Technology Service Status

All services operating normally

2011-08-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

SBS System Maintenance

2011-07-25T10:56:00.001-04:00

On Friday, July 29th, 2011, between midnight and 8:45am, OTM will shutdown the back office server and storage systems that provide technology services for the Business School.

During this time, you will not be able to log on to your office computer and access your My Documents folder and shared department drives. In addition, the following services will not be available: CourseCast, Remote Access and Printing.

All services will be restored by 8:45am on Friday, July 29th, 2011. Please check your email for further details or contact us at x8524 or email otm@suffolk.edu.

Blackboard Maintenance 23-JUNE, 2011

2011-06-21T10:57:00.001-04:00

On Thursday June 23, 2011 between the hours of 12:00 am to 06:00 am US Eastern, Blackboard will be performing maintenance on the SafeAssign feature in the Learning System. During this 6 hour period, the Blackboard SafeAssign client application will be unavailable.

Remote Access maintenance

2011-05-12T12:50:00.000-04:00

On May 13th, Friday, between 10:00am and 5:00PM EST, OTM will perform scheduled maintenance of the Business School Remote Access System that provides off campus access to research applications (SAS, CRSP), My Documents, Shared Drives, Office 2007, etc,.

The service will be unavailable during this time and will be restored by end of day.

Email Maintenance for Students

2011-01-26T10:43:00.000-05:00

On the morning of Thursday, January 26, 2011, Information Technology Services will perform scheduled maintenance on Suffolk University email systems for students.

Between 5am and 6am email performance may be slow, and there may be brief periods where access is not available. No email will be lost.

If you have questions or need assistance with email and other technical questions, please contact the Suffolk University Help Desk at 617-557-2000 or helpdesk@suffolk.edu.

Blackboard Maintenance 28-DEC, 2010

2010-12-06T15:30:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday December 28th, 2010 between the hours of 12:00 midnight to 08:30 am US Eastern, our learning management system service provider, Blackboard, will be performing preventative maintenance at their data center. The site may be available sporadically but users should not plan to do any work during this time as it may not be saved if the site becomes unreachable.

University email down for SBS students

2010-11-17T14:17:00.008-05:00

Access to university email for Sawyer Business School students has been temporarily disabled for maintenance.

Please check the MySuffolk Portal for the latest announcements and status regarding this service interruption.

***UPDATE*** (11/18/10, 4:13 PM)
Sawyer Business School students may now access their email accounts on Umail, at http://umail.suffolk.edu.

While most students will have access to their older, migrated email from SUMail, a few may not be fully migrated at this time. These, as well as all emails received during the maintenance period, which began at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, and extended into this morning, will migrate to the new accounts as the day progresses.

For more information, please visit the MySuffolk Portal or contact the University Help Desk.

Datatel is down and unavailable

2010-10-28T12:39:00.003-04:00

The Datatel server (Student Information System) went down unexpectedly at approximately 10:50 this morning due to a failed power supply. IBM Field engineers are on site and working on the problem.

The system will likely be unavailable for several hours as we verify the integrity of the database after the power supply issue has been rectified. We will provide you with an update you at 2:00pm.

We apologize for any inconvenience

Director, Applications
Information Technology Services
Suffolk University

***UPDATE: 3:30PM ***: Datatel is back up. The power supply has been replaced and the files have all been checked and it looks like we good to go.

Thanks to all of you for your patience.

Remote Access is unavailable

2010-09-20T10:04:00.002-04:00

The Remote Access system that provides access to files and applications is currently down. Users have already reported cases of not being able to connect.

We are working to fix the issue and will update this page as information becomes available.

***UPDATE*** (09/20/2010):
The Remote Access service is back up and running. Off-campus access to My Documents, shared drives, SAS and Office 2007 is now restored.

We are sorry for the interruption in service.

SAS Upgrade on Aug 31, 2010

2010-08-25T13:17:00.001-04:00

We will be upgrading the SAS Business Intelligence Platform from 9.1 to 9.2.

SAS and the CRSP Stock and Indices database will not be accessible on-campus or remotely between Tuesday, Aug 31st and Thursday, September 2nd.

Blackboard System Downtime, Aug 9 at 10PM

2010-07-29T12:17:00.001-04:00

Our learning management system provider, Blackboard, will be performing system maintenance on the hosted Blackboard environment. The Blackboard system will be unavailable between August 9th , 10PM. to August 10th, 6AM.

Blackboard Upgrade, July 25th at 12:30am EDT

2010-07-08T11:55:00.001-04:00

Our learning management system provider, Blackboard, will be performing an upgrade from v9.0 to v9.1 on the hosted Blackboard environment. The Blackboard system will be unavailable on July 25th from 12:30 a.m. to 3:30pm EDT the same day.

