In an effort to keep the campus “in the loop” on major projects, we have introduced a new section of our website simply titled Projects. Over time, we hope to use this space to keep the campus appraised of major project efforts as we are working on them. At the moment, our first project is the upcoming printer refresh for the campus.
This refresh will replace all of the models of printers across our campus which are no longer support by their manufacturer. This will include the vast majority of devices we have across campus. We have also taken the opportunity to look at consolidating down to fewer locations as we roll out the newer devices. We will also be working with our vendor partner, Marco, to implement new features of PaperCut to allow for enhanced secure print release and scanning capabilities.
Some of these features will take time to implement and we are working with Marco on a plan to roll out the changes with the least amount of disruption as possible. At the moment, the first big date to remember is August 8-9, 2024 as we roll out the bulk of the new machines and recycle the old ones. Most changes should be minimally invasive, but ITS staff will work to get your area back up and running as quickly as possible once the rollout begins.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Director of IT, Bob Martens. Thank you, and God bless your summer!
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2024-07-30 11:02:522024-07-30 11:02:55New Project Area and Printer Refresh Update
Greetings MLC campus! This is the first of many Information Security Updates to come as we begin the rollout of our revamped information security program here on campus including updated policies and the development of many procedures, guidelines, lists, etc. in the months and years to come. To kick things off, here is a “quick” 10-minute video outlining five important items as we start down this path:
As outlined above, here are the five items to keep in mind as we get started:
Finding Information
All information now is going to be a WORK IN PROGRESS as we look to continue to refine so many aspects of our information security program. However, you can visit KnightHelp’s Information Security section to find the most up-to-date information. This will include links to the current policies, procedures, guidelines, and future lists of approved software and services. Again, this area is going to be under development, so it should be considered a WORK IN PROGRESS for a long time.
As sections are built out, more information will be relayed to the campus both on what it contains and how to use it.
Centralizing Technology Purchasing and Vendor Assessments
While we do a lot of purchasing in IT Services, even more will need to be centralized so that we can both keep accurate lists of what is being used on campus, and by whom, and we can keep a hold of information security assessments of vendors we are sharing non-public data with. We are hoping to use the HECVAT in the future for any assessments, but will wait to assess current vendors until their contract is due.
If you have any questions about how this will work, please reach out to me, Bob Martens.
Encourage Participation
There is a variety of different pieces of information security awareness being handled across campus at the moment, but we are going to be revamping that awareness over time. While phishing tests will continue for faculty and staff, it is highly likely that other information security awareness topics will be handled differently in the future. Details are scant at the moment, but more will come in the future. Also, the new policies will be replacing the technology policies needing to be acknowledged each year. This request may happen sooner, so stay tuned for more information.
Care When Requesting Data Access
In order to help become a more data-aware campus, new safeguards are going to be put in place to help us take better care of the data we have been entrusted with. This will include new procedures for requesting ongoing access to data along with guidelines around the use of different classes of data. Details will need to be ironed out before we can share more, but we are hoping to strike the right balance between a free-for-all and Fort Knox.
Enhanced Authentication Security
First, do not share your passwords with anyone else. Second, look at using a trusted password manager to help you manage the sheer number of different log in combinations you use each day. That will be one area of the approved software lists written about above.
However, the biggest change is that we are actively testing Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) to be rolled out to all MLC Accounts in the near future. This additional layer of security will be used to help keep your data safe, along with any data you may have access to. MFA will be embedded into the authentication methods used by our most popular web services including Portal, Moodle, and others.
Closing
You’ve made it this far! Thanks for reading. This is the start of a journey, but a good one. From here we hope to have more consistent communication with the campus around information security topics along with continuing to improve our policies, procedures, guidelines, and systems over time. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns at any time, please feel free to visit me, Bob Martens, in IT Services on campus or email me whatever you might have.
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2024-04-22 15:12:062024-04-22 15:12:08Information Security Update for April 2024
I would like to highlight the Summer Friday hours.
For the rest of this summer, the hours for IT Services will be the following:
Monday – Thursday: 8 am – 4:30 pm
Friday: 8 am – 12 pm
These hours match the campus for the rest of Summer 2023. If you have specific needs during Friday afternoons, please reach out to our office. IT Services staff will be utilizing Friday afternoons for focused work time on projects, planning, and other flexible options.
God bless your summer!
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2023-07-07 08:53:502023-07-07 09:03:16Summer 2023 IT Services Update
Since 1995, the technology department at Martin Luther College has been known as Network Services, drawing attention to the work completed to connect the campus’s computer systems and the new methods of working that a networked computing environment enabled. Now, 28 years later, the department is undergoing a renaming and rebranding for the first time.
Starting today, July 1, 2023, Network Services is now known as Information Technology Services.
The name does not change anything about what we do or provide for the campus, nor how we provide it. The name change allows us to more accurately convey to incoming students, visitors, and our own campus family the breath of services we provide for the entire campus including every aspect of the application of technology and information/data to support the mission of Martin Luther College.
So whether it is Information Technology Services, IT Services, or ITS, we are here to continue to serve the entire campus by partnering with any and all members of the MLC family. God bless your summer and we look forward to our work together both today and in the future!
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2023-07-01 08:00:002023-06-30 15:20:35Network Services is now IT Services!
It has been nearly a week since March 5 rolled around and we completed the power outage, maintenance, and Nuvera transition. Here is a quick recap of where we are today:
The campus has completely transitioned to Nuvera as our internet service provider along with the new pair of firewalls. This transition will help eliminate some specific issues we have had in the evenings when internet usage was at its highest. Now, a single dorm will not be able to use so much bandwidth that it affects the other dorms. This change will not eliminate all issues, and it may even surface some new ones, but it should help eliminate a class of issues plaguing campus during certain times of day.
