ISG News has posted a new item, 'Results of IT services survey'
Thank you to all of you who participated in our IT services survey in late
October. More than one third of you completed the questionnaire and the feedback
has been extremely positive. The Department Head and ISG have evaluated the
results and would like to say thanks to everybody involved.
We have received many helpful comments that deserve an answer. Since the survey
was anonymous, we have no way of getting back to each responder individually, so
we compiled the questions, answers and comments on a nifty website that we
invite you to visit:
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/it-survey/
You can browse the results, read the comments and click on the little speech
bubbles to read our answers. There are a couple of topics that are sufficiently
common and generic that we would like to address them here:
* WiFi: yes we know it's not great, but we cannot immediately fix it as it is a
service of Informatikdienste. We are working together with our colleagues of ID
to resolve the problems and improve WiFi service on the campus.
* many of the wishes and problems raised in your comments actually have already
been solved by us. Also,
* there seems to be a positive correlation between how often people contact us
and their satisfaction with out services. So:
Please talk to us! We can only help you if you tell us about your problem, and
we hate unsolved problems. So we're going to try hard to fix them.
Thanks for you attention and we're looking forward to serving you in the
future.
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/12/14/results-of-it-services-survey/
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Christian Herzog
daduke(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'Emergency Downtime of Mail Server'
We had to shut down the mail server on short notice for replacing faulty
hardware. Mail service should be back in the evening.
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/12/02/emergency-downtime-of-mail-server/
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Axel Beckert
beckert(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'New SSH Host Keys on Managed Linux Machines and
partial BackupPC outage'
After several years it was time to update the SSH host keys of our managed Linux
machines. Therefore, if you reconnect with SSH, you might get a warning similar
to this one:
ssh login.phys.ethz.ch
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the RSA key sent by the remote host is
36:04:d8:3d:89:a2:76:19:ef:b6:f0:0a:f2:5c:81:a3.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in ~/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending key in ~/.ssh/known_hosts:1
RSA host key for login.phys.ethz.ch has changed and you have requested strict
checking.
Host key verification failed.
This is because your computer has memorized the previous host key and is bailing
because the current one is different. This mechanism is designed to prevent
users from man-in-the-middle attacks. In our case it can be treated as a mere
notification that the SSH key has changed.
In order to get rid of this warning, you simply need to delete the old key from
your ~/.ssh/known_hosts file. This can be done either by deleting the entry
manually or with the following command
ssh-keygen -R login.phys.ethz.ch
for the machine you try to ssh into.
On the next SSH connection you will be prompted to accept the new key. Power
users may also download the full list of SSH keys of all our managed Linux
computers.
On a side note, one of our BackupPC servers is currently offline because of a
broken capacitor on the mainboard. Hosts connected to backuppc2.phys.ethz.ch
will not be able to make backups or restore files until the broken part has been
repaired.
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/08/12/new-ssh-host-keys-on-managed-linux…
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Claude Becker
becker(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'Hardware Maintenance Downtime of Mail Server
Today 5pm'
In order to perform system-level maintenance work, we schedule a maintenance
downtime of the D-PHYS mail server today (Thursday, 2nd of July 2015) starting
at 17:00. We expect the downtime to take about one hour.
During the downtime all mail services (sending mail, receiving mail, accessing
mailboxes, webmail, etc.) will be unavailable. Mails sent to D-PHYS users during
the downtime will be held back on the sending side and will be delivered after
the downtime.
We will post an update as soon as mail services are back.
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/07/02/hardware-maintenance-downtime-of-m…
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Axel Beckert
beckert(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'Windows Server 2003 reaches its End-of-Life on
July 2015'
Microsoft will provide a final bunch of patches for Windows Server 2003 on July
14th. 2015. After then, no more security and stability fixes are going to be
released. This means that still running Windows Server 2003 machines conflict
with the ETH Bot (Acceptable Use Policy for Telematics) which requires that
every computer connected to the ETH network must be fully updated and secured.
