Upgrade to University file storage - part 1
04 Nov 2015
Due to the recent major incidents, we are planning work for the next two weekends on our file storage system 'Isilon'.
Why has the Isilon storage (used by P:Drives and some shared drives) been unreliable recently?
Over the last two weeks we have experienced two major incidents caused by issues with our file storage system. We have worked closely with the supplier of the service and have now identified the cause of the issue. Fixes are available but require an upgrade to the software that manages the system. This upgrade was already planned to be implemented during the December holiday period, but due to the issues we will bring this forward.
Are we at risk of further outages?
Until we perform the upgrade, a reoccurrence may happen. We have enhanced monitoring and can respond more quickly to resolve issues and minimise the chance of any reoccurrence, however we are still technically 'at risk'.
Are we increasing risk by doing the upgrade in term time?
Yes, however the upgrade will be installed by experts from the supplier, and has been done without issue by other customers. On balance, we believe the risk of reoccurrence is higher than the risk of the upgrade.
When is this happening?
We upgrade Isilon on Saturday 7 November. The work is scheduled to take place between 6am and 12 midday.
Technical updates on the work will be posted on the Service Notification System.
Which services are affected?
Research Data Storage will not be accessible during the work.
Podcasting (Lecture capture) will be available as 'read only' meaning people will be able to watch and listen to podcasts, but the service will be unable to provide upload or editing capability from the evening of Friday 6 November until the work completes on Saturday.
Work on personal storage (P:drives) is planned to take place on Saturday 14 November, and we will be posting more information about this in advance of the work.
Will the upgrade fix the issue?
Analysis of log files have traced the issue to specific bugs in the current version of software. We are reasonably confident that these particular issues will not reoccur after the upgraded software is installed.
IT Services