Accessing OIT internet applications may be a little bit tricky this weekend as the Office of Information Technologies takes time to perform what it considers a much-needed electrical configuration in the Datacenter 2 facility.
Many important applications are dependant on these servers for power, and MyPack and Wolfwise will be just two of the applications staff and students pushed offline as technicians perform upgrades.
“One of the two power conditioners is not functioning correctly,” said Vice Chancellor of OIT Marc Hoit.
Hoit said the company performing the repair has tried to fix the problem without interrupting services but was unsuccessful.
“The OIT is working to reduce the impact of the repair…but there will be some inconvenience since the repair cannot be accomplished without shutting down the server.”
Last week, at an OIT meeting Hoit, explained the urgency behind the repair.
“This is a critical fix,” Hoit said. “As it is, if there was a power failure that lasted longer than the battery backup, all services would lose power and shutdown.”
Hoit explains that the OIT office is trying to determine which services will be impacted the most during maintenance.
“The OIT team is trying to move as many services to the other power source- they are working with campus to determine which services are most critical and support other services,” Hoit said.
“The shutdown of services will begin as early as Friday, July 17 in preparation for this maintenance,” said Chris King, OIT assistant director of Help Desk services. “The majority OIT service shut downs are scheduled to begin at approximately 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 18.”
King says OIT will be shutting down applications according to their importance.
“While some applications will be unavailable for use the major administrative systems such as Mypack Portal, the student information system and the financial and human resources system will be available until 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 18,” King said.
Services such as course registration, housing, and payroll will be unavailable to use after 11 p.m. on Saturday. The Wolfwise system will be degraded and will suffer a brief outage during the maintenance work.
This repair comes at a critical time as incoming freshmen and existing students alike rely heavily on OIT services. Many students use OIT services as a convenient way to register for classes and pay tuition. With these systems shutting down the process may be a bit of a waiting game.
“I just hope it doesn’t last longer than this weekend because I have to pay my tuition using Mypack,” Taryn Shaw, a junior in accounting, said.
A.J. Kamal, a senior in zoology, said he sees the upgrade as a necessity, and doesn’t mind the inconvenience.
“It’s worth it,” Kamal said. “I would rather lose the services for a weekend and have them fixed, than have something go wrong and loose them for a month.”
Maintenance will begin July 17 and run through July 19. King said he expects all services will be restored and working by 7p.m. Sunday.
