February 2008

We seem to be having issues with the server that handles project file systems. We are investigating the problem.

Update 12:37pm: We are heading into the department to perform a reboot of the file server. This involves a shutdown and restart of most of the systems.

Update 5:40pm: Systems are now back up. Due to some tempermental hardware the process did not go particularly smoothly.

On Monday, February 18, 2008, we will have a scheduled downtime of the Linux public cycle servers during normal business hours.

Who is affected:

• This downtime will impact users of the 32-bit Linux cycle servers (tux, opus, and willy) and the 64-bit Linux cycle servers (soak, wash, rinse, and spin).

What is happening:

• The operating systems on these machines will be upgraded. Note that this upgrade will take place during normal hours. We will upgrade the machines in stages (one 32-bit and one 64-bit machine at a time) to minimize disruption. Users logged in will be given a 5-minute warning before each machine is brought down. We expect that each machine will be down for less than an hour.
• Note that we will begin the upgrades at approximately 10:30am.

Special Note: because these upgrades involve a re-install of the operating system, crontab entries will be lost. If you have cron jobs that run on these machines, be sure to re-establish them after the upgrade.

Why it is happening:

• These upgrades address several critical security issues.

As of 2:09pm all updates have finished.

On Thursday, February 7, 2008, we will have a scheduled downtime from 4:00am to 8:00am EST.

Scheduled work includes:

• Firmware updates to the disk array on our home directory file server
• Upgrade virtual hosting web server to Apache 2
• Operating system patches

Why is it happening:

• Ordinarily, we would avoid having a downtime during the first week of classes; however, our file server vendor has classified a recent firmware update as \”critical\” meaning there is the potential for data loss.
• While our systems are down, we plan to upgrade the virtual host web server (virtweb) that hosts URLs of the form http://[projectname].cs.princeton.edu to Apache 2. This will allow web pages to host files larger than 2G.