Scheduled Network Maintenance – Saturday May 4, 2019


In an ongoing effort to improve network reliability and performance, University Technology Services (UTS) has scheduled a network maintenance window for Saturday, May 4 from 7:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Planned maintenance activities for this day are listed below.

This maintenance is part of planned monthly UTS maintenance windows necessary to perform upgrades to the network. UTS will be using this time to add more capacity to the university’s network infrastructure and improve overall service. This maintenance will impact service and users will experience instances of slow or unresponsive network.

Also, starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday May 4, there will be an electrical power shutdown for high voltage maintenance work affecting a number of buildings. More information can be found on the Facility Services website.

Planned IT maintenance activities:

  • 7:00-8:30 a.m. – Apply software upgrade to campus core routers. Reduced network performance may be noticed during the update but an outage is not expected.
  • 8:30-9:00 a.m. – Hamilton Hall network switch software upgrades – note that voice menus and Call Centre services will be unavailable during this time and that intermittent phone service may occur.
  • Direct dial Security if required – will not be affected:
    Direct Dial: 905-522-4135.   Any on campus pay phone – no charge dial “Security Button”
    Dial ‘88’ on any campus phone
  • 8:30-12:00 p.m. – Network switch software upgrades affecting Wired and Wi-Fi connectivity and phones, in HH (Bldg. 2), ABB (Bldg. 25), BEAM (@MIP), Bertrand Russel Archive (88 Forsyth), BSB (Bldg. 11), CNH (Bldg. 23), DSB (Bldg., 46), ITB (Bldg. 49), KTH (Bldg. 38), LSB (Bldg.  39), MDCL (Bldg. 52), and TSH (Bldg. 29). There will be short outages of 10-15 minutes each while updates are applied.
  • 7:00-11:00 a.m. – Network Switch replacements in the Refectory building affecting wired and wireless network connectivity.
  • 7:00-12:00 a.m. – University Centre network performance improvements and Voice network capability (for Avaya Aura phones).

User patience and understanding are appreciated. For further questions and support, please see https://www.mcmaster.ca/uts/ or contact uts@mcmaster.ca.