Downtimes
Throughout the year, downtimes are required to allow for maintenance and upgrades of the system hardware and software that support MnSCU’s Instructional Management System (IMS) enterprise, as well as updates and maintenance releases to the IMS software, which is currently Desire2Learn (D2L). Based on broad-based input from people in the academic, administrative and technical areas of the MnSCU system, recommendations were made regarding the optimum times to schedule these downtimes.
We have pro-actively scheduled potential downtimes for maintenance releases and version updates that may be available in the future. Pro-active planning keeps faculty and students informed of times that D2L may not be available. While a potential downtime for D2L software updates is scheduled once a month, we typically do not use more than three or four of these downtimes each year. Scheduling one potential downtime a month gives us more flexibility in taking maintenance releases and updates as they become available, thereby providing more timely fixes to software issues.
Planned Downtimes
There are two basic types of planned downtimes:
- Routine maintenance and upgrades to hardware and server software that support D2L, and another for
- Updates and maintenance releases for the D2L software.
The scheduled downtimes for this maintenance work for 2007-2008 have been identified and are listed below. Users will be notified in advance if the downtime will be used. If no work is necessary during a particular period, the downtime will not be used.
Scheduled Downtimes
All dates and times are from 10 PM Friday to 10 AM Saturday, with the exception of January 4-5 which is 10 PM Friday to 10 PM Saturday, and June 5-9 which is 6 PM Thursday to 8 AM Monday.
PLEASE PLAN YOUR D2L USAGE WITH THE FOLLOWING DATES IN MIND.
| Spring 08 | Summer 08 | Fall 08 |
| Jan 4-5, 2008 | Jun 5-9, 2008 | Sep 5-6, 2008 |
| Feb 1-2, 2008 | Jul 11-12, 2008 | Oct 3-4, 2008 |
| Mar 7-8, 2008 | Aug 8-9, 2008 | Nov 7-8, 2008 |
| Apr 4-5, 2008 | Dec 5-6, 2008 | |
| May 2-3, 2008 |
D2L Software Related Planned Downtimes
These are scheduled downtimes that are reserved in the event we need to take maintenance releases and updates for D2L software. Note that non-major updates are scheduled for 12 hours and major updates are scheduled for 24 hours. Occasionally more or less time is needed. We will provide more details near the date of each downtime.
Hardware/Server Software Reserved Downtimes
These are windows of time reserved to perform routine maintenance and upgrades to the hardware and server software that support IMS/D2L. These will only be used if needed, and users will be notified of the downtime in advance.
Hardware and Server Software Routine Maintenance Downtime Schedule
| Days | Dates | Times | Update Type |
| Tuesdays | All Tuesdays | 5 a.m. – 7 a.m. | Routine Maintenance |
| Sundays | All Sundays | 5 a.m. – 9 a.m. | Routine Maintenance |
Unplanned Downtimes
Unforeseen emergencies or special circumstances (power outages, hardware failures, for example) that require downtime at other dates and times will be announced as necessary.
Since MnSCU’s IMS/D2L Enterprise System is among those hosted at an off-site, on occasion, we may also experience downtimes related to the services at that site. Having established our pre-scheduled downtimes for our own maintenance will help us to coordinate downtimes with our hosting data center, enabling us to provide as minimal as possible disruption of access to the IMS/D2L system.
