Downtime

Good Morning Everyone-

We are back up again this morning as of around 6:00. That would put last night's downtime at close to 12 hours. I don't have an update yet on why we were down, but I'll pass on information as I have it. We do appear to be stable at this time.

Lisa

Vista Update

Here's the latest news in a set of emails from John at BB to David:

The problems today are related to the build-up of files that haven't been removed in garbage collection (GC). I (David) am going to paste in John's (from BB) explanations below:

When you e-mailed Lee about having trouble uploading files I went in and added some indexes to the CMS tables and reported how much GC had to do to you. That's why it was slow. Once we reboot the system tonight GC will start cleaning up those 16 million content items in the CMS tables.

Right now GC has been cleaning up old student records and sections but not content items. I think this is why uploads have been so slow.

-John

I just finished adding the tracking job indexes to fix the tracking data.

That job will run Monday Wednesday and Friday starting at 5a.m. Please let me know if you see anymore Unknown Users after tomorrow evening.

I also added the indexes for Garbage Collection. That job will run Tuesday Thursday Saturday and Sunday starting at 10p.m. and ending 8 hours later.

Finally I added indexes to the CMS tables. Uploads are now blazingly fast from my connection here at home and my neighbors DSL connection over wireless-b.

-John

John asked me earlier if we would ask instructors to delete their section backups once they have downloaded them. We need to put into our training and instructions to faculty about not leaving heavy files, like backups, in the MyFile area. As Vista administrators, we also need to delete backups – now would be a good time – so that the database is free of unnecessary data. The GC hasn’t worked, but after tonight we should be on the road to cleaning this up.

Thanks for your patience, and let’s see how the system works for the next couple of days.

David

I will get LisaMarie to write up directions for deleting back-ups you may have made, then if you would take care of that we could begin the semester reasonably clean.

Many thanks!
Lisa

Vista Update

Well folks it doesn't look like BB Vista is really working correctly right now. I don't recommend you do any work in your classes quite yet.

For those of you who are still waiting for your spring shells, David can't dupe.

And last, enrollment is up 24% for spring 1 and 34% for spring 2 when compared to this day last year.

Lisa

BB Vista Database Issues

Hi Everyone-

We are stil on the new databse hardware this morning, but have rolled back to Oracle version 9i from 10g. Several people around the system are testing this set-up as I type. If it appears to be both functional and stable we will settle here for awhile before we try to go to 10g.

On the theory that it's good to have options we also have two open-source learning management systems set up now for testing -- Moodle and Sakai. We don't have any formal plans around moving towards another LMS, but we are exploring options. (Moodle information is at moodle.org; Sakai is found at www.sakaiproject.org.) We may want to run a test course in each of those LMS's or we could offer a training course in each if enough of you are interested. Talk with your chair if you are interested in either project.

Lisa

Vista Update

BB ASP has asked us for the next 12 – 18 hours to try to rectify the Oracle 10 G issues in Vista. They will be applying a patch and rebuilding some indexes overnight. If this is not a successful operation, as far as remedying the issues, they may recommend a roll-back to Oracle 9i for the short-term until the issue is fixed in 10 G. Because of the need to be up and running for OJC on January 7, we have little time to troubleshoot the problem and must find a stable environment for the semester.

A splash page has been put up on the site, directing users to a brief explanation of the situation. I expect to have an update on the situation tomorrow morning sometime. There will be a decision point tomorrow whether the overnight work is fixing the problem or whether we need to roll-back, necessitating further downtime.

(Side-note from Rhonda and Lisa: We would be going back to the old version of Oracle, but staying on the new hardware.)

David Chatham
Dean of Academic Technology
CCCOnline

Database Crash

Hi Everyone-

The BB Vista database has crashed. Please don't try to do anything on Vista until further notice.

At this point all we know is that it is probably as Oracle problem. Oracle has been called in and is working on the problem.

We will let you know as soon as we have more information.

