Attached to this post you will find a list of 1778 computers whose DNS registrations are scheduled to be deleted at the end of the week.
This list represents computers which have not accessed the Internet via one of the four proxy servers in the last 32 days, have not accessed any of the University's web sites in the last 10 days, have not read e-mail in the last week and have not updated their details at http://www.ru.ac.za/administrative/it/asset_update/ this year.
It is likely that the vast majority of the computers in this list no longer exist or are no longer being used. Some of the registrations in the list date back to the late 1990's and are a legacy of the ad-hoc way they University's network grew in its infancy. These stale DNS registrations not only take up valuable IP address space and resources that could be better utilised for other tasks, but also undermine some of the security policies that have been put in place to protect the University's network.
Nevertheless it is inevitable that there are some erroneous entries in our list. For this reason, you are strongly urged to carefully check the list for any entries matching your name or username as well as your computer's IP address, MAC address and asset number. (You can find information on how to find your computer's IP and MAC addresses at http://help.ru.ac.za/macaddress.) If you find any entries in the list that correspond to computers you're still actively using, please update their records at http://www.ru.ac.za/administrative/it/asset_update/ immediately.
Any computers in this list which have not had their record updated by Wednesday 9th of March will have their DNS entries deleted without further notice. Should this happen to a computer you're using, the symptom you're most likely to experience is that the University's proxy servers will report an ERR_NOVALIDDNS (Cache Access Denied - No Valid DNS Entry) error. In these instances you'll need to get hold of User Support (x8288) in order to have your machine re-registered for use on the network. You should be aware that there may be some delays in doing this and, as such, it is in your best interests to ensure your computer's records are up-to-date before the deadline.
[List can be found at http://listserv.ru.ac.za/pipermail/toplist...rch/002658.html]