Date: Tuesday, July 2, 2024 (06:00-17:00)

Who is affected:
All users of the CS Department Beowulf high performance computing cluster,
known as ionic.

All users of the CS Staff-managed public login systems, including the
cycles, courselab, and armlab systems.

What is happening:
During this window, all CS managed systems (cycles, ionic, neuronic,
courselab and armlab) will be upgraded to the latest Red Hat Operating
System – 9.4. In addition, cluster management and job scheduling system
slurm and its database will be upgraded. No data loss is anticipated.

SPECIAL NOTE:
As we are reloading the Linux servers, all crontabs will be deleted. If you
have crontabs that you wish to persist, you will need to back up your
crontabs before the downtime, and restore them after.

In addition, all local disk storage will be wiped, thus resulting in a loss
of any data stored in the /scratch partition. If you have data in /scratch
that needs to survive the reload, please ensure it is copied somewhere safe
before the start of the maintenance.

Why is it happening:
This is part of regular maintenance to keep systems up-to-date.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff

Date: Monday, June 10, 2024 (07:00-10:00)

Who is affected:
All email recipients of the CS mailing lists.

What is happening:
CS Staff will upgrade the CS mailing list server as well as the Mailman
Suite to the latest version.

The web interface for the list server will undergo significant changes.

We do not expect any loss of data or mailing lists configurations.

Why is it happening:
Mailman will be upgraded from version 2.1.12 to 3.3.9.

This is part of maintenance to enhance software performance and security.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff

Hello, everyone.

Reminder for the upcoming scheduled maintenance.

Thank you, and Happy New Year,
CS Staff

—– Forwarded Message —–
From: “CS Staff” <csstaff@cs.princeton.edu>
To: “downtime” <downtime@lists.cs.princeton.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2023 3:26:21 PM
Subject: [downtime] [rescheduled] CS Database Downtime, Monday, January 8, 2024, 07:00-10:00

Due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, this downtime, previously
announced for Tuesday, is being rescheduled by one day to Monday,
January 8th, 2024.

Please contact CS Staff if it causes you undue hardship.

Thank you,
CS Staff

—– Original Message —–
From: “csstaff” <csstaff@cs.princeton.edu>
To: “downtime” <downtime@lists.cs.princeton.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2023 11:10:35 AM
Subject: [downtime] CS Database Downtime, Tuesday, January 9, 2024, 07:00-10:00

Date: Tuesday, January 9, 2024 (07:00-10:00)

Who is affected:
All users of the CS Department ”publicdb” database server, including
any dependent web properties and all CS Department Beowulf high-performance
computing cluster users, known as ionic.

All users of CS Department administrative web properties (Dropbox, CS
Guide, the Main website, etc.)

What is happening:
During this window, the ”publicdb” database server will be replaced
with a newer server. All existing MariaDB databases will be migrated to the
new server, so no data loss is anticipated. However, while Slurm jobs will
continue, new jobs cannot start during the migration.

In addition, the database server underlying the administrative systems
will be upgraded and replaced. During the upgrade, all database-dependent
administrative systems will be unavailable. This includes the CS Dropbox
service, the main website, the CS Guide, ADM, and any content feeds
provided by CS Staff.

Why is it happening:
The old servers running MariaDB 10.1.24 will be upgraded to newer ones
running MariaDB 10.5.22.

phpMyadmin web interface will be upgraded from version 4.4.14 to 5.2.1.

This is part of regular maintenance to enhance system performance and
security.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff

Due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict, this downtime, previously
announced for Tuesday, is being rescheduled by one day to Monday,
January 8th, 2024.

Please contact CS Staff if it causes you undue hardship.

Thank you,
CS Staff

—– Original Message —–
From: “csstaff” <csstaff@cs.princeton.edu>
To: “downtime” <downtime@lists.cs.princeton.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2023 11:10:35 AM
Subject: [downtime] CS Database Downtime, Tuesday, January 9, 2024, 07:00-10:00

Date: Tuesday, January 9, 2024 (07:00-10:00)

Who is affected:
All users of the CS Department ”publicdb” database server, including
any dependent web properties and all CS Department Beowulf high-performance
computing cluster users, known as ionic.

All users of CS Department administrative web properties (Dropbox, CS
Guide, the Main website, etc.)

What is happening:
During this window, the ”publicdb” database server will be replaced
with a newer server. All existing MariaDB databases will be migrated to the
new server, so no data loss is anticipated. However, while Slurm jobs will
continue, new jobs cannot start during the migration.

In addition, the database server underlying the administrative systems
will be upgraded and replaced. During the upgrade, all database-dependent
administrative systems will be unavailable. This includes the CS Dropbox
service, the main website, the CS Guide, ADM, and any content feeds
provided by CS Staff.

