IT NEXT
Learn more about the technology innovation and changes occurring at the University of Cincinnati.
View a calendar and list of service changes using the Change Management webapp (requires UC login).
Need help? Please submit a ticket or call the IT@UC Service Desk at (513) 556-HELP (4357).
In IT Together
IT@UC continues to support the technology needs of students, faculty, and staff during this period of remote operations at the university.
We are working around-the-clock to ensure you have the best possible remote teaching, learning, and working experience throughout the evolving Coronavirus (COVID-19) response.
- Increased capacity of the university’s network and VPN to accommodate additional traffic.
- Temporarily shifted our classroom support teams to the IT@UC Service Desk to reduce wait-times.
- Partnered with offices including Public Safety and Purchasing to support the timely distribution of laptops, Chromebooks, and iPads to students, faculty, and staff.
- Partnered with the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning to enhance the remote teaching and learning experience with tools such as Honorlock for proctored testing and Microsoft Teams for all spring semester classes.
- Partnered with the Office of Research to make HPC resources available for COVID-19 related research.
- Expanded remote access to computer lab software with MyDesk.uc.edu.
You can view more information online about resources to support you while working remotely.
The IT@UC Office of Information Security (OIS) has observed an increase in malicious cyber-activity, email, and phone scams related to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. OIS continuously monitors for suspicious behavior and works to protect university data.
Please be on the lookout for COVID-19-related phishing emails and scams. We also encourage everyone in the UC community to continue to use only those IT systems, services, and applications supported by UC. OIS offers additional resources and guidance to help you maintain your vigilance for information security online.
The IT@UC Service Desk continues to offer help from 7 a.m.-11 p.m., Monday-Friday; and 8 a.m.-11 p.m., Saturday-Sunday. In addition, we offer around-the clock assistance with Blackboard, Canvas, and other Canopy tools such as Kaltura, WebEx, Echo360, and more.
- Check Self Help Guides on the IT@UC Knowledge Base.
- Contact the IT@UC Service Desk.
- Submit a ticket.
- For general IT support: call (513) 556-HELP (4357) OR (866) 397-3382.
- For support with Blackboard, Canvas, and other Canopy tools: call (513) 556-HELP (4357) OR (866) 397-3382 and select option 3 in the menu. Or, start a chat using the "Start a Canopy Chat" button.
Supporting COVID-19 Research
Priority Access to Office of Research HPC Cluster
Research related to COVID-19 will receive priority access to the high-performance computing resources established by the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) initiative within the Office of Research.
- Examining underlying protein structure.
- Classifying the evolution of the virus.
- Understanding mutation.
- Uncovering important differences and similarities with the 2002-2003 SARS virus.
- Searching for potential vaccine and antiviral compounds.
- Simulating the spread of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of countermeasure options.
Remote access to the Office of Research HPC cluster requires a VPN connection.
Contact IT@UC Research Computing Services for more information.
- Email: Jane.Combs@uc.edu
- Call or text: 513-484-8162
*Per the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) Community Notice for Extraordinary Support for COVID-19 Research, March 16, 2020.
Be prepared for possible disruptions by implementing checkpointing in your code.
IT@UC Research Computing Services is investigating mechanisms for automated checkpointing utilizing the SLURM resource manager.
If successful, these features would be enabled during a future second Tuesday of the month maintenance day.
We do not expect any impact on the services and support provided for the pilot HPC Cluster.
We continue to monitor the hardware and provide remote support.
Contact us to request assistance.
- Email: arc_info@uc.edu
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s COVID-19 HPC Consortium seeks to expedite applications for advanced computing research to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers interested in conducting this timely work are asked to submit research proposals to the COVID-19 Online Portal, which is managed by the NSF XSEDE’s XRAS team.
Research requests, especially those related to the COVID-19 effort, may apply for expedited startup allocations for Jetstream computing resources. Jetstream offers interactivity without batch processing.
Applications must include a three-to-four sentence research description and a vita.
The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) offers unique capabilities that the scientific community may leverage for the COVID-19 response and recovery. Faculty researchers from UC other Ohio higher education institutions are already engaged in these efforts.
Examples of the types of special support OSC can provide include:
- Priority, unbilled access to OSC computational and storage resources for COVID-19 research.
- Flexible billing terms and prices for clients anticipating negative economic impacts.
- Remote, virtual computing lab resources for classroom instructors and educators.
- Connections to domain experts in academia and industry.
- View more about available OSC support during COVID-19 crisis
Contact IT@UC Research Computing Services for more information.
- Email: Jane.Combs@uc.edu
- Call or text: 513-484-8162
Globus helps researchers move and share data with collaborators.
Every institution engaged in COVID-19 research can access all Globus at no cost.
The NSF Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence Pilot, Trusted CI, and the Science Gateways Community Institute are helping the science community tackle research to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Expert cyberinfrastructure consulting areas include:
- Data management and visualization
- Workflow management
- Use of cloud resources, high-performance clusters, or distributed resources
- Science gateway technology
- Cybersecurity
- Compliance
Priority will be given to active projects related to COVID-19; however, proposal-writing assistance is available to support new projects related to the pandemic.
- Email: covid19@trustedci.org
- View information about Zooniverse
- View information about XSEDE
Lynda.com is now LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers thousands of courses for students, faculty, and staff to level up their game in the new year.
Redirected links from Lynda.com to LinkedIn Learning content expired Monday, March 30, 2020.
- Learn how to replace your Lynda.com links.
Go-live date postponed for ServiceNow portal
IT@UC has postponed the March 31 go-live of the ServiceNow portal. The ServiceNow Project Team will continue working behind-the-scenes during this period of remote operations at the university.
