OIT Newsletter

August 4 Banner Upgrade and Network Outage

The Banner 7.0 upgrade will be performed August 4-7. As has been communicated in previous newsletters and correspondence to the campus, this upgrade necessitates that we shut down all administrative systems during this timeframe. Banner and all related services, including MyDSU, will be inaccessible during this time period. We anticipate that Banner 7.0 will be available for use on Monday, August 7 th . Internet and mail services will be functioning during this time period.

August 4-7: Union Building Network Outage

With the ongoing construction in the Union building, it is necessary for the OIT offices of Telecommunications and Network Services to restructure the network closets in the facility. In order to perform this restructuring, all network services to the Union facility will be unavailable on August 4 beginning at 7:00 a.m. We anticipate that services will be restored beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, August 7. This will affect all services to all offices in the building, including Exchange mail services, Internet Access, and Active Directory. Additionally, with the Banner outage, Banner will not be available. The only facility affected will be the Union building. We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we strive to improve services on the campus.

Delta State's Faculty Technology Institute Reaches Chicago

Delta State University's Faculty Institute Program was successfully presented as a Best Practices Showcase in Chicago at the 2006 WebCT Conference. Program Leader Dr. Felix Rizvanov, shared the curriculum, schedule, metrics, feedback/evaluation forms, and sample reports with WebCT Conference participants.

AOL Users Alert: Known Conflicts with WebCT and OkraMail

America Online Users (AOL) should be aware that there are known issues when trying to access your OkraMail and WebCT accounts using the AOL integrated browser. IE 6.0 and higher is the browser of preference when accessing these services. If you are an AOL user, minimize the AOL client after connection and run Internet Explorer as an external browser.

Wireless in Union

All three floors of the Union are covered with wireless internet access. In order to obtain wireless connectivity, laptops and personal digital assistants must be equipped with wireless networking cards. Stop by and check it out. If you need assistance, call the
OIT Help Desk @ 4444.

Issue No. 53 - July 28, 2006

Accessing your information from any campus machine

Accessing Shared Network Drives
You can access your home directory or departmental shared directory while connected to the Delta State network as if it is a local drive on your workstation. You can save documents to these drives just as you save documents to your local my documents folder.

Default Network Drives
The following network drives are automatically set up each time you log into a DSU workstation.

Network Area	Set up as drive letter
Your home directory (your personal area for file storage)	H:
Your department's network share area (shared area for departmental shared resources)	I:

To verify your connections, click on Start > My Computer to see what drives are currently mounted on your workstation.

Network Service Unplanned Interruptions

OIT has experienced several incidents lately in which power that feeds network closets in some facilities has been disrupted by various construction and cleaning crews. Although OIT has UPS units in every network closet on campus, these units will run the affected closets for 4-6 hours at best, depending on the load on the unit. If your department experiences issues with multiple individuals within the department being unable to access network services (login to Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, Banner, Internet services, etc), please call 4444 to report the issue and network services will address it immediately.

Incentives for adding technology to your Curriculum

Did you know there is a $700 stipend for attending the Faculty Technology Institute? The award winning FTI program is geared toward adding advanced instructional technology to classroom curriculums. There is still room in the next institute, scheduled for August 7-11. Contact Dr. Felix Rizvanov for more information.

FREE Hands-on WebCT Orientation workshops

OIT is offering FREE Hands-on WebCT Orientation workshops for Students. Don't miss this opportunity to get comprehensive information, demonstrations and hands-on experience in WebCT - the University's e-Learning Platform. Scheduling information will be on the OIT web site soon. If you would like a workshop to be brought to your class, contact Dr. Felix Rizvanov.

Questions or comments ~ feel free to contact Glenn Trammel at 662-846-4840 or email at gtrammel@deltastate.edu