Blackboard Extended Downtime

Posted on December 20, 2019 by admin

Scheduled Downtime: December 25^th 12:01 AM – December 27^th 11:59 PM
Services Impacted: Blackboard Learn

Blackboard is moving to the cloud!

Blackboard Learn is scheduled to move to SaaS hosting on December 25-27th. This will require a three-day downtime.

What are the benefits of SaaS? This new delivery model is more flexible than our current hosting plan:

Reduced downtime. After this change is complete, we will be able to complete most maintenance updates without ever taking Blackboard offline.
Higher quality. Because we will receive continuous software updates, we will always be running the latest bug fixes from Blackboard.
Faster access to new features. The SaaS model allows us to deliver new features faster than we have in the past.
Peace of mind. Blackboard’s experienced hosting team will be on-duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so that our technicians can focus on other strategic priorities.

More information for students and faculty: Blackboard Migration to SaaS.

Account Center, Blackboard, Email, Maintenance, Portal, VPN

LDAP Upgrade

Posted on November 13, 2019 by admin

Scheduled Downtime: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM Saturday, November 23^rd
Services Impacted: LDAP Authentication (used by many campus systems)

The campus LDAP system will be upgraded Saturday, November 23^rd 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM. The service, and many other campus services that rely on it, will be unavailable during this upgrade. These services include Portal, Account Center, WildcatMail, and Blackboard. Any service that relies on LDAP, Shibboleth, or CAS for authentication will not be available. This does not include Active Directory authenticated services such as Exchange Email and Box.

Blackboard, Maintenance, PeopleSoft

PeopleSoft Upgrade Reminder

Posted on June 14, 2018 by admin

Scheduled Downtime: 4:30 PM Thursday, June 14^th to 7AM Monday, June 18^th
Services Impacted: CS/HR PeopleSoft

At 4:30 today the PeopleSoft upgrade will begin. The upgrade will last from 4:30PM today until 7:00 AM on Monday 6/18. During the upgrade, all CS/HR PeopleSoft services will be down.

This includes access to:

Student Center
Faculty Center
Campus Solutions (AKA Student Administration)
HR Administration
Perceptive Content

Do not attempt to use CS/HR PeopleSoft during the maintenance to avoid losing work. Access to Blackboard Learn will not be affected; however, new course enrollments will not occur during the upgrade. PeopleSoft CFS financials will not be affected. New accounts will not be provisioned from Account Center during the downtime.

We expect all PeopleSoft services to be restored by 7:00 AM on Monday 6/18.

If you experience issues after the upgrade you may need to do the following:

Access PeopleSoft via the Portal and browse to the page you’re experiencing issues with
Recreate bookmarks for commonly accessed pages
Clear your browser cache

For more information, including specific changes that you can expect in the new PeopleSoft environment, please visit the PeopleSoft CMS Website.

If you have questions or concerns, please submit a request at support.csuchico.edu or contact IT Support Services.

Account Center, Blackboard, PeopleSoft, Portal, Security

PeopleSoft Self Service Extended Downtime – Upgrade to Single-Sign-On

Posted on April 12, 2018 by admin

Scheduled Downtime: 9:00 PM – 12 Midnight Tuesday, April 17th
Services Impacted: Peoplesoft Self Service including the Student Center, Faculty Center and State Employee tabs in the Portal

Peoplesoft Self Service and Portal will be upgraded to improve the Single-Sign-On experience for campus. The following services will be migrated from the existing CAS server, to the existing Shibboleth server which supports CAS single-sign on:

Portal
Account Center
Blackboard Learn LMS
PeopleSoft Self Service including:
- PeopleSoft Student Center
- PeopleSoft Faculty Center
- PeopleSoft Employee Self Service
Wildcat Email

Duo Users enrolled in 2 step verification – all systems listed above will now require 2 step verification.

Account Center, Blackboard, Email, Maintenance, Service Catalog, VPN, Wireless

Campus Authentication Maintenance

Posted on May 25, 2017 by admin

Maintenance Window: Thursday, May 25^th 5:00-6:00 PM
Services Impacted: LDAP & Multiple Campus Services

As part of the ongoing Account Center implementation the LDAP directory will be undergo maintenance at 5:00 PM today. All campus authentication and authorization based on LDAP, CAS, or Shibboleth will be unavailable during this maintenance. This includes the Portal, WildcatMail, Campus wireless, and other campus services. This will not affect Exchange Email. This maintenance is estimated to be take one hour, but could be longer.

Blackboard, Email, VPN, Wireless

Student Portal/WildcatMail Login Issues

Posted on May 22, 2017 by admin

UPDATE: The login issues were resolved as of 2:00 PM. Students should be able to log into the Portal, WildcatMail, Wireless, etc..

