Information Technology Services Advisory Page Status

All Systems Operational

About This Site

Our technology advisory page provides up-to-date information about the operations of Vancouver Island University's Information Technology systems and services. Scroll down for scheduled maintenance and incident history.

Please follow us on twitter @VIU_IT to receive updates regarding service outages and scheduled maintenance.

Computer Accounts and Files Operational

Email Operational

Network: Internet, Wireless, and Wired Operational

Printing Operational

Telephone System Operational

Websites and Learning Tools Operational

VIULearn (D2L) Operational

Library Services Operational

University Website (viu.ca) Operational

InVIU Operational

Student Self-service: My Student Record Operational

Administrative Systems Operational

Student Records (SRS) Operational

Financial Records System (FRS) Operational

HR/Payroll/Employee & Applicant Portal (Stargarden) Operational

Admin Systems Portal (VIUWeb) Operational

Operational

Degraded Performance

Partial Outage

Major Outage

Maintenance

Scheduled Maintenance

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption Dec 8, 2023 21:00 - Dec 9, 2023 00:00 PST

What is impacted: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Every Friday our vendor performs maintenance on the servers hosting the IT Ticket System (https://ithelp.viu.ca) and the IT Client Portal (https://technology.viu.ca).
Level of impact: Service Interruption. Employees will be unable to access the above sites/services during the maintenance window.
Timing: 9pm to 12:00 am, every Friday.
Preparation: None required. If you need to submit an IT Request during the maintenance window please e-mail ithelp@viu.ca. Once the maintenance is complete, an IT request will automatically be created based on your e-mail and you will be e-mailed a ticket number.
Posted on Nov 28, 2023 - 14:21 PST

Maintenance: Software Update; No interruption Dec 9, 2023 01:00-02:00 PST

What is impacted: Employee and student computers; We are installing software updates for Firefox. Computers that have RStudio software installed will have that program updated as well.
Level of impact: No Computer restart required. Installations will only occur during maintenance windows. This software update will not require a computer restart.
Timing: Beginning 1am to 6:30am, Saturday, December 9. Continuing until all computers have been updated.
Preparation: We recommend that you save and close your work at the end of every day then log off or restart your computer. Do not shut down your computer systems or they will not receive the updates. Your system may not update the first night and may update any of the following nights depending on update load.
Posted on Dec 06, 2023 - 13:34 PST

Maintenance: Server Restarts; Service Interruption impacting employees and students Dec 13, 2023 06:00-08:00 PST

What is impacted: All VIU technology including email, files, VIULearn, printing, internet, etc. A complete list of services is included below.
Level of impact: Service Interruption. All services listed will be unavailable for up to 15 minutes during the maintenance window.
Timing: Wednesday, 6am to 8am
Description: All servers are receiving monthly updates and must be restarted.
Preparation: Please close these systems and all applications connected to these systems before 6:00am. Do not use these systems during the maintenance period.

Services that may be unavailable for up to 15 minutes between 6am to 8am:
- Internet access on campus
Internet access on campus
- VIULearn online courses (D2L)
- Student and Employee Printing
- Employee and Student U Drives, My Documents and Desktop Files
- Department Share Drives
- Website logins (including VIULearn, VIUTube, VIUBlogs, VIUSpace, InVIU, Unit4/UBW, and isapp.viu.ca sites)
- VIU databases (including Checkbox Survey, Research Office app, StarRez, Tableau)
Posted on Dec 06, 2023 - 13:30 PST

Maintenance: Cowichan and tiwšɛmawtxʷ campus websites; No Interruption Dec 13, 2023 09:00-13:00 PST

What is impacted: Cowichan and tiwšɛmawtxʷ campus websites; Technicians will be upgrading the tool our websites are created with from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10.
Level of impact: No Interruption. Both websites will remain online and fully accessible. Editors for these sites will receive training on editing websites with Drupal 10.
Timing: 9am to 1pm, Wednesday, December 13.
Preparation: None.
Posted on Dec 06, 2023 - 13:37 PST

