After a successful pilot project this summer with faculty, ITS offered CrashPlan PROe, a desktop backup solution to all faculty over the fall semester. Since Colgate faculty are working on research at home, in their labs and offices, and around the world, ITS looked for a solution that would meet a broad spectrum of needs.

1. Security: The solution automatically copies files and stores them securely in the cloud. Each file is individually encrypted using 448-bit encryption with a key known only to specific Colgate professional staff and then sent over via 128-bit SSL to the CrashPlan cloud. Files are not accessible by CrashPlan staff or any third party and your data is kept private.
2. Support: Crashplan protects against the “nightmares” – a lost or stolen laptop, a crashed hard drive or a mistaken deletion of a work in progress. CrashPlan PROe, as a centralized service, allows ITS to provide support in restoring files, but it also allows each user to restore their own files at a point in time without support. Additionally, you can choose what to backup.
3. Research Needs: Research needs vary, and CrashPlan PROe, allows for up to four devices and allows for unlimited data (yes, unlimited). Where needed, ITS has offered a second license to meet  faculty members needs.
4. Versioning and Integration: CrashPlan can back up your synced Google Drive and Dropbox files, if you use these tools. While convenient, Dropbox and Google Drive are like hard drives, subject to potential data loss and accidental deletion. CrashPlan provides versioning – meaning restoring from a specific date is possible.
5. Convenience: Once installed and configured it truly is a “set it and forget it” operation – providing peace of mind that your data is stored safely and securely.

Over 20% of faculty have taken advantage of the product and we know that faculty have already retrieved data from their installation and put off purchases of additional hard drives. Installation takes a few steps and like other services, a call to our helpdesk will allow faculty to use the product. Once it’s set, no additional work is needed. If your product is not running, an automated email will be sent to you and you can check in on your back-ups anytime you would like.  CrashPlan PROe has many additional features.  Learn more about CrashPlan PROe by reviewing the Getting Started Guide or by viewing one of the many webinars available.

CREDIT: Ellen Holm, Director of Infrastructure Services, Don Rhodes, Senior Network & Systems Administrator and Mark Hine, ITS Project and Communications Manager

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This announcement was originally sent to campus via a campus distributions e-mail message.

We are writing to inform you of recent updates to Colgate’s e-mail policy for all colgate.edu accounts. Colgate University provides an e-mail system for students, faculty, staff, alumni and others to facilitate communication related to academic, administrative, and community engagement matters. E-mail is an official means of communication for the university, and users are responsible for communications via this system.

Although the University does not recommend personal use, it recognizes and permits limited personal use of the colgate.edu e-mail domain (and its subdomains). This personal use does not acquire a right of privacy for communications transmitted or stored using University electronic information resources. Users should keep in mind that your colgate.edu account will be disabled upon your last day of employment. The ITS Acceptable Use Policy applies to all use of Colgate e-mail.

You should familiarize yourself with the updated e-mail policy in the staff handbook. In addition, Colgate has implemented a Stewardship and Custodianship of E-mail policy.

This policy provides clear guidance for circumstances in which access to or disclosure of individual e-mail may be granted to authorized university officials. Access or disclosure of e-mail may be granted, in accordance with policy, in the following cases: a health or safety emergency; in response to a legal matter; as part of an internal investigation involving a breach of policy; an immediate need to continue a critical and time–sensitive business process; to provide business continuity in the event of a death or departure. The Policy insures an appropriate level of oversight, control, and accountability for such actions.

Kevin P. Lynch, chief information officer
Lori S. Chlad, AVP for human resources

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ITS will be performing maintenance on both Netstore, which provides network file storage, and Fileshr01, which provides class and departmental shares beginning Friday, March 29, 2013 at 8:00 PM. Service is expected to be back on line by 8:00 AM Saturday, March 30th. During this event there will be no access to any files or departmental shares stored on either of the above servers.

This outage will allow ITS to apply software and security updates to both servers. Users requiring access to any critical information on either of those servers are asked to copy all required files to a local disk, or a removal storage device prior to the beginning of the scheduled outage.

For further questions, please feel free to contact the ITS Help Desk at x7111.

Thank you for your patience as we work to improve your information technology resources.

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When sending campus distributions to listname@LISTS.colgate.edu you used to see a message similar to the following which confirmed your email was sent to a number of recipients:

Your message dated Mon, 4 Feb 2013 14:28:57 -0500 with subject “XYZ” has been successfully distributed to the COLGATEEMPLOYEES list (78 recipients).

In transitioning from our @lists List Server to the new Google Groups, you will no longer need to send your emails to “@lists” – rather, you will be able to send your emails to listname@colgate.edu (no “lists”). When using Google Groups, you will no longer receive an automated confirmation stating your message was sent and to how many recipients were on the list. To confirm your message has been sent to your @colgate.edu Google Group, take the following five steps:

Read more

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ITS will be conducting a second round of maintenance on the Internet connection beginning today, March 13, 2013 at 7:00 PM and lasting until 7:30 PM. During this time, access to both the Internet will be down.

ITS will be taking the Internet connection off line to perform a firmware upgrade and make a physical connection change. This outage is expected to last 30 minutes. There will be no access to Internet resources from on campus during that 30 minute period. There will also be no access from the outside world into the campus network. This includes email, websites and VPN.

For further questions, please feel free to contact the ITS Help Desk at x7111.

Thank you for your patience as we work to improve your information technology resources.

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