NETWORK MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES We will send email to user groups affected by the maintenance no less than 3 days prior to the maintenance, one week is preferred. The email will use layman's terms and indicate the exact server or system to undergo maintenance. The message will also note the time and date the maintenance will be performed. We will ask for any input from the users as to if the maintenance scheduled will impact them negatively or if it needs to be rescheduled. Email information messages will be drafted by the IT staff responsible for the work and sent to the IT director for approval. An example of a maintenance message is at the end of this procedure. The IT staff involved in the maintenance will arrive to work early (7:30am) the following morning to ensure there are no snags with the maintenance and to allow for a quick response to problems. A follow-up email will be sent to the users no later than the morning after the maintenance to inform them as to the success of the maintenance, or problems. Network system maintenance will be scheduled no earlier than 6pm in most cases unless of an emergency. It is best to have at least two IT staff involved in the maintenance, two sets of eyes is always better than one. All IT staff involved will stay throughout the entire maintenance. A full tape backup of the system(s) involved must be done the day prior to the maintenance. This must be checked. If possible the directory on the server involved can also be copied just prior to the maintenance, as an example in the case that the server portion of a client/server application was being upgraded, the directory containing the application could be copied to a temp directory. For client/server systems, the client portion of the upgrade should be done via our software distribution system if possible. We will use the first Sunday of each month after 3pm as a standard day/time for any network maintenance. This will be included in the company network briefing. We still need to inform the users if we want to use that time/day slot for maintenance. The company needs to maintain access to all systems 24x7x365. So we can't just yank a system offline, even on a Sunday. Meals can be expensed if after hours. Comp time will be provided for after hours. If you are doing any work to a server, even a non-production box, please inform all IT staff. If you start working on a server and it goes offline on purpose, the network monitoring software will inform the director and the network engineers and others. So we need to know what you are doing beforehand so we don't assume it is an emergency. DRAFT MESSAGE: ------------- WHAT: DC File Server Maintenance WHEN: Friday 7pm through Sunday 1pm, December 10-12 WHERE: Washington DC Office WHY: Upgrade to New Server We will be performing the work to upgrade to a new file server in Washington DC. The current file server (named PNHQ2) is in dire need of greatly increased storage capacity. The new server is faster and will provide more storage space as well as room for growth. The overall work to get the server upgrade in place will take place over the weekend to lessen the negative impact on the users (you). The server will be totally unavailable after 7pm local time in DC starting on Friday night for upgrade transition work. The server will be accessible starting on Sunday at 1pm at the latest. The main work is to move directories and data to the new server from the current server with the same security rights and access privileges. On Monday the 13th as you return to work we will assist you if any problems arise. We have several full backups of the data on the server. The main problem you might see is a shortcut to a file not working correctly. We recently did this same type of server upgrade in Richardson Texas and we experienced little problems after the work. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, but this work is necessary. This will affect users in Reston Virginia. This may affect some users in Texas. The alternative is to wait but our current file server could fail us or run out of space if we choose that route. Our recent email problem was a result of space problems. Please let me know if this date/time scheduled impacts any critical work. We appreciate your cooperation in this situation which will benefit all our users. FYI, the new server name is PNRV001, where our new corporate standard server naming scheme is being used. This server is PN (pathnet) followed by a two initial name for the site (RV = Reston Virginia - eventual site for this server) and 001 which is our file server standard number at any site. After the new server is online we will then begin work to move our electronic mail system to a dedicated server for that purpose. That work will not begin until we have totally transitioned to the new file server. That transition to the new email server will be at another date. YOUR NAME your contact information