Service Desk Digest 1/22/2021

Local Accounts

The following article has important information about how to do first time login on loaners, checkout computers, and CN computers: Windows – First Time Login Remote

Most loaners and checkout computers should have the “OSUBeavers” local account on them.

CN computers should have a local administrator password listed in LAPS. They should also still have the “Supportremote” account (see Keeper) but note that it is not a local admin.

Escalation to AT Teams

The Academic Technology teams provide direct customer service for services such as Kaltura and Canvas. As such, they have asked that we escalate by reassigning tickets to their teams instead of doing task assignment.

To reassign a ticket in TeamDynamix, select “Actions” -> “Reassign…”

The service infosheets have been updated to reflect this change:

Milne Construction

The construction in Milne (including the addition of a bathroom on the main floor) is expected to be done by the end of February.

If you have questions about the project, please ask Max.

In-Person Appointments and Personal Device Support

A reminder: we are still providing in-person appointments and personal device support, but with some modifications and limitations.

As covered in the training, our support is still “remote first” meaning that we should do our best to help people via remote before making an appointment.

All in-person support is by appointment only, and all appointments should be made in Bookings. Please don’t give the Bookings link to customers – we are not quiet ready for that yet!

For personal devices, ask a senior tech for assistance before scheduling an appointment. They may have more ideas to suggest. Or, we may not want to bother having them bring the computer in if it’s unlikely we can fix it (e.g. in the case of serious hardware issues). We don’t want to waste the customer’s time or our own by having them bring in a device that is beyond our ability to repair.

If you need a refresher on appointments, please re-do the training: SD Scheduling During Covid

New VPN Client

There is a new Cisco AnyConnect client available in the downloads folder – version 4.9.05042.

The previous version has a vulnerability: https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-anyconnect-dll-F26WwJW

We don’t have a good way to push AnyConnect updates yet, so as you help customers, please make sure to check their AnyConnect version and help them update to the latest. Note that the install requires local admin privileges.

Kaltura Capture Issues: Suggest Zoom as Alternative

From Raul Burriel:

“We know that with the increase of distance learning, there’s been an increase in usage of the Kaltura Capture tool, but this also means more users having issues with the software. There are a number of variables at play here, including the user’s operating system and the version of Kaltura Capture. When a user does experience an issue, the immediate solution is to steer them to an alternate product and report the issue to Kaltura. OS, software version, and logs are helpful in reporting these issues to Kaltura. The product is supported by Kaltura and regular updates are released for the product. But since we can’t wait for a patch from the vendor, steering the user to alternate solutions – such as Zoom – will help get a user on their feet ASAP. “

Short version: if customer’s are having issues with Kaltura Capture, please make note of the relevant info and record that in the ticket for the Kaltura team. But to get the customer up-and-running, suggest they use Zoom for video recording.

Modifying Name in Zoom

From Carolyn:

“OSU is moving towards into a centralized display name that can be customized, providing the ability to provide preferences and pronouns that would be used throughout services like Zoom. Until that is in place we may disable the display name mapping and allow it to be customized. We should have an answer on this next week.”

For now, please see the work-around using the Zoom mobile app, where display name changes are still allowed: Zoom – Temporary Workaround for Editing Display Name in Zoom

CJIS Training and Fingerprinting

If you have not completed your CJIS training or fingerprinting, please do so ASAP. Let me or Max know if you have questions.

Service Desk Digest 1/19/2021

Expiration of Workstation Admin Account Passwords

For security reasons, the workstation admin (wa-) accounts expire every 90 days. Once they expire, getting back in requires intervention from another staff member. Folks who only login to their wa- account occasionally may not see a notice about the upcoming expiration.

To address that issue, we’re working on implementing a reminder script that will email you at your work and student email addresses when your password expiration date is coming up. For now, please note that you can check your account expiration date by looking it up in RefTool.

Police Department After-Hours On-Call Support

As of start of January 2021, Service Desk full-time staff are providing after-hours on-call support for the new OSU police department. The after-hours coverage is only for times when the Service Desk is closed; if Service Desk is open, dispatchers and officers should contact the Service Desk instead.

Please note that this on-call is only for the police department. It is being funded by the police department.

For more information, see: Service Desk After Hours On-Call for OSU Police Department

Office and Teams in CN Image

Up until now, the CN base image has still included Office 2016. This will be updated shortly to Office 365 or 2019 instead. We will be able to select one or the other during builds. Endpoint are working on this now. Office 365 is generally preferred unless the customer needs to use software that is not compatible with it.

Teams has not been included in the CN image because it is installed in the user profile and up until recently, we couldn’t install it before the user first logged in. However, Microsoft has provided a mechanism now that will allow us to ensure Teams is installed when the user first logs in. Endpoint are also currently working on getting this into the CN image.

If you have questions, please contact Jim Galloway.

Service Desk Digest 1/6/2021

ResNet Changes

OSU wireless is being added in the Gem, which has not had OSU wireless in the past. UHDS have been installing access points this week, so not all areas have coverage yet. The ResNet Service InfoSheet (Internal) has been updated to reflect this change.

In addition, UHDS are gradually moving residence halls to a different method for wired network registration. The process is slightly different for Tebeau, Halsell, Cauthorn, Dixon Lodge, Gem and Finley. Other buildings are gradually being transitioned to this new registration method throughout the year. For details, see: Connecting Devices to ResNet

VPN Setup on Chromebooks

Jeff has done some testing and determined that Chromebook users need to install the version of Cisco AnyConnect available in the Play Store, not the ChromeOS Web Store. However, there are two issues:

  • The Plat Store is locked out for @oregonstate.edu Google accounts
  • Older Chromebooks cannot use the Play Store

For personal Chromebooks, customers should use their personal Google account (not their OSU account) to login and then access the Play Store to install AnyConnect.

For OSU-managed Chromebooks, Jeff has access to make an exception so the customer can access the Play Store. We are also looking into allowing this for all OSU accounts.

Before escalating a request to access the Play Store, please ask the customer why they need VPN access. See VPN – Troubleshooting and Alternatives KB article for alternatives to VPN.

This information has been added to the customer-facing KB article: VPN – Setup for Android and Chromebook

Duo Mobile Support for Android 7.0 Ends 2/1/2021

Beginning February 1, Android users running version 7.0 or earlier will no longer be able to download Duo Mobile from the Google Play store. Customers running Android 7.0 or below will be notified by the OSU Duo team today, 1/6/2021.

For more information, see: Duo – Android 7.0 Support Ends February 1, 2020