Update (Feb. 26, 2014): ITS installed a Cognos fix pack this morning, which has resolved this issue.

Original Post:

ITS recently discovered a problem where some scheduled Cognos reports fail to run, creating no output. We’re working with IBM support to resolve the issue. If you have critical scheduled reports, please run them manually for the time being.

To see if your scheduled reports are running as expected:

  • Login to cognos.denison.edu
  • Go to the My Area menu (little person icon beside Launch).
  • Choose My Schedules and Activities.
  • Choose Past Activities from the menu on the left.
  • Check the Status column on the far right of the activity log.

Updated – 7:30 AM – 1/28/14:
Work has been completed on all of the Banner system upgrades and patches. The Banner system is available.  Work continues this morning on the ODS / Cognos patches. This work should not impact the use of ODS / Cognos reporting environment.
Original Post:
ITS will be applying several patches and an upgrade to the Banner system during the planned maintenance window, Tuesday, 1/28/14 from 5- 7 AM.  The planned patches and upgrades are as follows:
  • Financial Aid upgrade (8.19)
  • a patch to the Human Resources module (HR – W-2)
  • patches to the ODS / Cognos packages
  • a service patch to allow INB users to run Java version 7.51 on their workstations

The Banner system will be unavailable during the maintenance.  There are no expected outages  to the Cognos /ODS reporting environment during the maintenance window.

As with any system updates, if you should experience any issues after these updates, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu.

The network connection issue last reported on Sept 9 appears to be resolved.  On Sept 10, a fix was applied to core routing equipment.  Traffic has been monitored closely since then. No sporadic network “disconnections” have occurred.  IT continues to work with our equipment engineers but at this writing all seems well.

Update:

The network connection issue last reported on Sept 9 appears to be resolved.  On Sept 10, a fix was applied to core routing equipment.  Traffic has been monitored closely since then. No sporadic network “disconnections” have occurred.  IT continues to work with our equipment engineers but at this writing all seems well.

Original Post:

There continues to be a network connection issue happening on campus.

Description:

A  computer connected to the wired network loses its network connection. This may manifest itself by a “tree or server not found” error, an inability to get to web pages, or an inability to get to network drives. Upon reboot, the problem persists. Without intervention, the problem sometimes self-resolves.

Where has this happened?

It is sporadic and can happen anywhere (office computer, eClassroom, or computer lab).  Today, there have been 7 reports of this occurring – 2 were in eClassrooms. An estimated six cases were seen during the first three days of classes and eleven cases reported last Friday.

What do I do if this happens to me?

If a wireless connection is an option, disconnect your network cable and connect via wireless. If wireless is not an option or does not work for you, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395.  If you are in an eClassroom and don’t have your laptop, a laptop will immediately be delivered to you for your class. If this is an office computer issue, it will be given our highest priority and a fix will be rendered as soon as possible.

What is being done about this?

A permanent fix preventing this anomaly from reoccurring has not been found yet.  IT continues to work with vendor equipment engineers and a number of their recommended steps have been completed.  Efforts are ongoing.

 

 

Cognos will be unavailable from 5am-7am on Tuesday September 10while it is upgraded from from 10.1 to 10.2.1.  No changes should be made to reports or queries after 5pm on Monday, September 9.  If you have difficulty with Cognos after this post has been updated to indicate the upgrade is complete, please email helpdesk@denison.edu or call (740)587-6395. Please leave a message if earlier than 8 am.

Update: Work was completed successfully. Please report any issues you find to helpdesk@denison.edu (x6395).

The upgrade scheduled for this morning was successful. All equipment was up as of 6:30. Early indicators suggest improvement/resolution of:

  • Connection to Internet or U: and S: drives impeded (user gets an “unable to connect to server” message)
IT will be monitoring the network closely as traffic on the network picks up today.
UPDATE 12:30PM — there are 5 reports and evidence of the problem continuing.  IT is coordinating next steps with our equipment vendor.

Denison’s network will be receiving critical code updates on Friday, Sept 6 between the hours of 5:00AM and 7:00AM.  Expect services to be unavailable, including access to the Internet, during this time. The update is expected to resolve the issue:

  • Connection to Internet or U: and S: drives impeded (user gets an “unable to connect to server” message)

As reported by Oarnet, Denison’s Internet Service Provider: 

A number of OARnet customers saw network slow downs and reachability issues starting late in the day on September 2 and extending intermittently into September 4, 2013.

Root Causes

In many ways this was “the Perfect Storm”. There were multiple issues, which compounded the situation because they were occurring simultaneously.  From an OARnet perspective they are:

1.            The 100Gbps link failure in Cleveland – A simple Hardware failure

2.            Amazon reachability issues due to issues between I2 and AWS. This manifested only to users reaching Amazon over the R & E space. For example, KSU saw this.

3.            General slowdowns caused by congestion on TR-CPS – See Question for Community at the end of this document

4.            Intermittent slow downs caused by flapping of AL2S. Some members saw traffic slow down then speed up, this was caused by the oscillating between links as traffic rerouting between links inside of I2.

5.            On top of all of this, some Blackboard users were seeing issues, which as of this writing appear to be an issue at the provider campus and was not related to any of the above.