noticeboard.ru.ac.za

During the Tuesday, July 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:

• Sage 300 People: software on the server providing this service (including employee self service functions such as leave requests) will be upgraded.  It is expected to be unavailable for at least an hour, but the work may take most of the 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.  A network configuration change affecting all of the services below will result in an additional outage later in the evening.  iPrint and serval file server services will be unavailable for at least an hour.
  
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • File servers/home directories (gnu, serval)
• Distribution routers: a problem with one of the distribution routers for the main campus sector (the area enclosed by Lucas Ave, Somerset St and Prince Alfred St as far as the Library and Psychology Building) will be investigated further.  All network services in that area may be disrupted at times for a period of up to four hours.
• 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.