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ECE Information Technology Services

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HOWTOs for all users of ECE computing infrastructure

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HOWTOs for the ECE research community

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HOWTOs for the ECE teaching community

Announcements

Matlab Licensing message (Dec 8, 2014)

For those users with a licensed copy of Matlab (2014), requiring internet connection, you will likely see a message when Matlab is open similar to the following: Your Matlab license will expire in xx days. Please contact your system administrator or Mathworks to renew this license. (where xx is a number <=60) This message is expected and should not interfere with the functionality of Matlab. This message should be disappearing when the licensing for the servers are renewed in the Spring of 2015. For standalone installations, please consult with the Software Licensing department and the IT Service Centre Help Desk for renewal options. Information can be found at http://it.ubc.ca/got-question-about-it-products-and-support#software .

Windows Account Management - Samba Maintenance (Dec 6, 2014)

The ECE Samba authentication service will undergo maintenance on Saturday, December 6th from 11pm-1am. This maintenance will interrupt use of the Windows-based computer labs in MacLeod, as well as Windows-based connections to ECE storage (e.g., home directories). Please click above for further information.

Malware Outbreak (Dec 1, 2014)

A serious malware outbreak has been detected that converts files to EXE files that can cause serious infections. This malware originates from suspicious emails, links, and PDFs. Users should install the latest antivirus updates. Do not open any suspicious emails, links, and PDFs. For questions or concerns, please contact ECE IT Support or the IT Service Centre.

Drupal 7 Security Alert (November, 2014)

On October 29, 2014, Drupal.org posted a public service announcement on their website warning clients of a highly critical security risk. The posting stated that automated attacks were compromising all Drupal 7 websites that were not patched or updated to Drupal 7.32 before October 15, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. PT. Please click above for more information.

ECE Mail Service Maintenance (October 29, 2014)

At 2pm on October 29, the ECE incoming IMAP mail servers will undergo maintenance in an effort to eliminate ongoing service disruptions. Please click above for more information.

Major UBC Student Information Service outage (October 18-19, 2014)

Over the weekend of October 18th and 19th UBC's Student Information System (SIS) will undergo major system maintenance in order to support a new scheduling system and the creation of a system-of-record for teaching assignments and section management. Please click above for more information.

Shellshock Linux bash shell vulnerability (October 2014)

A serious vulnerability called the “Shellshock” bug has been detected in GNU Bash, a popular command-line shell for Unix-based computers. The Shellshock Bug has the potential to allow attackers to take control of an operating system, find and alter confidential information, or use the system to launch new attacks. Click above for more information

Mail service latency (October 2, 2014)

The ECE mail system is currently experiencing latency in email flow from the servers to the recipient. Technicians are diligently working on resolving the issue. Thanks for your patience. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the IT Services team in Macleod 105 or at help@ece.ubc.ca.

ECE network disruption (Sept 23, 2014)

Network connectivity was disrupted between ~6:50am until ~10am on Tuesday. A UPS powering a switch stack failed causing network connectivity to be lost. Network resources such as email, application, and file services were not available. Power was re-routed to the switches and connectivity was eventually restored.

Sympa mailing list service - List naming convention change (Aug, 2014)

Please note that the naming convention for standard mailing lists served by the APSC Sympa mailing service has changed. Please visit http://sympa.apsc.ubc.ca/lists.html for the updated conventions.

Sympa mailing list service (Aug 19, 2014)

The Sympa mailing list service for ECE and most of the Faculty of Applied Science went offline at 9:39pm PDT, August 19th. The service was restored to working order by 4:10am, August 20th. See incident for post-mortem.

Kaiser network outage (Aug 19, 2014)

Many Kaiser labs and office spaces experienced a network failure affecting computers and VoIP phones starting at ~11:35am today and lasting until ~12:50pm. The cause was found to be a failed power distribution unit. The unit has since been replaced and network connectivity restored.

Urgent MCLD/ICICS electrical shutdown affecting ECE IT services (Aug 14, 2014 7pm - 10pm)

As a consequence of urgent electrical maintenance affecting both the MacLeod & ICICS buildings, almost all ECE IT services (e.g., e-mail, RT, SSH cluster, home directories) will be unavailable between 7:00pm-10:00pm on August 14th. Service recovery is targeted for 11:30pm, August 14th following power restoration.

UBC IT Scheduled Maintenance - CWL and Network (August 9 & 10, 2014)

UBC IT will be performing quarterly campus-wide system maintenance on August 9th from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m (CWL Account Management) and August 10th 7:00am - 4:00pm (Network). Please click on the link above to learn how this maintenance affects ECE.

MacLeod building power outage - complete IT service outage (July 21, 2014)

At approximately 11:30am today, a MacLeod building-wide power failure disabled access to all core ECE IT services, as well as network access in the Kaiser, MacLeod and AMPEL/Brimacombe buildings. All core ECE IT services were restored to working order as of 3:30pm today.

Adobe security vulnerabilities - Please patch your computer (June 2014)

Adobe has issued a critical security update to address security vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat Pro, and Adobe Flash Player. The IT Support Team recommends patching these products to the latest versions as soon as possible. If you need assistance, the Team is available to assist: please send your query to help@ece.ubc.ca or visit us in MacLeod 105. Click above for more information.

Hostname resolution issue (June 2014)

Due to a version control system bug affecting ECE's network management tool, a limited number of host records were unintentionally removed from ECE DNS, resulting in some users being unable to resolve named hosts (e.g., hostname.ece.ubc.ca>. The underlying issue was identified at ~3:30am, June 16. However, due to a CFEngine service failure, ECE DNS did not receive a record update until 12:30pm on June 16th 2014. This issue is now resolved.

Spear Phishing Attack (June 2014)

There has been a spear phishing attempt against ECE account holders. Please ignore a false message purportedly signed by Andre Ivanov, and if you have fallen for the attack, please change your password immediately.

MCLD/ICICS electrical shutdown affecting ECE IT services (May 31, 2014 6am – 6pm)

As a consequence of electrical maintenance affecting both the MacLeod & ICICS buildings, almost all ECE IT services (e.g., e-mail, RT, SSH cluster, home directories) will be unavailable between 6:00am-6:00pm on May 31st. As of 10:30pm core services are back online.

ECE Mail, Storage & Web Outage (May 30, 2014)

An authentication service error this afternoon resulted in outages for several ECE core services, including e-mail, storage and some web sites. The underlying issue was addressed and services are returning to normal operation. Users of ECE Linux-based systems may need to reboot their devices, or re-authenticate to their SSH sessions in order access their home and group directories.

ECE Mail Service - Webmail Disruption (May 30, 2014)

Some users reported problems sending mail using ECE's Ilohamail webmail interface. Receiving mail was unaffected. This issue is now resolved.

SolidWorks Network License Manager (Mar 5, 2014)

Some users have reported difficulties operating SolidWorks when configured with the triad network license manager. The ECE Engineering Services and IT Support Teams are investigating the matter. Updates will be posted here.

MATLAB Licensing (Feb 21, 2014)

Some users have reported a periodic license manager error when attempting to use MATLAB. Additional details are now available.