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Blackboard is temporarily unavailable, but we expect it to be returned to service around 12 noon today. 
Thank you for your continuing patience as we make updates to campus networks and applications related to the Jan.1 name change.
If you have any questions regarding Blackboard or the availability of the Blackboard application, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
Several customers have had questions regarding the new spam filtering system and mail handling changes. Below are answers to some of the more frequent questions we’ve received.
Q: Why am I getting more spam when a new spam filter was just put into place?
A: On, Dec. 20, the day of the cutover, customers may have received more spam than usual because of the process that was necessary to turn Spam Assassin off and activate the new spam filtering system. That issue should now be resolved.
Additionally, the new spam filter will be regularly updated so the longer it is in place, the better it will perform (read: you will receive less spam).
Q: Why is safe mail being sent to my Junk Mail folder?
A: The new spam filter simply needs time to adjust to our mail traffic. The end result will be better spam filtering than what was previously in place, but on the front end, there may be a “learning curve.” Please be patient during this process.
To ensure that all legitimate mail is received, customers will need to periodically check their Junk Mail folders for the next 30 days while the new system is adjusting. Blocked senders should get an email explaining that they were blocked.
If you know you haven’t received something that should be in your Inbox or Junk Mail, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
Q: What happened to my rules from Spam Assassin?
Safe and Blocked Senders lists are the only part of Spam Assassin’s rules that are currently being provided to customers. If you had Safe Senders and Blocked Senders set up in Spam Assassin, those lists should have been sent to you in an email.
If you wish to reapply those lists in Miner Mail or Outlook, see the instructions here. If you haven’t received your list of Safe and Blocked Senders, please call the IT Help Desk.
Please note: Settings changed from minermail.mst.edu will be saved on our mail servers so, setting Safe and Blocked Senders lists in Miner Mail should keep you covered if you use another email client like Apple Mail, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc.
If you have any other email filtering issues, questions or concerns, please call the IT help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
Email customers using a client other than MinerMail or Outlook (or customers using the Exchange server with Outlook) will need to configure their outgoing mail protocol to smtp.mst.edu to be able to send email.
Because of the variety of email clients used by our IT customers, IT does not have a specific “how to” published on this topic. Please call the IT Help Desk if you have trouble making this change in your email client.
Several customers have reported difficulties logging in to minermail.mst.edu. This issue should be now be resolved and all MinerMail customers should be able to log in with their user name (without the mst.edu or umr.edu extension) and password.
If you have questions or continue to experience difficulties with either of these issues , please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
IT will provide periodic updates today as we switch our web and email servers to mst.edu. There is a strong possibility that something might not go quite as we planned, so your patience is requested.
If you have an email emergency, you can call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP. We may not be able to immediately solve your issue, but we'll do the best we can.
9:31 a.m. -- Provisioning for the long haul
Our team has been at it for a couple of hours now. The major issue that you, the customer needs to be aware of this morning is spam filtering. Spam Assassin has been decommissioned and the new spam filter is being activated. You may see an increase in spam today, but this too shall pass --by early afternoon.
The photo is of our stocked war room. Several of your friendly neighborhood IT staff plan on staying at the office until well after normal business hours, until the job is done.
10:25 a.m. -- KnowledgeBase is down...
...but it should be back up in the next 30 minutes or so.
10:48 a.m. -- joeminer@mst.edu
Email will now start going out as From:username@mst.edu. Email sent to your umr.edu account will still be delivered until July 31, 2008.
In the meantime, you'll need to start notifying your email contacts and, if you use an email client other than MinerMail or Outlook, you'll need to update your address in the email client and on any listserv to which you belong.
We've created a flow chart to help you visualize how the email system will work.
10:55 a.m. – Smells like school spirit
IT has it. Do you?
11:04 a.m. -- KnowledgeBase
KnowledgeBase is back up again.
12:25 p.m. – umr.edu, we hardly knew ye
Check out the new Missouri S&T website.
