Information Technology Services Advisory Page Status

Maintenance: GlobalProtect VPN Software Update; No Interruption

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 17, 2024 - 06:00 PDT

Scheduled - What is impacted:
Level of impact: No Interruption. For employees connecting to the VIU network remotely via GlobalProtect VPN, the software will update the next time you connect after the maintenance window. It will take an extra minute or so to connect as it updates, and you may have to sign in twice. If GlobalProtect does not reconnect automatically, re-launch the Global Protect application and sign-in again.
Timing: Beginning 6am, Thursday, October 17. Continuing until all installations are updated.
Preparation: Allow a little extra time for the update when next connecting via GlobalProtect.
Oct 17, 2024 06:00 - Oct 19, 2024 06:00 PDT

Student Workstations - Default Printer Update; No Interruption

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 17, 2024 - 01:00 PDT

Scheduled - What is impacted: Student Workstations; VIU Technicians are deploying an update to our student workstations. This update will make FindMe the default printer. Most already had the FindMe queue as the default printer. This update will catch any that were missed or had it changed by other software update.
Level of impact: No Interruption. This update will occur during the nightly maintenance window.
Timing: Beginning at 1am, Thursday, October 17. Continuing nightly until all impacted devices have been updated.
Preparation: None
Oct 17, 2024 01:00 - Oct 20, 2024 01:00 PDT

Nortel Phone system at the VIU Nanaimo campus - Not accepting changes.

Investigating - Although still passing calls, our Nortel phone system has stopped accepting any programming changes. (e.g. call display name changes, reassigning/moving locals. etc.) The last change took over a week for the Nortel system to process to completion.

Our technicians are investigating. Due to the age and sensitivity of the Nortel system, this will take some time to dig into. Any requests for changes or updates to numbers residing in the Nortel system will not be actioned at this time.

Estimated Resolution Time: Unknown.
Next Update: Will be by 4pm, Monday, October 21.
Oct 11, 2024 - 14:50 PDT

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 Degraded Performance

Websites and Learning Tools Operational

VIULearn (D2L) Operational

Library Services Operational

University Website (viu.ca) Operational

Student Self-service: My Student Record Operational

Administrative Systems Operational

Student Records (SRS) Operational

Financial Records System (FRS) Operational

Employee Portal (FRIS, HRIS, Payroll, Etc) 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 Oct 18, 2024 21:00 - Oct 19, 2024 00:00 PDT

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 Oct 01, 2024 - 22:52 PDT

Maintenance: VIU Employee Portal; Service Interruption Oct 19, 2024 21:00 - Oct 20, 2024 04:00 PDT

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 9pm, Saturday, October 19. Ending 4am, Sunday, October 20.
Preparation: If needed, please plan to use the Employee Portal outside of the Maintenance Period.
Posted on Oct 15, 2024 - 13:15 PDT

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption Oct 22, 2024 10:00-15:00 PDT

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 Tuesday.
Preparation: None
Posted on Oct 01, 2024 - 22:56 PDT

Maintenance - wordpress.viu.ca; Service Interruption Oct 23, 2024 06:00-08:00 PDT

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, October 23.
Preparation: Please save any changes and log out your VIU WordPress blog prior to the maintenance window.
Posted on Oct 01, 2024 - 23:02 PDT

Maintenance - VIU Network Storage (U-Drive, Shares, etc.); Service Interruption Oct 23, 2024 17:00-19:00 PDT

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: Service Interruption. During the maintenance window, the update process will cause several disconnections to occur. These disconnections will occur 4 times, lasting anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes before reconnecting. When these disconnections happen, access to and the saving of files to the above locations will be interrupted.
Timing: 5pm to 7pm, Wednesday, October 23.
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
Posted on Oct 01, 2024 - 23:03 PDT

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption Oct 25, 2024 21:00 - Oct 26, 2024 00:00 PDT

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption Oct 29, 2024 10:00-15:00 PDT

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption Nov 1, 2024 21:00 - Nov 2, 2024 00:00 PDT

Past Incidents

Oct 17, 2024

ArcGIS License Manager challenge impacting access to ArcGIS software

Resolved - This is now resolved, and ArcGIS is pulling the correct license once again.
Oct 17, 11:49 PDT

Investigating - When trying to use ArcGIS software an error message pops up, and you cannot proceed to use the software.
The error is some variant of: "The arcGIS license manager must be upgraded to support this version of arcGIS pro"

Our Technicians are investigating.

