IT Disaster Recovery Test

Update: December 30, 2019 – 8:30pm

All systems are running on primary hardware and are running normally.

 

Over the Winter Recess the Department of Information Technology will conduct a disaster recovery test of the core HSPH IT systems.  Disaster recovery (DR) exercises are conducted every 2 years and allow the IT team to ensure that network and computing services can be restored in case of emergency.  In addition, they provide an opportunity to update written DR plans and procedures.  Regular DR tests reduce the risk of data loss and demonstrate the business continuity abilities of HSPH.

Core HSPH IT services are run from a secure data center located at the main HSPH campus.  During the DR test, services will be shut down and brought back up on duplicate hardware at Harvard’s Disaster Recovery facility in Downtown Boston.  After running on the duplicate hardware for three days, the services will be transferred back to the primary hardware on campus.

The schedule is as follows:

Friday, December 27, 8:00am – 4:00pm – Services listed below will be offline intermittently as they are shut down and transferred to secondary hardware

Monday, December 30, 3:00pm – 8:00pm – Services listed below will be offline intermittently as they are shut down and restored on primary hardware

The following services will be affected during the dates and times above:
– File and Print services
– Mailman listservs
– Scan-to-email for network copiers
– Local SMTP email services
– FILR (formerly NetStorage)
– Powerfaids and NetPartner
– Wasabi
– Master Calendar
– LabPoint for DFCI
– Course Evaluations
– Faculty Activity Report
– CCure and Passage Point
– Administrative forms (account requests, visitor pass requests, computer setup, etc.)
– ICF VDI/Virtual Desktop System
– Staff VDI/Virtual Desktop System
– Kiosk VDI/Virtual Desktop System

All other services will be unaffected during the maintenance windows, including the following:
– HUIT O365 (Outlook) email system
– my.harvard
– LabPoint for Harvard
– Web Server (main www.hsph.harvard.edu site)
– The Forum Web Site
Kiteworks by Accellion File Transfer service

Please contact our IT Helpdesk at (617) 432-4357 or email helpdesk@hsph.harvard.edu for any questions or concerns you may have regarding this information.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Department of Information Technology