noticeboard.ru.ac.za

During the Tuesday, March 2nd 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:

• iPrint: software on one of the iPrint servers will be updated.  We expect an outage of two hours affecting printing to all iPrint printers.  (This work was previously announced in the March maintenance window but could not be completed then.)
• TerminalFour: software on the server hosting TerminalFour will be updated. We expect an outage of an hour during which time it will not be possible to change content managed by TerminalFour (already published web pages will still be accessible).
• Distribution routers: software will be updated on the distribution routers serving the St Peters campus area (all buildings on the south side of Lucas Ave).  Brief outages are expected, during which time no network services (including IP telephones and Wi-Fi access) will be available within this area.
• 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
  • Provisioning (web proxy autodiscovery, telephone provisioning)
  • Wi-Fi and VPN authentication
  • CHERTL Evaluation Assistant
  • Network graphs
  • 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)
• Network monitoring system: software on the server hosting the network monitoring service will be updated. We expect an outage of an hour during which time it will not be possible to change content managed by TerminalFour (already published web pages will still be accessible).
• 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, Duna, Fingo Village and Hill St Libraries
  • Joza Youth Hub
  • Mandalay on High
  • New Holland
  • The Provost
  • VC's Lodge
• Firewalls: software will be updated on the firewalls which connect the Internet to the campus, SEALS and public networks.  As the firewalls operate as a redundant pair, no noticeable outage is 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.