Sites Environment Freeze Information
Campus Computing Sites places a "freeze" on our software environment
during the first and last months of each term. This ensures that our
loadsets are in a stable condition during the high-usage period
surrounding exams. We will not deploy new software or make loadset
changes during this time.
What is a freeze?
A freeze is a time when staff limit changes to the environment. This
is to both maximize stability during critical times of the year and to
make staff available to quickly address issues that may arise during these
times. We wish to limit the risk of outages and maximize staff
availability when they occur.
Freeze Specific Information
When are freezes?
- Fall Term: The first 2 weeks of classes and the last week of classes.
- Winter Term: The first week of classes and the last week of classes.
- Spring/Summer Term: No specific freeze period. General policy is to
make no major environment changes during exam periods and only make core
software upgrades between term breaks.
What is the impact of the freeze for various Sites groups?
No changes are to be made to any of the Sites environments in general.
There are a few exceptions to this rule (see next question). Examples of
the freeze impact on Sites groups include:
Networking
- No switch deployments or network upgrades.
Environment Teams
- No software deployments or other environment changes.
- No service upgrades, reconfigurations or changes.
Printing
- No printer deployments.
- No changes to printing environment.
Frontline
- Nothing that may take a site out of commission (mass reloads,
reconfigurations, etc.).
What are the exceptions to the 'no changes' rule during a freeze?
The following changes are allowed during an environment freeze:
- Major bug fixes.
- Security updates.
- Software deployments for classes that will be held during a freeze
time (or shortly thereafter).
- Any other change that a Sites manager has authorized and deemed
acceptable.
What communication needs to go out prior to a freeze?
A member of the Sites management team will do the following:
- Send a message to staff roughly a month before a freeze begins to
define the specific dates of the next freeze.
- Send a message to Sites partners and staff roughly one week before a
freeze begins to notify and remind them of the upcoming freeze.
