March 11, 2008

Extended Outage of Production Systems Scheduled for March 23

After several changes in scheduling and a cancellation, we are ready to complete the work begun on December 16, 2007. There will be a total service outage of approximately eight hours from 12:01 am to 8:00 am (at the latest) for all Titan systems on Sunday, March 23, 2008.

The purpose of this work was to remove the ESCON Directors from the paths between the mainframe processor and each of the I/O devices. This hardware was made obsolete by improvements in mainframe technology, and it was necessary to remove the Directors to eliminate them as a source of potential problems.

The final phase of this project has required complex changes and coordination with multiple vendors and Data Center staff. While we expect to be able to return to service before 8:00 am, we want to give ourselves adequate time to resolve any problems that might arise.

Need help or have questions?

If you need help or have any questions regarding this outage, just submit a service request via the NIH Help Desk’s website (http://ithelpdesk.nih.gov) or give them a call at 301-496-HELP (301-496-4357), 866-319-4357 (toll free), or 301-496-8294 (TTY).