Highlights

Currently, when an IRIS account is created, the account name is set by the person requesting the account. It can be changed afterward, but such requests are processed manually.

In order to facilitate compliance with the new Gender Recognition and Lived Name policy, beginning on April 4, IRIS will begin syncing the following fields from the CalNet Directory to our systems:

• First Name
• Last Name

These fields are under the direct control of the owner. You can use a form on the CalNet website to update these fields.  We strongly recommend everyone review their current name settings so they are not surprised by any changes. You may have one of those accounts where your last name is in all capital letters – this is where you can change that.

We will sync these fields over from CalNet once a day at about 7am.  The updated fields will appear in these places:

• IRIS LDAP Directory ldap.eecs.berkeley.edu
• EECS Faculty and Staff Directory
• EECS Active Directory

One added benefit of this is that we will begin supporting Unicode characters in these name fields so that we can properly display non-Latin characters.  You can add Unicode characters using the CalNet update form.

On December 19, 2022, IRIS will begin blocking incoming SSH connections from off-campus, except to those machines registered with IRIS as approved SSH servers.

See https://iris.eecs.berkeley.edu/faq/security/ssh-server-configuration/ for details.

As many return to campus for the beginning of Fall Semester, we fully expect to experience some issues with campus Wi-Fi. Campus has made many improvements to our growing Aruba Wi-Fi infrastructure, but increased traffic may reveal additional avenues for improvement. And some people will need assistance with individual devices on Wi-Fi.

Beginning next Monday, August 22, campus is increasing drop-in and phone support for Wi-Fi, for the first few weeks of the semester. Anybody with Wi-Fi issues is encouraged to call or drop-in, for quickest Wi-Fi support. An Instructor Hotline is available, and Hotspots can be requested. Please see the following page for details:

• https://technology.berkeley.edu/news/campus-network-update-increased-wi-fi-support

It’s important to troubleshoot any issues on a case-by-case basis, so that service can be improved for everyone.

As with any major OS release, we recommend a cautious approach, especially where your primary device is concerned. Major releases often bring new compatibility or support issues, which may take some time for the vendor to address with patches and updates.

Windows 11 was released recently, and MacOS Monterey is being released today, Monday, October 25. We encourage you to delay upgrading your systems to these new releases, until after such time as IT staff have tested them in our EECS and campus environment.

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UPDATE (12/22/2021): As announced campus-wide yesterday by our CIO, Jenn Stringer, both MacOS Monterey and Windows 11 seem to have no compatibility issues with campus applications and tools, including wifi and the VPN. This matches the experience of our local staff.