ITS Maintenance Digest - Week of March 31st to April 6th

ITS Maintenance/Information for this week: March 31st to April 6th

This is your weekly digest of system maintenance/information and downtime. All notices are also posted on the myUNBC Student Portal (Ellucian Experience), gounbc.sharepoint.com for Employees, support.unbc.ca and on unbc.ca /its. Please see one of these locations for maintenance notices.

ITS Information Notice: Action Required before May 4th - Zoom Software Policy

Zoom will be enforcing minimum versions as outlined in their software life cycle policy. Users who are running an end-of-life version after May 4th, will not be able to join meetings via Zoom Client and will be prompted to update, or join from the web browser.

Product

Min version required as of May 4th, 2024

Zoom Client: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Intune, and Blackberry

5.15.5 (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Intune)

5.15.0 (Blackberry)

Zoom Rooms and Zoom Room Controller

5.14.5 (Windows, macOS, iOS devices and controllers, appliances, android controllers)

Zoom Phone Appliances

5.14.5

VDI Client

5.14.0

VDI Plug-in

5.13.0

Virtual Room Connector

5.9.8827.20221230

Meetings Connector

4.8.20240130.361

Recording Connector

5.1.4.169.20230511

Meeting SDK Client
Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

5.15.5

Meeting SDK Web

2.15.0

Video SDK Client
Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

1.7.5

Video SDK Web

1.7.5

Zoom Contact Center SDK (Native)(Android and iOS)

2.7.0

Zoom Node

Almalinux8 (OVA): 2.1.0.20230423054934

Almalinux9 (OVA): 2.3.0.20230715.9

Almalinux9 (KVM): 2.3.0.20230715.1

Ubuntu 22.04 (KVM): 3.0.0.20231201

Ubuntu 22.04 (OVA): 3.0.0.20231201

Zoom Phone Local Survivability (ZPLS) module

2.6.0.147

ITS Information Notice: Microsoft Teams: A single desktop all for all users

Beginning April 2024, the Microsoft Teams desktop app on Windows and Mac will support any type of Teams account (work, school, or personal). Users can add and access their additional accounts in the upper right corner of Teams by clicking on their profile picture.

Why are we doing this change?

This is a change implemented by Microsoft, please note that ITS will not be able to provide support in regards to personal accounts/usage.

How will this impact me?

  • Users will be automatically updated to this experience through a routine Teams update. 
  • The name of the Microsoft Teams (for work or school) app will change to Microsoft Teams. 
  • Users will no longer need a separate Teams application on Windows 11 devices to access personal accounts. 

What you need to do to prepare:

  • With this update, the Teams taskbar might look different for users who have Teams Free (for personal use) on their system, because the updated Teams app will attempt to take the place of their taskbar pin.
  • Users who are on Windows 11 versions older than Windows 11 2023 Update (also known as Windows 11, version 23H2) will not receive this new feature rolling out. After users update to Windows 11 23H2, the new feature will be enabled, and Teams will attempt to remove Teams Free (for personal use).
  • This feature does not apply to users of Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

For more information, please visit:

ITS Information Notice: G:Drive Folders & H:Drive will be decommissioned as of September 2025

What is happening?

The Shared on-campus storage (G: Drive folders) & Personal on-campus storage (H: Drive) for file storage, will be decommissioned as of September 2025. As a best practice for modernizing and safeguarding our file storage infrastructure, UNBC ITS is continuing its shift towards cloud-based file storage.

Moving data into the cloud makes campus files easier to access due to the increase in people who require remote access to their files and the difficulties with VPN-based file shares. With the increasing use of OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint, it is no longer viable to use an older & less secure shared space for file storage.

How to prepare?

To prepare for this change, UNBC ITS recommends that Faculty & Staff begin migrating their files over to the preferred location.

Files

Preferred location

Personal UNBC- related documents & files

One Drive

University files for all employees & Department documents and files

SharePoint Online

Department documents and files

Microsoft Teams
  • OneDrive offers seamless collaboration capabilities, online and offline document editing and syncing, and editing and syncing files across web, mobile, and desktop.
  • SharePoint Online is a Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based service that helps users share and mange content, knowledge and applications, encourage teamwork and facilitate seamless collaboration across the organization. It provides a secure location to store, exchange and access data from virtually any device and all major online browsers. 
  • Microsoft Teams offers a workspace for real-time communication and collaboration (text chat and video), file and app sharing. Teams and Channels can be used for tracking projects, conversations, files, meetings, etc. A Team is essentially extra functionally and features added on top of a SharePoint Online site. This means that every Team has a corresponding SharePoint Online site, which stores all the Team content.

Resources

Please visit our knowledge base article, available on our support portal for further information.

UNBC employees have access to LinkedIn Learning, an online professional development portal. To start, click on the link below and use your UNBC username (in the format username@unbc.ca).

Contact Information

Thank you for your assistance while we keep our systems maintained and secure. If there are any questions, please contact the IT Service Desk using the information below.

 IT Service Desk Contact Information:

  • Telephone: 250-960-5321
  • Toll Free: 866-960-5321
  • Email: support@unbc.ca
  • Web: unbc.ca/its
  • Customer Support Portal:  support.unbc.ca
  • Service Desk hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am to 4:00pm
    • Closed daily from 12:00pm to 12:30pm
  • Located on the second floor of the Teaching Lab, room 8-264.