Service Updates » Bulletin

Advice to all Schools – Scomis Service Desk Closure – Tuesday 28th June.

Jun 282011

On Tuesday 28th June the Scomis Service Desk will be closed from 1.45pm until 4.45pm. This is to allow for a Scomis Staff training event.
All other Scomis Managed Services will continue to be available throughout.

Should you need to contact us then please either leave a message on our voicemail or email us at scomis@devon.gov.uk

In the event of an Emergency then a call can be logged using the following number 07896516169.
We would ask that this number is only used in the event of a High Impact incident or Major Outage.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Interruption to ScoMIS Telephony Service: Resolved

Information, Service Outage, Service Updates

Jan 132011

The ScoMIS Telephony issues have now been resolved. Our third party suppliers have attended site and rectified the problem. This outage affected all Devon County Council sites based at Sowton, Topsham and Exmouth and was not just isolated to ScoMIS.

The Service Desk is fully operational once more.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the disruption to our Service provision.

Simon Lovegrove
ScoMIS Service Desk Manager

Advice to all Schools – ScoMIS Service Desk Closure – Thursday 13th January.

Information, Service Updates

Jan 122011

On Thursday 13th January the ScoMIS Service Desk will be closed from 09:00 am until 13:00pm. This is to allow for a ScoMIS Staff training event.
All other ScoMIS Managed Services will continue to be available throughout.

Should you need to contact us then please either leave a message on our voicemail or email us at ScoMIS@devon.gov.uk.

In the event of an Emergency then a call can be logged using the following number 07896516169.
We would ask that this number is only used in the event of a High Impact incident or Major Outage.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Disruption to ScoMIS Services on 03/12/10

Service Outage, Service Updates

Dec 032010

Schools were unable to access the Hosted Terminal Server, ScoMIS Remote Support, Sims Learning Gateway and Attix services hosted at Great Moor House for a period of around 3 hours on Thursday morning. Investigations within SWGfL are still underway, but the main cause appears to have been some overnight work on the SWGfL firewalls (managed by RM IHG) prior to moving to a new firewall platform. An error occurred in the rule sets, disrupting routing to ScoMIS servers. When this was identified, the correct firewall rules were reapplied and the problem resolved.

In a separate issue, the main link to ScoMIS went down in the early hours of Thursday morning - our resilient circuit took over and reverted back when the problem was cleared, with no noticeable break in service.

Discussions are underway to establish how this was able to happen, and to avoid issues like this in the future.

Update to KMS Licence Server

Service Outage, Service Updates

Oct 132010

We are currently undertaking work to upgrade our Windows KMS Licence Server to allow ScoMIS to release Office 2010 to schools. During this process schools may receive messages that their Windows product is no longer registered.

If schools do receive a "not registered" message, don't worry, Windows will automatically try to update its licence every few hours. Until a new licence is obtained Windows may run in Reduced Functionality Mode with certain Windows features being unavailable.

Further information to follow.

MESSAGE FROM SWGfL – Network Upgrade Friday 10th & Saturday 11th Sept – Loss of Service to Connectivity and ScoMIS Hosted Services

Information, Service Outage, Service Updates, SWGfL

Sep 102010

All Schools will have already been notified of the switchover to the new Central Network Facility via Email.
This Friday evening (10th September) we'll be making preparations for the switchover and then on Saturday (11th September) we'll actually be switching over the circuits.

What's the impact?
Friday 10th September from 18:00 to 23.59
The availability of individual servers may be affected during this period. Some school websites may be unavailable for a short time (not exceeding 15 minutes). Core services including DNS, mail and web access will not be affected on Friday.
Saturday 11th September from 00:00 to 15:00
There will be service interruption (total loss of service) intermittently throughout the day. Individual local authorities will be affected at different times during the day.

External connectivity from Schools to ScoMIS Hosted Services like Terminal Services and Remote Backup may also be affected as a result of the intermittent loss.

What do I need to do?
You should ensure that everyone accessing the network from school premises is informed of the intermittent service interruption over the weekend. Access to SWGfL Mail/RM EasyMail Plus from home connections will be unaffected.

What do I do if there are issues after the switchover?
We've undertaken significant testing to ensure that the switchover goes smoothly, and without any issues. We've also set up a number of automated 'checks' that run frequently on the network so that we can proactively detect and immediately resolve any issues.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

New: Remote Support Service

Information, Service Updates

Jul 022010

During the Week commencing Monday 5th July, schools will be receiving details about our new Remote Support Service. This service will replace the usual VNC, making support to Schools easier with added security and auditing.

As part of the release ScoMIS have created a Policy Document that outlines how ScoMIS will be using the new software. ScoMIS will also need schools to complete a proforma before switching to using the new service. Schools are encouraged to fill out the proforma as soon as possible to enable a smooth switch over to the new software.

Immediate benefits to Schools:

Prompt to allow Remote Support with easy Accept/Reject option
No more VNC password
No more searching for the IP Address / Number

Initially the software will be installed onto the main admin workstation or server. The software will also be used to support existing services as outlined in our policy.

Schools can license additional workstations as required to take advantage of future services such as remote shutdown to save the school energy and help lower carbon emissions.

Emergency SWGfL Maintenance Completed

Service Updates

May 192010

The maintenance performed at 0500 this morning on the Exeter network part of the SWGfL proceeded as planned and there was no loss of service.

Message From SWGfL – EasyMail Maintainance 6th May

Information, Service Updates, SWGfL

Apr 292010

As part of the improvements made last summer to Easymail, the size of every user mailbox in the SWGfL was increased to 1GB at no charge to schools. This has been a very popular change and more and more schools are making good use of this.

Because of the increase in use, SWGfL need to add more storage capacity to their systems to continue to provide this functionality. The work is scheduled to take place at 6am on Thursday 6th of May. The work will probably only take about two hours and it is not expected that Easymail will unavailable in this period and you should be able to log in and use your Easymail as usual during this period.

Please contact the SWGfL Helpdesk or your Local Authority support team if you have any questions about this or have problems afterwards.

You can read about the SWGfL Mail service and find out your support team contact numbers here: http://www.swgfl.org.uk/Services/SWGfL-Mail

Update for all Schools – Norton Web Security Products preventing access to Devon School Websites

Service Updates

Mar 042010

Users of Norton Internet Security products may experience problems accessing Devon school websites

Due to a ‘false positive’ by an automated Norton threat analysis computer, all sites ending in .devon.sch.uk have been blocked to users of the above software. The problem has been resolved with Norton, but changes to their system take 24-48hrs to go worldwide. Therefore, anyone using Norton web security products to get to a .devon.sch.uk site will be blocked until the change is finalised – for example, staff accessing school webmail from home or parents trying to access a Devon School website.

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