13 Jul 11 Drupal upgrades
All Drupal installs hosted on Dreamhost have been updated to the latest 6.2.2. This includes an update to all modules and themes. The updates are complete and there should be no downtime as a result.
This only affects Dreamhost hosted Drupal sites and is not related to the CMS migration.
12 Jul 11 WordPress Upgrades
I am performing yet another WordPress update. I am rolling out 3.2 starting immediately. Downtime should be under a minute.
23 May 11 Dreamhost Outage
At aprox 10:15am this morning (5/23), our database server reached it’s resource limit. I have upgraded the memory on that server, and it seems everything is back up as of 10:40. The new memory limit is high enough that this should not happen again.
This outage included all Dreamhost hosted sites including all wikis, blogs, moodle, and drupal sites.
27 Apr 11 WordPress Update
Today, I am rolling out a WordPress upgrade to version 3.1.2. This is a minor update that addresses a security issue. No side effects are anticipated.
20 Apr 11 Wikis.ala.org migration complete.
I’m happy to announce that the wiki migration has been completed far ahead of schedule. I’ve tested all of the wikis, and they are running fine. I’d encourage everyone to log into the wiki and poke around before any member announcements are sent out.
Now that the wikis are on the new server, they will be administered with the same automated rules as other wikis. A weekly email will be sent out every Monday to the wiki owner. This email will detail any changes that have occurred to the wiki over the past week. Also, a sysop (wiki administrator) must log in once every 90 days. If this doesn’t happen, the wiki will be detected as an idle wiki and be locked in read only mode. For the wiki to be unlocked, a TrackIt ticket will need to be filed making the request.
18 Apr 11 Wikis.ala.org migration has begun
This morning, all of wikis.ala.org was taken down to begin the migration. The process is going well so far. Anticipated end date is Friday, April 22nd.
29 Mar 11 WordPress stats plugin deprecated
Blog admins using the WordPress Stats plugin to track WordPress statistics may have found that stats are no longer being gathered. With the release of WP 3.1, WordPress Stats has been deprecated. It will no longer work.
Users who need blog stats collected will have to switch to the new plugin called Jetpack. If you need this plugin installed on your blog, please file a TrackIt ticket with the URL to the blog and a request for Jetpack to be installed.
21 Mar 11 ITTS News Meeting Minutes – March 15, 2011
1. iMIS 15 Upgrade this weekend (Sherri)
the upgrade to iMIS 15 will begin on Friday, March 18, at 5pm – see previous blog post for reasons, expectations
it will take 21 hours for the database to update
desktop rollouts begin on Saturday afternoon, starting with MACS, Accounting, plus web interfaces
will then work around the building to upgrade everyone
the upgrade will include the fundraising module, although staff might not get access to log in to it until Tuesday at the latest
Sheila has prepared some materials comparing versions; it will be distributed soon, but not much has changed in the interface
one significant change is how iMIS 15 handles usernames and passwords
staff will be able to use the same login info to access the website, Connect, and iMIS; this will take effect on Monday, at which point you’ll log in using one password for all three resources
your username will be first-initial-lastname
formal communication went out to the membership on Monday, March 14
members who can’t log in can get help from MACS, although they’ll now be able to reset their passwords themselves via the website
reports should still work the same as before
2. Connect (Jenny)
– Welcome message: we’ll be implementing a new “welcome” message on the home page that helps new users get started
– Highlights, font color: you can now change the color of text or the background on it when using the WYSIWYG editor for easier highlighting and collaboration
– File repository: did a demo of this new feature; it’s ready to go, except for one bug that occurs with Internet Explorer 7 users; unfortunately, OJC’s programmer is on vacation for 3 weeks, so we won’t be able to fix this problem and implement it until he returns; look for this to go live the week of April 11
– Chat: we think we’ve found a solution for restoring chat to Connect; will begin internal testing next week; if it works, we hope to go live with it in April
– New hosting environment: during the next few weeks, we’ll be migrating Connect to a new, more robust hosting environment that can handle the traffic and server load for Annual
– Conference Scheduler: next month we’ll begin work on phase two of the Conference Scheduler, which will add more features for attendees
3. CMS Project Update (Louise)
will be working to migrate the awards database to Drupal in order to make the data can run ALA units’ pages so that no one has to maintain them manually
if you haven’t worked with Louise to set a migration date, you need to do so ASAP because you’ll get slotted into any open spot
we’ll be making the schedule public soon
delete from Collage anything you don’t want to migrate and then let Louise know the URLs
remember you can keep copies in the web archive if need be
4. Dreamhost outage (Rob)
yesterday there was a big outage (3am CDT) when Dreamhost’s core network crashed (all of their hosted sites, not just ours)
around noon they restored access to our server and our sites came back online
it was a network connectivity issue – the servers were fine and weren’t touched
14 Mar 11 Dreamhost outage
Our host that serves ALA Blogs and Wikis suffered a severe network outage early this morning, around 2:20am PST. As of 7am PST, they are back up to half capacity, but our servers happen to reside on the half that is down. They are working on it but have given no estimates on when it will be back up. This outage also includes Moodle.