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption Dec 13, 2023 10:00-15:00 PST

What is impacted: VIU Websites. Our Web team performs updates to our Drupal Web Content Management System.
Level of impact: No Interruption. While no outage is expected, saving content during this timeframe within the Drupal platform may be slower.
Timing: 10am to 3pm, every Wednesday
Preparation: None
Posted on Nov 28, 2023 - 14:29 PST

Maintenance: Server Restarts; Service Interruption impacting employees and students Dec 13, 2023 17:00-19:00 PST

What is impacted: All VIU technology including email, files, VIULearn, printing, internet, etc. A complete list of services is included below.
Level of impact: Service Interruption. All services listed will be unavailable for up to 15 minutes during the maintenance window.
Timing: Wednesday 5pm to 7pm
Description: All servers are receiving monthly updates and must be restarted.
Preparation: Please close these systems and all applications connected to these systems before 5:00pm. Do not use these systems during the maintenance period.

Services that may be unavailable for up to 15 minutes between 5pm to 7pm:
- VIU email (including Outlook, webmail and public folders)
- VIU websites (including isapp.viu.ca sites, InVIU, viuresidences.ca, stuweb.viu.ca)
Posted on Dec 06, 2023 - 13:30 PST

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption Dec 15, 2023 21:00 - Dec 16, 2023 00:00 PST

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption Dec 20, 2023 10:00-15:00 PST

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption Dec 22, 2023 22:00 - Dec 23, 2023 01:00 PST

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption Dec 29, 2023 21:00 - Dec 30, 2023 00:00 PST

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption Jan 5, 2024 21:00 - Jan 6, 2024 00:00 PST

Past Incidents

Dec 7, 2023

Maintenance: VIU-Secure Wireless Network; Possible Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Dec 7, 06:03 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Dec 7, 06:02 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: VIU-Secure Wireless Network; Technicians will be updating the security certificate for the VIU-Secure wireless network.
Level of impact: Possible Service Interruption. Once the update is in place, existing connections may disconnect or prompt you to accept the new certificate before allowing you to resume your VIU-Secure connection. Devices may prompt you to trust the new certificate when connecting to VIU-Secure for the first time after the update.
Timing: 6am, Thursday, December 7.
Preparation: We recommend confirming you are still connected to VIU-Secure after the 6am maintenance. If not, be sure to reconnect and accept the new certificate.
Dec 6, 13:33 PST

Dec 6, 2023

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Dec 6, 15:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Dec 6, 10:02 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: VIU Websites. Our Web team performs updates to our Drupal Web Content Management System.
Level of impact: No Interruption. While no outage is expected, saving content during this timeframe within the Drupal platform may be slower.
Timing: 10am to 3pm, every Wednesday
Preparation: None
Nov 28, 14:28 PST

Maintenance: FindMe Printers – B356-R321, B004-R104; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Dec 6, 12:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Dec 6, 10:30 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: Select FindMe Printers; Technicians will be updating the network settings on FindMe Printers located in B356-R321 and B004-R104 (The VIU Student Residences - Cedar Center).
Level of impact: Service Interruption. FindMe printers in the above locations will each be offline for up to 20 minutes during the maintenance window.
Timing: 10:30am to 12pm, Wednesday, December 6.
Preparation: We recommend locating an alternate FindMe printer near you, in the event your usual printer is in maintenance mode when you need it.
Nov 28, 16:45 PST

Employee Computer Account Administrative System - Service Interruption

Resolved - Our Technicians working with Unit4 have a solution in place. The Employee Directory System (EDS) is back online. The Computer Account Maintenance Tool (CAMT) is online and operating again at its normal speed. Computer account creation and password resets are processing as normal.

This incident is now resolved.
Dec 6, 10:19 PST

Update - We continue to work with the Vendor to resolve this challenge.

