![Protecting the University's IT services]](https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/istnews/files/2014/12/Protecting-the-Universitys-IT-services.jpg)
By Dave Thornley, N&I
Following a consultation with all areas of the University, UEG have agreed that IS&T will carry out a business continuity test of IT services over the weekend of 3rd and 4th January 2015. While this test is in progress, all IT services in the University will be at risk of disruption and a number of services will be down for periods of time.
What services will be affected?
We will be testing all critical IT services listed below. While they are being tested they will not be available to users.
- Internet connection
- Authentication
- SI
- Blackboard
- e5
- Syllabus Plus
- Room Service
- SharePoint
- Filestore
- Staff email
- Achiever
- External web server
We expect all other IT services to be available as normal over the weekend, however they will be at risk of some disruption while tests are underway. All IT services are expected to working as normal by Monday 5th January.
How long will services be down?
Individual services will be down for varying amounts of time. The shortest planned duration will be the External Web server (which will be down for around 30 minutes) the longest will be Blackboard and SI (which will be down for about 3 hours).
Why is this necessary?
The University is increasingly dependent on IT for its day-to-day effective running. A critical incident which interrupted IT services might damage the reputation of the University and compromise its ability to recruit. It could also affect the student experience. We need to test how we could support the University through such an incident and assess how to minimise any data loss and have the most business critical systems back up and running as soon as possible.
Why are you doing it over Christmas?
We have identified the weekend of the 3rd and 4th January 2015 (during the Christmas closure of the University) as the best opportunity for such a test based on known events and requirements. Teams of staff will be working over this weekend so that IT services will be available and working normally by 8am on Monday 5th January.
Where can I find out more?
Additional information about the tests will be available from IS&T news between now and the Christmas break. If you subscribe you will automatically receive email updates. Over the weekend of 3rd and 4th, updates will be put out on Twitter as the tests progress. You can view these at https://www.twitter.com/itstatusshu or follow @ITStatusSHU
