Network, Computer and Power Outages at Wilson Lab: June 19-24, 2006

Most LEPP computers will be unusable starting at 6AM on Friday, June 23. All LEPP computers will be unusable starting at 6AM on Saturday, June 24.

Technicians will be performing maintenance on the switching gear for Wilson Lab's incoming power every day during the week starting June 19th through June 24th. The power interruptions will be most noticable on Friday and Saturday when the power circuits known as US1 and US2 are scheduled to be down. There's the possibility of accidental power interruptions during the earlier part of the week.

How will this affect you?

• Most desktop systems will not work properly: whether Windows or Unix (Linux, Solaris and Tru64) on Friday or Saturday. They'll have many different problems.
  • E.G. many proprietary software packages will refuse to run Friday and Saturday. Their license servers are in the LEPP trailer without power. E.g.
    • Replicon Time Sheets will not work until after about 3PM on Friday
    • Microwave Studio will not work until after about 3PM on Friday
    • Colts should work
    • Microsoft Office will work
• We expect Unix, Linux and Windows desktops will be functional after about 3PM on Friday through about 5AM on Saturday.
• Macintosh file and backup services will not be available Friday or Saturday.
• There will be no network connection to Cornell or to the rest of the world on Saturday.
  • This includes Newman Lab, since it connects by way of Wilson Lab.
  • Mail addressed to you will be held on the remote originating systems while the LEPP mail servers are down on Saturday.
  • No Videoconferencing will be available on Saturday.
• No CESR or CLEO online systems will be running on Saturday.
• No CLEO calibration constants will be available Friday or Saturday.
• "Farm" systems will be down Friday through Monday.
• Unix batch queues will be suspended Thursday at 5PM and not restarted until the Farm systems are up.
• Scheduled backups won't run Friday night through Sunday. The Backup tape server is in the LEPP trailer.
• If there are power glitches early in the week, non-critical systems will be left down.

What should you do?

• End all of your editing sessions and logout before going home on Thursday and Friday.
• Spend time with family and friends on Saturday.
• Since no scheduled backups can be done, if you edit any important files Thursday through Sunday, be sure to make a copy elsewhere, just in case.
• People with laptops who will be on campus on Saturday and who need network access should use Cornell's Red Rover service. See http://www.cit.cornell.edu/redrover/
• There is no need for you to turn off any systems. LEPP computer group staff will be shutting systems down as needed.
• Make sure that all batch jobs, including those running on the various compute farms in the CLEO and LEPP trailers, will complete before 5:00 AM Friday morning. The Unix batch queues will be suspended from Thursday evening until late Monday afternoon at the earliest.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact any member of the LEPP computer group or send e'mail to service.

Background

Friday, June 23rd from approx. 7:30am till approx. 3pm, Power (US2) will be off in the LEPP and CLEO trailers, and air conditioning will be off in Wilson Lab.

• The Unix Home disk (SOL105) will be unavailable Friday until evening
• Windows License servers will be unavailable Friday until evening
• Backups won't run: copy any critical files that you create or modify Thursday through Sunday.
• "Farm" systems will be unavailable until Monday or Tuesday afternoon.
• As many as possible of the systems in W221 will be turned off on Friday because US2 provides power to most of Wilson Lab's water pumps: only minimal cooling will be available.

Saturday, June 24th from approx. 7:30am till approx 3pm, Power (US1) will be off in Wilson Lab's main building.

• The network will be down starting at 6AM on Saturday. There will be no connection to or from the outside world for any system in Newman, Wilson or the trailers until Saturday evening.
• Most systems won't be available until Monday or Tuesday afternoon.
• Only "critical" systems will be brought up Saturday evening, likeoy after 7PM.
  • This includes CESR and some CLEO online systems plus central servers like LNS101, PC50, and mail and Web servers.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact any member of the LEPP computer group or send e'mail to service.

-- SeldenBall - 15 Jun 2006

-- RayHelmke - 19 Jun 2006