Kansas State University

search

IT News

IT Update: September 2020

They’re back! The fall semester is well underway. The Division of Information Technology (IT) continues to upgrade the network infrastructure across campus, troubleshoot classroom technology when needed, collaborate on cleaning protocols for classroom and lab spaces, provide training for teaching, learning, campus operations, and more. 

The Network and Telecommunications team has been working on several projects across campus, including:
  • Ongoing renovations in Hale Library, McCain, and the Southside expansion at Bill Snyder Family Stadium
  • Infrastructure upgrades in ICE Hall, Polytechnic campus, VetMed complex, Unger, and Pat Roberts Hall
  • Working with various departments and the Academic and Student Technology group on AV equipment installs for the Manhattan and Olathe campuses

Web conferencing deployments to prepare for fall classes included 176 departmental rooms and 125 centrally scheduled rooms. We also added 58 computers and monitors to centrally scheduled rooms. Most of the troubleshooting in rooms has been about aiming the camera and tracking with the camera. Check out the tutorial video on how to use the Poly EagleEye Cube and the Poly Calisto microphone. More information about the cameras and mics can be found here.

IT is monitoring the storage utilization of Zoom, Mediasite, and Canvas. We are seeing unprecedented storage needs and are in talks with all three providers to plan for updates as needed. K-State’s Zoom and Canvas files are stored with the vendor’s cloud storage services. K-State has used about 45% of its 15TB of Zoom cloud storage. Canvas storage sits at 23.6 TB from 9,851,895 files.

Mediasite storage is local to K-State’s data center, and IT is actively monitoring and adjusting as needed. By Aug 28, the Mediasite volume was at 40.6 TB. During the first week of classes, users added roughly 2.5 TB of content, exceeding our late spring 2020 average of 1.6 TB/week.

Maintenance on FIS will be Sept. 19-20. FIS will be unavailable from 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 19, through 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 20.

HRIS, KSIS, and DARS will be unavailable from midnight – 4 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 11. Information Technology will be performing maintenance on the Oracle PeopleSoft systems. This maintenance is to keep the system secure and up to date.

Reminder: To enhance security, Zoom will require a passcode or a waiting room for all meetings and webinars beginning Sept 27. To learn more about the requirements, visit Zoom’s knowledge base article. 

Updated information on the spaces for students to go when face-to-face and online classes are back to back or to study is available under Study Locations on the K-State Map.

IT is partnering with HCS, Global Campus, FSCOT, and the TLC to provide training on a variety of topics to be posted on the K-State calendar. In the interim, upcoming technology training is posted here. Microsoft Teams training will be offered Sept 21. from 2-3:30 p.m. Register here for the Teams training.

For those who use Qualtrics and noticed that we lost some advanced features, the File Upload feature was re-instated on Sept 2.

Comparison of Phishing Scams and Compromised eIDs Jan. 1 – Sept. 1

YTD 2020 YTD 2019 YTD 2018
Compromised eIDs 325 422 424
Phishing scams 918 976 372
Phishing scam tickets processed 2268 2487 1727

Share this post: