, Visitor Wireless was reconfigured to no longer use a network password. At that time, clients needed to reconfigure to NOT use a network password. (Details....)
Archived technology updates are also cataloged, beginning June, 2003.
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E-mail tech-updates@princeton.edu to have a change included in this list.
Last Updated:Friday January 05 2007