Why is it happening:
The old servers running MariaDB 10.1.24 will be upgraded to newer ones
running MariaDB 10.5.22.

phpMyadmin web interface will be upgraded from version 4.4.14 to 5.2.1.

This is part of regular maintenance to enhance system performance and
security.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff

Date: Tuesday, January 9, 2024 (07:00-10:00)

Who is affected:
All users of the CS Department ”publicdb” database server, including
any dependent web properties and all CS Department Beowulf high-performance
computing cluster users, known as ionic.

All users of CS Department administrative web properties (Dropbox, CS
Guide, the Main website, etc.)

What is happening:
During this window, the ”publicdb” database server will be replaced
with a newer server. All existing MariaDB databases will be migrated to the
new server, so no data loss is anticipated. However, while Slurm jobs will
continue, new jobs cannot start during the migration.

In addition, the database server underlying the administrative systems
will be upgraded and replaced. During the upgrade, all database-dependent
administrative systems will be unavailable. This includes the CS Dropbox
service, the main website, the CS Guide, ADM, and any content feeds
provided by CS Staff.

Why is it happening:
The old servers running MariaDB 10.1.24 will be upgraded to newer ones
running MariaDB 10.5.22.

phpMyadmin web interface will be upgraded from version 4.4.14 to 5.2.1.

This is part of regular maintenance to enhance system performance and
security.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff

Date: Thursday, October 19, 2023 (7:30-9:30)

Who is affected:
All users of the CS Department Beowulf high performance computing cluster,
known as ionic.

What is happening:
CS Staff will upgrade the cluster management and job scheduling system
Slurm and its database. No reboot will be necessary; thus, we expect to
finish the upgrade earlier than this window. However, the wide time frame
acknowledges the uncertainties involved.

Why is it happening:
The upgrade is necessary to patch against an urgent security bug.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff

Date: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 (07:30-10:30)

Who is affected:
All users of CS Department storage systems, including project spaces, home
directories, and web spaces.

What is happening:
The central file storage cluster will be rebooted a few times during this
window in order to facilitate physical upgrades. During the reboots, file
services will be interrupted, but will resume after the cluster finishes
its boot. This will affect access to the cycles login hosts, CS Department
web services, and CS Department SMB/CIFS services. Email services should
not be affected.

Actual outage time is not expected to encompass the full 3 hour window, but
may occur sporadically during this period.

A reservation has been placed on the ionic cluster to hold all jobs that
would overlap with this maintenance. Jobs will automatically start again
after completion of the work.

Why is it happening:
The storage cluster will be upgraded during this window. The upgrades will
modernize the backend network of the cluster, as well as add new all-flash
nodes to speed up front-end operations.

This, combined with recent front-end network upgrades, will continue the
improvements to the cluster necessary to prepare for the arrival of the new
SEAS HPC cluster that will be hosted in CS.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff

Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2023 (08:00-10:00)

Who is affected:
All users of the CS Department project web space service.

What is happening:
CS Staff will upgrade the web project servers to the latest Springdale 9
distribution.

PHP on this server will be upgraded from version 8.0.13 to 8.1.14, and
Phusion Passenger, the system which allows for support of web application
frameworks, will be upgraded from version 6.0.14 to 6.0.18. There are
several incompatibility changes between the PHP versions, and some project
websites will need code upgrades/adjustments to work properly on the new
server. You can read more about the changes between the PHP versions on
these pages:

www.php.net/manual/en/migration81.php
www.php.net/manual/en/migration81.deprecated.php
www.php.net/manual/en/migration81.incompatible.php

Note the “Backward Incompatible Changes” link, which is worth reviewing to
prepare for your site update.

We don’t anticipate any Phusion Passenger breaking changes; however, if
you’d like to review some of the newest features, please review the
following link(s).

blog.phusion.nl/2023/06/12/passenger-6-0-18/

CS Staff is performing a basic review of each project website on the
upgraded web server, and /most/ sites appear to be in good working order.
We will contact site owners directly for sites with obvious compatibility
issues to advise on expected changes. However, as it is impossible for us
to review all possible aspects of your site, we strongly encourage you to
review your site after the upgrade on July 26 to ensure it is working as
expected, as well as review the PHP changes before the upgrade to
anticipate changes you may need to make.

Please note that the above changes apply ONLY to the project websites.
Personal (“tilde”) sites and any other content hosted under
“www.cs.princeton.edu” are not yet affected by this upgrade. If you are
concerned that your site may need substantial change and would like to
review it using the new web server before the upgrade, please contact
[csstaff at cs.princeton.edu] for assistance.

Why is it happening:
This is part of the routine maintenance of the web servers and will bring
newer versions of installed tools and software.

We will post updates to the status page: www.csstaff.org
as necessary.

If this downtime will cause you undue hardship, please contact
csstaff@cs.princeton.edu immediately, so we can discuss options to reduce
any negative impact. Your patience is appreciated.

Sincerely,
CS Staff