News

What is happening? Standard Windows patching will be performed on the Skype for Business environment during the dates below. 

When is this happening? 

• Friday, April 2 at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype EC2 pool will be failed over to the MC pool. All EC2 hosted users will be switched over to the MC pool.
• Thursday, April 8at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype EC2 pool will be brought back into service. Existing EC2 users will be failed back to the EC2 pool.

Note: The failover process takes approximately 30 minutes.

What is the impact to users? Users will disconnect and reconnect for each of the instances above, however active calls should be unaffected. 

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

Update (March 24, 1:50 p.m.): The Skype queue call issues have been resolved. Updated timelines for the remaining EC2 maintenance will be announced at a later date.

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

Update (March 19, 10:47 a.m.): The remaining work for Skype Server patching will be put on hold until the current Skype for Business issues are resolved. Some users in the Skype for Business MC pool may experience intermittent issues with Skype queue calls.

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

Update (March 17, 2:05 p.m.): Part of the Skype Server patching originally planned for Friday, March 19 at 10:00 p.m. will now be performed today:

• Wednesday, March 17 at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype MC pool will be brought back into service. Existing MC users will be failed back to the MC pool.
• Friday, March 19 at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype EC2 pool will be failed over to the MC pool. All EC2 hosted users will be switched over to the MC pool.
• Thursday, March 25 at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype EC2 pool will be brought back into service. Existing EC2 users will be failed back to the EC2 pool.

Note: The failover process takes approximately 30 minutes.

What is the impact to users? Users will disconnect and reconnect for each of the instances above, however active calls should be unaffected.

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

What is happening? Standard Windows patching will be performed on the Skype for Business environment throughout various dates mentioned below. The work will be completed throughout the week that each pool is out of service.

When is this happening? 

• Friday, March 12 at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype MC user pool will be failed over to EC2 user pool.  All MC hosted users will be switched over to the EC2 pool.
     
• Friday, March 19 at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype MC pool will be brought back into service. Existing MC users will be failed back to the MC pool.
  • Skype EC2 pool will be failed over to the MC pool.  All EC2 hosted users will be switched over to the MC pool.
     
• Thursday, March 25 at 10:00 p.m.
  • Skype EC2 pool will be brought back into service. Existing EC2 users will be failed back to the EC2 pool.

Note: The failover process takes approximately 30 minutes.
 

What is the impact to users? Users will disconnect and reconnect for each of the instances above, however active calls should be unaffected. 

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

What is happening? The OUAC eINFO site URL that was previously electronicinfo.ca has been updated to ontariouniversitiesinfo.ca. The former URL now redirects to a casino site. If you have any links to this site on any website(s), you should update the URL to go to the OUInfo Welcome to Ontario Universities’ Info site.

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

What is happening? It will no longer be possible to log on to the University’s wireless network (eduroam) using an “@edu.uwaterloo.ca” email address. (Note, @edu.uwaterloo.ca addresses were converted to @uwaterloo.ca addresses in April 2020.)

When will this change take place? Monday, March 1, 2021.

What is the impact? After this date, the only acceptable login for the wireless network will be the individual’s username (up to 8 characters) followed by “@uwaterloo.ca”, e.g. d17hende@uwaterloo.ca

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

What is happening? Webex users may have received the email below from webex_comm@webex.com. This is a legitimate email from Webex. No user action is required for UW Webex users.

Why is this happening? The Webex system is trying to clear up inconsistencies between users logging in withfriendly email addresses (e.g. firstname.lastname@uwaterloo.ca) instead of username@uwaterloo.ca.

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

What is happening? Single sign-on certificates for Webex will be updated.

When is this happening? Wednesday February 17 from 8:00-9:00 a.m.

What is the impact? Attendees and hosts logged in to Webex before and during the maintenance window may experience intermittent service issues. Users may need to log back in after the maintenance window. 

Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567 ext. 44357.

What is happening? The email below was sent to University of Waterloo members this morning. If you have received this email, do not click any links and do not reply.

What should I do if I have received this email? Suspected fraud attempts should be reported to the Security Operations Centre at soc@uwaterloo.ca. Reports of successful fraud should be directed to UW Police Services at uwpolice@uwaterloo.ca.

How do I know if an email I received is a phishing scam? 

• Hover over links - the real link address will appear at the bottom of your web browser window.
• Look for typos - phishing emails often contain typos and bad grammar.  
• Verify with the real source - if you receive a suspicious email supposedly sent by your manager or another department, find their actual contact information and reach out to them directly.

Learn more about cyber security best practices: https://uwaterloo.ca/cyber-awareness/

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

Resolved (Jan 29, 4:30 p.m.): WCMS sites should be allowing logged in users to access sites as expected again.

• Users may need to clear all browser cache & cookies and restart their browser to fix any persisting issues.
• If you continue experiencing issues after taking these steps, please contact rt-ist-wcms@rt.uwaterloo.ca.

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

What is happening? WCMS sites are intermittently behaving as though logged in users have not logged in. IST is investigating and more information will be shared when available.

What do users need to do? IST is recommending that you minimize working on WCMS sites until the issue is resolved.

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

What is happening? As part of the Email Improvement project, the University is transitioning to a new email security vendor, Cisco, to replace the current email threat protection tool, Proofpoint, with Cisco's Email Security (CES) solution. 

IST’s Annual Report – Celebrating our 2020 achievements

The work and achievements of Information Systems & Technology (IST) are captured in this, 2020 Annual Report. The past year was very busy for IST. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the sudden and unplanned transition of an in-person, on-campus work environment, to a distributed experience, dependent on the ability to connect and collaborate remotely.