Remote Access is unavailable

2010-02-23T18:36:00.002-05:00

The Remote Access system that provides access to files and applications is currently down. Users have already reported cases of not being able to connect.

We are working to fix the issue and will update this page as information becomes available.

***UPDATE*** (02/25/2010):
The Remote Access service is back up and running. Off-campus access to My Documents, shared drives, SAS and Office 2007 is now restored.

We are sorry for the interruption in service.

Blackboard Maintenance, 29-JAN, 2010

2010-01-28T13:26:00.001-05:00

On Friday January 29th, 2010 between the hours of 02:00 am to 06:00 am US Eastern, our learning management system service provider, Blackboard, will be performing preventative maintenance at their data center. While this maintenance is not expected to cause service interruptions, it cannot be entirely ruled out that they might have to restart services on a few systems if the need warrants.

Blackboard Maintenance: Jan 15th, 2010

2010-01-14T15:54:00.002-05:00

Between midnight and 3am EST on 15 JAN 2010, our learning management system service provider, Blackboard, will be performing emergency upgrades to their core routing platforms due to a recently discovered security vulnerability. While this maintenance is not expected to cause service interruptions, service degradation in the form of packet loss or latency may occur. This is expected to affect both their datacenters.

Remote Access is currently down

2009-12-15T16:00:00.003-05:00

The Remote Access system that provides access to My Documents, SAS and Office 2007 is currently down.

We are working to fix the issue and will update this page as information becomes available.

**UPDATE** (12/16/2009, 1:55PM): The issue has been fixed and service has been restored. Access to My Documents, SAS and Office 2007 is now available.

Computer Virus and Malware ALERT

2009-12-10T13:25:00.004-05:00

There has been a sudden surge in computer virus infection on campus.

The university is taking all necessary technical precautions to prevent computers from being infected. Meanwhile, here's what you can do to help keep it from spreading:

1. Be wary of unexpected attachments. Do not click on email links or open email attachments from people not familiar to you
2. Not all links that show up in Google are legitimate websites. Do not click on suspicious links or advertisements when surfing the web.
3. If you suspect your computer is infected, do not use your account to log on to your colleagues computer or another department computer.
4. Your thumb drive or memory sticks may also be infected if your computer has the virus. Let OTM staff know if you are using one so we can scan it for infection when we clean your computer. Otherwise you may reinfect your computer on campus or at home.
5. Facebook and other social networking site users are being targeted with malware. Be cautious on what you click and who you respond to.

Report an infection of your computer to the IT department immediately.

Blackboard Maintenance Scheduled: Fri, Dec 11, 2009

2009-12-10T12:21:00.001-05:00

This Friday December 11th, 2009 between the hours of 02:00 am to 06:00 am US Eastern, our learning management system provider,Blackboard, will be performing power maintenance on a redundant network at their VA2 data center. We do not anticipate any interruption in Blackboard service as a result of this work. However the work is being performed during the normal weekly maintenance window to minimize any potential risk.

Blackboard downtime: Fri, Oct 23rd, 2:00am - 6:00am EST

2009-10-22T13:35:00.002-04:00

Our learning management system provider, Blackboard, will be performing maintenance on their server racks resulting in loss of connectivity to Blackboard. The Blackboard system will be unavailable on October 23rd, 2009 from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. EST

My Documents through Remote Access

2009-09-29T15:39:00.002-04:00

My Documents is currently unavailable through the Remote Access system. My Documents is accessible on your office computer on campus, but is currently having errors when trying to access from off campus. We are working towards identifying and resolving the issue.

Blackboard downtime scheduled: Fri, Sep 11

2009-09-09T10:29:00.001-04:00

Our learning management system provider, Blackboard, will be performing a storage upgrade on the hosted Blackboard environment. The Blackboard system will be unavailable on September 11 from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. EST

Remote Access is currently down

2009-08-24T11:21:00.002-04:00

The Remote Access system that provides access to files and applications is currently down. Users have already reported cases of not being able to connect over the weekend.

We are working to fix the issue and will update this page as information becomes available.

UPDATE: (3:00PM): The issue has now been resolved. The Remote Access service is now back up and running.

Blackboard Maintenance Scheduled: June 26th, 2009

2009-06-19T13:28:00.001-04:00

Our learning management system provider, Blackboard, will be performing maintenance on the hosted Blackboard environment; the purpose of this maintenance is to proactively perform needed maintenance on the existing infrastructure in their VA2 datacenter. This maintenance is expected to take place on Friday June 26th, 2009 from 03:00am to 7:00am EDT. During this window service interruptions are expected for all Blackboard services.

Network issues on campus : 06/15/2009

2009-06-15T16:11:00.005-04:00

We are sorry you had trouble using your computer on campus today.

The university has been experiencing network issues since 10:40am this morning due to hardware problems. Services available to Business School users such as the Sawyer Computing Center, classrooms, internet access, email, My Documents, Remote Access and shared drives were disrupted. ITS has been working on the issue, but there is no confirmation yet that it is fully resolved. Rest assured ITS engineers are working hard to fix it.

We will update you once we have more information available. Please call our office if you need assistance.

***UPDATE (06/17/2009): While network access has been restored, there is no confirmation yet whether this issue has been fully resolved.

Blackboard Maintenance Scheduled: May 22, 2009

2009-05-15T14:43:00.002-04:00

Blackboard, our learning management system provider will be performing the following scheduled maintenance Friday May 22nd 2009 from 3am to 8am EDT:

As part of their ongoing preventative maintenance and in an effort to provide you with the best possible service, Blackboard's Managed Hosting Engineers will be performing maintenance on the VA2 data center network hosting our Blackboard site. The purpose of this maintenance is to modify existing infrastructure configurations in their VA2 datacenter. During this window, users will not have access to the system.

Blackboard Maintenance Scheduled: May 6, 2009

2009-05-05T09:54:00.002-04:00

Emergency maintenance for Wed, May 6th morning

In an effort to provide you with the best possible service, our Blackboard vendor will be performing emergency maintenance on May 6th 2009 during the hours of 3:00am - 5:00am EDT. The maintenance is required as follow-up to a May 3, 2009 network event. As the maintenance will require reboots of core devices, users should expect intermittent delays or inability to access Blackboard during this time.

Active Directory migration completed

2009-03-24T10:12:00.002-04:00

The Active Directory migration for the Business School is now complete. However, few issues may remain after the migration. If you have difficulties logging in to your office computer we ask that you contact the ITS Help Desk at x2000 (617.557.2000 from an outside line).

Active Directory Migration from 3/13/09 through 3/20/09

2009-03-13T13:05:00.008-04:00

Active Directory migration is planned for the Sawyer Business School during the week of Spring Break. In order to facilitate a more seamless migration process, it is important for all faculty and staff to note the following:

Remember to leave your computer turned on. You should log out but leave the system running.
ProPalms remote access servers currently used by many staff and faculty to obtain remote access will be unavailable between 03/14/2009 - 03/16/2009.
Your passwords will be reset to temporary ones during the migration. Your temporary password has been sent to your Suffolk email.
Keep a copy of this temporary password with you when you return to the office the week of 3/23/09. You will need to input it in order to login to your computer.
If you have difficulties logging in we ask that you contact the ITS Help Desk at x2000 (617.557.2000 from an outside line).

UPDATE: (03/18/2009): Propalms remote access servers were unavailable until 03/17/2009. Issues have been fixed and it is now available for use.

UPDATE: (03/20/2009: 1:00PM): Propalms remote access servers are currently down. We will update this page as new information is available.

Blackboard Notification: Feb 20th, 2009

2009-02-16T09:00:00.004-05:00

On February 20th, the Virginia Department of Transportation will be doing construction work near the datacenter where Suffolk University's Blackboard hosted environment is located. The work will take place from 11 PM EST on 2/20 and continue until 5 AM EST on 2/21.

There may be very brief periods of inactivity but Blackboard does not anticipate a significant impact to their network providers and all their services will continue under normal operation.

Email System Upgrade: Fri, Feb 13, 2009

2009-02-13T13:08:00.003-05:00

On Friday, February 13, 2009, beginning at 7:00 pm, Information Technology Services will suspend email service for approximately one hour for a planned hardware upgrade.

During this time

You will not be able to access your Suffolk.edu email account.
No emails will be lost, and all incoming emails will be queued for delivery immediately following the upgrade.
Other online functions, including the Suffolk University Web site, CampusCruiser and Blackboard will remain on line and accessible.

For more information or for assistance, contact the Help Desk. Off campus, call 617-557-2000. On Campus, dial 2000.

Portal is unavailable: Mon, Feb 9, 2009

2009-02-09T11:54:00.003-05:00

The university portal, CampusCruiser is unavailable at this time. Access to Blackboard and other services delivered through the portal will not be available. Engineers have been notified. This message will be updated with an anticipated time to return to service soon. Please try again later.

