Planned power outage will disrupt data services

On Saturday, Aug. 3, UAF Facilities Services will shut down power to the Butrovich Building and Data Center. As a result all UA data systems will be offline for up to 10 hours starting at 2 a.m. Those systems include Banner and related applications (TEM/Workflow, Vista Plus, App Manager, Degree Works), Blackboard (Learn, Transact), OnBase and video conferencing. Contractors plan to have power and network systems restored by noon.

 

In addition to the systemwide outages, the University of Alaska Fairbanks main campus, including the Butrovich Building, and all UAF community campuses and outreach centers will lose on-campus internet access during the shutdown. UA and UAF users will also lose access to VPN and any shared file servers hosted in the Butrovich data center. 

 

The shutdown also will affect all building systems in Butrovich, with the exception of water, sewer, sprinklers and fire alarms.

 

Systems and services not hosted in the Butrovich data center should be available systemwide, such as Google Applications, Internet services for UAA and UAS and their affiliated community campuses, etc.

 

The purpose of the outage is to test electrical systems and prepare for the installation of a new 800-kilowatt backup generator for the systemwide data center later this year. 

 

The backup generator, once installed later this year, will allow the UA network to remain online during a long-term power outage. Backup generators have become increasingly important as a safeguard against natural disasters that can result in days or weeks of power loss. 

 

The work on Aug. 3 will include three hours to power down the building and network, four hours of work on the electrical system and three hours to bring the building and network back online. The electrical system must be completely powered down to ensure safety for the technicians doing the work. 

 

University employees in the Butrovich Building can help by powering down their workstations and other electrical loads and leaving promptly at 5 p.m. on Friday Aug. 2. The Butrovich building will not be accessible until after the work concludes at approximately noon on August 3.