Dear Colleagues,

We are planning a network outage for Dec. 17.  We are asking the Library community to plan for the Libraries services be disrupted all day (6 am – 11:59 pm) on Dec. 17th.  While services are down, we will have links to alternative search resources for our users on the library landing page.  Our hope is that services will be restored throughout the day as the new network configuration comes online — but the process is complicated with many moving parts, so we are asking for 1 day to allow for any necessary troubleshooting.

Why is this happening?  The Ohio State University Libraries and the OCIO have entered into a 5 year agreement related to the management of our network services.  This agreement will result in marked improvements in networking infrastructure and access points within our physical buildings, as well as access to greater bandwidth on our network.  To complete this work, OCIO and the Libraries IT teams have been developing a network migration plan.  This plan will require a significant reconfiguration of our network, as the Libraries will partner with OCIO to manage the core infrastructure that connect us to the University’s network.  This transition will enable the Libraries to focus our work on our internal infrastructure and enable OCIO to continue to standardize how the larger university interfaces with the network.  To complete the hardware upgrades and core technical hand-offs, the Libraries’ network will need to be disabled for a period of time. 

So what will be down and what will be available?  Essentially, anything that is accessed via a library.osu.edu domain will be unavailable.  This will include:

  • The website and blogs
  • The catalog
  • Digital Collections
  • Knowledge Bank
  • Shared Network Drives (J, K, H)
  • Hub and Jira
  • Printing

What will be available:

  • Email
  • Wireless/internet
  • Box
  • Skype
  • Phones
  • Desktop Logins
  • Services not managed by the Libraries or under a library.osu.edu or lib.ohio-state.edu domain

OCIO and the Libraries are working hard to plan this migration to minimize down time and reduce the impact to our university community.  As the process progresses, I will keep the Library Community informed.  While services are down, the Libraries will be offering some programming that day for staff: details to come.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.

Best,

–tr