News

What is happening? The individual user network drive (N: drive) service will no longer be offered by IST after April 2023. OneDrive will replace N: drive as the centrally supported user file storage tool. 

• In preparation for this change, users in Academic Support Units with IST-managed Windows machines will be migrating from N: drive to OneDrive during the Spring 2021 term, as part of the Migrating N: drives to OneDrive Project. Academic Support Unit migrations are expected to be complete by mid-September 2021. 
• Participating faculties ready to begin N: drive to OneDrive migrations can contact IST for assistance. 

When is this happening? April 2023, between Winter and Spring terms.

Why is this happening? In comparison to N: drive,OneDrive offers a more user-friendly and robust file storage solution. With 5 TB of storage, OneDrive offers a significantly greater amount of storage space compared to the N: drive. OneDrive also allows users to access, share, and collaborate on files from anywhere on any device. Visit the Migrating N: drives to OneDrive Project page ​for more benefits.

Additional Resources 

• Learn more about the Migrating N: drives to OneDrive Project
• IST Knowledge Base OneDrive articles 

Questions or concerns? Please contact Andrew McAlorum (amcalorum@uwaterloo.ca)

What is happening? Shibboleth SAML identity provider (https://idp.uwaterloo.ca/), one of the University’s application authentication tools, is being upgraded from version 4.0.1 to 4.1.2.

When is this happening? The upgrade will start on Tuesday, July 20 at 7:00 a.m. and will take a few hours to complete. 

What is the impact? 

• During the upgrade, the service should remain largely available. Some authentications may fail when service nodes are taken offline or returned to service. 
• After the upgrade, users accessing Shibboleth supported applications will be redirected to authenticate using the ADFS login page.

What do users need to do? Owners of Shibboleth supported applications should test each application’s authentication after the maintenance time above. Any issues found during testing should be reported to rt@uwaterloo.ca. 

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357.

What is happening? Grouper is scheduled for maintenance on the date below. Users will not be able to access Grouper during the maintenance window. 

When is this happening?Tuesday, July 13 from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or ext. 44357. 

Resolved: A delay in sending and receiving email to and from external domains occurred today between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. All delayed emails should now be delivered to the intended recipient(s).

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357.

What is happening? The uwaterloo.ca WCMS website domain will be undergoing maintenance. Please note this change will only affect WCMS websites and the campus map. New WCMS 3 websites will be directed to Pantheon while existing WCMS 2 sites will continue to direct to our on-premises data centres.

When is this happening? From Thursday, June 24 at 8:00 p.m. to Friday, June 25 at 12:00 a.m.

Why is this happening? In order to prepare for the upcoming WCMS 3 release with our new Drupal vendor, Pantheon, changes need to be applied to the way WCMS website requests are directed.

What is the impact? No user impact is expected, all WCMS websites should continue to be available during this maintenance period.

Questions or concerns? Please contact Joe Kwan.

Update (August 6, 1:07 p.m.):

What is happening?

• Request Tracker (RT) will be moving to Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) authentication. ADFS is the recommended authentication service for campus.
• Moving to ADFS will enable these systems to support single sign-on, a service that provides a secure method of accessing multiple web-based systems and applications without being required to log in to each one. Visit the IST Single sign-on website to learn more.

When is this happening?  Wednesday, August 11.

What do users need to do? When logging into RT:

• On the Sign in page, enter your username@uwaterloo.ca and click Next.
• If prompted to choose an account, choose ‘Work or school account’.
• Enter your WatIAM password.
• You will also receive a two-factor authentication (2FA) prompt.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357.

Update (June 16, 8:55 a.m.):

What is happening? Request Tracker (RT) will not be moving to Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) authentication today as scheduled due to last minute inconsistencies found during upgrade testing. This update will be postponed to a future date (TBD).

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357. 

What is happening? 

• Request Tracker (RT) will be moving to Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) authentication. ADFS is the recommended authentication service for campus.
• Moving to ADFS will enable these systems to support single sign-on, a service that provides a secure method of accessing multiple web-based systems and applications without being required to log in to each one. Visit the IST Single sign-on website to learn more.

When is this happening? Wednesday, June 16.

What do users need to do? When logging into RT:

• On the Sign in page, enter your username@uwaterloo.ca and click Next.
• If prompted to choose an account, choose ‘Work or school account’.
• Enter your WatIAM password.
• You will also receive a two-factor authentication (2FA) prompt.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357. 

What is happening? Various deprecated security protocols and ciphers from the CAS service are being removed.

What is the impact? This change applies to the limited set of applications still using the CAS service. Please note that CAS is a deprecated service and this removal is essential to maintain the security of Waterloo credentials.