User Acceptance Testing sessions originally scheduled for Monday, March 16-Friday, March 27, will also be rescheduled to a later date.
Updated: ServiceNow Technician Training
NOTE: Request privileged access to ServiceNow before you start Technician Training. University policy requires completion of the privileged access request process prior to accessing and completing ServiceNow Technician Training.
The Staff Success Center optimized online ServiceNow Technician Training for accessibility. The updated version is available in SuccessFactors.
- If you completed the earlier version of the training, you do not need to take it again.
- If you started the earlier version, but didn't finish it yet, you'll need to complete the updated version.
Only UC employees who will create and process tickets using ServiceNow (e.g. current TeamDynamix users) need to complete online ServiceNow Technician Training in SuccessFactors.
Read more on Bearcats Landing.
Blackboard & Canvas
The University of Cincinnati will end its contract with Blackboard on June 30, 2020. Faculty members will not have access to Blackboard after that date.
View more information about the transition to Canvas.
Blackboard is UC's legacy learning management system, part of the Canopy eLearning toolset. Updates to Blackboard are set through IT Governance and are selected to coordinate with the academic calendar.
| Date | Deadline Description |
|---|---|
| Second Thursday of every month, 5AM-7AM; Thursdays after exam weeks |
Recurring Updates (require minimal, if any, interruption to Blackboard service) |
| January 28 |
Fall 2018 student enrollment disabled |
| February 11 |
Summer 2019 College templates due |
| February 19 |
Summer 2019 courses created and instructor enrollments added |
| April 23 |
Summer 2019 student enrollments added |
| May 28 |
Spring 2019 student enrollment disabled |
| June 3 |
Fall 2019 college templates due |
| June 11 |
Fall 2019 courses created and instructor enrollments added |
| August 6 | Fall 2019 Student enrollments added |
| September 10 | Summer 2019 students disabled |
| September 30 | Spring 2020 college templates due |
| October 8 | Spring 2020 courses created and instructor enrollments added |
| December 17 | Spring 2020 student enrollments added |
| January 28 | Fall 2019 students disabled |
| February 10 | Summer 2020 College templates due |
| February 18 | Summer 2020 courses created and instructor enrollments added |
| April 21 | Summer 2020 Student enrollments added |
| May 26 | Spring 2020 students disabled |
Prepare for applications and systems reaching End of Service
Several popular operating systems or applications will reach End of Service (EOS) this year:
- Exchange Server 2010 (10/13/20)
- Office 2010 (10/13/20)
- RHEL 5 Server (11/30/20)
University policy requires that information systems be maintained to protect against vulnerabilities. Systems that reach End of Service (EOS) will not receive security or non-security updates from the vendor, typically resulting in catastrophic vulnerabilities within a short period of time.
Please start appropriate planning to upgrade or decommission systems prior to these dates.
- Please contact the UC Office of Information Security with any questions or concerns.
- View a complete list of Applications and Operating Systems Reaching End of Service in 2020.
Network & Telephone Refresh Project
Telephone system replacement currently underway during the third phase of the project.
The IT NEXT: Network & Telephone Replacement Project Team has paused the Telephone Refresh Project during this period of remote operations at the university.
The IT NEXT: Network & Telephone Refresh Project will provide the university a smarter, faster, and more secure network that meets the ever-increasing demands for reliable and robust connectivity.
Phase 3, the Telephone System Replacement, is currently underway. View the schedule page for more information on building refresh schedules and what to expect during the telephone refresh process.
About the Project
The multi-year project will refresh critical components of the university’s IT infrastructure in four phases.
- Phase 1 Wired IT Network Replacement: 1,094 new network switches in 114 buildings (to date) across the university.
- Phase 2 Wireless IT Network Replacement: 4,154 new wireless access points (to date) throughout the university.
- Phase 3 Telephone System Replacement: Phase 3 upgrades the university’s phone system to an Internet-based Voice-over-IP phone system for increased stability, ease-of-maintenance and scalability. This step includes upgrades to all desk and phone lines.
- Electrical Upgrades: The Office of the University Architect and P+D+C will assess and complete any necessary renovations and electrical upgrades in network equipment rooms to accommodate the new equipment as part of the overall project.
Office 365 Collaboration Tools
In partnership with IT managers across the university and the Staff Success Center, IT@UC released Office 365 to all UC staff and faculty. Office 365 includes the Office Professional Plus desktop applications that you already know and love, and takes them to the next level by fully integrating them with the Office 365 cloud platform.
What’s new in Office 365?
- 100 GB Outlook mailbox
- 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage
- Easy document collaboration and sharing from any Office application
- 5 installations of Office Professional Plus applications for your work or personal computers
- 5 installations of Office Mobile apps for iOS and Android mobile devices
- Microsoft Teams for informal, team-based collaboration – Instant Messaging, document sharing, co-authoring, video/audio calling and more, all in one place! (View the Interactive Demo.)
- Built-in Accessibility tools
- Workflow automation with Flow
- Digital storytelling with Sway
- And much, much more!
How do I get Office 365?
All of the new Office 365 tools will become available to you automatically and are accessible in any modern web browser.
- Log in via https://mail.uc.edu or https://portal.office.com to start collaborating
- Connect your Office 2016 desktop/mobile applications to your account for an even more connected, collaborative experience
How can I learn more about the new Office 365 tools and features?
- View the Office Training Center for an overview of what each application can do, and how it integrates with the rest of the Office 365 suite.
- View the Staff Success Center Website for details on additional educational opportunities–including instructor led classes, eLearning, and more.