Systems Management Team Maintenance Procedures and Schedules

Owned by Beth Woods (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Sept 16, 2024 by Michael Hill
4 min read

Overview

Servers and networked equipment often need software and/or hardware upgrades, system reconfiguration, and preventative maintenance to ensure acceptable levels of security and operability. While some of these changes can occur on running equipment, other adjustments require downtime to complete.

Step-by-step guide

Abstract

Servers and networked equipment often need software and/or hardware upgrades, system reconfiguration, and preventative maintenance to ensure acceptable levels of security and operability. In order for Franklin OIT professionals to properly safeguard the systems and data housed throughout the College, it is imperative to implement a schedule that will allow for routine maintenance and downtime of systems. This document outlines the expectations and procedures for how to handle the primary forms of maintenance and downtime.

This procedure applies to all equipment and services managed by members of the Franklin College Office of Information Technology.

Maintenance Communication Protocol

Communication Methods

Franklin OIT Systems Management Team (SMT) will use the following methods to distribute notices about all system maintenance and downtime procedures.

  • Franklin OIT Systems Status System:
  • Franklin OIT Service Bulletins email listserv:
    • FCOIT-SRV@listserv.uga.edu
    • By default, Unit Heads or Directors and the primary business manager will be added to the listserv. It will be the responsibility of these initial/primary contacts to relay the service bulletins to their colleagues and personnel using their own internal methods. Other members of the unit may unsubscribe or subscribe to the list as desired by asking OIT to add them or by sending a listserv subscribe command.
    • NOTE: Units wishing to subscribe all of their personnel may submit a helpdesk request containing a list of all email addresses of unit personnelto be added to the listserv in a bulk process. It will be up to the unit tomaintain that list on a periodic basis, and the listserv will bet setup toautomatically purge stale addresses.

Communication Details and Lead Times

System maintenance announcements will identify the targeted system or service which will be affected, the type of maintenance being conducted, the general tasks being performed, and the expected maintenance time period.

Types of maintenance and required notification lead time:

  • Scheduled Routine Maintenance
    • Minimum Lead time: 48hrs
  • Scheduled Extended Maintenance
    • Minimum Lead time: 4 business days / 96hrs
  • Unscheduled Maintenance
    • If possible, SMT will attempt to provide 24hrs of advance notice to
      an unscheduled maintenance operation. Otherwise, SMT will give
      as much notice as possible in these circumstances.
  • Unscheduled Emergency Maintenance
    • As these are unpredictable and unknown, there may be little or no
      lead time before an outage. SMT will attempt to provide as much
      advance notice as possible in these situations.

Types of Maintenance Procedures

Scheduled Routine Maintenance

Description

This service window will be used to perform routine maintenance operations such as patching the operating system software and other applications, modifying configurations, and removal or installation of new software packages. This type of maintenance usually requires minimal time and interruption of services to complete. This maintenance will be regularly scheduled to occur at predefined days and times.

Timeframe

Franklin OIT reserves Wednesday evenings between 10:00pm and 2:00am to perform routine maintenance tasks.

Scheduled Extended Maintenance

Description

This service window will be used to perform more complex tasks such as hardware maintenance, major software modifications, security audits, and any other necessary maintenance tasks. This type of maintenance usually requires significant time and service interruptions may be lengthy and/or frequent. This maintenance will be regularly scheduled to occur at predefined days and times.

Timeframe

Franklin OIT reserves the second Friday of each month between 10:00pm and 6:00am to schedule downtimes.

Unscheduled Maintenance

Description

This type of maintenance is unexpected and usually based on reported performance or other complex issues with production systems. This type of maintenance varies widely depending on effected hardware and services and usually requires minimal time and interruption of services to complete. Due to the unpredictability of this form of maintenance, an attempt will be made to schedule during periods of low use or impact on clients and services.

Timeframe

Franklin OIT reserves the ability to execute unscheduled maintenance on a severity basis. Higher severity issues may require less ideal maintenance times than lower severity issues, which may be scheduled during periods of low use or impact on clients and services.

Unscheduled Emergency Maintenance

Description

This type of maintenance is infrequent and will be used during times where unscheduled emergency maintenance may alleviate a greater security risk or impact to production services. This type of maintenance varies widely depending on impacted hardware and services and may lead to extended service time and lengthy and/or frequent interruptions in services.

Timeframe

Franklin OIT reserves the ability to execute unscheduled maintenance on a severity basis. Higher severity issues may require less ideal maintenance times than lower severity issues, which may be scheduled during periods of low use or impact on clients and services.

External Resources