No IT newsletter during holiday break
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published Dec. 20, 2005
The InfoTech Tuesday newsletter is not published during the holiday break, so there will not be a
Dec. 27 issue. Publication will resume Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006, and news items should be submitted by
8 a.m. that day.
Readers who have extra time during the break might enjoy perusing the
newsletter archive to follow up on interesting
topics in previous issues.
Many IT services unavailable Dec. 28-29
by G. Robertson, Computing and Network Services
published Dec. 20, 2005
A power outage has been scheduled for Dec. 28-29 to install a backup
generator for the K-State IT Data Center. This outage will require
shutdown of equipment housed in the data center, including the
mainframe, servers for all central computing services, and peripheral
equipment.
On Dec. 28 (a Wednesday), systems and services will be unavailable
beginning at 7 p.m., including e-mail, KATS, K-State Online, HRIS Employee
Self Service and more. University computing labs will be locked beginning at
5 p.m. Dec. 28. The outage is expected to last 10-12 hours.
To learn more about this event, see the IT status page.
K-State or KSU -- it's an individual choice
by C. May, Media Relations and Marketing
published Dec. 20, 2005
Recent changes to the K-State People
Directory and to university web addresses have caused some confusion on
campus. While the university is moving forward with emphasizing the
use of "K-State" over "KSU" for university marketing identity purposes,
the use of either name in e-mail addresses is voluntary to the individual.
E-mail addresses.
All K-Staters continue to have two e-mail addresses.
All mail to either @k-state.edu or @ksu.edu is delivered to your Inbox.
All K-Staters have two addresses and one mailbox.
When you send e-mail, your address continues as
@ksu.edu unless you've changed your preferences in your e-mail
client. Your outgoing e-mail reflects whatever address you have set
up in your e-mail client. No changes have been made that will affect
your LISTSERV or other mailing list subscriptions.
Domain names. Kansas State University owns both ksu.edu and
k-state.edu, and has been given permission to continue to use both forever.
Web addresses. All URLs typed in as
www.ksu.edu redirect to www.k-state.edu. Whether a user types in
one or the other, the result will be the same -- both
URLs work and the user reaches the same website.
People Directory. When anyone looks up a K-State e-mail address, all are listed as
@k-state.edu. This does not affect your outgoing mail in any way.
Assistance available. If you need technical assistance, contact the IT Help Desk,
helpdesk@k-state.edu, phone 532-7722.
Winter maintenance in computer labs, InfoCommons
by E. Dover, Computing and Network Services
published Dec. 20, 2005. updated Dec. 27, 2005
Over the holiday break, general-use computers in the university computing labs
and the K-State InfoCommons (in Hale Library) will be refreshed by Computing and Network Services.
This maintenance will incorporate software version upgrades and security patches
that have been released since the August computer upgrades.
The following schedule shows when specific
university computing labs and the Information Commons will be closed.
Work in the K-State InfoCommons will be done during evening hours when the library is closed,
so disruption should be minimal.
| Date | Time | IT facility CLOSED |
| Mon, Dec. 19 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Union Copy Center |
| 5:15 p.m.-8 a.m. Tue | K-State InfoCommons in Hale Library |
| Tue, Dec. 20 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Union Station |
| 5:15 p.m.-8 a.m. Wed | K-State InfoCommons in Hale Library |
| Wed, Dec. 21 | 8-10 a.m. | Architecture Library |
| 5:15 p.m.-8 a.m. Thu | K-State InfoCommons in Hale Library |
| Thu, Dec. 22 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Hale Library 24-hour study area |
| 5:15 p.m.-8 a.m. Fri | K-State InfoCommons in Hale Library |
| Fri, Dec. 23 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Nichols university computing lab |
| 5:15 p.m.-8 a.m. Sat | K-State InfoCommons in Hale Library |
Wed, Dec. 28
to Thu, Dec. 29 | 7 p.m. (Wed) to 7 a.m. (Thu) -- All university
computing labs will be closed during the IT power outage. |
| Tue, Jan. 3 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Seaton university computing lab |
| Thu, Jan. 5 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Justin university computing lab |
| Fri, Jan. 6 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. | Dickens university computing lab |
Reminder: Pick up new faculty/staff ID cards
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published Dec. 20, 2005
This is the week for K-State faculty/staff
to pick up their new K-State ID cards 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
in the Cottonwood Room (second floor of the Union). A photo ID is
required. See the Dec. 13 article
for more details. Pick-up dates are based on the first letter
of the last name:
| Pick up ID card | If last name starts with |
| Mon, Dec. 19 | A through C |
| Tue, Dec. 20 | D through H |
| Wed, Dec. 21 | I through N |
| Thu, Dec. 22 | O through S |
| Fri, Dec. 23 | T through Z |
Technology training calendar for January
by C. Rodriguez, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Dec. 20, 2005
Check the
IT training calendar
to see a list of free classes available in January to the K-State community. All
sessions require pre-registration. Upcoming classes include
sessions on K-State Online, the
K-State Calendar, and web design.
