See At a Glance below.

Add SmartSite to the list of significant computer services — including all campus e-mail — that will go down the day after Christmas as the result of a planned service interruption at the Davis Campus Data Center.

During the interruption, campus crews will be upgrading the data center’s power system, to accommodate additional servers.

The work is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 26, and could last up to 48 hours, although officials believe the work will take far less time.

The project comes amid winter break, Dec. 24-27, when most students, staff and faculty will be away and not as likely to need campus computing services.

The service interruption will affect most of the services that are hosted by the data center, including those like the SmartSite course management tool that are used for grades — either submitting them or reading them.

This should not be a problem for faculty, because, for each course, the university asks the instructor to turn in the grades within 72 hours (not counting weekends) after the final exam. The fall quarter’s last exams are scheduled for this evening (Friday, Dec. 10), which means that all grades should be submitted well before the service interruption.

Registrar Frank Wada said final grades are posted daily, as they come in, and students can see them via the “Academic Transcript” menu in SISWeb — except during the service interruption. Nor will students be able to see their grades on SmartSite (if their teachers opted to display the grades there).

Information and Educational Technology, which runs the data center, has been getting the word out about the service interruption, so as not to catch anyone off-guard.

Mass e-mails have gone out to faculty, students and staff, and information technology personnel all over campus have been notified.

Alerts have been posted on the UC Davis home page and the Campus Network and Service Status page, and these alerts will stay up through the service interruption.

An FAQ has been posted here, with more details about the service interruption. You also may call the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk before and during the service interruption. The number is (530) 754-HELP (4357).

IET announced special hours for the help desk number: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 26 and 27, when personnel will be available to speak with people inquiring about the service interruption.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Davis Campus Data Center service interruption, putting a hold on all campus e-mail and affecting most of the other computing services that are hosted by the center. The UC Davis Health System will not be affected.

WHY: Facilities Management will shut off the power while campus technicians upgrade the center’s electrical system, adding capacity for new research computing clusters and departmental administrative servers. The work will be done with the power off, rather than “live,” for the safety of technicians and to safeguard the center and its equipment.

WHEN: Starts at 7 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 26, and could last up to 48 hours, until 7 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 28 — although officials are optimistic that the work will take far less time. Officials picked this time period because students and many faculty and staff members will be on winter break.

UP OR DOWN?

Here are some of the significant services that will be down:

• All campus e-mail — Incoming and outgoing e-mail will be stored during the service interruption, then will make its way normally through the Data Center — which routes most campus e-mail, even if your e-mail server is outside the Data Center.

• DaFIS — UC Davis Financial Information System

• Banner and SISWeb — Student information systems

• MyUCDavis — Web portal

• SmartSite — Course management and collaboration system

• Online grade submission — The services provided through SmartSite and the E-grading site (classes.ucdavis.edu/grading)

• Department servers and research computing clusters that are hosted by the center

• Wireless networks — Moobilenet and Moobilenetx. (Wired connections will be working.)

Here are some of the websites and Web services that will be up and running:

• Davis campus home page — To be hosted temporarily by the UC Davis Health System, which will not be affected by the electrical project at the Davis Campus Data Center. A message on the home page will alert people to the service interruption and direct them to the Campus Network and Server Status page for more information.

• Campus Network and Service Status page — This page will display complete information on the service interruption.

• Central Authentication Service, or CAS — An important service for people wishing to access secure online services on servers that are housed outside the Data Center but which still require users to enter Kerberos ID.

• Domain Name Service — This is the system that turns URLs into IP addresses and gets people where they want to go on the Internet.

Also, UC Davis websites and Web services will still work if they are on servers outside the Data Center. For example:

• The Campaign for UC Davis and the Giving to UC Davis sites, which are hosted by University Relations. People who make gifts will see a confirmation notice on their monitors, but the follow-up confirmation e-mails will be delayed during the Data Center service interruption.

• Environmental and equipment alarms, for the safety of research animals, also will be unaffected — as these alarms run through servers that are housed at a satellite location, not in the Data Center.

MORE INFORMATION

Computing Services Interruption, including FAQ

ASSISTANCE

IT Express Computing Services Help Desk

Telephone (530) 754-HELP (4357)

• Through Dec. 23 — Regular hours, 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• Friday-Saturday, Dec. 24-25 — Closed.

• Sunday-Monday, Dec. 26-27 — 7 a.m.-7 p.m. These are university holidays, but consultants will be available anyway, by telephone, to answer inquiries dealing with the service interruption. (No other IT Express services will be available.)

• Tuesday-Wednesday, Dec. 28-29 — 8 a.m.-5 p.m., offering all services.

• Thursday-Friday, Dec. 30-31 — Closed.

• Monday, Jan. 3 and beyond — Regular hours, 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday, except university holidays.

Earlier coverage: “All campus e-mail, other computer services to go down Dec. 26,” Dateline UC Davis (Dec. 3, 2010)