Sorry about the extended blogging silence. All of the campus blogs were being moved to mst.edu
Update: The new website isn't perfect yet. We're still working out a few bugs. If you see something that isn't right on your website, check back tomorrow.
12:27 p.m. – Speaking of Missouri S&T blogs…
All of the Missouri S&T blogs have been switched over to the mst.edu domain. If you have an RSS feed set up for any of the umr.edu blogs, there is a chance that it might not recognize the redirect to mst.edu. Long story short, if your feed reader stops working you may need to go in and update your feeds to mst.edu.
By way of shameless self-promotion, I’ll go ahead and include the new feed for IT Press.
http://itpress.mst.edu/atom.xml
1 p.m. – Google website search slowdown, VoIP phone change
The Google search feature in the Missouri S&T website is being updated. Searching from Google (inside the website or from the Google homepage) may be slow or return incomplete results for the next day or two while it indexes the new website.
VoIP Phones should start displaying Missouri S&T in the phone directories.
1:22 p.m. – This just in
Spam issues will probably continue through the afternoon. Customers should receive less spam as the day goes on. Again, please be patient with us through this process.
1:40 p.m. – Ladies and gentleman
On a slightly different note, the University of Missouri system announced our new president earlier this afternoon. Gary Forsee is an alumnus of our prestigious institution (’72).
See the news release from Missouri S&T communications on the jump.
3:52 p.m. – Having trouble sending email?
Customers who use an email client other than Outlook need to set up an smtp authentication to be able to send email between now and Monday at noon. After 12 noon on Monday, the issue should be resolved. This issue will also affect devices such as printers, lab equipment, etc.
An example of how to set this up in an email client (Apple Mail in Mac OS X) can be found by visiting the KnowledgeBase and searching for smtp authentication. Set up may vary depending on which client you are using.
4 p.m. – All quiet on the western front
Things have gone very well today. Not much to report at this time. That’s a good thing.
4:57 p.m. – That’s a wrap, folks
The majority of changes that will affect our customers have already taken place today. Over the next few, days, weeks and months, customers will see other changes, so please continue to be patient with us.
If you have any questions, problems or concerns, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP. Thanks to all of the readers who commented today about this post and our previous post regarding spam filtering.
Happy Holidays!
As Spam Assassin is deactivated and the new, improved spam filtering system is put into place, customers with rules set in Spam Assassin will be sent a list of their Safe Senders and Blocked Senders. In this entry are instructions for how to set up Safe Sender and Blocked Sender lists in Outlook.
Update: You can also do this by clicking Options in MinerMail. Thanks to Philip T. for reminding me.
How to: Add an e-mail address to Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists in Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007
To add to the Safe Senders list
• On the 'Tools' menu, click 'Options'.
• On the 'Preferences' tab, click the 'Junk E-mail' button.
• On the 'Junk E-mail Options' dialog box, click the 'Safe Senders' tab.
• Click 'Add'. Enter and e-mail address or domain and click 'OK' to close all dialog boxes.
• You can add your address book Contacts to your Safe Senders List, select the box next to 'Also trust email from my Contacts'.
• You can import a list of contacts that is saved as a text file with each address on a separate line
For example:
joeminer@mst.edu
janeminer@mst.edu
student@mst.edu
To add to the Blocked Senders list
• On the 'Tools' menu, click 'Options'.
• On the 'Preferences' tab, click the 'Junk E-mail' button.
• On the 'Junk E-mail Options' dialog box, click the 'Blocked Senders' tab.
• Click 'Add'. Enter and e-mail address or domain and click 'OK' to close all dialog boxes.
• You can also add your Contacts to your Blocked Senders List, select the box next to 'Also trust email from my Contacts'.
