We unfortunately experienced some disruption with our main www.essex.ac.uk site between 6:30 – 9:30am, engineers urgently responded and resolved the issue. Apologies for the disruption to service.
No other services were affected during this outage.
April 23, 2018
The University of Essex will moderate comments and there will be a delay before any posts appear.April 16, 2018
[RESOLVED]Emergency server maintenance
The issue with sernt72 has now been resolved and the server is back online.
One of our core servers will be undergoing emergency maintenance from 6am tomorrow, Tuesday 17th April.
This could have an impact on lots of our services and applications, including the systems, listed below, which may be inaccessible whilst we carry out these works.
Please do not contact the IT Services helpdesk during this time, as we will be focusing on the emergency server maintenance.
If services are not fully operational by 9am, we will let you know with a further update on the IT Services Blog.
Please note that email and internet access should be unaffected.
Affected systems:
- Accommodation and events management (Kinetics)
- Attendance and engagement monitoring
- Car parking
- Essex website (includes intranet and Enrol)
- Graduation ticket booking
- Lecture capture (Listen Again)
- Mobile apps (Pocket Essex) Campus M
- Online assessments (Questionmark Perception)
- Online coursework submission (FASER)
- Online payments
- Online Resource Bank (formerly Course Materials Repository)
- Post Room software
- Graduate training in Proficio
- Results Processing System (linked to ESIS) – Student facing
- Sharepoint (including ESF and EAF)
- SMS messaging
- Student document ordering
- Staff and Student Printing (Papercut)
- Student records and information database (ESIS)
- Timetabling – Teaching (CMIS)
- Timetabling – Exams (CMIS)
- Virtual learning environment (Moodle)
- Account and Group Management (User Database/CID)
- Library Management System (Essex Libraries)
- SQL Server Reporting Services
- Identity management
- External staff interface
- Cross System Interfaces
- Uniface
- Cohort (Occ Health)
- We are smile (mentoring)
- Building access control (something we need to come back to)
- Customer and relationship management (Dynamics)
- HR management (Midland iTrent inc BO)
- Library Management System (Sierra)
- Planet (Estates Management)
- Research management software (RMAS via Agresso)
- Sports Centre Management
- Surveys (Qualtrics and EVASYS)
- Careerhub
April 10, 2018
Important changes to remote network access – OpenVPN update required
If you use OpenVPN, this information applies to you
Due to recent changes to our OpenVPN service, you must download and install a new configuration file to continue to use the service.
The latest configuration file contains the necessary security settings your computer or device needs to be able to connect to the University network remotely.
The old configuration file will expire in May 2018 and you will no longer be able to connect if you don’t update. You may have already noticed a message appear on your home computer warning you about this.
We also recommend you update to the latest version of OpenVPN.
Update instructions for your home computer
Windows
- Go to the OpenVPN website and download the latest version. We recommend you download the Installer, Windows Vista and later version.
- Download the Essex University v2.opvn configuration file.
- Open OpenVPN.
- Right-click on the OpenVPN icon in the system tray (bottom right of your screen).
- Choose Import …
- Browse to where you saved the Essex University v2.ovpn file and import it.
When you connect in future choose Essex University v2.
Mac
- Check that you are running the latest version of TunnelBlick: Open TunnelBlick, click the TunnelBlick icon -> VPN Details -> Preferences -> Check Now – install update if required
- Download the Essex University v2.opvn configuration file.
- Drag Essex University v2.ovpn onto TunnelBlick icon on the top menu bar to import the file.
- You should now have at least two options when you try to connect – please try Essex University v2.
Android
- Download the Essex University v2.opvn configuration file.
- Open the Essex University v2.opvn file.
- This should launch the OpenVPN app and allow you to import the file.
- In future, connect to Essex Univesrity v2.
iOS
- Download the Essex University v2.opvn configuration file and preview the content.
- Tap the box at the top right with the up-arrow.
- Scroll across to Copy to OpenVPN.
- Complete the import.
- In future, connect to isslx145.essex.ac.uk/Essex University v2
Linux
- If you know what you did before, do it again but with the new Essex University v2.opvn configuration file.
Chromebook
- Sorry – we’re still working on an update for Chromebook.
April 3, 2018
Mahara Upgrade
The Mahara e-portfolio system will be unavailable on Tuesday, April 10th between 7am and 9am while we upgrade to version 18.04. The following service(s) will be affected:
- Mahara (https://mahara.essex.ac.uk)
This upgrade will provide a number of performance and reliability benefits, as well as new features introduced in versions 18.04, 17.10 and 17.04 (links to release notes will open in a new window).
Updates
- 08:20am - The upgrade has been completed successfully