NIU Web pages relocated to new server

The NIU home page and administrative Web pages were relocated to a new server in January. Most other NIU Web pages remain where they have always been, but now co-exist with the administrative pages in their new home.

The new server is a component of new architecture by NIU's Information Technology Services (ITS), which features a clustered Windows 2000 environment running Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) with disk mirroring and automatic failover. This means zero downtime and quicker loading of Web pages that reside on the new system.

For more information and troubleshooting tips, visit http://www.its.niu.edu/its/www/newniueduhome.shtml.

Included with the new service is WebTools, a built-in content management system with a review and approval process. The graphical user interface (GUI) presents itself much like MS Word, providing familiarity and ease of functionality with font size modification, color choices, formatting, image insertion and spell check. With WebTools, it is possible to change the entire look of a site with a few keystrokes by applying a fresh template. There also is a source code manager that allows you to revert to previous versions.

The server known as "Corn" is still viable, but ITS hopes that customers will move sites to the new system so that Corn can retire when it is no longer needed. Corn doesn't feature the advanced attributes the new system offers, nor is it compatible with the storage architecture the university is putting in place.

To sign up for a WebTools shortcourse, visit http://www.its.niu.edu/its/Csupport/sc.shtml. For more information, contact ITS at 753-8100 or e-mail helpdesk@niu.edu.