• You can import a list of contacts that is saved as a text file with each address on a separate line
For example:
joeminer@mst.edu
janeminer@mst.edu
student@mst.edu
Update: Instructions for setting Safe and Blocked Senders lists in MinerMail
1. Go to minermail.mst.edu.
2. Log in with your username and password.
3. On the left menu bar, click Options.
4. Scroll down to the Privacy and Junk Email Prevention section.
5. Click Manage Junk Email Lists…
6. You’ll then be able to add safe and blocked senders (or lists of senders)
If you have additional questions or are having difficulty setting your Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists correctly, call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
On Tuesday, Dec. 18, UMR IT will be distributing critical security updates on all IT-supported Macintosh OS X and Linux-based machines with a campus standard install. These updates will improve the security of the Apple Macintosh OS X and Linux operating systems.
Customers who use IT-installed computers (faculty, staff, CLC computers, etc.) may be prompted to reboot their computers during the day on Tuesday, Dec. 18. The affected computers will automatically reboot themselves if no one is logged in. Machines that have not been rebooted by Friday, Dec. 21 will do so automatically.
For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at 341-HELP (4357).
Blackboard will be unavailable to all customers from 7 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Dec. 19.
The service disruption is due to a Blackboard software upgrade to a newer version. The new version will include an enhanced discussion board feature.
If you have any questions or concerns, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP(4357).
As the date approaches to migrate to mst.edu, there will be sweeping changes affecting all IT-maintained systems on campus and several systems not maintained by IT.
To see the latest updates, visit the Name Change Efforts section of IT Press. Information posted to that section will include updates on the most recent changes, and instructions to help customers make the transition to mst.edu as seamlessly as possible and with the fewest number of service disruptions.
If you have IT-related questions about how the name change will affect you, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP (4357).
Some TLS locations will be closed at varying times during the winter break due to campus-wide migration to the mst.edu domain. As with slowdowns and service interruptions, IT requests your patience and understanding as we transition to the new mst.edu domain.
Note: Technology Learning Space is the new name for areas formerly known as CLCs.
For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
After the Dec. 20 transition to mst.edu, customers using email clients other than Outlook or Miner Mail, will need to reset their email address to mst.edu. Miner Mail and Outlook will automatically make these changes.
For information on how to configure an email client, visit the KnowledgeBase and search for email client, then change your email to reflect the mst.edu domain (Example: joeminer@umr.edu becomes joeminer@mst.edu).
Customers who belong to external listservs will need to contact each external listserv administrator and update their addresses to mst.edu. Internal listservs will continue to work if your email client has been changed to send from “joeminer”@mst.edu per instructions above.
For more information, call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP (4357).
For faculty members who have not yet taken advantage of Blackboard’s course management tools, IT is hosting a hands-on training session, Blackboard 101, on Thursday, December 13.
Course participants will receive Blackboard course management training using their actual course syllabi. Enrollees will learn how to use Blackboard’s advanced features like the Assignment Tool for streamlining and distributing class assignments, the Add Teaching Assistants feature and the Combine Sections feature, a time saver for instructors who teach multiple sections.
Blackboard 101
Technology Classroom - University Center 105
Thursday, December 13
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
To enroll visit the IT Training site, click Register for a Short Course and sign up. Space is limited, so individuals interested in the course are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.
For more information about IT training short courses, call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP (4357).
On Thursday, Dec. 6 between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., the Public Folders will be unavailable for approximately 30 minutes. Please be aware that this service disruption also includes shared contact lists and calendars in the Public Folders.
For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP (4357).
IT is in the process of moving all campus email accounts to the new mst.edu email server. The migration is taking place during evenings and weekends, so as to cause the least amount of disruption possible.
During the course of this migration, customers may experience delays or receive messages stating that the program is trying to contact the Exchange Server. Customers should expect to see delays until all mailboxes have been moved.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Please be assured that we are aware of the issue and are working diligently to reduce the amount and duration of delays on the email servers.
If you experience persistent problems or need immediate assistance with email, call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
Customers may experience very short delays when using the Google-powered search feature of the UMR website on December 4. These potential blips will occur between 5 - 6 p.m.
For more information, please contact the IT Help Desk at (573) 341-HELP.
An earlier IT communication stated that customers would need to power down their machines starting at 12 noon on Dec. 20.
