We've been notified by TENET that maintenance will be undertaken on one of the routers which provides TENET's Internet access services to the university. Work will begin at 10:00 PM on Monday, 14 April, and is expected to take two hours to complete.
This work ought not to cause a major Internet outage for the university as connectivity should still be provided by TENET's other router and our commercial Internet service provider. However, it is possible that temporary disruption to Internet connections may occur as TENET's work begins.
The same upgrade was successfully performed on the alternate TENET router on 2 April.
During the Tuesday, 15 April maintenance window, maintenance work will affect certain services, starting at 5:30 PM and being completed before midnight. The following work is planned:
Distribution routers: software will be updated on the routers serving all buildings in the areas listed below. All network services (including Wi-Fi and IP telephones) may be disrupted in those areas for up to 30 minutes.
North and west campus: all buildings north of Prince Alfred St.
PBX: software on the university telephone system will be updated . We expect that all phones (IP telephones, mobile app and web client) will be unable to make or receive calls for a period of around 15 minutes.
Access switches: software will be updated on the network switches in the buildings listed below. All network services (including Wi-Fi and IP telephones) will be disrupted in those buildings. For smaller buildings, the work might be completed in 30 minutes, while larger buildings may take up to 90 minutes.
Core router software update: the software on one of the two core routers will be updated. No noticeable outage is expected as all network traffic should be handled by the other core router.
Internet edge routers: the software on one of the two edge routers will be updated. No noticeable outage is expected as all network traffic should be handled by the other edge router.
This work is being conducted during a minor maintenance period. Should there be a compelling reason why this work should not go ahead as planned, please contact support@ru.ac.za before 3:00 PM on Tuesday.