Category: Support Information
Network Systems – three new ServiceNow assignment groups
A change was made in ServiceNow to add additional assignment groups for the Network Systems team. Please continue to assign tickets to Network Systems. Their managers will then parse tickets out to the appropriate new groups as needed.
ServiceNow Screenshot:
Blackboard Learn policy change on copying and restoring courses
As of today, courses older than five years as well as any CourseInfo courses (LMS used prior to Blackboard 8) will no longer be copied or restored into Blackboard Learn. This was a policy decision made by the Blackboard Learn service owners and Steering Committee.
In the Copy a site section of the Blackboard Learn support form at http://www.bu.edu/help/blackboard, the Blackboard 8 courses that an instructor is enrolled in will no longer show up automatically. Their Blackboard Learn courses will be the only ones to automatically populate on the form. The search feature can be used, but it will only bring up Blackboard 8 courses from within the past five years.
Any courses older than five years on any platform (CourseInfo, Blackboard 8, Blackboard Vista or Blackboard Learn) will not show up in the form’s search results. For any client insisting that they restore a course older than five years, assign the ticket to the Educational Technology, Training, & Outreach group with an internal note requesting that the Blackboard Learn service owner be assigned the ticket.
This information can also be viewed in KB article number KB0010611.
Power outages Monday night, June 16th – Tuesday morning, June 17th
For the following times and locations, please associate tickets regarding these areas with the Change number identified:
11pm-5am
775 Commonwealth Ave (GSU)
CHG024333
Midnight-1am
771 Comm Ave (Mugar Library)
755 Comm Ave. (MET)
745 Comm Ave. (STH)
765 Comm Ave. (Heat Plant)
CHG024337
1am-7am
264-270 Bay State Road (SSW)
CHG024335
BUworks renamed in ServiceNow
Client Service "BUworks (SAP)" was renamed to "Finance/HR/Procurement Systems". Service Components under that Client Service still retain "BUworks" in their names, so your best bet in finding the Service Component you are looking for is to search in the Service Component field for BUworks* and by selecting the Service Component, the Client Service will be backfilled.
There have been other cosmetic tweaks to the existing BUworks Service Components, such as the removal of dashes.
Finally, there is a pending change to the ESS and MSS Service Components that will combine them into one Service Component. You will be notified separately when that has been done.
Academic Year Points refund/rollover May 17th @ 11:30pm
We have been notified that as of Saturday, May 17th, at 11:30pm, Academic Year points will be refunded/rolled over. This means that graduating seniors will no longer be able to pay using Points. This is important to you because they may report it as an issue with MyPrint.
So please keep this in mind starting on Sunday, May 18th, for any recent graduates that may report an issue paying for prints with Points.
Service Components in ServiceNow renamed for Graduate Systems, Undergraduate Systems, and Research Computing
The following Service Components in ServiceNow were renamed today:
"Graduate Systems" is now "Graduate Admissions"
"Undergraduate Systems" is now "Undergraduate Admissions"
"Research Computing - Computation" is now "Research Computation"
"Research Computing - Visualization" is now "Research Visualization"
"Research Computing Consulting & Training" is now "Research Consulting & Training"
Security Alert – A new Java exploit is out, no patch is available
A new zero-day vulnerability in Java—a Poison Ivy variant—has been discovered and exploits are being found in the wild. The flaw affects all versions of Oracle's Java 7 (version 1.7) on all supported platforms. No patch is available at this time. Java 6 and earlier are currently unaffected (although this is doubtlessly being worked on as we speak).
If your machine is either being managed by IS&T using KACE or is running Blackboard, your machine should be running Java version 6 and is currently not affected by this issue. Otherwise, you should read the recommendations below.
You can test your machine here: http://www.isjavaexploitable.com/
In order for this vulnerability to be exploited, you have to visit a web page or follow a link to an infected site. If you get hit with this, the software can do anything with your computer that you can. Rapid7, a security research company, has released the above tool to test if your machine is exploitable through Java.
A copy of this message will be posted to TechWeb (www.bu.edu/tech) for reference. Check there for further updates and information regarding this issue.
Recommendations:
• If you are not using any programs that require Java, remove it from your system altogether. Java is one of the most heavily exploited platforms in the world today due to its almost ubiquitous presence.
• If you have to have Java for a specific program, but don’t need it for the web pages you visit, disable Java for universal use on your browsers. (Links for how to do this are below.) It is safest to allow use of Java browser plug-ins on a case-by-case basis when prompted for permission by trusted programs.
• If you can't do that, at least confine your browsing to regular commercial sites which, while not immune from being infected, are typically more carefully maintained and monitored and represent a lower risk. This is not a reliable security approach, but it is better than nothing.
How to disable Java...
...in Safari: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5241
...in IE: http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahqx.html
...in FireFox: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/How%20to%20turn%20off%20Java%20applets
(For Firefox on Mac OS X, it is like Windows XP (Tools > Add-ons))
...in Chrome: While in Chrome, enter this URL: chrome://plugins/ then click "Disable" under Java.
To read the Story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/java-update-hackers_n_1834815.html
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/08/28/unpatched-java-exploit-spreads-like-wildfire/
BUworks Reporting Ticket Guidlines
Before escalating a ticket to the BUworks Reporting team, the following must be obtained from the client.
• The folder and name of the report
• The variables used to run the report
• A screenshot or excel dump of the problem
Their is also a KB entry at https://bu.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0010560
Gatekeeper Prevents Installation of Supported Software
Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)'s new Gatekeeper feature may prevent the installation of software distributed from TechWeb and supported by IS&T. Software developed by an "unidentified developer" will, by default, be blocked by Gatekeeper.
In addition to a ServiceNow knowledge base article regarding this issue, Information Security has created instructions for disabling (both temporarily and more permanently) Gatekeeper, which are available on their website.
BUworks Business Warehouse reporting Unavailable 5pm Friday July 13th thru 7am Monday July 16th
The Integrated Planning (IP) budget development program loads are being completed this weekend which require that Business Warehouse (BW) be unavailable for usage. Business Warehouse (BW) reporting will be unavailable from 5pm Friday July 13th thru 7am Monday July 16th, 2012.