IT Infrastructure Maintenance Policy

Effective Date: January 23, 2012

Policy Statement

Barnard College Information Technology (BCIT) enables the work of our faculty, students, and staff, and provides technological solutions in support of the mission, vision, and strategy of Barnard College (College).

Reason For This Policy
This policy formalizes the objective of BCIT to utilize maintenance windows to improve the security and reliability of the College computer networks and systems.  See the section "Reason For Maintenance Windows" for additional reasons for establishing maintenance windows.

Reason For Maintenance Windows

BCIT has established scheduled maintenance windows to:

• Improve the security and reliability of the College’s computer networks and systems.

• Minimize unplanned (emergency) maintenance.

• Reduce the chance of unexpected downtime occurring.

• Provide the College’s user community an opportunity to plan their work and schedule events around the managed downtimes.

During these planned maintenance windows, shared applications, servers, and networks may be unavailable.

Maintenance Schedule

BCIT will perform system and network infrastructure maintenance on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.

• 1st Tuesday of every month, between 6:00PM and 9:00PM

BCIT will conduct system and network maintenance that may result in downtime of servers and select network devices.  This maintenance window will not include maintenance which would impact wireless network access campus-wide (including student housing) and campus-wide wired network access.

• 3rd Tuesday of every month, between 6:00AM and 9:00AM

BCIT will conduct system and network maintenance that may result in rebooting and/or downtime of servers, and campus wired/wireless network devices (e.g. firewalls, routers, switches, wireless access controllers, wireless access points).

Procedure

• BCIT will post an announcement to its website 72 hours prior to all system/network maintenance activity resulting in downtime.
• BCIT will email notifications at the end of the prior week to remind the College community (i.e., students, faculty, and staff) about the planned maintenance.  
• BCIT will coordinate with Events Management to ensure that planned events on campus will not be impacted negatively by the BCIT monthly maintenance schedule.

Who Is Responsible For This Policy
Barnard's Vice President for Information Technology or her designates are responsible for the maintenance of this policy and for responding to questions regarding this policy. The College reserves the right to amend this policy and to limit or restrict the use of its electronic information resources at its sole discretion.

Who Is Governed By This Policy
This policy applies to all individuals who access, use, or control College electronic information resources. Those individuals covered include, but are not limited to faculty, staff, students, those working on behalf of the College, and individuals authorized by affiliated institutions and organizations.  

Privacy Expectations
N/A

Cross References To Related Policies
N/A

Applicable Acts, Regulations, And Laws
N/A

Enforcement
N/A

Contacts
For questions or comments:
Barnard College Information Technology
Web:  http://barnard.edu/bcit/
Email: help@barnard.edu
Telephone: 212-854-7172