Managed Workstation Services News
September 16, 2016
Change in printer support
As many of you may be aware UW-IT retired the Computer Maintenance Group (CMG) back in June, 2014. This group provided printer support for the Seattle campus including MWS customers until June, 2014. Since the retirement of the Computer Maintenance Group we have continued helping intermittently with printer issues for some of our customers. As of today, the Managed Workstation Service will no longer provide printer support. By stopping this support we are keeping with UW-IT’s mission to provide technology services in line with the University’s priorities. Ceasing this support is in line with UW-IT’s mission to support the University’s...
July 21, 2016
On-going Problems H: and I: Drives
Last month we experienced a significant incident where the server infrastructure behind H:\ and I:\groups was unable to accept new connections. We applied a workaround, moving all user home directories and group directories to new server infrastructure, which also has much newer software, before we had completed testing and validation. Since then, we've had a series of smaller, intermittent incidents, the continuing nature of which makes them all the more frustrating. Work to identify the cause(s) of these issues and resolve them continues. We are also looking at alternatives, including changing the underlying technologies in use. As we've seen, however,...
July 7, 2016
Managed Work Station FY17 Rates
FY17 rates for Managed Workstation services are now available. As of 7/1/2016 the new FY17 rates for Managed Workstation service have been approved by Management Accounting & Analysis (MAA). MAA provides final approval of rates for all cost-recovery centers at the UW. The rates are: * Managed Workstation rate: $34.50/desktop/month * Managed Workstation file storage: $.15/GB/month * Windows File Storage: $.37/GB/month * Consulting Services: $98.50 Hour If you haven't provided an eligibility group that you manage for your department, you really need to do that. Contacts for Managed Workstation departments should contact us to transition from the temporary eligibility groups...
June 24, 2016
Managed Workstation H: and I:\groups troubles
On 6/15/2016, we experienced a significant incident where the server infrastructure behind H:\ and I:\groups was unable to accept new connections. The cause of that incident is now understood. We applied a workaround of moving the 90% of file directories that were affected by this incident to new server infrastructure, which was already in use for 10% of our file directories. As mentioned at the time, we were hesitant to make that change because we weren't fully confident that the new server infrastructure was ready for a bigger load, but at the time it appeared to be the quickest and...
June 15, 2016
OUTAGE: H:, I:\groups, i:\snapshots
We are in the process of applying a workaround to resolve this incident. The workaround involves a change we had planned to make in the future to upgrade the server infrastructure behind these file services. We've moved one large customer over to this new infrastructure already, and had planned to move another before moving all customers. That timeline is accelerating to now because the new server infrastructure is not affected by the cause of this incident. One of the reasons we had wanted a slower timeline was to ensure we had settings tuned and adequate capacity to minimize the impact...
May 17, 2016
Disabling Nebula2 user accounts
We have begun disabling unused NEBULA2 user accounts. This does not relate to eligibility groups, nor will it result in the loss of any Nebula services - it is only about whether your NEBULA2 user account is enabled or disabled. What and when: The disabling of unused NEBULA2 accounts begins today. If your NEBULA2 account hasn't been used in more than 37 days, it will be disabled. What you need to do: If your NEBULA2 account has not been used recently, this is a courtesy notice. If, for some reason, you still need your NEBULA2 user account,...
May 2, 2016
Nebula VPN Service Change for Mac Users
The Nebula VPN service for Mac users is being retired. All Mac Users will be required to switch to the new campus VPN service “Husky OnNet” before Tuesday, May 31, 2016. There is no charge for the “Husky OnNet” service. This service is provided as part of the Technology Recharge Fee. The new service is available to UW Staff, Faculty, and Students. When: Wednesday, June 1st the vpn.nebula.washington.edu and the associated VPN server will no longer be available. The legacy Nebula VPN server is being replaced by vpn.netid.washington.edu. What You Need to Do: If you are a Nebula...
April 25, 2016
Nebula2 domain end of life: April 3, 2017
The Managed Workstation Service plans to move the Nebula2 domain to end of life on April 3, 2017. What and When On April 3, 2017, the Managed Workstation Service plans to shut down the Nebula2 domain. The Managed Workstation Service has planned to migrate to the NETID domain for many years. Moving the Nebula2 domain to end of life by April 2017 will allow us to remove that cost from the Managed Workstation Service core rate for FY18, greatly simplify the infrastructure, and allow the Managed Workstation service to leverage additional capabilities provided at no additional cost via...
April 22, 2016
Backup retention period adjustment for deleted files
The Managed Workstation Service plans to align its retention practices for deleted files with a newly approved UW reference architecture practice; deleted files will not persist in backups beyond 90 days. What and When In concert with the supplier which provides the infrastructure for Nebula File services, we plan to implement changes to our backup retention. We will implement this change over the coming weeks. We will retain deleted files in Nebula File services no longer than 90 days. Files which still exist may have prior versions available for a longer period. To be available for restore, a...
April 11, 2016
Nebula2 user account disable activity
Unused Nebula2 user accounts will be automatically disabled when they meet a variety of conditions, including after 37 days of no logon activity. What and When: On April 11th, 2016, the Managed Workstation service will put into place a new automated practice where Nebula2 user accounts without logons for 37 days will be disabled. When a Nebula2 user account hasn’t been used for 30 days, an email notification will be sent to the associated user, notifying them of the impending action. We also plan to initiate a disable of all Nebula2 user accounts on a per department basis....