Normal Hours¶
The EML is normally available 24/7. Our systems are remotely accessible during all hours.
We periodically perform maintenance activities which requires taking some systems offline. We also need to respond to campus Facilities events -- such as power or cooling activities. In those cases we may need to take all systems down.
Scheduled Downtimes¶
Every attempt will be made to schedule downtimes during off hours.
Scheduled system downtime is posted on this website and in the ssh login message. We will attempt to post the message at least 24 hours in advance. The announcement will state the date(s) and time(s) of the downtime and every attempt will be made not to exceed the posted downtime hours. Whenever possible, 10 minutes warning will be given prior to shutting the system down.
Unscheduled Downtimes¶
All systems will be taken down under the following circumstances:
Emergency hardware or software conditions may occur, including emergency filesystem repair, which may result in unscheduled system downtime. As much advance warning as possible will be given; but at times the system must be taken down rapidly to avoid further damage to hardware or other system resources.
If it is transparent to all users (which in practice means that there are no users on the system and no user background jobs running) the system may be taken down (for no more than 30 minutes) without advance message of the day warning.
The machines usually can reboot themselves from a crash, but occasionally the system will be unavailable until a qualified person can be reached.