Bldg. Code	The University standard 4-character building code.
Conversion Time	The date and time the conversion will be or has been done.
Outage Duration	The estimated time network services will be down.
This is the maximum amount of time we expect the outage to last, even if difficulties occur with the conversion.  So far, we've not run over!  Strange and interesting things can happen such as a perfectly good and working fiber optic connection turned off for a minute to move it to the new electronics takes three hours to get back up again.  This actually happened to us once (so far), but most fiber links come right up and most facilities are completed in far less time than indicated.  We do, however, reserve the whole time posted for those pesky issues that one doesn't expect. Also, the larger the building, the more likely we'll need more time... but not always.  Residence Halls take much longer because, unlike the other buildings on campus that already have 100Mb switched service, we have to replace all of the electronics in the building and reconnect them to all of the user's jacks.
New Network	The new network number / bits in the network portion.
This indicates the new IP (Internet Protocol), Novell, and AppleTalk network numbers for your network.  The portion after the slash indicates how many bits are used in the network portion of the 32 bit IP address.  Therefore, network 40/23 would mean your IP address would be of the form 146.7.40.x or 146.7.41.x which appear, on the surface, to be two different networks but are actually only one.  The Novell network would be 40 and the Appletalk "cable-range" would be 40-41.  Network 42/24, however, consists only of 146.7.42.x for IP, 42 for Novell, and 42 for Appletalk. This process of renaming networks is necessary because networks "originate" from the router that supports them.  These routers are being placed in most buildings instead of just core locations, therefore changes have to be made.  This is like renaming the street where you live and expecting the postman to find you.  See details outlined in "Phase I" below. "same" after the network number indicates that this is not a change from the currently used network.  We have kept network numbers the same where we could to lessen the impact on our users and to lessen our workload.
Phase Codes	The codes for all of the phases are:
Complete	This phase of the work has been completed and no additional outages are expected for this phase.
From XXXX	This feature is supplied from the building indicated by XXXX by a 100% logical merging (no speed loss) or by a partial piggyback solution (slower, but still fast).  An outage will still occur for Phase I for this building at the time building XXXX is scheduled to be down.
In Progress	The building is actively being upgraded.  This status is usually only used when the upgrade spans multiple days and can do so because there is no electrical power in the building due to renovations.  We wear head lamps and literally change out the equipment and rewire in the dark.  When power is restored, we turn on all of the equipment and verify that everything is working as designed.
Merged	The service indicated by the specific phase will be provided for the building, but through another building.  Logically this building is 100% merged with the other building indicated with no speed loss.
N/A	Not Applicable - the facility will not receive the upgrade indicated by the specific phase.
On Hold	Upgrades are planned, but physical circumstances prevent any progress towards our goals.  The upgrade is therefore on hold until the physical problems can be overcome.
Outage	Due to topology interdependencies, the facility will experience a network outage as indicated, but it will not be upgraded at that time.  If "Phase I" is not "Complete" for this facility, it will experience another outage in the future.
Partial	The work has been partially completed, but not yet finished.  An outage will still occur for Phase I.
Pending	The work is planned, but not yet scheduled and an outage will occur for Phase I.
Postponed	The work was planned on the date and time indicated, but problems arose with the upgrade and it will be delayed.  The facility will still experience an outage at the indicated time if a "From XXXX" building is also listed.
Proposed	A tentative time for the outage has been selected.  Once confirmed, the status will change to "Scheduled".
Scheduled	A time for the conversion has been scheduled and confirmed.  For Phase I, this will cause an outage at the specified time.
Wiring	This flag indicates that the conversion is waiting on a work order to be completed for some new wiring that we need before we can start.
Phase I	This phase will cause a network outage!
This portion of the upgrade will, unfortunately, result in a service outage for the affected facility.  Only the computer networks that carry data around campus will directly be affected.  This means that you can't send or receive email, print to network printers, browse the internet, use peer-to-peer file sharing, and more.  Also, since Zip Card and Simplex Card Access systems rely on the data network, they will also be down or operating in "stand alone" mode meaning they have lost touch with the central controller for their function.  This means different things based on the device in question.  For information, please contact the Zip Card office at 6-8409 for time clock and other Zip Card implications and Residence Life for implications for the Simplex Card Access system used exclusively in residence halls.  Please note that addressing changes refer to TCP/IP, Novell's IPX, and AppleTalk network protocol address changes.  They have nothing to do with email and your email address will not change due to these upgrades. During this phase, we will replace distribution equipment in the building with new layer-3 switches.  These have the speed of switches, but perform the functions of routers.  They are also capable of running at gigabit speeds.  Imagine the speed of I-44 to St. Louis being raised from 100 mph to 1000 mph and you get a feel for gigaspeed.  (Ok, it's just an analogy!)   Most, but not all, facilities receive this device, but all distribution will be upgraded.   These "1000 mph" links will be used to provide up to two different paths into the facility as indicated by the codes for Phase II and Phase III. In addition, residence halls are being upgraded from ten megabits, shared (a 10 mph speed limit on a one-lane road) to one hundred megabits, switched networking (a 100 mph speed limit on an Interstate highway).  This will dramatically improve on-campus communications for the halls.  Residents will not, however, experience improvements in Internet access due to this upgrade.  Some buildings that already have this new equipment will still experience a Phase I outage due to necessary large-scale software changes. Because routers are being installed all over campus, the campus networks must be readdressed.  This is kind of like renaming a street and having to notify everyone of your new U.S. Postal address.  Fortunately, the network itself does most of the work for you.  If your building is being readdresses, when the time comes, simply shutdown your computer and restart it.  Almost all computer will then function on the new network.  The few users of "Special Addresses" must contact Networking Services to receive a new address before the device will function. Printers normally must be cold-started twice before they will function correctly.  Often, User Support must reset the print queue before the printer functions normally again.  If you encounter this, please contact User Support with the name of the printer and the name of the print queue you are using.  If you don't have this information, they can assist you in collecting it.
Phase II	No outages should occur during this phase.
New single-mode fiber optics are being installed to almost every building on the Springfield Campus.  Phase II will activate one gigabit link (that Interstate with a 1000 mph speed limit discussed in Phase I) from one of three core sites to the facility.  This point to point routed link will dynamically take over the traffic load and the old one hundred megabit link will be removed.
Phase III	No outages are anticipated during this phase.
Most facilities receiving the new fiber optics will also get redundant links back to different core sites.  During this phase, the second gigabit link will be activated from the building to a different core site that was used in phase II.  This way, a core site can totally fail and the facility will retain uninterrupted network services.  Service will automatically switch to avoid the failed equipment usually in less than a second! Unfortunately, not all destinations are redundant, so email servers, web pages, and even the Internet itself may not be accessible depending on the exact location of the failure.  However, the network will be more reliable and much faster once this phase is completed.

Scheduling Outages