New operating system rollouts begin

Beginning July 19th, A&IT will  convert all classroom, lab and library computers to Windows 7 or Mac OS 10.6. We expect to complete this work by Friday August 16th.  

After August 16th, A&IT will begin gradually converting employee computers to the newer operating systems (Windows7 or Mac 10.6).  To provide the smoothest transition possible, a schedule will be made available based on the following:

• Faculty members who request the new OS will be given priority. This will allow faculty time to familiarize themselves with the new system prior to using classroom computers.  Faculty members that would like the new OS installed should back-up all their data and send their requests to helpdesk@csuci.edu.  
• New OS’s for staff computers will be rolled out by department and/or building. The schedule will be provided by August 16th. 
• Existing non-faculty requests for a new OS installation currently in to the helpdesk will be cancelled, as all upgrades will proceed based upon the new schedule. 
• All computers received after July 1st will be automatically setup with Windows7 or Mac OS 10.6.  
• Employees can opt not to upgrade with the understanding that should the OS need to be re-installed for any reason, the new OS may be Windows 7 or Mac 10.6.  
• At a future date to be determined, Windows XP and Mac OS 10.5 and older versions will only be supported if justified by exceptional circumstances. 
• In the event a printer, scanner or other device will not function with the new image, the only solution is to purchase a model that is designed to work with Windows 7 or Mac OS 10.6. For printing, using a Pharos-enabled printer is the preferred solution.  All new standard printers supported by A&IT are Windows 7 and Mac 10.6 compliant and can be found on http://www.csuci.edu/it/printers/ 
• Employees who use campus equipment at home may find that personal home printers or other personal devices may not work with Windows7 or Mac OS 10.6. 

A&IT appreciates the patience demonstrated by all employees as we endeavor to maintain a modern 21st-Century campus. It is our hope that the deployment of the new operating systems will be a minimal inconvenience to employees.

Please feel free to contact Judy Swanson, Director of Academic Technology, at judy.swanson@csuci.edu should you have any questions.

Project update

The Active Directory migration maintenance completed successfully last week, so that the Phase 1 migration of computers in labs and classrooms may begin.

A project timeline listing both general milestones and detailed start/end dates for lab and classroom migration has been created and made available to the working group via Google Docs.

The group is also working on an inventory of software issues encountered throughout the testing and upgrade process. These will be documented in a central location (likely in Google Docs), assigned to a technician for resolution, and reviewed regularly by the group until the resolution is realized.

Active Directory domain maintenance tonight

On Wednesday, July 14, from 5PM to 8PM, Academic & Information Technology staff will be making a core infrastructure change that will affect the way students logon in labs and classrooms.

During the maintenance period, wireless access for the campus may be unavailable intermittently.

Upon completion of the maintenance, students must now logon to a computer in campus computer labs or classrooms, they will need to connect to the “CSUCIAD” domain. Students will no longer be able to logon to campus computer labs or classrooms using the “ISLANDS” domain.

Instructions for the correct way to for students to logon are available in PDF format.  (To view, download Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Why is this maintenance important to the CI Operating System upgrade? The CI Operating System Upgrade can only commence once this maintenance is completed successfully. Once the maintenance is complete, Windows computers can be re-imaged using Windows 7 and configured to connect to only the newly combined "CSUCIAD" domain, thereby eliminating selection of the correct domain at logon to campus lab and classroom computers.

It means that there will be one less step for students & employees to logon, and fewer headaches for everyone in the long run!

Please contact the A&IT Help Desk at helpdesk@csuci.edu or call 805-437-8552 with any questions about the maintenance (or this project). 

Welcome!

The CSU Channel Islands Operating System upgrade project is underway.

Starting this summer, Academic & Information Technology (A&IT) staff will be begin working with University units to coordinate the upgrade of University owned desktop and laptop computers.

This is a big project, so the upgrade will happen in phases. During Phase 1 of the project, University classrooms and labs will be upgraded. Desktop and laptop computers of faculty and staff will be upgraded as needed for now; the bulk of faculty and staff upgrades will take place during Phase 2. In addition, new University computers purchased as of July 1st will be shipped with the latest operating system versions (currently Windows 7 and Mac OS 10.6).

A&IT staff will be meeting today to review the project plan, timeline and assignments. 


Please visit the Campus Operating System Upgrade web site for project details and the project roadmap, and contact us at helpdesk@csuci.edu with any questions.