Sigh.

Lisa

Grading Forms Bug - From ProfHelp

Faculty who are using Grading Forms:

If you are using Grade Forms in your course, please note that anytime you make a change to the Assignment/Discussion using the Edit Properties a new grade book column is created.

For example,

• Assignment 1 is gradeable using a Grade Form—an entry in the grade book is created named Assignment 1
• Choose the Edit Properties on Assignment 1
• Make a change to the properties of the Assignment for example change the due date of the assignment
• Click Save—a new column is made in the grade book and is named Assignment 1 1 (note a 1 is added to the end of the grade book column)

A possible issue with this scenario--The column containing the student grades may not be included within the Total points or a calculated column. Please review your grade book if you are using Grading Forms to assess errors related to this issue.

For assistance, please email profhelp@cccs.edu.

Amy Sorensen
CCCOnline-ProfHelp
amy.sorensen@cccs.edu
(720) 858-2731

Update on a Couple of Vista Bugs (Tracking and GC)

Hi Everyone-

I have this from David Chatham today:

I have asked Blackboard to turn off the garbage collection process. It is accessing the same tables as those that a new file upload accesses, and, since Blackboard cannot yet control when the garbage collection process runs, it is best to turn it off. The problem with GC is that when Blackboard sets a time for it to run (I have requested between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. ) the process disregards the time limits and runs all of the time, interfering with instruction. It will need until tomorrow morning to cycle through before we see any improvements.

You do not need to send me any more lists of sections with unknown users. They have enough examples to determine the issue and are in the process of fixing tracking. Those adjustments should begin to show some time Saturday.

David Chatham
Dean of Academic Technology
CCCOnline

Thanks-
Lisa

That Green Thumbtack

Hi Everyone-

In case you weren't at the faculty conference on Friday here's a solution to the sticky green thumbtack on discussions from Stephanie Dunham (if I have the wrong Stephanie I appologize!), then updated by Heidi Barrett:

The thumbtack will disappear once Vista thinks you have viewed every message. To view each message most easily try going into each topic and "expand all", then "select all". After that choose "create printable view" to see all of the messages.

The other option that seems to work is to open each thread in each unit.

best,
Lisa

Well Never mind--- the thumbtack is a bug

Hi All-

Turns out the green discussions thumbtack that stays on even when you read and respond to posts is a known bug that will be corrected in a later upgrade.

Sorry for the confusion!

Lisa

Vista Bugs

Several of you have reported a problem with the discussion thumbtacks remaining after you have read all of the discussions. Unfortunately we haven't been able to replicate that one. Here is some advice from Profelp, Amy Sorensen:

I can not replicate the issue. I check the CRJ 125 course and after I read all of the discussions on my end the thumbtack and asterick in the Course Tools menu disappeared.

Maybe clear your Java Cache and be sure your browser is set to load a new page every time you visit a page. The instructions are below.

Let me know what you discover.

: Delete the Java Cache

1. Click on Start
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Double click the Java icon
4. Under the General tab and near the bottom of the window is a section called "Temporary Internet Files" --> click the "Delete Files" button
5. Close out of the settings window and the browser
6. Re-open the browser
7. Launch Internet Explorer
8. Go to the Tools Menu
9. Select Internet Options
10. From the General Tab, in the Temporary Internet Files section, Choose Settings
11. Be Sure the Every visit to the page is selected.
    

Lisa

Known Bugs

Hi Everyone-

I have information on a couple of bugs in the BB Vista LMS that are not corrected by application pack 2.

1. The Student View tab returns an error prior to and after the session dates. What that means is that the Student View tab will not work until after the first day of classes. All you can do is use the Teach tab before there are actual students in the class.

2. Replying to emails with attachments: There is a Java error that prevents you from sending the Reply. You have to close the email, open it again and then hit reply. You may have to reply twice to the email in order to attach a file.

I'll let you know if we confirm other bugs.