Estimated resolution time: Currently unknown.
Next update: Today, by 1:30pm.
Oct 17, 11:24 PDT

Maintenance: Software Center; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 17, 11:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 17, 09:30 PDT

Scheduled - What is impacted: Employee and student computers; Updates are being deployed to one of our device management servers. This will impact Windows 10 devices that use the Software Center, including most student and employee desktop workstations, as well as some older laptops. Devices that use Company Portal are managed by a different server, and not impacted by this update.
Level of impact: Service Interruption. While this server goes through its update process the Software Center will be unavailable, or unresponsive.
Timing: 9:30am – 11am, Thursday, October 17.
Preparation: None
Oct 16, 11:45 PDT

Oct 16, 2024

tiwšɛmawtxʷ Campus - Building 618: Loss of Network and Internet Access

Resolved - Network and internet access has been restored for B618. This incident is now resolved.
Oct 16, 15:28 PDT

Identified - The source of the outage has been identified by the School District's technicians, and rectified. Our networking equipment in B618 has started powering back up. We are monitoring to ensure it all comes back online and network access is restored.

Next update: 4pm today.
Oct 16, 14:53 PDT

Investigating - The network connection between tiwšɛmawtxʷ main campus building B610 and B618 is currently offline. Resulting in a lack of internet/network in B618. B610s internet/network access is unimpeded and fully functional.

Our technicians are investigating. B618 is shared with the school district, and the source of the challenge may be on their end.

Resolution time is currently unknown.
Next update will be by 4pm today.
Oct 16, 14:29 PDT

Oct 15, 2024

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 15, 15:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 15, 10:00 PDT

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 Tuesday.
Preparation: None
Oct 1, 22:55 PDT

Oct 14, 2024

No incidents reported.

Oct 13, 2024

No incidents reported.

Oct 12, 2024

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 12, 00:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 11, 21:00 PDT

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.
Sep 4, 00:31 PDT

Oct 11, 2024

Unresolved incident: Nortel Phone system at the VIU Nanaimo campus - Not accepting changes..

Oct 10, 2024

No incidents reported.

Oct 9, 2024

Maintenance: Server Restarts; Service Interruption impacting employees and students

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 9, 19:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 9, 17:00 PDT

Scheduled - 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)
Oct 1, 23:01 PDT

Weekly Maintenance: viu.ca Website Update; Service Change

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 9, 16:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 9, 10:00 PDT

Scheduled - What is impacted: viu.ca websites; The first in a series of phased updates to the viu.ca website is set to go live! This first batch includes a new primary site navigation bar, new footer, and a new landing page for prospective students.
Level of impact: Service Change. It will take several hours for the changes to propagates across the internet. During this time, you may encounter either version of the website. Once on the updated page, access to the various landing pages can be found via an "Information for" drop down list. Replacing the current method of finding a particular landing page through direct links found at the top of the webpage.
Timing: 10am to 4pm, Wednesday, October 9.
Preparation: None. Occasionally when a web update rolls out, a browser session may become corrupt. Refreshing the browser window typically solves the issue. Failing that, clearing the browser cache will remove any corrupted cached browser assets. Please report any additional issues to the IT Service Desk.
Oct 2, 13:38 PDT

Maintenance: Server Restarts; Service Interruption impacting employees and students

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 9, 08:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 9, 06:00 PDT

Scheduled - 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)
Oct 1, 23:00 PDT

Oct 8, 2024

Weekly Maintenance: VIU Websites; No Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 8, 15:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 8, 10:00 PDT

Oct 7, 2024

No incidents reported.

Oct 6, 2024

No incidents reported.

Oct 5, 2024

Weekly Maintenance: IT Client and Ticket Portals; Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 5, 00:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 4, 21:00 PDT

Oct 4, 2024

Oct 3, 2024

Maintenance: VIU Wireless Networks; Possible Service Interruption

Completed - The scheduled maintenance has been completed.
Oct 3, 22:00 PDT

In progress - Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.
Oct 3, 19:00 PDT

Scheduled - What is impacted: All VIU Wireless Networks (VIU-Secure, VIU-Guest & Eduroam); Technicians will be deploying software updates to all our Wireless Access Points (WAP) across all VIU sites and campuses. This update will cause the device to reboot. Deploying in a rolling fashion, the aim is that some WAPs will stay online while other units are updating. Unfortunately, we cannot provide specific times within the maintenance window when a given space may be impacted.
Level of impact: Possible Service Interruption. As each WAP updates and reboots there is a chance that your device may lose connection from one of our wireless networks. (VIU-Secure, VIU-Guest or Eduroam) If this occurs, wait 2-3 minutest and then try reconnecting. In most cases another nearby WAP will keep your device connected.
Timing: 7pm to 10pm, Thursday, October 3.
Preparation: If you have a need for uninterrupted network connectivity during the maintenance window, please use a wired connection.
Oct 2, 09:31 PDT