The ERIS Infrastructure team is changing how we name VMs. Effective immediately we are dropping .dipr. from the VM name of all new VMs, and instead, we will add "rc-" to the beginning of each VM name when we deploy new VMs. Going forward all new VMs will be named rc-vmname.partners.org
There will be limited support from September 22nd-24th while the EDC Support team attends the annual REDCap Conference, which will be held virtually this year.
Please plan for delayed response times this week. Priorities will be made for moving projects to production, user access, creating new projects, and change requests. General REDCap questions will be best effort.
Be sure to review the Help&FAQ, Training Resources, Getting Started with REDCap and Knowledge Base pages.
If you have any questions, please email edcsupport@partners.org
All CentOS 6 Virtual Machines (VMs) will reach End of Life on November 30th, 2020. End of Life means the product is no longer supported by Red Hat and the community-supported CentOS distribution for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The ERIS team will not support CentOS 6 VMs after November 30th, 2020, as there will be no security updates and bug fixes for CentOS 6. All applications and websites running on CentOS 6 VMs must migrate to new CentOS 8 VMs before November 30th, 2020. Please upgrade by requesting a new DIPR VM in the ERIS Research Computing Core Service Catalog. Contact us at rcc@partners.org with any questions.
Mass General Brigham REDCap: Scheduled Maintenance
REDCap (https://redcap.partners.org/redcap) server maintenance is scheduled for Saturday, August 29th, 2020 from 9:00AM to 3:00PM ET.
Please expect REDCap to be down for a short time during the maintenance window.
If you have any concerns about this scheduled maintenance, please email edcsupport@partners.org
The scheduled ERIS MySQL Database Server Maintenance may have impacted the Research IS & Computing website on Saturday, August 15 from 10a.m.-12p.m.
The site might have been offline for part or all of this window.
REDCap (https://redcap.partners.org/redcap) was offline last night from 6:22-9:10PM due to an unexpected outage.
The EDC Support team is working with ITS to discover the cause of this issue.
If you have any concerns, please email edcsupport@partners.org
We have scheduled downtime on MySQL database server mysql4.research.partners.org on Saturday, August 8th from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. This outage may be as short as 30 minutes or it could be as long as 2 hours. The ERIS team will communicate when the mysql4.research.partners.org outage is over, and we urge database owners to review their VM’s and applications after this maintenance to ensure that your applications are back online.
The EDC Support inbox was migrated to a cloud solution last night without our knowledge. As a result the ticketing system that EDC Support uses to track requests and emails from users has been experiencing issues on Monday, August 3 that temporarily revented tickets from entering our queue.
This has impacted any emails sent in the past 20 hours and is related to our inbox being migrated.
We are working with IS to resolve this issue.
Beginning August 5, a new Report Phishing button will be installed on your Outlook toolbar for Windows and Macintosh computers. This update will streamline the reporting experience on all devices and add the feature on computers that are missing the Report Phishing button. This change will happen behind the scenes and there is no action required for most devices.
Phishing is the attempt to steal sensitive information by tricking you into performing an action that you would not normally do. A phishing email may appear as legitimate communications from trusted sources such as Mass General Brigham, your bank, or credit card company. Since COVID-19 hit, cybercriminals have been taking advantage of pandemic concerns through phishing scams and malicious websites.
For a short period of time, you may see two Report Phishing buttons; use either one to report suspicious emails.
Note: If the new button looks greyed out, turn on your Reading Pane in the View setting of Outlook.
In addition to computers, the button will be available on the Outlook app on smartphones, both iOS and Android. You must be enrolled in MobileIron to get your work email on your phone.
* Please also see HOWTO: Determine whether you are using a standard or non-standard Windows computer
What to Do If You Receive a Suspicious Email
Taking this simple action notifies the Information Security Team about a possible phishing attack. If the email is a part of our phishing training program, you will receive instant feedback thanking you for reporting. If the email is malicious, quick reporting helps us prevent a widespread phishing attack. Your active participation is crucial to keeping Mass General Brigham protected.
Note: The update does not apply to Mass Eye and Ear and Pentucket Medical Associates at this time.
For more information, visit: https://rc.partners.org/kb/article/2810
The scheduled maintenance impacting the Research IS & Computing website completed on Saturday, July 25 from Noon-2p.m. as part of ERIS MySQL Database Server Maintenance. The site was offline during this window.
There will be an extended outage on the MySQL Database Server on Saturday, July 25th from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm.
Impact
Applications, Systems, and VM’s with databases on mysql4.research.partners.org will experience downtime during this extended outage. The ERIS team will communicate when the mysql4.research.partners.org outage is over and we urge database owners to review their VM’s and applications after this maintenance to ensure that your applications are back online.
This is a reminder that the ERIS Infrastructure team will be patching Production VM’s and Systems on Saturday, July 25, 2020, from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Below are the remaining dates and times for the July patching process:
Impact
Applications, Databases, Systems, and VM’s will experience downtime when the database servers are patched when the ERIS proxy server is patched and again when the application VM's are patched. Each downtime should be short however, applications could experience 3 outages during the maintenance window. We urge system owners to review their VM’s and applications after the patching process to ensure that your VM and applications are back online.