The other maintenance we had planned during the power outage has been completed as well. Needed updates to our virtual server infrastructure and network switches were completed in a timely fashion and without incident.
Issues with the Archive server which came to light after the power outage have been mitigated. We will be rolling out similar fixes for some additional servers (not affected in the same way, but trying to stay ahead of future issues) will be rolled out in the near future.
An unintended network outage which cause some corruption on a database server (affecting MLC’s Moodle instance) has been mitigated for the time being. Additional work will need to take place to protect against future issues. Moodle should be working as designed now, but please be on the lookout for issues and report them.
Please keep watch for future maintenance window announcements as we continue to work through additional changes and updates. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you!
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2022-03-11 14:55:432022-03-11 14:55:48March 5, 2022 Power Outage, Maintenance, and Nuvera Transition Recap
As already announced, on Saturday morning, March 5, 2022, power will be shut off in the WCC (classroom building) in order to facilitate changes needed to support the chiller project work. This power outage will take place between 8 and 10 am on March 5. To support this work, Network Services will need to shut down all of our equipment in our server room which will, effectively, render the entire campus network inoperable.
This outage will mean network connectivity, phones, and internet access on campus will not work. Also, no campus-hosted services (e.g. Moodle, Portal, Filr, Vibe, etc.) will be available either on, or off, campus. Everything will be down for the duration of the work and some time after power is restored as we take advantage of this opportunity to take care of some maintenance needs.
Right now the plan is to take care of the following:
Update the firmware on our core switches both in Network Services and in the Chapel of the Christ
Upgrade the virtualization host servers to the latest release of the host system (if time permits)
Clean up the power situation in our server room
Cut over from XFINITY/Comcast to Nuvera for the campus internet connection
Yes, you did not misread that final bullet point, right now the plan is to complete our transition from XFINITY/Comcast to Nuvera on the morning of March 5. This means that all campus-hosted services and internet connectivity will be making the switch that day. This will mean that if you are accessing Moodle, Portal, and other hosted services, it may take longer than just the morning for your DNS to resolve to the proper IP address.
If you have any questions about the work or transitions coming up, please reach out to Network Services. Thanks, and God bless your work!
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2022-02-18 08:45:232022-02-18 08:56:51March 5, 2022 Power Outage, Maintenance, and Nuvera Transition
It has been a number of weeks since I was able to update you on the progress being made for switching from XFINITY/Comcast to Nuvera as our campus’s internet service provider. In that time, while some progress has been made, we have not been able to make the switch over to Nuvera, and with it, an increase in bandwidth available to the entire campus.
Staffing challenges, work at the Betty Kohn Fieldhouse, and other projects have pushed the rollout of this infrastructure upgrade, temporarily, to the back burner. We are continuing to reach out to various vendors who will need to be made aware of the upcoming change so that they are ready for the transition as well. We will then be scheduling a series of evenings to continue configuring our campus firewalls/gateways so that we are prepared for the transition.
After that work is complete, we will announce when the final transition will happen. While we hope to announce that final transition date in mid-February, competing priorities may push that off to Spring Break.
As announced a couple of weeks ago, MLC is going to be moving from Classic Hangouts to Google Chat on August 3, 2020. That transition is still on track and will take place on Monday. In order to facilitate the change, we have created a help document titled Google Chat Transition over at KnightHelp.
Links to resources and answers to questions will be posted there as time goes on. That document will also gather resources once the transition has happened.
Thanks and please reach out if you have any questions!
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2020-07-29 10:50:592020-07-29 10:51:05The transition to Google Chat is right around the corner!
Starting August 3, 2020 we will be moving our Google text chatting experience from the classic Google Hangouts to Google Chat. Google Chat is Google’s latest organization-grade messaging and collaboration platform that is similar to Microsoft Teams, Slack, or other team chat platforms. It integrates with many of Google’s other G Suite services (including Meet and Drive) and will be integrated in many other ways across their platform in the coming months.
Google Chat is not the same as Hangouts, even as it serves a similar purpose. For a quick glance at how to accomplish some of the same tasks in Chat as you did in Hangouts in the past, you can visit the Switching to Chat from classic Hangouts page from Google.
More information will come out as we near the transition point, but for now you can do the following:
Visit https://chat.google.com when logged into your MLC G Suite account and take a look around to get acquainted with the new service. Google Chat has been available for a while even a we have continued to use classic Hangouts.
Take note of any group chats you have in classic Hangouts because they will not be migrated to Google Chat. You will need to create new groups/rooms in Google Chat.
Investigate the mobile app for Google Chat (available on Android and iOS devices) and some of the desktop app options as well (available through the settings/gear menu when logged into Google Chat).
If you are interested in a full list of the the known limitations of Google Chat, you can visit the Google Chat known limitations page from Google. This may help if you are wondering if the ways you are currently using classic Hangouts will be supported in Google Chat of if you will need to change how you want to work in some way.
We have created a “Chat Migration Questions” room in Google Chat in order to facilitate the migration. When you visit https://chat.google.com, you can search for available people, rooms, and bots in the upper left and just search for Chat Migration Questions and join the room to ask your questions.
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2020-07-16 12:05:072020-07-16 14:54:06Moving from Classic Hangouts to Google Chat
Last night’s Filr 4.2 upgrade went smoothly so this quick video tour was put together so that you can take a look at the changes.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to MLC Network Services at https://mlc-wels.edu/support. Thanks!
https://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.png00Bob Martenshttps://mlc-wels.edu/its/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/testlogo.pngBob Martens2020-06-03 08:30:522020-06-03 08:32:39Filr 4.2 Web Client Tour
