IWU IT Maintenance Windows
Standard Maintenance Windows
In an effort to ensure optimal performance of critical Information Technology (IT) systems and services, IWU Information Technology has adopted the following maintenance windows.
- IT-Managed Websites Services, and Servers: Each Friday morning from 3:00 am - 7:00 am ET 1
- Etrieve / SoftDocs: Each Saturday morning at 5:00 am ET
- Individual Workstations and Computers: The 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month - Learn More
During this time, access to IWU IT-managed applications and/or systems may not be available2.
Additional Details
1 - The intent of the IT Maintenance Window is to reserve time when systems/services can be taken off-line for non-emergency preventative maintenance only (which will not have an impact on the appearance of functionality of IWU service(s). Planned system downtime to perform major upgrades that affect the appearance or functionality of IWU services (no network connectivity, phone systems unavailable, etc.) will be announced in advance with information provided on the services affected and the changes anticipated.
2 - A maintenance window may not always require system maintenance activities for the full maintenance window; however, we recommend that users plan for systems to be unavailable for the entire scheduled time. The IT Maintenance Window applies to systems and services provided by the IWU IT Department. Systems maintained outside of IWU IT are not covered by this maintenance, and the non-IT system owners will provide communication related to non-IT systems.
Emergency Maintenance
Even with regular maintenance, system outages may still occur and may require emergency IT response outside the established maintenance window. During system outages or degradations, IT will provide information via the IWU Portal, official IWU email, or our systems website found here: https://support.indwes.edu/
Benefits of Planned IT Maintenance Windows:
IT maintenance windows may seem contradictory to our mission of providing 24/7 access to all IWU systems and services. However, if regularly scheduled maintenance is not performed systems and services are more likely to fail unexpectedly.
Planned IT Maintenance Windows:
- Provide a regularly scheduled planned outage period when routine preventative maintenance can be performed at a time when few are likely to notice
- Reduce unexpected IT outages due to preventative or corrective maintenance activities
- Reduce the average length of unexpected outages
- Improve reliability and performance of IT systems and services
- Allow the IT Department to communicate a regularly scheduled planned outage so students, faculty and staff can better plan
Questions and concerns should be directed to PMO@indwes.edu