Moodle Outage – Disruption – Mon 5-Dec-16 –

Block configuration – RESOLVED

Issues Reported:

Starting at about 1:00pm Mon 5-Dec, multiple Moodle users reported a failure after logging into Moodle, receiving a database error message rather than a Moodle view. We were unable to determine the exact severity of the issue immediately, but did not classify the situation as critical since we received only a handful of problem reports at the Service Desk and identified dozens of successful logins during this period.

Our hosting service, eThink, turned on system debugging messages while investigating the issue. These messages were annoying but did not actually prevent users from accessing Moodle functions, however many users might not have understood that the system was still usable since in some views the messages filled a screen, displacing regular page content..

eThink reported the login problems as resolved about 1:50 p.m. and identified the cause as an error resulting from their system reconfiguration of course blocks.  

Additional block problems were identified later in the afternoon by ITS staff, with Administration and Navigation blocks missing for all users.  eThink resolved the missing blocks configuration issue at about 4:30pm. A further block issue with the course listing in the user Dashboard was finally resolved at about 5pm. No user reports were received, but we believe the issue started at about 4:00pm.

Impact:

1-2pm – Not all users were affected by the login issue (we received about 7 total reports of problems), but all were at least inconvenienced by the debugging messages.

4-4:30pm – All users were missing Navigation and Administration blocks. Course listings were misplaced in the user Dashboard.

5pm – All blocks were restored to normal locations

Status:

Resolved

Please report any further Moodle issues to the ITS Service Desk.

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Overview:

Colgate’s Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) will be offline for maintenance from Mon Jun 20 at noon until Thu Jun 23 at 4:00pm.  

During this outage Moodle will be upgraded from version 2.5 to version 3.0 and hosting will be transferred from local servers to eThink Education servers.

Impact:

System Changes:

• Moodle will be upgraded to a new version, 3.0
• The general interface (theme) of Colgate’s Moodle will have a more modern look and feel to enhance navigation and the user experience. Lambda
• Standard logins will be changed to the Colgate CAS single-sign-on used in familiar sites such as the Portal
• Account, course, and enrollments will be fully automated
• File uploads will be limited to 64MB
• Our Moodle servers will be hosted off campus with eThink Education

Not changed:

• All courses and content on the current Moodle server will be transitioned automatically to the new v3.0 server
• CAS logins still use your Colgate network username and password

Time Frame:

Moodle will be removed from service at 12:00pm (noon) Mon June 20. Service will be restored at 12:00pm (noon) Thu Jun 23.  

The Moodle system upgrade will continue throughout the summer as we make final configurations, add features, and adjust settings.

Affected Users:

Faculty, staff and students who use our Moodle LMS.

For more Information:

The new Moodle is documented at our new Moodle Info site at Moodle-Info.Colgate.Edu

If you have questions about this transition please contact the ITS Service Desk (see Colgate.Edu/itshelp) or contact any of the following Academic Technologies staff:

• Doug Higgins (dhiggins@colgate.edu ext 6337)  
• Dan Wheeler (dwheeler@colgate.edu ext 7742)  
• Jeff Nugent (jnugent@colgate.edu ext 6347)
• Kelly Dempsey (kdempsey@colgate.edu ext 7596)  
• Zlatko Grozl (zgrozl@colgate.edu ext 6492)

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Overview:

ITS will be making a minor change this evening to the equipment which connects us to the Internet. Although no Internet service outage is expected, due to the complexity of the work, a short interruption may occur. If an interruption should occur we anticipate it will only last a few minutes.

This action is being taken to resolve several reported problems streaming video and transferring large files to/from from the Internet.   Thank you for your patience.

Timeframe: This work will be performed today, Thursday, January 23rd between the hours of  9:30PM and 11:00PM.

Impact: Potential Internet service outage (not anticipated). Any disruption should be minimal.

Things You Can Do: If your Internet service is interrupted, please wait a few minutes and try again.

Affected Users: All Colgate community members

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Overview:

Moodle was out of service, reporting a database connection error, from about 11:40am until about 12:00pm due to a network configuration problem. ITS Infrastructure Services (formerly NSO) corrected a problem with DNS (Internet name service) and Moodle service was restored; they are researching the cause of the problem.

Impact:

Moodle was not available for use

Time Frame:

Friday, January 17 from 11:38am to 12:02pm

Affected Users:

All students, faculty, and staff Moodle users

Questions should be directed to ITSHelp@Colgate.Edu

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This posting originated from and is archived on the Colgate Moodle Site News You have received it because you or your e-mail account are Subscribed to this forum.

