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Newark-Based Systems Offline for Maintenance (March 13 – 22)

Galen Collier
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 11:15 am

We’re facing a short-notice maintenance affecting our Newark-based Amarel systems (Amarel-N). The power infrastructure there is being upgraded and that will allow us to add new nodes there, but this will require all of of the Newark-based Amarel-N system to be offline.

Amarel-N systems will be unavailable March 13 at 9:00 AM through March 23 at 7:00 PM (10 days).

Users of Amarel-N compute nodes may continue using compute nodes in Piscataway (amarel.rutgers.edu). All user /home directories will remain available during maintenance, but /scratch directories for the amareln.rutgers.edu system will not be available. If assistance is needed with temporary staging of /projects or /scratch data currently stored in Newark, please let us know.

Here are some details of the anticipated work provided to us by the University Facilities Team in Newark:

  • We need OARC to power down that Amarel rack as soon as possible on Friday 3/13 in order for us to prepare for the work.
  • Afterward, the data center will be completely shutdown.
  • Install and commission new UPS, and possibly complete an emergency power transfer test with the building generator and new UPS.
  • Electrical service redistribution from the UPS distribution panel to RPPs 1 and 2. Commission and test the new RPPs.
  • Execute the emergency power transfer test.
  • Installing multiple 30 and 50 amp rated 3 phase circuits. This will allow us to expedite providing additional power capacity to OARC once we’ve completed our electrical and heat load analyses and have determined what is available.
  • Some racks in the room may need to be moved to optimize air flow and heat removal.
    Of course, if you have questions or need help, let us know.

Galen