Technology trainers meeting Dec. 21
by C. Rodriguez, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Dec. 20, 2005
Anyone interested in becoming part of a technology trainers
user group is welcome to come to our first meeting. It is scheduled
1 p.m. Dec. 21 in Union Stateroom 1.
IT by the numbers: K-State's portal
by N. Erdwien, Computing and Network Services
published Dec. 20, 2005
Ever since K-State's portal (connect.k-state.edu) went live Aug. 18,
it has been averaging about 4,000 sign-ins per day.
The portal survey in October had 101 respondents.
See the portal survey results
(in PDF format) for details. The top 10 desirable portal features
are listed below, based on the percentage of respondents who ranked them "essential" or "very important".
- E-mail (76 percent of respondents)
- University events calendar (68 percent)
- Receive the Kansas State Collegian (64 percent)
- Update personal information (62 percent)
- Select the information that appears and how it is organized (61 percent)
- Personal calendar (57 percent)
- Receive library messages (overdue books, interlibrary loans, reserves) (56 percent)
- College events (55 percent)
- Set e-mail forwarding and spam filtering (53 percent)
- Departmental events (50 percent)
| Q/A: IT questions from K-Staters |
by B. Edwards, T. Ramsey, Computing and Network Services
published Dec. 20, 2005
What should I do with spam from a K-State e-mail address?
An e-mail's "From" line may say the source is a K-State address, but it typically turns out to be fake
-- because spammers use forged addresses, including K-State ones, to trick people into reading the message.
When a computer at K-State is actually sending spam,
K-State's IT system adminstrators find out about it very quickly and shut it down.
They notice that it is generating a lot of network traffic, or
they get notifications from spam-reporting services and real-time blackhole lists
that are much more credible than spam reported by the public.
How to find the source:
An easy way to determine the actual source of an e-mail is to turn "full headers" on in your e-mail program.
Ignore the From line, and look in the Received lines near the beginning. For example:
Received: from mx3.cc.ksu.edu (mx3.cc.ksu.edu [129.130.12.167])
by mailhub.cns.ksu.edu ...
Received: from smtp3.cc.ksu.edu (smtp3.cc.ksu.edu [129.130.7.17])
by mx3.cc.ksu.edu ...
Received: from mailhub.cns.ksu.edu
(mailhub1.cc.ksu.edu [129.130.7.74]) by smtp3.cc.ksu.edu ...
Received: from mx2.cc.ksu.edu (mx2.cc.ksu.edu [129.130.12.166])
by mailhub.cns.ksu.edu ...
Received: from lh ([82.77.82.71]) by mx2.cc.ksu.edu
Received lines are in reverse order.
The bottom Received line shows the system (in bold above) where the message originated.
And the top line shows the last system that sent the message to you.
If the numeric address in brackets in the bottom Received line starts with "129.130.", it probably originated at K-State.
Ignore the word to the left of the brackets ("lh" in the example above) because that is also easily forged.
If you want more details about the originating system, put its number or web address into the
WHOIS Database Search (www.arin.net/whois)
provided by the American Registry for Internet Numbers.
Who to contact: If the header of an e-mail indicates it did originate at K-State, then the best approach is to
forward it to the IT Help Desk (helpdesk@k-state.edu)
for handling.
Have a question or comment?
TellTuesday@k-state.edu.
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