This and most other ITS communications are archived at http://blogs.colgate.edu/its/

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Overview:

The standard Grader report in Moodle Grades has some interface deficiencies, among them the failure to maintain the student name column when scrolling right into course grades. For this reason we have always included the LAE Grader option in our Moodle configuration. Although it provides better scrolling and other nice features, the LAE Grader installed this summer had some display issues of its own.

We have tested and installed the latest version of LAE Grader at mid-day Tue 26-Nov to correct these issues and provide some other new features. Among the advantages of the new LAE Grader:

• (Existing) Maintain student name column while scrolling right through grade columns
• (New) Option (default) to remove unneeded columns from gradebook (specifically email address and department)
• (New) Options for setting the display size of your gradebook
• (Existing)  Enter grades as letters (entry only, Moodle will convert letters and store them as numbers)
• (Existing) Quick Export to CSV option for grades backup
• (Existing) Quick reset of Overridden grades

Impact:

The LAE Grader is an option which provides a better interface for many grading operations, but the standard Moodle Grader report remains available. Either can be used to update your grades.

The upgrade corrects previous LAE Grader issues

• Limited display size
• Column header offset

Time Frame:

This change is effective immediately (implemented 11:30am Tue 26-Nov).

Affected Users:

The upgrade affects directly only faculty using Moodle Grades and the LAE Grader. It potentially will help any faculty using Moodle Grades who select the LAE Grader.  Students viewing grades are not affected.

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This posting originated from and is archived on the Colgate Moodle Site News

This and all other ITS communications are archived at http://blogs.colgate.edu/its/

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Campus Wireless Outage Tuesday Nov 12th at 5:00AM

To Colgate Employees, Students 

Overview:
Beginning at approximately 5:00 AM, Tuesday  November 12th 2013, Colgate’s Network administrators will be making mandatory changes to the Universities wireless network that will require all wireless access points across campus to restart.   Expected wireless downtime will be 15 minutes. Wired network connections to all network resources will not be affected.

Time Frame: 

Work on the Campus Wireless network will occur between the hours of 5:00 AM and 5:15 AM, Tuesday November 12^th 2013.

Affected Users: 

All users using accessing the campus wireless network will be affected.

Things you can do: 

Use the campus wired network to access all network resources during this service event.

More Information: Contact the ITS Helpline at itshelp@colgate.edu or call 315.228.7111.

This event and all other ITS communications are archived at http://blogs.colgate.edu/ITS/

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Overview:
Google recently updated the Google Apps menu found in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive and most other Google Apps. Links to these items are no longer presented in a horizontal menu.

Google apps are now accessed, from within other Google Apps, via an icon found in the upper right top of each app.

Most changes, such as this menu change, occur globally for all users of Google Apps for Education.

Impact:
The horizontal menu that links to other Google Apps has been removed. A new icon, when clicked, reveals a drop down menu to provide links and access to Google Apps. This change has been made for all apps in Google Apps for Education including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Sites and Google Contacts.

Time Frame:
This change is effective immediately.

Affected Users:
All users of Google Apps for Education are impacted by this change.

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Overview:
On Tuesday, October 22nd, Apple released the latest version of their desktop operating system called  OS X (10.9) Mavericks. ITS strongly recommends that you do not install this upgrade on Colgate owned and managed computers at this time. To this end, we have restricted access to the upgrade on these machines.

We are currently testing and assessing  OS X (10.9) Mavericks to ensure compatibility with our existing applications and services. We hope to complete our evaluation quickly and release the upgrade to the community.

If you would like assist us in testing Apple’s latest operating system, please email itshelp@colgate.edu and supply the Colgate tag of the computer you will be using.  We will enable the download for the specified machine.  We would appreciate your feedback on the experience to help us understand the potential impacts on the broader community.  If you choose to test this new OS, please understand our ability to support it and troubleshoot any issues will be limited.  If you are unsure of your ability to support and troubleshoot, we recommend you do not participate in this test.

Impact:
Any new operating system may pose challenges with regard to application compatibility, driver availability and functional operation which may be new and unfamiliar.

Time Frame:
The Apple operating system update was published on October 22nd, 2013. Analysis by ITS is ongoing. ITS will offer the upgrade for Colgate owned computers that meet this new operating system’s requirements in the future.

Affected Users:
Apple desktop users.

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