Welcome to Information Technology

Michelle at Help DeskWelcome! The purpose of this website is to enhance the support services we provide to our students, faculty, and staff members. We have provided a number of resources here to help you resolve problems, get answers to questions, and to suggest improvements to our services. We hope you will find this site and the material useful.

Please refer to our Information Technology Functional Support Chart to determine what functions/processes are managed by each director.

 

 

March 21, 2008 - E-mail and Calendar System Back Up

The E-mail and Calendaring System is back up. We had to role back some information to March 13th.

  • If you changed your E-mail password between March 13th and March 21 then it is set back to what it was before March 13th.
  • Users that have recently subscribed to another users calendar between March 13 and March 21 may have to re-subscribe.
  • Other information such as preferences set in webmail may have also been reset if they have been changed recently

We appologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

March 18, 2008 Update -

Some users have been experiencing problems in Outlook when trying to subscribe to other users calendars - We have implemented a workaround for this.

Some uses have also reported that they receive an error message in webmail when trying to modify persmissions to their calendar or grant new users permissions or subscribe to other calendars - We have implemented a work around for this.

We are still working with Sun Support to resolve outstanding issues related to functionality. The Calendar system is currently available but the following issues may impact your usage of the calendar.

The Calendar Server has been patched and been stable for some time. While we have made many improvements there are still numerous bugs and issues that we are working to resolve. These issues include but are not limited to:

IT is also working on the E-mail and Webmail Servers to fix and improve some of the following issues:

To help minimize the issues that you may experience with Sun Communications Express (Webmail) and for better support, please use a supported Web Browser as listed here.

Barracuda Spam Firewall

November 5, 2007 Update -

We are currently experiencing a problem with the Barracuda Spam Firewall. We are working with Barracuda Networks support to resolve the issue. Users are currently having difficulty sending e-mail. We appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this issue.

There is a workaround help sheet for Outlook users that use the Outlook Connector, located here: Outlook Connector Change

Web-based Interface Users

Users who wish to use a web browser to connect with the new email system should point the browser at https://webmail.kettering.edu.

Outlook Users

Staff and faculty that did not have Mirapoint's SynQ previously installed do not have to install the new Sun Connector.

Staff and faculty that previously had Mirapoint's SynQ installed for Outlook may install a new synchronization tool (Sun Connector) prior to using Outlook to connect to the new server to ensure full synchronization of calendar and address book items. The connector is available by clicking on the corresponding link below.

Staff  Sun Connector
Faculty Sun Connector

Click here to download documentation on how to install the connector. For more information on how to use the connector with Outlook go to Sun Outlook connecter User Guide.

For technical problems related to the new email system, please call our Helpdesk at ext. 8324 internally and 1-810-237-8324 from outside the campus.

Noted Events

System Outages:

There are currently no outages at this time!

General Information:

8/14/07 - Kettering University's IT Department has recently upgraded it's server backup capabilities by replacing old worn out tape drives with 2 Sun Storage Tek C4 Tape Libraries.  Each unit holds 32 - 400GB tapes for a capacity of 12TB uncompressed.  The capacity and speed of these new Tape Libraries is making it possible for us to backup the increased capacity of the new Sun email system as well as the growing backup needs of the rest of our servers.  Backups are performed nightly on Kettering's Servers.

6/4/07 - As many are already aware, Microsoft commercially released its much anticipated operating system, Vista, and its new software suite, Office 2007, on January 30, 2007. We wanted to update everyone concerning our current deployment status at Kettering.

The delivery of Vista marks the first full fledged update, by Microsoft, to the operating system since Windows XP in 2001. The changes in this OS are dramatic and represent a variety of enhanced features and functionalities. Associated with this new operating system are possible hardware requirements that have to be reviewed in order to ensure adequate processing. With the release of Office 2007, there are also numerous changes to some of the most popular applications on campus, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Access.

The IT staff has begun the testing of Windows Vista, in an effort to provide the Kettering community with a smooth introduction of this product into the campus computing environment. We are testing interoperability with existing products and services. Once testing is complete, results will be used to finalize the campus deployment plan. Information regarding the ongoing efforts of this project will be announced and posted at http://www.kettering.edu/it.

Presently, Kettering IT recommends that you NOT install Windows Vista until sufficient testing is complete and recommendations are developed to provide the best user experience. Until Vista passes our testing criteria, official support of this operating system will be limited. Clients who purchase machines with Windows Vista and subsequently encounter problems will receive our best effort at support, but we cannot currently guarantee the resolution of any problems that occur as a result of running Windows Vista. The client would have to work with their vendor’s customer support for resolution of the issue.

In accordance with the Kettering Software Obsolescence Policy, (http://www.kettering.edu/it/SoftwareObsolescencePolicy.jsp), this communication also serves as the 2 year notice for associated Windows platform lab software to be upgraded, replaced, or retired in readiness for Windows Vista compatibility.

The goal will be to deploy the Vista operating system by late 2008 to early 2009 with Office 2007 to be possibly deployed before that date. The versions of Vista that will be supported are: Vista Business, Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact the IT Helpdesk at ext. 8324 internally and 1-810-237-8324 from outside the campus. (helpdesk@kettering.edu).

Dan Garcia
Director, Operational Services
Information Technology

Helpdesk and Card Access hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Email is the most effective way to report IT issues. When sending e-mail to helpdesk@kettering.edu, you should NOT include additional e-mail addresses in the TO: or CC: fields. If you need additional staff to be informed of an issue, please include those names in the body of the message. This will ensure that the Helpdesk receives clear and appropriate correspondence with regard to the call ticket.

For emergencies outside of the Helpdesk hours of operation, please contact Campus Safety at 1-810-762-9501.