Please note the following correction: Customers will need to power down their computers by 5 p.m. on Dec. 20. Please stay tuned in the coming weeks for more announcements regarding IT procedures during the migration to mst.edu.
For more information about these, or any other IT issues, please contact the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
For a list of all the computer/IT related items that will be changing in conjunction with the campus name change visit the IT name change website. Name change web content and the IT Press blog will be updated periodically to reflect the most recent changes in the campus name change process.
If you have additional questions, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
With the unusually high number of name change-related IT activities that will be taking place during the week of Dec. 17, please be aware that service interruptions and outages will occur during the entire week of Dec. 17 – Dec. 21. Customers can expect the highest number of service interruptions on Dec. 20. Customers need to also plan on powering down their computers by 12 noon on Thursday, Dec. 20 and not turning them back on until the following morning.
IT is making every effort to ensure that all customers will have access to help when problems arise and that the service interruptions that occur will be as brief as possible. Nonetheless, all customers should expect interruptions.
To get the latest information about the changes, check the IT Press blog. If you have additional questions or problems, please call the IT Help Desk at 341-HELP.
Your patience and understanding is appreciated as we continue this massive undertaking to support the campus name change.
On Dec. 20, all campus TLS locations will be closed for one day due to campus wide migration to the mst.edu domain. As with slowdowns and service interruptions, IT requests your patience and understanding as we transition to the new mst.edu domain.
Note: Technology Learning Space (TLS) is the new name for rooms formerly known as CLCs.
If you have additional questions, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
Email Accounts Migrating to mst.edu
Starting on Friday, November 30, 2007, IT will begin moving mailboxes from the current UMR hardware to new Missouri S&T hardware. When your mailbox is moved, it will be unavailable for 15-30 minutes, depending on how much email you have when it is moved.
New Spam Filter and Larger Email Quotas
• Your email account quota will be increased to 1 GB.
• With improved and constantly updated spam filtering, you will receive less spam.
• There’s no need to register to the new spam filter. We’ve got you covered!
• You should start using your @mst.edu email address on December 20, 2007.
Mailbox Management and Cleanup
On the new mst.edu email server, deleted email items older than 90 days and junk mail older than 30 days will be removed from the server. Customers have a 10-day period in which deleted items can be recovered from the Exchange Dumpster. Items can be recovered by using the “Recover Deleted Items” option in the Outlook tools menu.
Note: Customers who have set up Outlook rules to filter spam email to a specified folder may need to make a slight change in the rule configuration.
University Website Moves to mst.edu
As a part of the university name change, the Missouri S&T website (mst.edu) is scheduled to go live on Dec. 20 and will feature an entirely new look and feel.
Note: The online transition to Missouri University of Science and Technology is now under way. To ensure that your current web content is transferred to the test Missouri S&T server, the Documentum web publisher interface will be unavailable starting on Friday, Dec. 14. Your websites will still be viewable, but you will not be able to make changes.
Please make all critical updates to your site by midnight Dec.13. This will allow us time to port all updated pages and then test the new environment so it is ready to launch on Dec. 20. Access to your updated website will be available to you again on Wednesday, Dec. 26.
Check back on Dec. 21 to see the new Missouri S&T website.
If you have additional questions, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.
If you plan on purchasing a wireless device during the winter holiday, make sure it is WPA-compatible.
The wireless network will be changing so that it will no longer be WEP-compatible. The changes being implemented are for additional network security.
Customers using laptops, PDAs and smartphones that access the wireless network will need to reconfigure their devices for the new system. Some customers may have devices that are not compatible with the new system and will need to contact the device manufacturers to download compatibility software.
Look for additional communications about this issue, including instructions for reconfiguring wireless devices, at the start of next semester.
Note: The new and the old systems will be active Jan. 8 - Mar. 4, 2008. After Mar. 4, devices that haven’t been reconfigured and/or upgraded will not have access to the campus wireless network.
If you have additional questions, please call the IT Help Desk at 573-341-HELP.