noticeboard.ru.ac.za

During the Tuesday, October 4th maintenance window, maintenance work affecting a number of services will occur, starting at 5:30 PM and being completed before midnight. The following work is planned:

• File servers: previous attempts to update the software on the jackal.ru.ac.za server have still not been successful, so a further attempt will be made to update it.  It will not be possible for students to access files stored on jackal during the outage, but saving to USB flash disks or external hard disks will be possible.  It is expected that jackal will be unavailable for the entire evening.
• Server software updates: software on the servers which provide the following services will be updated, resulting in outages of up to 15 minutes per server:
  • DNS
  • DHCP
  • NTP
  • RT
  • Web proxies
  • Registration system
  • Incoming e-mail
  • Outgoing e-mail
  • E-mail mailboxes
  • Webmail
  • Mailing lists
  • SMS
  • Apple Software Update Server
  • Provisioning (web proxy autodiscovery, telephone provisioning)
  • Wi-Fi and VPN authentication
  • CHERTL Evaluation Assistant
  • Network graphs
  • Guest network access
  • Network monitoring
  • Terminal Four content management system
  • RU Single Sign-On system
  • Main web server (www.ru.ac.za, etc)
  • University administration and meal booking systems
  • SEALS Library consortium services
  • Network printing services (iPrint / PaperCut)
  • Home directories (gnu)
• Wireless links: software on point-to-point wireless link devices will be updated. This will cause network outages (including IP telephones and Wi-Fi access) of up to ten minutes in the following buildings:
  
  • 1 and 3 On Luke
  • 36 Somerset St
  • 6a Croft St
  • 7 Croft St
  • 70 African St
  • Community Library
  • Duna Library
  • Hill St Library
  • Joza Youth Hub
  • Mandalay on High
  • NELM
  • New Holland
  • The Provost
  • VC's Lodge
• Firewalls: software on the firewalls which connect the Internet to the campus, SEALS and public networks will be updated. As the firewalls operate as a redundant pair, no noticeable outages are expected during this maintenance.

While we try to publish a list of all service-affecting work here in advance, the list should not be considered exhaustive and other low impact work may also be undertaken during the maintenance window.

This maintenance work is being undertaken in the ITSC-approved scheduled maintenance window. More information about maintenance windows and maintenance periods.