The thrice daily re-boots have stopped for the time being. We don't expect to start them up again, although the next test will be the opening of our session 2 classes on Monday.

Lisa

Update on Vista Issue

Hi Everyone-

If you or your students are having difficulties with the quiz tool or adding attachments to email the best solution is to logout of Vista, close your browser, re-open everything, and log back in. Most of the time this will move you to a new node. The issue appears to be primarily related to a single node (of 6). Here's what I have from BB:

Hi David,

Larry has been working on this issue with our Operations team.
Currently, this may be isolated to a particular App/node server. We are
in process of moving the users on this particular node to anther node.
We will then be taking it out of circulation for more testing. As soon
as there is a further update please expect to hear from either me or
Larry.

Thank You,

Alex

More updates when I have them. Grades are due Thursday. Let us know if giving students extra time is going to cause you to be late. best, Lisa

Removing_the_Calendr_Channel_From_Your_CCCOnline_Login_Page

Hi Everyone-

The calendar tool remains problematic for some Vista users. It's not causing problems for everyone, so we don't want to turn it off at a high level. However, some of you may want to turn it off for yourselves both within the course and on your MyCCCOnline page.

Directions for the latter are now on the Vista FAQ in the Faculty wiki at http://www.facultywiki.ccconline.org/~www66/index.php?title=Removing_the_Calendar_Channel_From_Your_CCCOnline_Login_Page
(That is a very long link, so you may have to cut and paste or go directly to the wiki at www.facultywiki.ccconline.org, click on WebCT Vista in the upper section of the page, then on Calendar tool. IT's the last link under Calendar.

The fixes to the calendar tool are currently targetted for an update to Vista in the future, so nothing soon. We are as yet unsure why there are problems for some and not for others, so are also still working on that.

best,
Lisa

Update on Vista Issues

I know several of you have continued to experience issues/bugs in Vista this semester. Here's an update from David about where those issues are in terms of support:

New Discussions Icon – Not working for some faculty; shows all discussions as new. This seems to be a java issue for many but solutions not complete for all faculty. Not a BB issue as far as we can tell. (Sorry everyone). We (David and Rick) have been working with faculty individually to resolve.


Non-course Calendar entries - We are contacting BB about why this is occurring. Work-around is to use the Course Only View to filter out extraneous information.

Student Menu Missing in Student View - (Can test with jenny also). Change Course Menu settings to Horizontal only if Menu is not showing for students.

No Create Printable Icon - No immediate fix available. Work-around: If BB can not repair the five courses affected, the courses may have to be rebuilt before the next term. Work-around: In Firefox, you can put the cursor on the page to be printed and use the right mouse menu to This Frame / Open Frame in new window / then use the File / Print menu to print out. In IE, you can use the File / Print Preview choice and then choose “Only the selected Frame” to make the print.

Annoucement Tool - tool produces random coding in the finished message if the text editor is used. Use the HTML editor and type your message there.

Assignment Drop Box - In the Assignment Dropbox, under the Submitted Tab, the “Assigned To” sort does not list alphabetically. It will be fixed in future application upgrades.

Search Tool - Search Tool returns a message of “no results” when there should be results. This is being assessed by BB Development. No work around.

Email forwarding - does not work. The tool has been turned off at the Institution level. Blackboard is actively investigating this and will try to provide an early solution.

We (David and Lisa, sometimes more) have a monthly conference call (down from weekly) with BB support, hosting, and product development to go over these and other issues. When dealing with bugs in the product BB decides whether the issue belongs in a hot fix or in a future service pack. The decision is based on the severity of the problem for the client and the complexity of the problem. BB has doubled the size of the staff assigned to maintenance of the Vista product as compared to last summer. We continue to emphasize that rapid and frequent communication between us and support is critical to our ongoing relationship.

While it may sometimes feel like no one is looking into these issues, David, in particular, is spending most of his time on them. :^)

Lisa