Update: It appears that things are back up. I cannot say if they will remain up, but they are up as of 12:10 CST.
16 Feb 11 ITTS News Meeting – February 15, 2011
1. Web presence snapshot (Jenny, Louise)
In December, Keith Michael Fiels asked the Web Editorial Board (WEB) to coordinate a snapshot of activity on ALA’s various websites and channels
This snapshot will include everything from our website to social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter and will take place the week of February 28, 2011
Units will be asked to report statistics about activity on their various sites by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 9 using an online form ITTS is currently creating
Because ALA’s web-based presence is so large and diverse, we’ll only be measuring activity for “big ALA,” offices, initiatives, divisions, and round tables at this time
More information about this project, along with instructions for gathering the statistics, can be found at http://itts.training.ala.org/node/221
Please be sure to read through that page in order to understand what your unit needs to do before the snapshot starts on February 28 and afterward in order to submit your statistics by March 9
Contact Louise Gruenberg or Jenny Levine with questions
2. Wiki & blog migration status (Rob)
Any remaining sites must be migrated by April 8
The week of April 18 is when the wikis.ala.org migration will start
Once the wikis are moved over, they’ll be subject to the new notification and lock scripts so a sysadmin has to log in periodically to keep them unlocked
If you need your wiki back up quickly, contact Rob to get in the queue higher up since downtime can last up to a week
3. CMS migration (Louise)
We’re about to spin up the virtual servers in order to start implementing code
We’re going to start work on single sign-on with Connect
Currently seeking feedback on design for division templates
The ALA home page won’t change in terms of content and structure during this migration
Hope everyone is working on their web mitigation snapshots
4. iMIS 15 rollout (Sherri)
Ran into a snag with the desktop installation due to the way iMIS 10 was installed, which has delayed the project
We still plan to move to iMIS 15 in March and we’ll communicate the date as soon as we have it
It’s very similar in the way things are laid out, so there shouldn’t be a big learning curve (just some color changes)
Most of the things that are different are in the backend
5. Agreement with Verizon (Irene)
We just signed a contract to change our long-distance provider
There’s a “small conference call” option now; can have up to 20 callers for “instant” meetings at 2.7 cents/minute
If you require more than 20 callers, rate is the same but you have to call to reserve ahead of time
To set that up, call them but Irene can provide the rates
We also have the ability to do netmeetings, 17 cents/minute plus voice call
No licensing, anyone can set one up, you don’t pay for it if you don’t use it
There’s a web moderator tool where you can see your usage
Currently costs 2.2 cents per minute for 5 callers using just your phone for conference calling
Should be set up by the end of February
70 staff members are being set up with access to the interface, so watch for an email from Verizon (which might end up in your junk email folder)
Irene will send email about this as it happens
Not sure if the call has to originate at ALA – will ask
Irene set up every unit manager and a few other staff members but she can add others as needed
6. Adjourned