When is this happening? The CAS change will be implemented on Thursday, June 10 at 8:00 a.m.

Why is this happening? This maintenance is required to remove obsolete protocols from campus authentication systems.

Action you may need to take before the change: Review your CAS services to verify they can communicate using TLS1.2 and associated ciphers OR prepare to switch to ADFS.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca. 

Update (June 7, 2:30 p.m): Please share with members of your team/area/group.  

What is happening? The change to the data retention policies for Teams is being postponed. The new implementation date will be communicated once confirmed. 

Summary of the changes: 

Update (June 28, 9:45 a.m.): 

What is happening? Basic Authentication, a less secure authentication method, will be disabled for Microsoft 365 mailboxes.  

Why is this happening?  

• Basic Authentication is being removed by Microsoft.  

• The change from Basic Authentication to Modern Authentication will require Microsoft 365 mailboxes to use two-factor authentication (2FA), which will help improve the security of the mailboxes and prevent unauthorized access. 

When is this happening? Thursday, July 15.  

What is the impact? This process may take up to 24 hours to take effect. Mailboxes will continue to be available. 

What do I need to do? 

• If you are using an up-to-date mail client that supports modern authentication, there should be no impact. 

  • Most issues can be resolved by removing and re-adding your mail account to the mail client. 

• If you are using an older mail client or one that does not support modern authentication, you may: 

  • Update or switch to a mail client that supports modern authentication.  

  • Linux users should consider using Thunderbird or the web client, https://portal.office.com.  

  • If Mac OS users are using an out-of-date OS, they may receive a “Can’t connect to the account “Exchange”.” error message indicating the username or password was incorrect. If this occurs, you may upgrade your Mac OS or ensure you are using a supported web browser and access your mailbox via the web client, https://portal.office.com. 

  • If unable to upgrade your mail client, ensure you are using a supported web browser and access your mailbox via the web client, https://portal.office.com. 

Questions or concerns? Please submit to the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca. 

Update (May 25, 8:50 a.m.): This work is being rescheduled for a later date; more details will be provided once available.

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 44357.

What is happening? Basic Authentication will be disabled for Office 365 mailboxes. 

Why is this happening? Basic Authentication is being deprecated by Microsoft. Disabling basic authentication will stop O365 mailboxes from bypassing multi-factor authentication, which will prevent unauthorized logins to mailboxes.

When is this happening? Basic Authentication for Office 365 mailboxes will be disabled on Tuesday, May 25. Please note the disabling process will take approximately one hour to run and the change can take up to 24 hours to take effect.

What is the impact? Some users may experience issues with accessing mailbox features after the change is made on the above date. Most issues can be resolved by removing and re-adding your mail account to the mail client. If you experience persisting issues, please submit a ticket to rt@uwaterloo.ca.

Questions or concerns? Please submit to the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca.

What is happening? As we continue to move development of our new WCMS 3 website environment forward, we would like to invite you to participate in the next part of our testing strategy, the beta 2 testing phase.

What is beta testing? Beta testing provides a structured approach to testing the features and functionality of WCMS 3, helping to identify bugs/issues/unexpected behaviours that cannot be caught through automated testing processes.

How long is the beta 2 testing phase? The beta 2 testing phase will take place between May 19 and June 8, 2021.

Who can participate in beta 2 testing? This testing phase is open to members of the University Community who have completed the WCMS for Content Maintainers (WCMS 2) training course.

What can I expect during this testing phase?

• Beta 2 websites will be built in the Pantheon environment and will not contain any content.
• You may choose to rebuild a WCMS 2 website in WCMS 3 for the following reasons:
  • You want to rebuild a small site to familiarize yourself with the new platform.
  • You want to revamp an existing site entirely.
  • You have a non-standard (FDSU) site that you are eager to get in WCMS 3 and feel the current functionality will cover your use case (Reminder: only standard FDSU sites and some single-page site functionality will be supported in WCMS 3 at launch).
• Alternatively, you may choose to begin building a brand-new website in WCMS 3.
• Migration of WCMS 2 websites to WCMS 2 is not supported at this time.
• WCMS 3 training notes will not be available during this testing phase.
  • Support requests may be submitted to wcms@uwaterloo.ca.
  • Training and support resources, and information on completing required WCMS 3 training courses, will be shared when ready.
• Websites built during beta 2 testing are eligible to move from development to the live Pantheon environment on or after June 29, 2021.

How do I participate in beta 2 testing?

You may submit a request to https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/2/create/753.

Notice a bug or issue with your site? Please submit any bugs and/or issues using the reporting form, https://uwaterloo.ca/building-the-next-wcms/wcms-3-bug-report-form

Questions or concerns? Please submit to the team via wcms@uwaterloo.ca.