The central IT security group of ETHZ continuously inspects the network streams
for signatures of XP and Windows Server 2003 computers. If you have a running
Windows Server 2003 machine connected to the public network, please migrate the
operating system to a newer version i.e Windows Server 2012.
If you have any questions or need help please do not hesitate to contact the ISG
D-PHYS Helpdesk
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/06/25/windows-server-2003-reaches-its-en…
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Patrick Frei
frei(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'Used hardware bargain bin / yard sale'
ISG sits on a pile of older hardware that for various reasons cannot be used in
our setup any more but that various people have expressed interest in and that
still might be useful for certain scenarios (e.g. lab use or tinkering at home).
We will therefore host two grab-your-used-piece-of-hardware sessions:
Window 1: hardware outside of the ETH live cycle, mainly old computers
(PowerPC-Macs and PCs) and TFT monitors, free of charge for both ETH-internal
and private use: Wed Apr 22 - Fri Apr 24 in HPT H floor
Window 2: not-quite-as-old hardware, mostly TFT monitors and printers, free of
charge for ETH-internal use, prices for private use according to the rules: Wed
Apr 29 and Thu Fri 30 in HPT H floor
As usual, some rules apply:
this goes to all D-PHYS members
no registration necessary. Just come by and take whatever is left.
all items come as they are. We do not have any details or specifications
there’s no warranty or service whatsoever. All devices have successfully been
turned on, but that’s it
if your item doesn’t turn on, you can bring it back within 5 days and get a
full refund (if it wasn't free in the first place)
no OS, no software, no manual, no keyboard, often no cables. You get one piece
of hardware. All HDs are blank
all proceeds go to the D-PHYS funds, not ISG
if you have no use for a computer without OS or software, don’t come
shopping
bring cash
note that the printers are not meant to undermine the migration to the new
printing system! We will not connect those printers to our old print server
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/04/17/used-hardware-bargain-bin-yard-sal…
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Christian Herzog
daduke(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'new ISG staff member'
It is my pleasure to welcome Christian Schneider into our group. He joins us to
replace Elmar Heeb in the Linux team.
Welcome Christian!
That's just enough Christians for now.
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/03/05/new-isg-staff-member-4/
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Christian Herzog
daduke(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'Short-term maintenance downtime'
As a probable aftermath of last week's power outage we are experiencing some
issues with the file system on our home directory server which can only be
repaired offline. We therefore schedule a maintenance window
Today, Monday Feb 2, 2015, starting at 22:00
The duration of the downtime cannot be estimated but should not exceed two
hours. During this time you will not be able to access your home folder or
receive new D-PHYS email. All incoming mail will be queued for later
processing.
Thank you for your understanding.
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/02/02/short-term-maintenance-downtime/
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Christian Herzog
daduke(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'new ISG staff member'
It is my pleasure to welcome Christian Ringger into our group. He joins us to
replace Thomas Berchtold in the Windows team.
Welcome Christian!
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2015/01/08/new-isg-staff-member-3/
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Christian Herzog
daduke(a)phys.ethz.ch
ISG News has posted a new item, 'Maintenance downtime for group share and home
directory fileservers'
In order to upgrade the operating system on serveral servers, we schedule a
maintenance downtime on
Sunday, 4th January 2015, starting at 22:00.
Schedule:
22:15 start working on the home server (mail services disabled, incoming mail
will be queued)
22:20 start working on the group share servers (windata & astrogate)
~ 22:45 home directories and mail services should work again
~ 00:00 group shares will incrementally come back during the night
During the downtime you can access readonly backups of your data of the night
before, take a look at our readme.
We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this service interruption might
cause.
You may view the latest post at
https://nic.phys.ethz.ch/news/2014/12/19/maintenance-downtime-for-group-sha…
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Schmid Patrick
schmid(a)phys.ethz.ch