Introduction
Terminology
How It Works
How to Log In
How to Create an Entry
Changing or Removing an Entry
Maintaining Your Information
How to Get Systems Entered or Re-categorized
How Can I Become a Provider?
This User Guide provides documentation for submitting information for the general user population on the System Status page. It explains how to enter, edit, or remove an entry.
The System Status Page and the software behind it comes from Greg Coit who works the Help Desk at Humboldt State University. He is open to revision requests as long as they fit into what HSU is doing.
There are several terms that are helpful in working with the System Status pages. These terms are:
- Advisory
- An information item the users should be aware of such as a flaky network or system. It may or may not affect them directly.
- Archive
- A collection of all current and previous Advisories and Events including ALL previously edited versions of any single event.
- Computer Labs
- Open Access Student Computer Labs managed by ITS.
- Event
- An event is something pending that will have a direct effect on many users or something that is currently happening. Such items include downed systems, estimates on when a system will become available again, planned outages, etc..
NOTE: An event can switch to an advisory on a predetermined date.- HTML
- HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the language which allows you to control how text/items are displayed in a browser window.
- Networks
- Items which are part of the Cal Poly Network or accessed via the Cal Poly Network.
- Servers
- "Appliance" or "utility" functions which provide a service to the user community (e.g., the University root Web Server).
- Systems
- Systems are either collections of Servers or Services or items that most users think of as "systems".
As additional terms are required, they will be added to this list.
The System Status page consists of a series of web pages and a perl CGI (Common Gateway Interface). The perl CGI has two different methods of operation:
- Provide a login interface with forms for creating, updating and deleting entries in Systems Status. When any items are entered or updated, the system also refreshes all items based on their dates. A refresh implies that the software examines the dates of a particular item and moves it, if necessary, to the appropriate area (active page or archive).
- Provide a mechanism for automatic refresh of the system when no items have been entered.
An item is added to the active page and to the appropriate archive page based on its category and the dates involved.
There are three basic dates involved with an item
- Date of the Event or Advisory
- Date an Event switches to an advisory (only used for an event that becomes an advisory)
- Date an Event or Advisory should be removed
To log into the System Status Page to create, change or remove an entry, you must point a forms compatible browser at the URL
You must then select the following item from the options listed:
- Create a new system status message
At this point you may enter the password and then press the "Submit Query" button to gain access to the various forms that perform the functions.
Once logged in, a table is presented with four boxes.
- The upper left box contains a selection of the type of entry (advisory, event, or event that switches to an advisory).
- The lower left box contains all of the date information about the entry.
- The upper right box contains the message information for the entry.
- Both lower right box contains categorization pull downs so the entry can be assigned to a specific category.
Type of Entry
To create a new entry, select
- Advisory
- Event
- An Event that switches to an Advisory
Date Information
The date information will consist of either two or three dates to be associated with the item. These dates are defined as:
- Date of the Event or Advisory - The starting date
- Date an Event switches to an advisory - Optional date between the starting and ending dates used only for an event that becomes an advisory. An example of an event that switches to an advisory is changing a software product that everyone uses. On the day(s) of the change, its an event. After the change its an advisory because differences in the new software could effect the users.
- Date an Event or Advisory should be removed - the ending date. ONLY leave this at one month from today if it is appropriate to do so! Most events should have a shorter posting. In most cases, you should replace the default date with a sooner date.
All dates are entered in the form "MM" for the month of the year in the first box, "DD" for the day of the month in the second box, and "YYYY" for the year.
Message Information
The message information is the text you want to pass on to the user. The message should be clear and concise and where appropriate point the user to more detailed information.
It is important to keep in mind what the user wants to know about an event when composing this information:
- What's wrong?
- When will it be back up?
- When will you have an idea on when it will be back up?
- How do I do what I need to do in the mean time?
- What caused the problem?
To help you in composing the message, several headers are provided as defaults:
- Symptom:
- What has happened, will be happening or what the user may see as a result of the event.
- When: [Date and clock time]
- What Date and time will the event start at or what range of time (including dates) will or did the event affect users. Replace the bracketed text with the actual date and time.
- Root cause:
- What is/has caused this event.
