Planned IT Outage Updates

IMPORTANT NOTICE: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2019 IT OUTAGE

This is the next phase of VIU’s Information Technology Services (ITS) Network Remediation Project (NRP) to upgrade our network and provide significant benefit to all employees and students.

Sunday, February 10, 8 am – 12 noon only

The following are UNAVAILABLE

• Internet access (External Websites) from all campuses
• Wireless from regional campuses
• VIU Email from outside the Nanaimo campus
• External Resources from all campuses (e.g., O365)
• Shared Drives stored in the Nanaimo Campus will not be accessible remotely
•  VPN
•  Student logins to VIU Computers at Parksville, CTC, Deep Bay, Milner and GR Paine locations will not work.

The following will be AVAILABLE (from Nanaimo Campus)

• Wireless from Nanaimo Campus, NO Internet
• VIU Student computers in Nanaimo, Cowichan and Powell River – will be OK to login to, but have NO Internet
• VIU employee computers in Nanaimo, Cowichan and Powell River – will be OK to login to, but have NO Internet
• In Parksville, CTC, Deep Bay, Milner and GR Paine logins will only work if the user has logged into the computer previously.
• VIU Email from Nanaimo Campus, incoming and outgoing emails may be queued
• Local Network Resources / Shared Drives
• Code Blue / Emergency Poles
• VOIP
• 4-digit dialing between campuses will be affected, use 10-digit dialing
• access to voicemail and call flows from regional campuses will not be available

The main viu.ca website will be functioning, but pages that require a log-in will not be accessible outside of the Nanaimo campus.  

Any applications hosted offsite will be functioning normally, but will not be accessible from all VIU campuses.

The Library and Learning Commons will remain open regular hours. 

You may login to computers but there will be NO Internet access during the brief outage only, during which time:

• Library-licensed e-resources will not be available
• Open Access library resources will be accessible at: libguides.viu.ca/library

At the Nanaimo campus, Starbucks and the Cafeteria will remain open regular hours for purchasing food and beverages.

Reason for disruptions occurring now

VIU recently received the funding for this project, which must be used by March 31, 2019 – it created only a short period of a few months to make this work happen.

What do I need to do to be ready?

1. Save and close your work, then log off or restart your computer prior to the scheduled service interruption.
2. Please log into any workstations you will need to use on Sunday workstations at least once before the maintenance window.

Faculty have been asked to consider accommodations to minimize the impact of this outage and ensure students have time to complete and submit their work.

Note: Additional outages will follow, so please stay tuned.

Look for updates on the main viu.ca website and on VIU’s social media channels:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/viuniversity; www.facebook.com/VIUnews
• Twitter: @VIUniversity; @viunews