Network Maintenance
Network Maintenance Schedule
Low Impact Maintenance Schedule
Planned network maintenance that involves hardware, software or configuration changes that should not cause a service interruption is deemed Low Impact and are changes that need to occur on a regular, recurring basis. Examples of Low Impact Maintenance include modifying firewall rules per a customer request, enabling/disabling a switch port, adding an interface card to an existing production switch, or modifying an access control list. Low Impact Maintenance will be scheduled according to the request of an agency or OTS' need.
Notification: Internal OTS notifications will be sent so that in the unlikely event of a service interruption trouble calls may be correlated with maintenance activity. Another notice will be sent after the work has been completed.
High Impact Maintenance Schedule
Planned network maintenance that is known to be service affecting is deemed High Impact. OTS has established a maintenance window of 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. CST Sundays for this type of maintenance. Maintenance will not necessarily be performed every Sunday, nor is it likely that maintenance for a given event will last the entire four hours. This four-hour maintenance window has been established to cover the possibility of multiple maintenance operations at multiple locations, or extensive work at any single location.
High Impact Maintenance may be performed outside of the standard Sunday window if the number of affected agencies is small and the agencies request or agree to a different time.
Notification: For Sunday maintenance, subscribers will be notified by 5 p.m. CST on the Wednesday before the scheduled window. For a non-standard window, notification will be sent 48 hours in advance. Notice will be sent to 'the email list for the customer group that will be affected by the service interruption as well as to the appropriate internal OTS personnel and Agency Relationship Managers. The notice will contain the following information:
- Scope: What work is being done
- Impact: What impact to service can be expected
- Reason: Why this work is being done
- Duration: Estimated duration of the activity
Notification will be sent to the same group after the fact indicating that work has been completed.
Emergency Maintenance
Unplanned network maintenance may need to be done on an emergency basis. This work will only be done if normal service is interrupted or degraded, and action is necessary to restore service to normal levels.
Notification: Notice will be sent to the email list for the group that will be affected by the emergency maintenance. The notice may be sent just prior to the activity, as time is normally of the essence in an emergency situation. The notice will contain the following information:
- Scope: What work is being done
- Impact: What impact to service can be expected
- Reason: Why this work is being done, and why it's an emergency
- Duration: Estimated duration of the activity
Notification will be sent to the same group after the work has been completed.