UGA network maintenance on Oct. 23

On Saturday, Oct. 23 from 6 a.m.-midnight, Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) will conduct network maintenance that will result in complete outages of campus internet access and campus information systems.

Please make note that unlike previous planned network maintenances where there were intermittent outages, this maintenance will result in a complete outage of access to services. If you are aware of activities on this day that you anticipate will be impacted by this maintenance and would like assistance with planning, please contact Chris Baines.

This maintenance is necessary for EITS to continue providing ample bandwidth and capacity for the University. This is the second of two regularly scheduled network maintenances in 2021. These are performed twice each year as part of the standard maintenance schedule.

Key points:

  • UGA’s Telephone Services will experience complete outages. In case of an emergency, it is important to remember to use a cell phone to contact UGA Police by calling 911 instead of 706-542-2200. The UGA Police Department will still respond to all calls for service during this time. Members of the campus community are reminded that 911 is always the appropriate number to call for an emergency on campus. In the event of a future interruption in “land line” phone service at UGA, cell phones should be used to contact police.
  • Elevator emergency phones may not work when telephone service is disrupted, and cell connectivity in elevators is unreliable in some buildings. It is recommended to use stairs to the extent possible during the time of the maintenance.
  • Building fire alarm panels may beep continuously until the phone connection is restored and possibly beyond if the system does not reset automatically. During the outage time, there is no need to call the UGA Police Department or Facilities Management Division to report this issue. However, employees and students should remain aware and notify the UGA Police Department if they observe any indications of fire or smoke.
  • Systems that use services in the UGA Boyd Data Center will experience outages. This also includes UGA websites hosted in the Boyd Data Center. The University’s primary website is hosted off-campus and will remain available.
  • UGA’s Single Sign-On (UGA SSO) will also experience outages. This means individuals will not be able to log into many UGA-provided information systems, including the following: Zoom, DawgCheck, Athena, Banner Administrative System, Degree Works, eLearning Commons (eLC), UGA Financial Management System, UGA Budget Management System, UGAJobs, UGAmart, OneUSG Connect, and OneUSG Connect Benefits.
  • Individuals will also experience outages accessing UGAMail, websites hosted by UGA, the Virtual Private Network (VPN), ArchPass Duo, and information systems hosted by EITS.
  • Wireless networks will also be unavailable, including Paws-Secure, Eduroam, and UGA_Visitors_WiFi.
  • All systems behind the UGA Boyd Data Center departmental firewalls will experience outages to their access to the UGA network.
  • Changes to access control or HVAC systems likely will not be possible during the maintenance, but systems will continue to operate on their last set of instructions. New alerts will not be registered in systems that rely on the network for reporting, nor will an alarm be sent by email, text, or phone tree for the areas out of alignment.

Additional details and progress reports will be posted on the EITS website and the EITS Twitter feed.

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