Dear Campus Community:

In an effort to provide a more stable and robust virtual work and learning environment, Information Technology Services (ITS) will be making the following modifications to the CSUCI Virtual Labs (CIVL) at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, May 29, 2020:

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This message is sent on behalf of Jim August, Chief Information Officer:

Dear colleagues,

Once again, Cal State Innovate (http://calstateinnovate.org/) at the CSU Chancellor's Office is pleased to offer cloud credits to support innovation, research and virtualization projects which use Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.

Here are the details:

• Up to $50,000 per proposal can be funded.
• A maximum of two proposals per campus will be accepted by the Chancellor's Office. Proposals will be submitted by the Chief Information Officer at each campus, and a maximum of two proposals per campus (1 for AWS, 1 for Azure) can be funded.
• You can submit your proposal for consideration.
• Proposal must be submitted using the above link by Friday, May 22 at 5:00PM.
• Credit recipients will be notified by the CSU Chancellor's Office. 
• Projects receiving AWS credits must be completed and funds used within 1 date of the campus' receipt of the credits. 
• Projects receiving Azure credits must be completed and funds used within 90 days of the first usage of the credits.  

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In our last post on the transition from paper to electronic processes, we shared information about how Adobe Sign tool that can help campus organizations with this transition. In today's post, we'd like to share some information about another powerful tool for moving to electronic business processes.

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In coping with our extraordinary circumstances, it is increasingly important to continue to transition campus forms & processes from paper to electronic formats whenever appropriate and possible. One tool that can facilitate this process is Adobe Sign.

As outlined in this earlier blog post, the campus is transitioning from Docusign to Adobe Sign for electronic signing of documents by June 1. Information Technology Services is offering regular training workshops in Adobe Sign for the campus community. You can RSVP for any of the upcoming workshops on the Adobe Sign support page.

If you can't make it to a workshop and would like to start using Adobe Sign, you can watch the 2-part training (2 hours total) on the CSUCI Adobe Sign support site.

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This message is sent on behalf of Jim August, Associate Vice President for Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer:

Dear colleagues,

The CSU Innovate program through the Chancellor's Office is pleased to offer another round of Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits to faculty, staff and campus organizations in support of technology pilot projects. (If you're unfamiliar with AWS, it's a powerful cloud-based platform for research computing. You can learn more about CSUCI's Amazon Web Services offering here)

AWS Project proposals may request up to $50,000 in credits for a single allocation to a single campus, and projects serving multiple campuses or the entire system may request up to $250,000.

To apply:

1. Carefully review the AWS Credits Governance document in PDF format 
2. Fill out the application here to submit your ideas for consideration. You will need a description (no more than 250 word per field) of the project, high-level project plan, assessment plan, sustainability plan, and dissemination plan.

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This message is sent on behalf of Jim August, Associate Vice President for Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer:

Dear colleagues,

The CSU Innovate program through the Chancellor's Office is pleased to offer another round of Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits to faculty, staff and campus organizations in support of technology pilot projects. (If you're unfamiliar with AWS, it's a powerful cloud-based platform for research computing. You can learn more about CSUCI's AWS offering here)

AWS Project proposals may request up to $50,000 in credits for a single allocation to a single campus, and projects serving multiple campuses or the entire system may request up to $250,000.

To apply:

1. Carefully review the AWS Credits Governance document in PDF format (myCI login required) 
2. Fill out the application here to submit your ideas for consideration. You will need a description (no more than 250 word per field) of the project, high-level project plan, assessment plan, sustainability plan, and dissemination plan.

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On Monday March 26th CI Records will split into two systems, CI Records and CI Personnel. CI Records will remain as CI’s Student Information System, and CI Personnel will become CI’s Human Resources Information System. This change, which originated from our software vendor (Oracle) and which is now being implemented across all CSU campuses, will separate the one information system into two.

On Thursday March 22nd, CI Records will be shut down at 4:00 pm to prepare, upgrade and convert it into the two new information systems, CI Records and CI Personnel.

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We're pleased to share some best practices for instructors or presenters who use the shared instructor workstations in CSUCI's shared classrooms and labs.

The recommended way to access files in our shared teaching and learning spaces (classrooms and labs) is through CI’s cloud-based, web accessible repositories: Dropbox@CI, CI Learn (Canvas), and CI Docs (Google). These repositories are configurable to allow users to organize and share files as needed. The strategy to provide cloud-based file sharing that is secure, robust, and scalable is preferred over maintaining on-site network share drives.

In shared classroom/lab environments, consistent and reliable workstations with little personalization are necessary to ensure that:

• each user has a predictable, consistent experience in the classroom;
• hardware can be quickly and easily replaced in hot swappable fashion as necessary; and
• resource allocations (disk space) are protected and controlled to provide the best performance possible for all users. 

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As you may know, in June 2017 the Division of Technology & Innovation (T&I) began deployment of Dropbox@CI (powered by Dropbox Business) for faculty & staff to use in lieu of their personal H network drive. Project background information can be found on the Dropbox@CI web site.