The Research Computing website, https://rc.partners.org, was updated on Thursday, July 23, 2020 at 7:30a.m. to apply platform updates. The website was offline from 7:45-7:55a.m. for maintenance.
Please contact rcwebmaster@partners.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Server maintenance was completedfor this website on Saturday, December 7th, 2019 from 9:00AM to 2:00PM EDT. This website may have been offline for a short time during the maintenance window.
REDCap (https://redcap.partners.org/redcap) server maintenance is scheduled for Saturday, June 27th, 2020 from 9:00AM to 3:00PM ET.
Please expect REDCap to be down for a short time during the maintenance window.
If you have any concerns about this scheduled maintenance, please email edcsupport@partners.org
Starting July 1, 2020, you’ll notice a different auto-reply when emailing rcc@partners.org for support. The full text of your email inquiry will be provided back to you in the Description section of the auto-generated email. An IS Service Desk ticket number and link to view the status will also be provided. The auto-reply will come from IS Service Desk <partnershealthcare@service-now.com>. You can continue to reply to this auto-generated email to correspond with ERIS regarding your ticket.
This change completed on Wednesday, July 1 around 8:45a.m.
Before July 1, 2020
This is an example of what you receive when you email rcc@partners.org
Starting July 1, 2020 at 8:45a.m.
This is an example of what you will receive when you email rcc@partners.org
In order to perform corrective repairs and predictive maintenance, it will be necessary to power down the uninterruptible power supply unit (UPS) that supplies power to the third floor data center in the Simches building (185 Cambridge Street). Unfortunately, the electrical system wasn’t installed with a maintenance power bypass feeder. This stated, all IT hardware within the data center will need to be powered down for ten hours starting Friday night July 10th from 11pm to Saturday morning July 11th at 8am.
The corrective repairs are to replace a faulty monitoring / control logic board and we are performing scheduled maintenance to replace the AC/DC capacitors and air flow fans. All of this work requires a full power down of the (UPS) unit.
If you have any questions, please open a ticket with the IS Service Desk.
Due to unexpected issues with this yesterday's scheduled maintenance, REDCap is currently experiencing problems with exporting data, uploading files, and submitting electronic signatures.
EDC Support is working to resolve these issues.
If you have any questions, please email edcsupport@partners.org
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an announcement to raise awareness of the threat to COVID-19-related research.
The FBI and CISA urge all organizations conducting research in these areas to maintain dedicated cybersecurity and insider threat practices to prevent surreptitious review or theft of COVID-19-related material.
RECOMMENDATIONS
MGB Information Security recommends that you take the following actions to secure your research data and other critical information:
Please see the memo from MGB Information Security and the full FBI alert. Please contact cispo@partners.org or riso@partners.org if you have any questions or concerns.
To safeguard against Zoom security vulnerabilities, please update your Zoom application using the instructions below. You must check for updates on a regular basis to thwart zoom exploits. Zoom will be requiring an update to version 5.0 by May 30 to address any known shortcomings.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the IS Service Desk. See also, Zoom Use Guidelines in the Remote Work Toolkit on the Pulse.
Windows & Mac:
This change only applies to Home Drives and does not impact shared file areas (SFAs). On 5/17/2020, Home Drives (H:) will be moved. For most users, there is no change in how you access your home drive. You will see the new name and location as H CIFSHD HOMEDIR. This change only applies to Home Drives and does not impact shared file areas (SFAs).
All VPN users and all users who access Home (H:) drives on a Mac, non-standard Windows PC or personal computer, must update drive mappings to the new name of CIFSHD before 5/17 to ensure continued access.
A brief outage will occur where you will be unable to access your home drive between 1 AM and 5 AM, Sunday morning 5/17/2020; during the normal ISM maintenance window.
Please read the full FAQ in the Knowledge Base and contact the IS Service Desk if you have any questions or concerns.
REDCap Upgrades to v.9.5.23 Scheduled:
REDCap (https://redcap.partners.org/redcap) upgrades to v9.5.23 scheduled for Tuesday April 28th, 6:30AM ET are complete. REDCap was offline from 6:39-7:09AM ET.
This upgrade includes a number of new features and bug fixes.
New Features and Major Bug Fixes
If you have any concerns about REDCap being offline at this time or any questions about these new features, please email edcsupport@partners.org
REDCap and COVID-19
Since mid-March, there are currently over 40 protocols using REDCap for COVID-19 initiatives in over 175 projects. EDC Support is prioritizing such projects due to their importance and urgency. Such projects should be aware of the downtime during the upcoming upgrades and should communicate this with any external users.
Yet another COVID-19 related scam is circulating the web. This time, users who stumble upon the malicious website "coronavirusapp[.]site" are told to download an Android app that will give them access to a Coronavirus map tracker. The app claims to have tracking and stats about COVID-19, including a heatmap.
Once a user clicks the link on the malicious website, it downloads the application and ransomware. The ransomware, named "CovidLock," locks the user out of their phone and requests $100 in bitcoin in 48 hours or else they will erase the phone's memory and leak the user's social media accounts.
How do I stay Safe & Secure?
See more Phishing Alerts: https://pulse.partners.org/hub/departments/ispo/phishing_alerts
