Computing News
Administrative computing and network services unavailable 11/26/99
A twenty-four hour power outage in the ISC computer room at 3401 Walnut over the Thanksgiving holiday will interrupt service on some key Penn computing systems. Major administrative systems will be unavailable and remote access to PennNet through the modem pool will be severely limited. In addition, some important network services will not be operating and University voicemail will be inoperative.
The outage will last from 8 a.m. Friday, November 26, to 8 a.m. Saturday, November 27.
The outage is required so that obsolete technology that provides electrical power service to the computer room, including backup power for emergencies, can be entirely replaced. Power to stores and offices at 3401 Walnut will not be interrupted.
Network traffic to and from the Internet and around PennNet (other than that involving the 3401 Walnut computer room) will NOT be affected. ISC regrets the necessity of the outage but hopes that the timing will minimize the impact.
The following notes specify the services and systems affected:
Administrative systems: Administrative systems/services that will NOT be available include FinMIS, the Data Warehouse, and all systems housed on IVY.UMIS (e.g., Student Financial Systems (SFS), Student Records (SRS), Payroll, and Gifts).
Other widely used systems: PennIntouch, the Online Directory, the Online Calendar, Netnews, and the graduate and undergraduate online applications will NOT be available.
Modem/office/ResNet connections: The main PPP modem pool (215/573-4778) will NOT be operating. The express pool and the slower CLI pool will be available. Network access from ISP accounts (DCANet, AOL, etc.), ResNet rooms, and on-campus offices will also be available.
E-mail: Pobox, dolphin, and mail.sas e-mail will NOT be available. Messages arriving for accounts on those systems will be delayed but delivered as soon as the systems are up again.
Voicemail: Voicemail will NOT be available, so it will not be possible to leave or retrieve messages.
Web: Penn's home page, OncoLink, University Archives, and the many office and service web sites on the central Web server, www.upenn.edu, will NOT be available. Some School web sites and web applications (Dental, GSE, GSFA, SAS, Blackboard, IRQDB) will NOT be available. Web sites on pobox and dolphin will NOT be available. Web applications that require users to enter a PennNet ID and password to authenticate themselves will NOT be available. The Library Web and web servers in other Schools and offices will be available.
If you have concerns regarding how the outage will affect your work, please call 215/898-1099 (for administrative systems only) or contact your local service provider (LSP).
--James J. O'Donnell, Vice Provost, Information Systems and Computing
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