Posted: Tue 6 Mar 2012, 8:21am.
Some of the buildings on campus have been affected by a power outage this morning, including Shawcross. Core systems are now running on generator power but many services are likely to be affected. We are still waiting for power to be restored.
UPDATE: 6 Mar 2012 - 8:43am
A number of services are affected by this morning's power outage. Several buildings are currently without power, including Shawcross, Richmond and Chichester.
Some IT services are running on generator power and Sussex websites are working as normal. However, Study Direct and Sussex Direct are currently offline and there are reports of problems with staff G:drives and email although webmail access for both staff and students should be available. There has also been some disruption to network services following the loss of connections in some of the buildings and as a result, wi-fi and ResNet are not working normally.
Early indications are that this problem could take several hours to resolve but we will keep this page updated with the latest news.
UPDATE: 6 Mar 2012 - 10:28am
Services continue to be affected by this morning's power outage. Since shortly after 8am this morning, a number of buildings have been without power including Chichester, Richmond and Shawcross.
Although some IT services are running on generator power, there has been widespread disruption to any networks which pass through the buildings without electricity. Staff and students in many parts of the campus have therefore experienced uneven service this morning.
Our network teams have been working to divert connections to bypass the problem areas so you might find you are now able to connect. The network connections to Silverstone which were affected by the outage, have now been restored and we are working on the network service to Pevensey 2.
Most IT services are running on generator power and Sussex websites and webmail are working normally. Study Direct and Sussex Direct are now back online after earlier interruptions.
Early indications are that this problem could take some hours to resolve. Specialist electrical engineers are now on site but it may be some time before they can fix the issue. We will keep this page updated with the latest news.
UPDATE: 6 Mar 2012 - 11:01am
Electrical engineers have now arrived at Sussex to investigate the problems with the power supplies. A number of buildings have been without power since 8.00am including Chichester, Richmond and Shawcross.
Most core services have been running on generator power but there has been disruption to any networks routed through the buildings without electricity. We have been working to re-route as many services as we can and have restored network connections to Silverstone and Pevensey 3. We're also attempting to bring connections to Pevensey 2 back online.
Study Direct and Sussex Direct were both affected initially but are now working normally along with Sussex websites and staff and student webmail. Subversion services are also back online after earlier disruption.
We will keep this page updated with the latest news.
UPDATE: 6 Mar 2012 - 11:59am
Engineers were able to restore mains power just before 12.00noon and we're now working to restore all IT services to normal as quickly as we can. Thank you for your patience during the service interruption.
It is likely to be a little while before all systems are fully operational but networks are already returning. Staff who remain unable to connect to the network should try re-starting their PCs.
UPDATE: 6 Mar 2012 - 12:25pm
Systems are returning to full operation but there are still a few outstanding issues:
- some staff and students are unable to connect to their N: drives
- staff using Windows XP are still experiencing problems logging in and getting access to files
- some sections of ResNet are not yet connected
It's to be expected that there will be a few residual issues following the level of disruption this morning but we're working to resolve them as quickly as we can.
We are working our way through the outstanding issues and the majority of systems are now back online.
If you have problems getting to your normal N: drive and files, or connecting to ResNet, you may need to restart your computer. You should then find that you can use all of the usual range of services.
If you are a student working in a cluster room on the campus, please check that you have access to your N: drive (or home directory if you're using a Mac) to make sure you will be able to save your work.
As a result, we have been able to protect central data stores and restore services very quickly following the incident. We even started to re-route a number of network connections to get some buildings back online during the outage.