Student computer account creation and Password resets are back online.

Resolution time: Unknown.
Next update: 10am, December 6.
Dec 5, 15:17 PST

Update - A data synching challenge between our Unit4 ERP system is being worked on by Unit4 and VIU technicians.
Until a solution is in place:
• New Students and Employees – Brand new computer accounts cannot be created until this is resolved.
• Student and Employee computer accounts - The IT Service Desk is unable to reset computer account passwords.
• Employee Directory System (EDS) – The EDS page will not load, instead showing an error message.

The Vendor and our technicians continue to work to find a solution.

Resolution time: Unknown.
Next update: 4pm today.
Dec 5, 12:32 PST

Update - Related to this challenge, the Employee Directory System (EDS) is currently unavailable.
The EDS also pulls information form the Unit4/ERP system. While work is being done to resolve the synching challenge the EDS will not load, instead showing an error page.

Resolution time: Unknown.
Next update: 1pm today.
Dec 5, 11:06 PST

Identified - Appointment Creators, will find that they cannot look up employees in the Computer Account Maintenance System. This is related to a synching challenge between this system and our Unit4 ERP System. This impacts the creation of computer accounts for new employees, and the resetting of passwords for current employees.

The Vendor, working alongside our technicians, are working to resolve this challenge.

Resolution time: Unknown.
Next update: 12pm today.
Dec 5, 09:58 PST

Dec 5, 2023

Dec 4, 2023

Maintenance: Network and Internet Services at Cowichan, Deep Bay and tiwšɛmawtxʷ ; Possible Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Dec 4, 19:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Dec 4, 18:00 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: Internet/Network connections at Cowichan, Deep Bay, and tiwšɛmawtxʷ; VIU’s Internet Service Provider is performing maintenance on the internet connections to Cowichan, Deep Bay, and tiwšɛmawtxʷ locations.
Level of impact: Possible Service Interruption. There is a small chance that Internet/Network connections at these locations may be interrupted by this work. If an interruption does occur, it will last approximately 2 minuets. During these 2 minuets, devices at the above locations will be unable to access the internet and Network Shared Drives. VPN access to computers at these locations & VoIP phone service would also be interrupted.
Timing: 6pm to 7pm, Monday, December 4.
Preparation: Please save any shared folder data or remote files you may be working on before maintenance begins. Do you need to access and work on files from the network shares listed above during the maintenance window? Please copy the files you need to your device or OneDrive. Continue to work on the copy until the maintenance window is complete. Remember to copy your files back to the network share afterwards.
Nov 29, 13:13 PST

Dec 3, 2023

No incidents reported.

Dec 2, 2023

No incidents reported.

Dec 1, 2023

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Dec 1, 22:01 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Dec 1, 21:00 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Every Friday our vendor performs maintenance on the servers hosting the IT Ticket System (https://ithelp.viu.ca) and the IT Client Portal (https://technology.viu.ca).
Level of impact: Service Interruption. Employees will be unable to access the above sites/services during the maintenance window.
Timing: 9pm to 12:00 am, every Friday.
Preparation: None required. If you need to submit an IT Request during the maintenance window please e-mail ithelp@viu.ca. Once the maintenance is complete, an IT request will automatically be created based on your e-mail and you will be e-mailed a ticket number.
Nov 28, 14:18 PST

Nov 30, 2023

No incidents reported.

