noticeboard - summary

2019/06/14 - Emergency maintenance: PBX: Emergency IT maintenance will be undertaken at 5:30 PM tonight, 14 June. A critical software update will be applied to the university's PBX service in order to resolve problems which have caused a number of generally brief PBX service outages in the past two weeks. We expect that all phones (IP telephones and emergency phones) will be unable to make or receive calls for a period of around 15 minutes. Phones will likely show a message reading "Discover 146.231.128.90" during that time.
2019/06/04 - Scheduled maintenance, 4 June: During the Tuesday, June 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: Wi-Fi security certificate renewal: the certificate used to secure connections from Rhodes University staff/students to the eduroam Wi-Fi service will be updated. Users of Apple iPhones and/or iPads will be prompted to accept the new certificate when next they connect to an eduroam Wi-Fi network. Provided the certificate is for register.ru.ac.za and issued by Digicert, please tap Accept. 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) 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) 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.
2019/05/28 - Scheduled maintenance, 28 May: IT scheduled maintenance work will occur on Tuesday, May 28th, starting at 5:30 PM. PBX: software on the server which operates the university's telephone system will be updated. It is expected that all IP telephones, emergency phones and fax services will be unable to make or receive calls for a period of an hour. 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.
2019/05/21 - Scheduled maintenance, 21 May: IT scheduled maintenance work will occur on Tuesday, May 21st, starting at 5:30 PM. Distribution routers: software on the routers serving the St Peters campus and west campus sectors will be updated. All network services (including Wi-Fi and IP telephones) may be disrupted in those areas for up to 20 minutes. St Peters campus: all buildings south of Lucas Avenue West campus: all buildings which are west of South St and north of Prince Alfred St 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 4:00 PM on Tuesday.
2019/05/07 - Scheduled maintenance, 7 May: During the Tuesday, May 7th 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: Distribution routers: a new link will be installed between the distribution routers serving the South campus area (all buildings south of Prince Alfred St between Rhodes Avenue and Artillery Road, around the Hobson and Jan Smuts dining halls). Brief outages are expected, during which time no network services (including IP telephones and Wi-Fi access) will be available within this area. TerminalFour: software on the server hosting TerminalFour will be updated. We expect an outage of two hours during which time it will not be possible to change content managed by TerminalFour (already published web pages will still be accessible). Single Sign On service: the software which provides the single sign on service will be updated. We expect that it will not be possible to login to services using the single sign on service, such as RUconnected, ROSS and the Ethical Review Application System, at times during 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: 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) 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.