Phase two work (switch to 10Gbit connections)

Update at Sun 12:14 UTC : we still need to swap a number of our cabinets from multiple 1Gb connections to multiple 10Gbit connections.  This will require a brief network down/up as we switch cabling.  Due to a hardware revision issue with an essential part this has been delayed. We will resolve that, complete testing and create a new notice for that work in the near future.

Phase one work (replace core networking)

Update at Sun 12:14 UTC: Our new core is in place, the old core is turned off.  The swap went smoothly.  Servers should all be pinging.  If you are seeing any issues please let us know?

Update at Sun 1025 UTC: The layer 3 interfaces are switched over.  We are now in the middle of changing the default traffic routes in and out of the new gear vs. the old gear.  Everything is going smoothly (with the exception of a very tiny minority of servers with misconfigured gateway IPs...).

Update at Sun 0725 UTC: We are switching over some layer 3 interfaces.  We expect affected network connections to be disconnected and a few seconds of packet loss.

Update at Sun 0424UTC: We are commencing work on this.

Update at Tue 0459UTC: We are extending the window a few hours so we can perform some of the work after 2300 Dallas time.

Summary: We will be replacing our core networking equipment.  We expect a few short network interruptions over a 6 hour window.

With the newer equipment we expect to reduce network latency, increase network bandwidth and capacity and improve network redundancy.

Window: Sun 1 Feb 00:01 (=1800 Sat Dallas; = 1300 Sun NZT) for 8 hours.

Expected impact: a number of network 'blips'/outages.  These should be short in duration (a few seconds to minutes).  And are required as we transition to the new equipment.  We will work to minimize the number and duration of any outage.

Detail: we are working to upgrade our 1Gbit+ links from our cabinets to our core to 10Gbit+ links.  The first step is to switch from our current core switches to newer, faster Cisco Nexus 7000 gear with better 10G support.

We will be switching our layer 3 links to the new switch.  We will be routing external traffic to the new switch.  And we will be changing a number of cabinets over to using multiple 10Gbit fiber links (vs. multiple 1Gbit links).

During this window we anticipate a number of small network blips as we migrate the physical connections and layer 3 terminations.  These should be brief.

This work affects all servers in Dallas.  It affects both public and private network connections.

We will be posting updates to any timing on this notice (please subscribe).  Plus updates on our progress.

Affected users will have received an email.  If you have any questions or concerns please reply to that and we will attempt to address those.