Managed Workstation Services News
December 8, 2015
Windows 10 Readiness
Windows 10 Readiness We now have information on upgrading to Windows 10 Configuring and using the VPN for Windows 10
October 15, 2015
Changes in accessing Nebula file services
Changes in accessing Nebula file services Access is now based on eligibility groups managed by each customer. As users are added and removed from eligibility groups, access to Nebula services will be added or removed. If you are unsure or do not know what your eligibiity group is, send and email to help@uw.edu. If you do not have an UW eligibility group and need to create one, instructions are on our webpage How do I set up an eligibility group for my department?
September 2, 2015
Nebula News (September 2015)
Welcome to the semi-annual Nebula service newsletter, which brings you valuable updates and information to help you make the most of our services. New Capabilities and Improvements Nebula file services ala carte: Nebula file services are available separate from Nebula Managed Desktop. Prior to FY16, customers which only wanted shared file services from Nebula needed to follow an awkward path and were charged in an awkward method. There were also some customers paying more than their fair share of file service costs. Nebula now charges for Nebula file services consistently regardless of whether you also use the Nebula Managed Desktop...
August 24, 2015
Nebula IE version support changing in January 2016
Nebula will no longer support older versions of Internet Explorer. What and When: On January 12, 2016 Microsoft will drop support for older versions of Internet Explorer, leaving IE11 as the only supported version of Internet Explorer. Following UW security guidelines, Nebula will also remove its support, because web browsers without vendor support no longer get patches for security vulnerabilities. To implement Nebula’s change in support, Nebula will retire the mechanism it has provided to defer automatic IE version upgrades. The mechanism to defer allowed individual computers to avoid the automatic upgrade of IE version, but was...
August 17, 2015
Nebula Windows 10 Readiness
Nebula has been hard at work getting ready for Windows 10 for many months. Since this is a popular topic of interest, here's a status update. Basic Readiness If you want to deploy a computer with Windows 10 enterprise, you can do that now. Contact us if you need help with that. The most basic of our processes are ready for that, but at this time, there are significant limitations to our support capabilities (see Full Support below), so we'd suggest you hold off a month. If you wait a month, the story will improve significantly, and if you wait a...
August 3, 2015
Changing from Nebula2 to UW NetID login
Changing from Nebula2 to UW NetID login The Nebula service has set a goal for its UW-IT customers to stop using their Nebula2 user accounts and switch to using their NETID user accounts before April 2015. This is part of a larger initiative consolidating Windows domains, supports the IM Infrastructure Refresh project, and is a blocker for several other Nebula goals such as splitting off a separate Software Distribution Service. Any customer can make the switch themselves. Hundreds of other Nebula customers have made the switch to only using a NETID user account, and there is no risk to trying...
August 3, 2015
UW file service comparisons
UW file service comparisons If you have been wondering what your options are for file sharing now that the H and I drive usage will become billable service, a cost and file comparison list has been compiled and ready for your viewing. Just click this link to view the following chart to compare the capabilities provided by various UW file services. We have also included information on the differences between the H:drive and the U:drive. More on this is here.
July 23, 2015
1st Nebula billing cycle for FY16
We are approaching the 1st FY16 monthly billing cycle for Nebula. This is an informational update so you have a chance to update information feeding that billing cycle. We are also providing an update on our plans related to removing Nebula resources that are not claimed (paid for). What and When: Earlier today, Nebula processed all the eligibility groups for departments for the first time, re-assigning users based on the membership of your eligibility group. This was the bulk user “purge” we asked everyone to patiently wait for—thanks for waiting, it saved us a lot of time and...
July 7, 2015
Nebula billable time infrastructure changes and the demise of ‘Budget Approvers’
Changes to the underlying billable time infrastructure Nebula uses to support Nebula consulting charges have occurred. This email outlines some of the consequences for Nebula customers. What and When: UW-IT began retiring the help request tool called RT a year ago, replacing it with a new system called UW Connect. Up until June 30, 2015, Nebula used RT to report billable time for consulting. On July 1, 2015, UW-IT discontinued the billable time capability of RT and replaced it with a similar capability in UW Connect. The new billable time capability in UW Connect does not work exactly the same...
Read Nebula billable time infrastructure changes and the demise of ‘Budget Approvers’
July 6, 2015
Temporary eligibility groups for departments which haven’t provided one
Back on 5/7, Nebula first asked that every department provide an eligibility group to update our records so we can accurately grant access and bill only for your current users. Many departments haven’t yet been able to provide an eligibility group. This has blocked our ability to purge old users, even for those departments that have provided an eligibility group. So Nebula is taking action on some department’s behalf to enable the service to move forward by creating temporary eligibility groups. What and When: This week we’ll be creating a temporary eligibility group for those Nebula departments which haven’t...
Read Temporary eligibility groups for departments which haven’t provided one