There is currently an issue with student accounts preventing them from logging into the Portal, WildcatMail, campus wireless, etc..

Technicians are aware of the problem and are working to correct it. We hope to have this issue resolved by 2:00 today (5/22).

Account Center, Blackboard, Email, Maintenance, PeopleSoft, Security

New Account Center Coming Soon

Posted on April 19, 2017 by admin

On June 1^st Information Resources will launch a new system called Account Center. This new system will control the way that campus users’ accounts are created and managed, and it will provide a number of improvements over current systems. Please see the major changes and important dates included below, and note that the transition to the new Account Center will cause some disruption to current account creation processes.

What will change when Account Center is operational:

New employee accounts will be created automatically in Blackboard Learn, Office 365, Google Apps, Active Directory and LDAP (currently a series of manual processes)
New faculty will only get access to course shells and student data in Blackboard Learn after I9 processes are complete (policy requirement)
All students will automatically receive Active Directory accounts
All student employees will automatically receive Office 365 (Exchange) accounts
New password management tools will provide additional self-service options for account recovery
New password rules will be implemented for employees and students

Important Dates:

May 16 – June 6: Parent Portal will be locked
- Parent account creation will not be available during this period
- Parents with existing accounts will continue to be able to access information and should not be impacted
May 19 – 31: New account creation will be suspended
- Accounts cannot be created for new students, faculty, and staff during this time as we transition to the new system
- Faculty, staff and students with existing accounts should not be impacted
June 1: Account Center will be operational
- Account creation for new faculty, staff and students will resume

The Account Center system is part of the University’s Identity & Access Management initiative. The implementation of Account Center has been a collaborative effort between Information Resources, Human Resources, Student Affairs, Faculty Affairs, and Graduate Studies with the primary goal of enabling the right individuals the right access for the right reasons at the right times.

For further information regarding the Identity & Access Management Initiative, please go to the Enterprise Applications and Data Services website at http://www.csuchico.edu/eads/iam/index.shtml.

Blackboard, Maintenance, Telephone, Voicemail

Data Center Maintenance

Posted on December 9, 2016 by admin

Maintenance Window: 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday, January 7^th
Services Impacted: Multiple campus systems

The campus data center will undergo maintenance 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday, January 7^th. Multiple campus systems may experience momentary outages during this maintenance window. This includes Blackboard Learn, which will likely experience about 30 minutes of downtime. Campus voicemail may also experience a brief service interruption.

Blackboard, Maintenance, Security, Wireless

Datacenter Network Firewall Migration

Posted on November 29, 2016 by admin

Maintenance Window: 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM Thursday, December 1^st
Services Impacted: Many Campus Network and Datacenter Services

During this maintenance window, a campus datacenter firewall will be migrated to new high-capacity, next-generation security system, affecting multiple server and secure workgroup networks. This migration will require multiple brief (few minutes) interruptions to a large number of campus services as systems are transitioned and tested. Interruptions are expected to occur early in this maintenance window, followed by extensive low-impact testing. Longer interruptions in service may be required if unexpected circumstances arise and additional troubleshooting is necessary.

As a precautionary measure during this work, some campus applications will be shut down until the migration is complete, and as such, will experience more prolonged service interruptions. Most notably, the BlackBoard Learn system will be shut down at 4:00 AM, and remain offline until migration activities are complete and uninterrupted service can be assured. All systems and services will be back to normal operation before 8:00 AM.

Blackboard, Maintenance, Wireless

Datacenter Network Firewall Migration

Posted on October 13, 2016 by admin

Maintenance Window: 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM Friday, October 14th
Services Impacted: All Campus Network Services

During this maintenance window, campus datacenter firewalls will be migrated to new high-capacity, next-generation security systems. This migration will require multiple brief (few minutes) interruptions to all campus network services as systems are transitioned and tested. Interruptions are expected to occur early in this maintenance window, followed by extensive low-impact testing. Longer interruptions in service may be required if unexpected circumstances arise and additional troubleshooting is necessary.

As a precautionary measure during this work, some campus applications will be shut down until the migration is complete, and as such, will experience more prolonged service interruptions. Most notably, the Blackboard Learn system will be shut down at 4:00 AM, and remain offline until migration activities are complete and uninterrupted service can be assured.

California State University, Chico – ITSS

California State University, Chico – ITSS

Category: Blackboard

Blackboard Extended Downtime

LDAP Upgrade

PeopleSoft Upgrade Reminder

PeopleSoft Self Service Extended Downtime – Upgrade to Single-Sign-On

Campus Authentication Maintenance

Student Portal/WildcatMail Login Issues

New Account Center Coming Soon

Data Center Maintenance

Datacenter Network Firewall Migration

Datacenter Network Firewall Migration