RUCS is pleased to announce that we have rolled out thin clients in all 18 labs on campus where they were targeted for deployment.

Not only are these clients faster, they require 90% less energy to run and have a smaller desktop footprint which requires significantly less material to produce. That equates to less energy spent on transportation and less material to eventually recycle. Each unit is expected to work effectively for five to six years, nearly double the life span of traditional PCs, and its low heat output means less power needed for air conditioning.

We are proud to be one of the first universities in the area to adopt this technology on this scale and look foward to expanding on it. For more information please visit our Virtual Desktop Infrastructure information page at http://help.rockhurst.edu/vdi

Kansas City Star - Rockhurst tries to save energy by slimming down computers
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/740124.html

Inside Higher ED - Gutless and Green Computing
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/01/rockhurst

Rockhurst Website - Rockhurst Implements Earth-Friendly Computing
http://www.rockhurst.edu/news/events/thin.asp

For more information on this project please visit http://help.rockhurst.edu/vdi 

Please be advised that there is a problem with Oracleweb and Banner. We are aware of the situation and are addressing it now. As soon as the situation is resolved, we will let you know.

Thank you for your patience as we deal with this issue.

Update, 3:18 PM from Amy Scism: A part needs to be replaced in our main database server. The part should be here and installed within the hour. We hope to have the database returned to service by 4:30pm or so.

Update, 4:38 PM from Michael Marshall: Our server has been fixed, and the database is up and running.  You should now have access to Banner, Oracleweb, Argos, and the parking permit system.

RUCS deployed VDI enabled thin clients in the following labs this week:

• Conway 004
• Science Center 325
• Van Ackeran 310
• Van Ackeran 200
• Sedgwick 308
• Sedgwick 307
• Sedgwick 206
• Xavier-Loyola Dorm Lab
• Corcoran Dorm Lab

Last week the following labs were converted:

• THV Community Center Lab
• Conway 402
• Rockroom, Massman Basement

We should have our rollout completed by the middle of next week, right on schedule for the start of school. Only 6 labs on campus remain.

We are currently having issues with our Outlook Web Access server, email.rockhurst.edu. Currently it does not load pages correctly using Internet Explorer. Until we can resolve this issue, users are encouraged to use an alternative browser (such as Firefox, Opera or Safari) to access the system.

This issue does not seem to be causing problems with Exchange ActiveSync. 

Updated, July 28 @ 3:19PM: Our issues with Internet Explorer should be corrected at this time. 

We are pleased to report that we now have thin clients avaliable for use in the following buildings:

• Conway Hall 402 Lab (20 systems)
• Town House Village Community Center Lab (9 systems)
• Rockroom, Massman Basement (3 systems)

Students have been using these systems since last Friday and have reported no significant issues with them. When asked if they notice a difference the common response as been "yes, they're much faster!"

We're looking forward to rolling out the majority of the remaining 15 labs next week. If you have any questions or feedback related to these labs please feel free to email us at vdi@rockhurst.edu. 

RUCS is always working to improve the computing infrastructure in use by the Rockhurst community. Below is a summary of some of the major projects we are working on. Projects have been selected because they are either of interest to or will have a significant impact on the university community.

• Upgrade Campus Internet Connection
• WebCT 8 Upgrade
• Upgrade Multimedia Classrooms
• Improve Reliability of Residence Halls Network

Last Updated November 2, 2009

We apologize for the short notice, but tonight, Friday, July 25, Physical Plant will be conducting scheduled maintenance on the electrical connection to Conway Hall, where RUCS is located. The maintenance is scheduled to run from 5-9PM. Because our backup power systems are not capable of running through this entire period, we will be shutting down all systems in our datacenter.

During this time, all Rockhurst network services will be totally unavailable.

In addition, Banner and Oracleweb access will be limited until approximately 5pm on Saturday while we perform operating system upgrades to our database servers.

Updated, Friday @ 9:01PM: At this time all network services should be online.

Rockhurst is taking a giant leap to reduce its environmental impact through earth-friendly computer labs. This fall, Rockhurst students will sit down in front of workstations that use 90 percent less energy than traditional PCs. This new Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, which uses thin client technology, is a valuable IT management solution and will provide significant cost savings for the university.

Computer Services is limiting the implementation to the labs, so faculty and staff computers will not be affected. Students should notice faster workstations in the same Windows experience in which they’re familiar.

Faculty and staff are invited to learn more at an open house 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 23, in Conway 402. Attendees will have the opportunity to try out the equipment and see a side-by-side comparison between a new thin client and a traditional workstation. For more information, see details about the technology and a news story.

I’d like to recognize the members of the university’s network team, Michael Stanclift, Michael Craig and Michael Marshall, for their dedication to finding innovative solutions to our campus computing challenges and their hard work on this project in particular.

This month the following applications will be automatically updated on Rockhurst computers.

• Mozilla Firefox 3.0
• Paint.NET 3.35

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 adds many new features but retains a similar user interface. It should be faster then previous versions of Firefox as well.