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Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
Radford University
Faculty Computers Begin Upgrade Process to Windows 7
As of June 2010, Windows 7 is being installed on all new Lenovo computers. The timetable and training dates for this process have been shared with faculty and staff who are scheduled to receive a new computer. Faculty members who wish to update their computer to Windows 7 now, but have not received notification that their computer is due for replacement are encouraged to sign up for one of the one-hour Windows 7 Overview workshops being held weekly this summer through Aug. 18. Upon completion of the training session, faculty members can consult with the Technology Support Services staff to schedule an upgrade of their existing computer to the new software suite.
In addition to new faculty/staff computers, all campus computer labs and multimedia classrooms will be upgraded to Windows 7 and Office 2010 prior to the beginning of the Fall semester. Many of these classroom and lab upgrades will take place between August 2 -20. Faculty members are encouraged to visit the classrooms in which they are scheduled to teach during the week of August 23 - 27 to familiarize themselves with the available technology and the layout of the rooms.
DoIT will begin working with non academic departments in the fall to facilitate migration of their computers to Windows 7. The full rollout of Windows 7 across campus is expected to be completed by the Spring of 2012 as the migration to Windows 7 for some areas is dictated by the computer replacement cycle.
DoIT Announces Scheduled Maintenance Windows
Non-peak hours between 4-7 a.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays have been designated as maintenance windows for the DoIT staff. During this window, some information technology services may be unavailable. The maintenance windows will minimize the impact system maintenance has on the campus community and ensure the security and stability of Radford University’s information technology infrastructure.
During the maintenance windows, systems and networking equipment will be brought offline for proactive maintenance including installation of operating system patches, updating application software, upgrading system components and other maintenance activities which may require a system reboot causing a short system outage.
Beyond the normal maintenance windows, outages potentially resulting in the unavailability of a large number of systems or services will be announced via upcoming editions of the DoIT newsletter and campus listserves.
System Outage Set for 5-6 a.m. on Tuesday, July 13
DoIT will be performing network maintenance in the primary campus data center on Tuesday, July 13 from 5 – 6 a.m. causing a temporary network outage that will affect the majority of campus IT services. During this outage, users will be unable to access email, WebCT, RU web sites, Banner and other campus systems. DoIT does not anticipate that this maintenance will last beyond 6 a.m. and it should be completed within 15-30 minutes.
Banner Update
The Banner Human Resources and technical teams completed the integration between PeopleAdmin and Banner HR in June. Information on new hires processed through PeopleAdmin now flows automatically to Banner and eliminates dual data entry. Other activities of the Banner project teams in June included:
- Implementation of fsaAtlas (international student SEVIS reporting)
- Creation and testing workflows that will automate business processes
- Installation and testing of new e-billing features with Nelnet
- Writing and testing new Cognos reports.
- Testing for the implementation of the Banner 8 upgrade in November.
The Banner implementation is part of Project RUDI (Radford University's Database Initiative), a major multi-year project designed to review, replace and enhance the university's administrative information systems. These core systems include undergraduate and graduate admissions, financial aid, registration and records, student housing, advancement and fundraising, financials, budget and human resources. Together, these systems provide the business processing, data retrieval, reporting and self-service functions critical to providing essential services to faculty, staff, students, prospective students, alumni and the entire university community. The project was launched in January 2007.
DoIT Continues to Strengthen IT Security Program
Inbound plaintext IMAP E-mail and plaintext FTP will be disabled on July 12. DoIT has identified users of these services who are still using plaintext passwords to login and the Helpdesk has been proactively contacting them to assist with a more secure configuration.
What are plaintext passwords?
A plaintext password is a password that is not encoded or scrambled in any way or a text that anyone may read. You may learn more about plaintext here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaintext
Why are plaintext passwords a problem?
Imagine standing on a busy street with many people around while shouting your PIN number and your bank account number to an ATM across the street... not very secure as others could overhear you. This information is important to the ATM, but not to those who can overhear, and dangerous to the user if shared publicly. Use of plaintext IMAP or plaintext FTP may be disclosing a user’s username and password to others and compromise the user’s computer security.
How do I know if I am using plaintext passwords to login?
If the helpdesk has not contacted you about this, it is unlikely that you are passing plaintext passwords. The email client software and FTP client software in use determines whether or not plaintext passwords are used. Generally, there are connection settings in client software that allow for different types of connections. Within these settings, the software can be configured to use a “normal” connection or a “secure” connection. By default, most software selects the “normal” connection, but can be changed to use a “secure” connection. If a user’s software cannot be configured to use a “secure” connection, there are alternatives and the Helpdesk can assist.
Questions about plaintext passwords?
Call Radford University’s IT Security Officer at 6837 or email itsecurity@radford.edu
E-mail or FTP problems on July 12?
Call the Helpdesk at 7500 or email helpdesk@radford.edu
Benefit From These Helpful Banner Tips
These useful tips have been offered by Banner users as they use the new system. Users are encouraged to share the helpful tips that might be of value to others by emailing them to jamcnabb@radford.edu.
To enter dates in Banner INB, there are several short-cuts to speed up data entry. Try these:
- Type in the letter “T” and then tab – today’s date will be defaulted.
- Type in the two digit day and then tab – the day with the current month and year will default.
- Type in 4 digit day and month and then tab – year will default.
- Type in 6 digit MMDDYY for quick entry of entire date – system will convert to Day-Mon-YYYY.
Meet the DoIT Staff
 Jian Gue Qi
Vending Trades Technician
How long have you been employed in the Division of Information Technology at Radford University?
I joined RU in 1993.
Family:
I have been married to Zhengqian Zhao for 32 years and daughter Ming Qi, 31, is our only child. Ming graduated from UVA as a Jefferson Scholar and now is an ER doctor in Charlotte, NC. Our son-in-law, Iain Ross Bolton, now teaching at UNC, is ABS (America Born Scottish) and was our daughter’s schoolmate in UVa . Our grandson Drake (dragon,and in Chinese it means “LONG “) is now one and a half years old.
Hometown:
Shanghai, P.R. China
Education
B.S in Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Interests/Hobbies:
Both outside/indoor exercises and sports, gardening, cooking, traveling and watching movies.
Favorite Vacation Destination:
P.R. China and those places in America and foreign countries I have not yet visited.
Favorite part of your job:
Such a good team to work with and providing the best service to the RU community.
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