***UPDATE*** (02/09/2009, 12:15PM) - The portal service has been restored and all services are now available.

Blackboard Maintenance Scheduled: Fri, Jan 30 2009

2009-01-27T11:52:00.001-05:00

Blackboard, the university's learning management system provider will be performing proactive maintenance to their network infrastructure on Jan. 30th, at 2 AM Eastern Time. During this time clients may experience brief interruptions in service lasting no more than 15 minutes.

Portal is unavailable: Tue, Jan 13th

2009-01-13T13:35:00.001-05:00

The university portal, CampusCruiser is unavailable at this time. Access to Blackboard and other services delivered through the portal will not be available. Engineers have been notified. This message will be updated with an anticipated time to return to service soon. Please try again later.

UPDATE**** (01/13/2009, 1:45PM): The portal service has been restored and all services are now available.

Blackboard Maintenance Scheduled - Wed, Jan 7, 2009

2009-01-06T17:00:00.005-05:00

Blackboard, the university's learning management system provider will be performing an emergency maintenance tonight, Jan. 7th, between the hours of 2 AM and 3 AM Eastern Time. During this time clients may experience brief interruptions in service lasting no more than 15 minutes. The maintenance is being performed to ensure full functionality on a critical infrastructure network device. We appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this issue.

Portal Upgrade Scheduled: Sat, Dec 13

2008-12-12T23:46:00.000-05:00

Timecruiser, the university's portal vendor has scheduled an upgrade on Saturday, December 13, from 1 AM Eastern Time to 8 AM Eastern Time. The portal will not be available during this period.

Users will not be able to access services offered via the portal, including Blackboard.

Original Date Posted: 12/9/2008 at 12:30PM

Portal is unavailable: Fri, Dec 12

2008-12-12T11:34:00.002-05:00

The university portal, CampusCruiser is unavailable at this time. Access to Blackboard and other services delivered through the portal will not be available. Engineers have been notified. This message will be updated with an anticipated time to return to service soon. Please try again later.

***UPDATE*** (12/12/2008, 11:45am): Our vendor has notified us that the portal is back up and running. All services through the portal are currently available.

Remote Access is experiencing intermittent errors

2008-12-04T17:45:00.004-05:00

The Remote Access system that provides access to files and applications has been experiencing intermittent connection errors this evening. Users have reported cases of not being able to connect to certain applications.

***UPDATE*** (12/04/08): All connections have been restored, but we continue to investigate the cause of this issue. We regret the inconvenience to students and faculty.

LiveClassroom Upgrade Notice

2008-11-17T13:25:00.002-05:00

LiveClassroom, the web conferencing service integrated in Blackboard, will be upgraded to the latest version and migrated to a new hosting facility by our vendor on Sunday, Nov 23rd between 1:00am and 6:00am EST. Access to LiveClassroom will not be available during this time.

After the upgrade here are some features you can expect: Powerpoint 2007 support, Resizable Chat Area, Expanded Video Inputs for Classroom Capture and Portable Collaboration with MP3 Download.

***UPDATE (11/24/2008)***: LiveClassroom was upgraded to version 5.2.4 and the migration was successful.

Portal Maintenance Scheduled: Fri, Nov 24

2008-11-17T09:25:00.003-05:00

Timecruiser, the university's portal vendor has tentatively scheduled infrastructure maintenance for Friday, November 24, from 1 AM Eastern Time to 8 AM Eastern Time.

Users will not be able to access services offered via the portal, including Blackboard.

Portal Maintenance Scheduled: Sun, Nov 9

2008-11-06T15:59:00.003-05:00

Timecruiser, the university's portal provider will be performing maintenance on Sunday, November 9, from 12 AM to 6 AM Eastern Time. Users will not have access to services provided via the portal such as Blackboard at this time.

Connection issues with LiveClassroom

2008-10-29T15:00:00.003-04:00

LiveClassroom, the web conferencing service in Blackboard is down. Users are not able to connect to it. Technology Services is working to restore service asap. Please check back here for updates.

***Update*** 10/29/2008, 4:10PM: LiveClassroom service has been restored and is functioning normally.

University Portal Outage

2008-10-21T10:06:00.001-04:00

CampusCruiser, the university portal, experienced intermittent outages last evening (8:15pm to 8:40pm and again at 10:01pm to 10:26pm, 10/20/2008). Some users accessing the portal to get to Blackboard and other services were affected at that time.

University Web Services is working with the vendor to prevent future occurrences.

Remote Access error when using Vista SP1

2008-09-15T11:31:00.001-04:00

Some users with Vista SP1 on their home machines are reporting errors while accessing files and applications remotely. This is a known issue with the Vista operating system. We are working with the vendor on finding a fix for it.

***UPDATE*** 09/24/2008: Users with Vista SP1 are requested to update their remote access client with the latest version. Please visit our Remote Access section on our website for updated information.