Tuesday, April 23, 2013

***Resolved*** Account Creation and Password Reset Tools Unavailable

WHAT: Part of the ePass tools is not functioning correctly, preventing access to the Account Creation and Password Reset Tools

WHEN: 04/23/2013

Current Status: Resolved

Description: Resolved 9:45 pm:  At approximately 9:00 am, we rebooted a key server which was having issues and the CAPTCHA tool is now functional.  Several accounts were successfully created subsequent to the reboot and the password reset tool appears to be working correctly as well.  We will continue to monitor the tool for stability.

The ePass tools are experiencing an issue with the CAPTCHA page; the CAPTCHA, used to verify that the user is not an automated system, is not loading correctly, preventing access to the following tools:

Account Creation
Password Resets

Service(s) Impacted: ePass

Workarounds: None at this time -- please contact the Help Desk if you are trying to utilize these tools and they can assist.

Estimated Time to Resolution or Next Update: 9:30 am

Root Cause / Continuous Improvement: This is likely related to the issues we were experiencing earlier last week with the ePass tools -- an investigation continues to determine the source of these issues as well as a fix.



Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

ePass Tools Inaccessible

WHAT: The ePass tools page is currently inaccessible to users.  

WHEN: 04/18/2013

Current Status: Closed


Description: Update 4/22 8:10 am:  The ePass tools should be functional for users to perform password changes, nickname creation/changes, and also to toggle visibility in the directory.

We are still troubleshooting the root cause of the issue, but the tools should be stable enough for users to perform normal account updates.  We will continue to monitor the tools for stability and will create a new update should the status change. 


12:00 pm 4/19:  We are continuing to diagnose the issue and are developing a solution for the issue.  We hope to have an update by the end of the day which will get users back into the account tools.  

An additional update is that account creation also seems to be functional at this point; if you are attempting to create an ePass account and cannot, please contact the Help Desk at 253-535-7525 and report what happens when you try to create an account.

Update 8:00 am 4/19:  I&TS attempted a fix on several of the servers which are involved with ePass last evening, and while the issue temporarily subsided, it appears to have returned.  As of right now, the tools are still inaccessible.  We are currently researching other solutions.

Original Message: The ePass Tools Page (http://epass.plu.edu) is currently not loading correctly for users.  When attempting to access the tools, the page simply loads a blank page.  The following functions are affected:

Password Changes
Nickname Creation/Changes
Directory Visibility Toggle

We are in the process of diagnosing the issue at this time. 

Service(s) Impacted: ePass Tools

Workarounds: Users needing to change their password can use the Password Reset Tool to reset their password.  This will only work if you have set up security questions for password resets. 

Estimated Time to Resolution or Next Update: 4:30 pm 4/19

Root Cause / Continuous Improvement: To be determined.



Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.

Planned Upgrade of Sakai Support Webforms, Apr. 26


*** UPDATE *** Apr. 26, 6:44AM - The Sakai Support webforms are upgraded and back online.

*** UPDATE *** Apr. 26, 6:00AM - The Sakai Support webforms are currently offline for the planned upgrade. The Sakai Support team is working to restore this service by 7:00AM (if not before).

WHAT: Planned Upgrade of Sakai Support Webforms


WHEN: 04/26/13   Duration: 6:00AM - 7:00AM


Description: On Friday morning, April 26, all webforms associated with the Sakai Support site (e.g., Request Course, Request Project Site, Request Guest Users, etc.) will be unavailable for a software upgrade. Most importantly, the Request Course webform will be upgraded for instructors to be able to create Sakai courses that incorporate student enrollments from more than one course reference number (CRN). Such Sakai courses are useful when an instructor teaches more than one section of a particular course during an academic term. A document describing how instructors can use one Sakai course to effectively manage more than one CRN is available here.


As a further result of this upgrade, the webforms associated with the Sakai Support site will assume the same look-and-feel as the rest of the PLU website.


Service(s) Impacted: Sakai

Workarounds:  During this downtime requests for help and support pertaining to Sakai can still be emailed to sakai@plu.edu.  

Estimated Time to Resolution or Next Update: Fri., Apr. 26, 7:00AM

Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

***Resolved*** Gmail Services Login Issues

*** RESOLVED *** April 17, 7:52am - The Google Apps status page notes "The problem with Google Mail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support."

*** UPDATE *** April 17, 6:51am - The Google Apps status page notes "Google Mail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future."

WHAT: The Gmail Apps Status Dashboard posted a notice this morning at 5:58 AM reporting issues with accessing multiple Gmail services.

