UAF IT outage coming in May 2023

In May 2023, contractors will install a new battery backup system in the Butrovich Building that serves the Butrovich Data Center. The new unit replaces a 25-year-old system that has aged out and become less reliable. The backup battery provides the data center with continuous power during an outage of the UAF power grid and with the new system in place, the project will substantially increase the center’s reliability, resiliency, and up-time to support critical functions, academics, and business continuity.

The process of replacing the system, in the same footprint, involves a complex series of events to perform the work safely while still allowing for normal UA business processes to remain in operation. Since all of the data center’s power funnels through a single electrical panel attached to the current battery system, two short power outages in the center are required to move computing and network servers to a temporary power source. The outages will occur on two Saturdays in mid-May to reduce the impacts to academic, financial, payroll, and other University business processes. More specifically for UAF, internet connectivity, networking, and other systems operated from the data center will be offline. UA OIT and the Butrovich Data Center are organizing the computational components of the outage and additional information on times and dates can be found in their communications and on their May 2023 FAQ website.