Wireless network interruption 2/24/2011 11:30 AM - noon

All wireless networks in the district will be down for approximately thirty minutes tomorrow, beginning at 11:30 AM, so that we can upgrade and expand our wireless control systems. We are bringing in outside consultants as part of a multi-day project and this is the latest we could do it and still be done in time for Monday. There will be some sporadic outages on Friday as we physically replace some access points, mainly at OHS and OMS, but none systemwide.

Why we use network-based security devices

This article is a good example of why we use a network-based security scanner.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/15/bbc_driveby_download/

Basically, users who simply visit a legitimate website (BBC) could be infected by malware, even if their computers have anti-virus installed. Only nine of the top forty-three anti-virus programs found the malware.  This is why we use not only desktop anti-virus, but also a network security scanner. The network security device is updated continuously, so when such vulnerabilities are detected, they can be blocked, even if they are on a legitimate website.

We are also piloting the use of a "Secure Web Gateway" network appliance to scan all traffic in real time, which would provide another layer of protection.

Login server back online, at least for now

The server that processes logins and hosts the Navigator Page seems to be stable, at least for now. (Last time I sent out this good news, it was very short-lived, so cross your fingers.) We have a plan for researching this issue and making long-term fixes depending on the root cause*.

Please note that whenever we encounter problems that prevent people from accessing email, we post updates to the tech blog at http://osdtech.blogspot.com/ That might be an address worth bookmarking.

Many thanks to Chris Brown for his work restoring services and doing detective work on this issue. We'd still be down if it weren't for his expertise.

Thank you all for your patience.

New Navigator Page

There is a new OSD Navigator Page at http://www.oregon.k12.wi.us/nav/

Some of the services will still not work because they rely on LDAP logins, which are processed by the same server that is down. We are working on fixing this, but it's really messy.

Navigator page is up and down- here are some links you need.

Update: Aaaand, it's down again. (08:20). Apparently we haven't figured out the root cause yet. See below for links you may need. Note that some of these services rely on the same server that is having problems, so they may not work even though you have the link.

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Update: The OSD Navigator page is working again (08:07 AM).

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Here are the links it normally contains. (It's being updated on the fly, so check back soon if what you need isn't available yet).

PowerSchool for Teachers- http://ps.oregonsd.org/teachers/
PowerSchool for office staff- http://ps.oregonsd.org/admin/

Moodle- http://moodle.oregonsd.net

Skyward self-service- https://skywardea-win.iscorp.com/cgi-bin10/cgiip.exe/WService=wsermaoregonwi/seplog01.w

Staff mail- http://mail.oregonsd.net
Student mail- http://mail.students.oregonsd.net

Aesop online substitute system http://www.aesopeducation.com/

Google Apps logins restored

Update:
Regular (LDAP) login to Google Apps has been restored as of 3:30 PM. It was the result of a combination of a permissions error and a change made by the IT department. Sorry about that.

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Many users are unable to log in to Google Apps. This seems to be caused by an issue with the link between Google and our LDAP server. We are working on fixing the problem.

You can still access email using an IMAP connection, such as with a smart phone.