- When discovered: [Date and clock time]
- Date and time the problem was first observed or reported. Replace the bracketed text with the actual date and time.
- Resolution or work-around:
- What was the solution to the problem, or how can users avoid the problem.
- Expected uptime: [Date and clock time]
- When do we expect to have the system or resource available.
- Additional info: [URL <A HREF="URL-to-reference">Reference</A> or other document]
- A link to more detailed information. Replace the bracketed text with the actual HTML reference (HTML code is provided as an example) or with a pointer to another document.
- Contact for more information:
- An office, telephone, or email address to contact for additional information.
- Last update: mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm
- When was this status message last updated. The current system time is provided automatically.
- Submitted/Last updated by: [initials, department]
- Initials and department of the last person to edit this information.
You may also imbed HTML tags within the text to provide text color and links to other HTML pages for more detailed information.
The following are common HTML tags which could be used within the message text to add color:
<font color="#nnnnnn">Text You Want to be a certain color</font>
where "nnnnnn" is derived from the following table:
Color Sample Code Green Green Text 00FF00 Yellow Yellow Text FFFF00 Orange Orange Text FF8000 Red Red Text FF0000 Blue Blue Text 0000FF The following HTML tag can be used to provide a "hyper link" to another page with more detail or related information.
<a href="web address to go to">Text the user sees as a link</a>
where "web address to go to" is the URL of the document the user gets if they select the text "Text the user sees as a link".
Be sure to check the spelling of the message before posting it to the system. Once a message is posted, it remains in the archives forever!
Categorization Information
Select a non-default item from ONE of the pull down groups! Selecting entries from multiple groups will result in one of the items selected being chosen, but you will not know which one.
NOTE: If you use "Other" from the "Other System:" pull down, you must also fill in the text box below it with the name the users know the system by.
Once you have filled in all of the information and have double checked it you can select whether you want a copy of the notice mailed to the system status account via email (default is to send a copy). Then you can click on the "Submit Query" button to submit the form.
When the form is submitted, the user will be presented with a revised copy of the System Status Page.
To change or remove an existing entry (remove only removes the entry from active status, it still remains in the archive), select
- Update an existing system status message
from the login option list.
You are then presented with a list of Events or Advisories that can be edited or deleted.
Deleting an Advisory or Event
Click on the "Delete" button to move the item off the active System Status page.
Updating an Advisory or Event
Click on the "Update" button to edit the item.
The same table is presented with the four boxes. One difference is that the date an Event Switches to an Advisory is always present (don't fill it in unless the item is of the type of an event that changes to an advisory).
Another difference is that a "return to the beginning, making no changes" button appears above the "Submit Query" button. Selecting it will abandon any changes. Selecting "Submit Query" will replace the old entry in the active System Status Page and add a new entry in the archive pages.
In either case a revised copy of the System Status Page is displayed with the changes you've made. In addition, a copy of the previous version of the item is stored in the archives.
How to Get Systems Entered or Re-categorizedMaintaining your information is as important as entering it. You should go back and modify your information if
- The status of the item has changed (the system is back up, the problem is fixed, we're waiting for something else to happen, etc.)
- The projected uptime or completion time has changed
- The item no longer has any useful meaning
- The item had erroneous information or was mis-categorized
It is important to keep in mind what the user wants to know about an event when modifying this information:
- What's wrong?
- When will it be back up?
- When will you have an idea on when it will be back up?
- How do I do what I need to do in the mean time?
- What caused the problem?
Out of date information does no one any good. By keeping the information on the System Status page up-to-date, our campus community will consider this a reliable resource and not by-pass it and make unnecessary phone calls.
Categorization of systems and the addition of system, servers and labs are made via a request to the UNIX/Distributed Systems group.
At this point in time only ITS centrally supported systems, servers, labs and networks are supported.
Currently, providers are limited to ITS personnel. If you are an ITS staff member and feel that you need access to update the System Status Page, contact your coordinator for the access password.
DOCUMENT CODE: UNIX-A Providing Information for the System
Status Page
DATE REVISED: June 17, 1999
DOCUMENT PREPARED BY: George
Westlund, UNIX/Distributed Systems,
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
CONTACT GROUP: User Support Services Help Desk
PHONE: (805)756-7000