Want to know if a service like Email or BlackBoard is down? Want to plan for future scheduled outages affecting a service you use?
Then check out the IT Service Status webpage at http://www.ucalgary.ca/it/status.
IT has created a webpage for displaying Service Status information of importance to all computer users at the University of Calgary. The page is also available from the Service Status link in the navigation bar on the IT home page.
The Service Status page contains the Message of the Day, Scheduled Outages, IT Service Status, and an Events calendar.
Message of the Day
A Message of the Day (MOTD) is a public announcement about a service that is currently being affected or will be affected in the near future. MOTDs are entered by system operators and can be posted at any time of the day or night.
MOTDs are displayed in the left column on the page. If more than 10 MOTDs are posted, a "more" link will appear at the bottom of the column which will take you to another page displaying all of the MOTDs. MOTDs are assigned a start and end date. After the end date, the MOTD disappears from the column. However it remains archived in the Events calendar.
Scheduled Outages
A Scheduled Outage is a planned outage of a service. This may be due to such things as regular maintenance or an upgrade. Scheduled Outages can be announced a year or more in advance.
Scheduled Outages are displayed in the right column on the page. If more than 5 scheduled outages posted, a "more" link will appear at the bottom of the column which will take you to another page displaying all of the future outages. Scheduled Outages are assigned a start and end date. After the end date, the scheduled outage disappears from the column. However it remains archived in the Events calendar.
IT Service Status
Under the Scheduled Outages column is the IT System Status link. The IT System Status link points to another webpage displaying the current operational status of several IT servers providing services such as Web, Email, Linux, etc.
The information is presented in a table and in graphical format. Server states are depicted as either green (server up and lightly loaded) , yellow (server up medium load), purple (high load server up), or red (server down).
Information concerning each server is refreshed every 5 or 10 minutes depending on the server. The last update is indicated by the date and time displayed at the top the page.
Events Calendar
Another source of information is the Events calendar is located in the left navigation bar on the Service Status page. The Events calendar displays the current month in graphical format.
Current MOTD and Scheduled Outages appear on both on the Service Status page and in the current month. Dates containing information for that day appear bolded in the calendar. The Events calendar also archives past events like expired MOTDs and Scheduled Outages. After their end dates, both are archived in the calendar automatically.
Past months can be found by clicking the < arrow in the top bar of the Events calendar. The calendar can also contain future events like upcoming Scheduled Outages. Future months are located by clicking the > arrow. You can open the Events calendar by clicking a bolded date on the calendar. Cllcking the "month, week, day, table, list" links at the top the calendar will allow you to view the information in various ways. Different colours are also assigned to each event for easier viewing.
To return to Events, click the "calendar" link. To exit the Events page, click the Service Status link in the left navigation bar.
Obtaining Updates Automatically
The Events calendar also supports RRS and iCalendar. These are "push" technologies that send new information to users automatically.
iCalendar
iCalendar is short for Internet Calendaring. This is a standard that makes it possible to share and transfer calendar entries over the Internet. Calendar data can be published to the Web and subscribed to by other users, which then imports events directly to their desktop software.
The iCalendar format is supported by software such as Microsoft Outlook 2007 for Windows, Mozilla Sunbird and Mozilla Lightning for Windows, Macintosh and Linux, and Apple's iCal for Mac OS X. (Note: other iCalendar-supported software may not work with the IT Service Status calendar.)
By using iCalendar, the IT Service Status information will be transferred directly into your desktop calendar either on a one-time basis (a "snapshot") or continuously (a "subscription").
For more information on how to use iCalendar to subscribe to the IT Service Status calendar, see
http://www.ucalgary.ca/it/events/ical
RSS
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. RSS provides news feeds from websites that you have subscribed to. You can get the latest information automatically without having to visit the website again.
To use RSS you need software that supports RSS. This can be a separate program called a "feed reader" or an "aggregator" or through popular software like Internet Explorer 7, Thunderbird, Firefox, and Safari.
The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process.
For more information on how to use RSS to subscribe to the IT Service Status feed, see
http://www.ucalgary.ca/it/events/rss
Conclusion
Whether you choose to use RSS or iCalendar or not, the information on the IT Service Status web page is always a click or two away in your web browser.