Nov 29, 2023

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Nov 29, 15:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Nov 29, 10:00 PST

Maintenance: GlobalProtect VPN update; Possible Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Nov 29, 12:15 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Nov 29, 12:01 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: GlobalProtect Software Update. A new version of the GlobalProtect software is being released. With this new release, the versions able to connect to VIU will be 6.1.1 and 6.1.2.
Level of impact: Possible Service Interruption. After the maintenance window, devices using GlobalProtect 6.1.0 (or older) will be prompted to update the next time they connect. During the update process, GlobalProtect may prompt you to sign in twice.
Timing: 12pm to 12:15pm, Wednesday November 29.
Preparation: Remember that the next time you connect to VPN the GlobalProtect may need to update. Allow your self a few extra minutes to connect, in the event you need to update.
Nov 22, 13:10 PST

Maintenance: wordpress.viu.ca; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Nov 29, 08:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Nov 29, 06:00 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: wordpress.viu.ca; Our team will be installing updates to the system that hosts wordpress.viu.ca.
Level of impact: Service Interruption. During the maintenance window the above website will be unavailable for 15 minutes.
Timing: 6am to 8am, Wednesday, November 29.
Preparation: Please save any changes and log out your VIU WordPress blog prior to the maintenance window.
Nov 21, 12:04 PST

Maintenance: VIU Network Storage (U-Drive, Shares, etc.); Possible Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Nov 29, 07:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Nov 29, 05:00 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: VIU Hosted Network Storage; Our team will be installing updates to the server that manages the various VIU hosted network storage. This includes Departmental Shares, as well as VIU computer account U-Drives, Desktop and Documents Folders.
Level of impact: Potential Service Interruption. During the maintenance window you may momentarily lose access to the listed locations. Please wait one minute and try again.
Timing: 5pm to 7pm, Wednesday, November 29.
Preparation: Please save your work and sign out of your computer when you leave for the day. Do you need to access and work on files from the network shares listed above during the maintenance window? Please copy the files you need to your device or OneDrive. Continue to work on the copy until the maintenance window is complete. Please remember to copy your files back to the network share afterwards
Nov 22, 13:01 PST

Nov 28, 2023

No incidents reported.

Nov 27, 2023

Maintenance: FindMe Printers – B356-R321, B004-R104; Service Interruption

Completed - The planned maintenance today, for the FindMe Printers in B356-R321 and B004-R104, has been canceled.
A new time will be found, and announced at a later date.
Nov 27, 10:26 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: Select FindMe Printers; Technicians will be updating the network settings on FindMe Printers located in B356-R321 and B004-R104 (The VIU Student Residences - Cedar Center).
Level of impact: Service Interruption. FindMe printers in the above locations will each be offline for up to 20 minutes during the maintenance window.
Timing: 10:30am to 12pm, Monday, November 27.
Preparation: We recommend locating an alternate FindMe printer near you, in the event your usual printer is in maintenance mode when you need it.
Nov 22, 13:19 PST

Nov 26, 2023

Maintenance: VIU Employee Portal; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Nov 26, 06:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Nov 25, 21:00 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: VIU Employee Portal and related tools; Our vendor is installing updates and performing maintenance on the systems that host our VIU Employee portal. This impacts tools accessed by the portal including HRIS, FIS and Procurement tools, among others.
Level of impact: Service Interruption. During the maintenance period the Employee Portal and related tools will be unavailable.
Timing: Beginning at 9pm, Saturday, November 25. Ending at 6am, Sunday, November 26.
Preparation: If needed, please plan to use the Employee Portal outside of the Maintenance Period.
Nov 21, 12:05 PST

Nov 25, 2023

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Nov 25, 00:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Nov 24, 21:00 PST

Nov 24, 2023

Nov 23, 2023

Maintenance: Network/Internet Service –All Sites & Campuses; Possible Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Nov 23, 07:00 PST

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Nov 23, 06:02 PST

Scheduled - What is impacted: VIU Network and Internet Services; VIU Technicians are installing updates and performing maintenance tasks on our Network Firewall.
Level of impact: Possible Service Interruption. During the maintenance window, there is a possibility for up to 2 minuets of inconsistent or loss of internet/network connection.
Timing: 6am to 7am, Thursday, November 23.
Preparation: Please save your work prior to the start of Maintenance window. If working remotely, be aware that there is a chance you may lose your VPN connection and need to reconnect. Plan to complete internet/network dependent tasks outside of the maintenance period.
Nov 22, 13:30 PST