Network Remediation Project Planned IT Outage

VIU’s technology infrastructure is in need of significant remediation and renewal. Due to this VIU’s Information Technology Services (ITS) department is moving forward with a major Network Remediation Project (NRP). TheNRPis a critical part of Program Borealis and is tied to other major projects such as AURORA, Constellation, Physical Plant Assessment, and achieving Remediation and Network Standards.

It will bring significant improvements to VIU’s technology infrastructure, which all students and employees will benefit from.

Action Required

VIU recently received the funding for this project which must be used by March 31, 2019. A complete outage of all IT services at VIU is required to complete the remediation. Therefore, to meet the constrained time frame, ITS will conduct a VIU-wide outage on the weekend of Saturday, January 19, 2019 starting at 6 am and ending on Sunday, January 20 at 6 pm.

The outage will:

• Replace networking hardware in all data centres 
• Affect all servers as we need to shut them down prior
• Affect all VIU campuses and facilities

This outage will impact (but is not limited to):

• All email including Outlook and Webmail
• All VoIP phones
• All employee and student computers
• All files
• All network connectivity, including WiFi and VPN
• All administrative systems including SRS, FRS, Library, StarGarden

VIULearn, VIUTube, VIUBlogs and Learnsupport

• All student and employee printing

Other services such as Code Blue and Direct Digital Controls (DDC) may be affected.

IT is working with areas that will be highly impacted or have extra considerations to ensure this can be completed with the least disruption possible.

What do I need to do to be ready?

1. Save and close your work, then log off or restart your computer prior to the scheduled service interruption.
2. You will NOT be able to access your account, VIU email, files, or VIU internet during this maintenance window. If you require access to any files you will need to save them to a USB drive or other storage device (not your VIU computer account or a VIU computer or VIU email).

Additional planned outages will occur throughout February and early March.  These may have shorter durations, and/or may be limited to one area or building at a time. All outages must be complete by the beginning of March to allow time to complete this project.  Additional outages will be communicated to the areas affected with proper notice and instructions.