We understand that many of you have not been to complete this process over the summer in preparation for the fall semester, and therefore we have extended the deadline to migrate your H drive content to Dropbox@CI to Monday, October 2, 2017.

Still not signed up for Dropbox@CI?
This is what will happen this week:

1. You will receive an email with an invitation from Dropbox Business with the subject “CSUCI invited you to Dropbox Business”. Please accept this invitation. Visit the Dropbox@CI First Time Users Guide (in Google Docs) for sign-up instructions. 
2. Once you’ve completed your sign up, please follow these instructions to move your personal H drive files to Dropbox@CI.

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I'm pleased to report that the migration from Migration to Exchange Online and Microsoft Azure is nearly complete. 99% of employee & student assistant email accounts have been migrated (over 3400 accounts); any remaining accounts will be completed over the next week.

If you are experiencing problems accessing your mailbox after your account has been migrated, please follow these steps:

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Last week the Division of Technology & Innovation (T&I) began its migration from Migration to Exchange Online and Microsoft Azure. Moving to Exchange Online is an critical step in making sure that CSUCI's employee email system continues to be available anytime and anywhere, even in the event of a campus emergency.

To date, we have successfully completed migration of 1960 mailboxes, and are currently migrating at a rate of 500 mailboxes every 48 hours. We encourage you to review the migration schedule, which is posted on the Migration to Exchange Online and Microsoft Azure web page, to review the dates of your account migration in advance. During your migration window, you can continue to access your email via the "Webmail" link in myCI in the event that your Outlook desktop client is unavailable (see #2 below).

If you are experiencing problems accessing your mailbox after your account has been migrated, please follow these steps: 

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Tonight, the Division of Technology & Innovation begins moving of our campus-based Exchange email infrastructure to Exchange Online, in Microsoft's Azure cloud.

As a reminder, the first group of faculty, staff and student assistant email accounts is scheduled to begin tonight, Monday, August 7, 2017 at 7 p.m., and will occur in batches over the course of eight business days. The group migration schedule has been posted on the Migration to Exchange Online and Microsoft Azure web page (myCI login is required to view the schedule).

Please review the Exchange Online Migration Schedule (myCI login is required to view) to find when your email account is being migrated. If you experience any issues with email after your account has been migrated, please contact the T&I Help Desk at helpdesk@csuci.edu or call 805-437-8552. During the migration, T&I support technicians will be available to help answer questions and resolve issues.

On a related note: on the evening of Friday, August 4th, T&I successfully completed an important pre-requisite migration of all CSUCI Skype for Business (formerly known as Lync) accounts to the new Microsoft Azure infrastructure, in preparation for the Exchange Online migration. If you experience any issues using Skype for Business, please contact the T&I Help Desk at helpdesk@csuci.edu or call 805-437-8552.

We appreciate your patience and support as we complete this important migration. Please direct and project-related questions to project manager Asha Ramachandra at asha.ramachandra@csuci.edu. 

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As was previously announced, is moving of our campus-based Exchange email infrastructure to Exchange Online, in Microsoft's Azure cloud.

This migration is part of T&I's ongoing commitment to providing rock-solid, reliable and sustainable technology infrastructure for the campus. Moving to Exchange Online is a critical step in making sure that our employee email system continues to be available anytime and anywhere, even in the event of a campus emergency.

With Exchange Online, employees can continue to use Outlook on their desktop and connect to their CSUCI email from their web browser and smartphone. Exchange Online also provides larger mailbox storage, improved security, and a new user-friendly, web-based email interface.

To date, T&I has successfully migrated several groups of test users with very few issues. Migration of the bulk of faculty, staff and student assistant email accounts is scheduled to begin on Monday, August 7, 2017 at 7 p.m., and will occur in batches over the course of five business days. During the migration, T&I support technicians will be available to help answer questions and resolve issues.

Further details on the migration, including timeline, latest news, batch migration groupings, and other details will be available on the Migration to Exchange Online and Microsoft Azure web page.

We appreciate your patience and support as we complete this important migration. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact project manager Asha Ramachandra, asha.ramachandra@csuci.edu or Director of IT Strategy Peter Mosinskis at peter.mosinskis@csuci.edu.

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The Division of Technology & Innovation (T&I) is working on a project to migrate our existing campus-based Exchange email infrastructure to Exchange Online, in Microsoft's Azure cloud.

This migration is a lynchpin in CI's ongoing disaster recovery and business continuity planning efforts, as it will help ensure availability of CI's administrative email system for faculty & staff in the event of damage to our campus data center. Exchange Online also provides greater redundancy and makes email growth easier to manage and afford.

