Updated Jan. 3, 2024

• VMware patching added
• Network maintenance edited
• Kubernetes patching added

Updated Dec. 21

• Duo Universal Prompt: Date changed to Jan. 24

This year, as always, IT Services will be performing several upgrades and conducting routine maintenance on various systems to ensure they are ready for the return of the students in January.

The last several weeks of the calendar year traditionally represent a time when demands on systems are lower, reducing the risk that students, faculty, or staff will be inconvenienced by the disruptions that this work may cause.

Please bookmark MiamiOH.edu/ITStatus or follow us on X (@MiamiUIT) for real-time notifications of any disruptions that may occur during these maintenance windows.

If you have any questions about any of this work, please contact IT Help at 513-529-7900 or MiamiOH.edu/ITChat. To view the full calendar of planned IT activities and the current status of major systems and services, please visit our dashboard at MiamiOH.edu/ITStatus.

Here are some of the activities that we will be doing during this time:

Wireless Controller Upgrades

IT Services will be upgrading the main Wi-Fi controllers for the Oxford campus beginning Dec. 18 and continuing through the first week of January. We will be upgrading both controllers; one manages residence halls, and the other manages teaching and administrative buildings.

This may cause minor disruptions to Wi-Fi for five to 10 minutes at a time. If any on-campus users experience a disruption, it is recommended to simply wait a few minutes and then try again.

Building Network Maintenance Scheduled through Jan. 12

IT Services will be performing regular network maintenance throughout the first half of January. We expect a minor disruption of between 15 to 30 minutes to our network service during each maintenance window. Please see the building schedule for each day below.

Maintenance windows are between 2 and 7 a.m. each day. Technicians will be on hand in the event there is a sustained disruption.

January

VMware patching

Starting Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 5 p.m. EST, IT Services will begin work to patch our production VMware Cluster (Cluster P) hosts. This patching will take place over the next several weeks, until around Jan. 22.

Administrators will patch one host at a time, taking into account other change schedules to avoid possible conflict.

No interruptions are expected during this process. We will be monitoring the status of our Production cluster as we proceed with this patching process.

ID Card System Upgrade

Miami’s ID Card system, CS Gold, will undergo an upgrade beginning Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. The upgrade will begin at 6:30 a.m. and will last for two hours. Outages are expected to occur intermittently throughout this timeframe, however, primary services will continue to operate in Offline mode. The WebCard Center will not be available at all during the outage window.

As a precaution, before Jan. 8, please tap your physical ID card at electronic doors that you will need to enter that day.

For information about services available and unavailable during the upgrade, please see the news article.

Planned maintenance: Kubernetes upgrade

IT Services will be upgrading our container environment (AWS EKS / Kubernetes) to version 1.26.

The Test cluster will be upgraded Tuesday, Jan. 9, starting at 9 a.m. and will take around three hours. Then, barring any issues, we will upgrade the Production EKS cluster Wednesday, Jan. 17, starting at 8 a.m. This will take around three hours.

The AWS EKS / Kubernetes environment is the backbone of many Miami applications, including Courselist, FindUser, and the IAM Portal. The nodes in the EKS cluster are an important part of our cloud-based infrastructure!

This is a rolling upgrade, meaning each node of the cluster will be upgraded one at a time while the others continue to maintain the environment – so we do not expect any outages to occur. However, if you have issues with any Miami applications, please contact IT Help at 513-529-7900 or MiamiOH.edu/ITChat.

Central Authentication Services (CAS) Upgrade

On Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 6:30 a.m., IT Services will be upgrading the Central Authentication Service (CAS). This is Miami’s single-sign-on system (in other words, the way you login to Miami resources). The cutover to the new version should only take a few minutes.

Authentication through CAS to services like myMiami, Canvas, and email should not be affected during this switch. However, after the switch is made, you may need to re-authenticate to any new service you need to access.

Login change: Duo Universal Prompt

In addition to the upgrade to CAS services, we will be changing the Duo prompt that you see upon login. Logging in to a Miami resource will redirect you to a new Duo webpage. 

As of Jan. 24 at 6:30 a.m., you will see this new Duo prompt. You will still use your regular authentication procedure (Duo Push, SMS text, Yubikey), but the login will look a little different!

Please be on the lookout for more information about the new Duo prompt as we get closer to this date.

Reminder: Data Summit on January 18, 2024

The next Data Summit will take place on Thursday, January 18, 2024! This half-day event will feature a keynote and breakout sessions all about data and how we use it at Miami, with the theme of “Uncovering Value in Data.”

Check out the event website for more information, and keep checking throughout the next couple of months. We will have the presenter schedule, details about the day, and more as we get closer to the event.