07/30/09 - Computer upgrade work over the next few days

Over the next few days Computer Support Services staff will be performing upgrades on our core data storage systems. There should be no service outages related to this work, but with work of this kind there is always the possibility of an unforeseen problem resulting in an outage.

Friday morning, July 31st, we will upgrade the main disk storage system for critical services such as the main web pages, First Class, and other applications. The upgrade should not interupt the functioning of those systems and we do not anticipate any downtime.

Monday and Tuesday morning we will be physically moving the servers that host many critical and non-critical services. Services running on those servers will be reassigned to other hardware during the move with no downtime for the services involved. (Email me if you're interested in how that works).

These upgrades and relocations will take us a big step forward towards our goal of complete redundancy for all systems. We are working towards a world where critical systems will continue to function in the face of major hardware failures or even the loss of an entire building to fire or other calamity.

We appreciate your support as we work to provide reliable and robust information technology systems for MCLA.

-Mark Berman