April 23, 2019

CedarNet 2.0 is coming! CedarNet 2.0 is a combination of both infrastructure and software changes to upgrade and improve Cedarville’s award-winning network for the next generation.  The infrastructure portion consists of upgrades to both fiber optics and the electronics that use the fiber.  These upgrades have been two years in the making and there is more to be done.  Most of our users never see these components as they are tucked away in communications closets around the campus.  The goal is to provide increased capacity and availability as our student body continues to grow.

The CedarNet upgrade portion that users will see are the suite of software tools that will allow Information Technology to provide Windows Updates, university-provided software, and seamless management of university-owned computers in new and improved ways.

In the first stage of implementation, a software agent will be deployed silently to all Cedarville University systems with a Windows operating system.  After the deployment of the new software agent, you may see a few differences on your system.

  • You will notice a new option in the All Programs menu – “Microsoft System Center” and under that option you will see “Software Center”.  This will be the new source for software installation on university-owned Windows 10 systems.
  • You will also see new notification regarding Windows updates that say “Software changes are required,” indicating that a software installation, such as Window updates, needs to take place.  

  • When clicking on the above notification, you will see a screen like the one below indicating that the system needs to be rebooted after Windows Updates or software installation.  You will have options relating to the timing of that reboot. If you do not choose a time, the system will reboot during a maintenance window in the middle of the night.

Information Technology is excited to implement this new management system. We think it will serve the campus computing community of Cedarville University in a more dynamic way in the future.

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