Network file storage transition to take place early Thursday, Feb. 25

The planned network file storage transition will occur in the very early hours of Thursday morning, Feb. 25th. ATUS officials have asked that faculty and staff members turn their computers off when they leave for the day on Wednesday night or reboot first thing in the morning on Thursday.

The P: drive is used primarily by staff and administrators, but faculty members who access the P: drive for files also need to be aware of this transition.

More from ATUS:

“Once the files and permissions have been fully migrated to the new system by the IT staff, you will be able to access your P Drive from campus just as you do now (off-campus and access from Macs will change slightly, please see the ATUS Help Desk webpage at http://helpdesk.wwu.edu/ for specific instructions). Most of the files that you see now will still be visible to you in the new system. However, there may be some files that you are not able to see and access. If this occurs, please contact your departmental IT staff support person, or call the Help Desk at x3333. This will be resolved by changing the permissions, or by giving you a direct link to that file or folder. Extra staff will be on hand to assist in resolving problems after the conversion. It is important to note that if you are having a problem viewing a file, it does NOT mean that the file has been deleted. The file still exists; we will just need to modify your permission to view it. “

Why was this time chosen to perform this migration?
There simply was not a universally “good” time to undertake this task. Mid-quarter was chosen primarily to avoid any disruption in the critical quarter-start and quarter-end times. Delaying this migration would put the project in jeopardy and would result in an additional $70,000.00 cost to the University. We also need you here to test the result. While we have tested this process, the size and complexity of our file system prevents complete testing. We expect some access-related issues and we need to have people available to communicate these issues to us immediately as opposed to being a surprise when they returned from break and were preparing for a new session. As a percentage of the total number of files, the number of access-related issues is very small. However we realize that if you are affected it is not a small issue and we encourage you to call the Help Desk at 650-3333 if you encounter any issues. We will have extra people available to help if needed.

Why will some files appear to not show up on the new system?
No data will be lost. The ability to see certain files and folders may be impacted. The permission-granting mechanisms of the new system do not map 100% directly to the mechanisms used in the previous system. As a result, there will be some permissions that do not migrate. We consciously chose to error on the side of protecting privacy (files not appearing) instead of revealing sensitive data where it should not be revealed (more people seeing sensitive files). Because of this, you may discover you cannot see everything you expect to see.

Again, there are millions and millions of files and folders being migrated. Technical support staff has been working diligently to minimize any impacts of this transition. Many of you have already seen some changes as a result of this planning and preparation. We do appreciate your understanding and patience.

We will send out another notice once the migration is complete (Thursday morning).

For supervisors of student employees who access work-related files and folders on the P: drive:
As of Thursday morning, the P: drive will no longer automatically connect for student employees. Students can just open My Computer, go to S:Shortcuts, and double-click the shortcut labeled FacShare. Individual mapping instructions will be provided when the migration has been completed.