downtime

Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2023 (05:00-17:00)

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 ionic cluster to the latest Springdale 9
distribution. In addition, cluster management and job scheduling system
slurm and its database will be upgraded.

SPECIAL NOTE: As we are reloading the Linux servers, 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.

Please note that the downtime window is significantly longer than our usual
windows due to the high-touch nature of OS reinstallations. We expect to
finish the upgrades earlier than this window, but the wide time frame
acknowledges the uncertainties involved.

Why is it happening:
This is part of the routine maintenance 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

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

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

What is happening:
CS Staff will upgrade the user-accessible servers in our infrastructure,
including cycles, courselab, and armlab.
The systems will be upgraded to the latest Springdale 9 distribution for
the x86_64 architecture and RockyLinux 9 distribution for the aarch64
architecture (i.e., armlab).

To help ensure a smooth transition, we currently have the new distribution
installed on the following servers for your testing. Please keep in mind
that these servers are only reachable from inside the CS network.

cycles-test
courselab-test
armlab-test

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.

Why is it happening:
This is part of the routine maintenance of the publicly-accessible systems
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

Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2023 (08:15-10:15)

Who is affected:
Users of CS Department Disk Storage Facilities, including home directories,
project spaces, and web servers.

What is happening:
During this window, the CS Department’s primary storage cluster will have
its network relocated and upgraded.

NO OUTAGE is expected, but some users may experience brief pauses in
service or the need to disconnect and reconnect mounted filesystems.

Why is it happening:
This is part of a larger project upgrading the capacity of the CS
Department’s research network. This change will vastly increase the
available network bandwidth to the department’s central Isilon storage.

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