WHEN: 04/17/2013  Duration:

Current Status: Resolved

Description: At 5:58 AM this morning, the Gmail Apps Status Dashboard noted issues with log in to multiple Gmail services; the afflicted services include:

Gmail
All Google Docs
Gmail Administrative Tools

The issue is being investigated by Google at this time.  Log ins appear to be intermittent at this point; users will receive error message stating one of the following:

Service Unavailable
Gmail has Encountered an Error


Service(s) Impacted: Gmail, Google Apps

Workarounds:  There are no workarounds at this time.  IMAP Clients such as Thunderbird and mobile phone clients do not appear to be affected.

Estimated Time to Resolution or Next Update: Resolved

Root Cause / Continuous Improvement: The issue is a bug on Google's servers -- they will be working to resolve the issue.



Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

***Resolved*** No Access to Banner INB and Banner Web

WHAT: Banner Offline

WHEN: 04/13/2013

Current Status: Resolved

Description: Update at 9:20am:  Access to Banner has been restored.

Original Message: We received word that Banner (INB & BanWeb) is offline this morning following the normal downtime for backups on Friday night/Saturday morning.  We are actively working to restore service and hope to have Banner online soon.  No official estimated time to repair is available yet.

Service(s) Impacted: Banner

Next Update: 10:30am or sooner if resolved

Root Cause / Continuous Improvement:  Investigation into the root cause will be conducted shortly.

Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Sakai Unavailable for Maintenance on Fri., Apr. 12, 6AM

*** UPDATE *** Apr. 12, 6:09AM - Sakai is back online. The planned maintenance is complete.

*** UPDATE *** Apr. 12, 6:00AM - Sakai is currently offline for planned maintenance. The Sakai Support team is working to restore this service by 6:30AM (if not before).

WHAT:  Sakai Unavailable for Maintenance

WHEN:  04/12/13 Duration:  6:00AM - 6:30AM

Description:  On Friday, April 12, Sakai will be out of service from 6:00AM to 6:30AM for weekly maintenance. Please plan accordingly. If you have any questions or concerns please email sakai@plu.edu.

Service(s) Impacted:  Sakai

Estimated Time to Resolution or Next Update:  Fri., Apr. 12, 6:30AM

Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

***Resolved***Possible Intermittent ePass Tools Outages from 9am-12pm 4/4/13


WHEN: 04/04/2013 Duration: Approximately 3 hours (9 am - 12 pm)

Current Status: Resolved

Description:  Update 4/4/13 at 11:21 am:  The maintenance has completed and ePass tools should be back to full functionality.  We will continue to monitor the tools for stability, but the issue which was causing the downtime has been resolved.  We thank you for your patience as we work to improve our service. 


Original Message:  I&TS will be performing extended maintenance on the server which handles the ePass tools throughout this morning.  While they do not anticipate extended downtime, there is a possibility that during this maintenance the ePass tools will be inaccessible for short periods (~5-15 minutes).  During this time, password resets, password changes, account requests, and ePass account maintenance may become inaccessible.

We expect that this maintenance will be completed by 12 pm today. 

Service(s) Impacted: ePass

Estimated Time to Resolution or Next Update: 12 pm 4/4/2013

Root Cause / Continuous Improvement: This is maintenance relating to the outage from 4/3/2013.  The maintenance is addressing the cause of the outage and also helping to resolve a few other bugs with the ePass tools.



Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

***Resolved*** ePass Tools Inaccessible

WHAT: The ePass tools page currently is unavailable.  Users are unable to access any content from this page.

WHEN: 04/03/13

Current Status: Open

Description: Update 7:45 pm:  The tools are now functional again, and the service should be fully operational.  We will continue to monitor the system to ensure stability.

Original Message:  At approximately 3:00 pm on 4/3, the ePass Tools became inaccessible due to unexpected behavior from maintenance.  Currently, the following services are unavailable:

- Account Request
- Password Resets and Changes
- Nickname Updates

ePass logins are still functional; only the above-listed items are not working.

We are in the process of applying a fix and currently await results.  We will keep this posting updated as the situation progresses.

Service(s) Impacted: ePass

Workarounds: There are no work arounds at this time

Estimated Time to Resolution or Next Update: 7:00 pm 4/3/2013

Root Cause / Continuous Improvement: Unexpected behavior from normal maintenance resulted in the system malfunctioning.  



Check http://www.plu.edu/status/ for periodic updates.