Planned Power Outage on December 29 to Affect Most of ODU's Information Technology Services and Systems

A planned power outage will take place in the E.V. Williams Engineering and Computational Sciences Building on Wednesday, December 29, to allow for a repair to the primary electrical switch in the facility. This power outage will affect nearly all information technology services and systems.

The power outage is scheduled to begin at 5:30 a.m., and services are expected to be restored no later than 8:00 p.m. The campus community should expect central computing services to be unavailable during that period.

OCCS has taken steps to make some limited services available during the power outage. These services are listed below:

• Campus users will be able to login to their desktop and use local resources (i.e.MS Office)

• Campus users will be able to connect to the wired network only from the main campus buildings. Please note: the wired and wireless network in University Housing (residence halls), the Higher Education Centers, and the new Crew Facility will not be available.

• The campus telephone services (analog and VoIP) will be available.

• Door access cards to campus buildings will operate normally.

• The Emergency Alert System will be available

• Cable TV will be available on campus and in University Housing

• Student email

• PAPERS and the Faculty Activity System will be available

• OCCS Technical Support Center will only be available by phone at 757-683-3192

Please note that, during the outage, the following campus technologies will NOT be available:

• Faculty/Staff Electronic Mail and Calendaring Services. Please note: Email sent to ODU during the power outage will not be lost.

• ODU Web Site (Outage announcement only)

• Faculty Web Sites

• myODU portal

• Wired and Wireless Internet Services to Residence Halls

• Wired and Wireless Internet Services to Higher Education Centers

• Wired and Wireless Internet Services to the Crew Facility

• Online Testing

• Blackboard

• Banner INB

• Leo Online

• Credit Card Processing

• University Tickets

• High Performance Computing

• Internet2 and National LamdaRail

• UNIX/LIONS

• Virtual Private Network Access (VPN)

• Access to network drives

• Network Printing

• Distance Learning Services

• Monarch Cards - Debit Card

All other services, even if not listed above, that rely on the ODU network or use the University's central technology resources will be impacted.

Additional information about the outage is provided in the frequently asked question (FAQ) section below. If you have questions about the outage, please contact the OCCS Technical Support Center (TSC) at occshelp@odu.edu or 757-683-3192

FAQ Section

Does the University's data center have backup power that can be used during the power outage?

The data center has power backup protection from two sources, an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) and a backup power generator. The UPS provides battery-backup power for short outages. The generator provides backup power for long outages. The power from the backup generator uses the electrical switch that failed, so it cannot be used. The UPS does not have the capacity to provide power for the length of outage that is required.

Will email sent to the University during the outage be lost?

Even though the ODU email system will not be available during the power outage, no email will be lost. Email systems follow a standard protocol for transmitting email messages. The standard requires the transmitting email system to retry sending an email message every 30 minutes for up to 4 - 5 days.

Will ODU student email, hosted by Google, be available?

Yes.

Will telephones work during this outage?

Yes. OCCS has located redundant telephone systems in an alternate location on the main campus.

Will any IT services be available at the Higher Education Centers?

No.

Will my ODU ID Card work to access buildings?

Yes, with the exception of the Engineering and Computational Sciences Building.

Will my ODU ID card work as a debit card at snack machines or local merchants?

No.

This article was posted on: December 22, 2010