For most users, the migration to Exchange Online will be seamless and transparent. Most users will be able to continue to use with current Microsoft Outlook desktop client (some users of older version of Outlook, Windows or Mac operating systems may be required to upgrade.) Access to campus webmail via myCI will continue to function as normal, and migrated users will be directed to a familiar and updated Microsoft webmail interface. For those of you that use Microsoft Hotmail, the new Outlook Web Access user interface will look very familiar. Visit the Microsoft Outlook Web App support site for more information about the new user interface.

Tonight (6/9/2017), T&I will complete its first migration of a pilot group of 10 pre-selected users to the new Exchange and Azure infrastructure. These pilot users will help debug the initial migration, and provide valuable feedback for planning of the next migration waves. Next, a second group of 10 pilot users will be selected from the campus community for migration to the new infrastructure. If you wish to participate in the second pilot group, please contact Asha Ramachandra at asha.ramachandra@csuci.edu to discuss the details.

Once testing is completed, during the next phase of the project, faculty & staff accounts will be migrated in groups to Exchange Online. We look forward to providing additional information to the campus community in the next few weeks about the timing and groupings. Based on the current project schedule, T&I expects to complete the Exchange migration before the start of fall 2017 classes.

Please contact Asha Ramachandra at asha.ramachandra@csuci.edu with any further questions about this project, and thank you for your patience while we complete this important migration.

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Thanks to a new agreement between CSU Channel Islands (CI) and Amazon, faculty and campus departments now have access to provision affordable, high-performance research computing resources through Amazon Web Services (AWS) on an as-needed, pay-as-you-go basis, including virtual servers, storage and databases and other services.

Because of our agreement, T&I's master AWS account and billing arrangement enables faculty & departments to create their own AWS linked accounts and facilitates management of central billing and cost-recovery by T&I.

CI's Computer Science program is an early adopter of the new service and has already seen a dramatic difference in reduction of processing time for their computing resources. We're glad to share in their immediate success, and excited to share this new opportunity with the CI community.

Please visit the CI Amazon Web Services web site for more details about AWS service and learn how to get started.

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There are all sorts of days to celebrate during the year such as Mother's Day and Father's Day, and even some more off-the-wall days such as National Fried Chicken Day, Talk Like a Pirate Day, and a personal favorite, National Pancake Day.  But today is an extra special day that should be added to everyone's calendars.  Today is International Password Day!

International Password Day gives us all the opportunity to stop and reflect on what makes a good password, and how we can best protect our work and personal data by using strong password concepts.

To help you along, there's even a website dedicated too helping you figure out what makes a good password, how to deal with keeping track of the never ending list of passwords, mobile device passwords, and even some funny stories about password catastrophes!

Please take the time in joining your information security team in making every day a strong password day!

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In simplest terms, cloud computing is a subscription-based or free service where you can obtain networked storage space and other computer resources through via the Internet. While these systems may remove the need for owning physical components, they also introduce new risks to your information. Before you float your digital assets to the cloud, make sure you take the appropriate steps to protect yourself.

Know your needs. Before you start, make sure you carefully plan what your security and privacy needs are. This includes knowing what your legal and regulatory requirements are for protecting data.
Read the contracts. End User License Agreements and Service Level Agreements are important because they describe the terms and conditions of the cloud service. If you're not sure of what they do or do not provide, contact the provider to clarify the services.
Protect Your Machine. Enable your firewall, use anti-virus/malware and anti-spyware software.
Protect your data. Don't store unencrypted sensitive information in the cloud. You don't know with whom you're sharing the cloud!

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A new video released by SANS.org is available this month to help you learn what the cloud is and how you can use it securely.

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In August, we posted an announcement about CI Docs, a new service for students, faculty and staff that makes sharing and collaborating on documents faster and easier than ever.

We're very pleased to welcome CI Docs, powered by Google Apps for Education, as the newest member of a growing family of technology services focused on collaboration, mobility and productivity.

Here are the top 5 benefits of using CI Docs:

1. Create, collaborate and share documents with just your web browser. With CI Docs, members of the CI community can create and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations in real-time, using only a web browser; no additional software is required.
   
2. Control how you share your documents. CI Docs users can share their documents with friends, other students, faculty and colleagues outside of CI, while controlling access to view and edit as desired.
   
3. Access documents anywhere and anytime. Students & employees can access CI Docs using any computer with a modern web browser (such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer)  including mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Forgot your thumb drive at home? No problem; files stored in CI Docs live "in the cloud", and can be accessed from anywhere you have internet access and a modern browser.
   
4. Lots of free storage and many supported file types. Each CI Docs user can store up to 5GB of documents right from their web browser, and CI Docs users can view over 15 popular file formats.
   
5. Convert Microsoft Office files for real-time collaboration. Just upload your documents to CI Docs, and choose the option to convert when prompted. You're now ready to share the document and collaborate with friends and colleagues online and in real-time. Certain restrictions to real-time collaboration do apply. 

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I'm presenting a webinar today entitled "Who Needs a Data Center? A Mixed Strategy for Cloud Migration in Higher Education." Take a look, live or archived!

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