Reporting Network Faults

During normal working hours (0800-1700 Mon-Fri), network faults detected while using a University department's or a College's internal network, whether appearing to be on the institution's internal network, on the CUDN, or on an external network such as JANET, should be reported to the institution's computer officer who can, if necessary, contact the Computing Service by telephone on the *Network Fault Reporting number: 0300 123 1164.

Outside normal working hours, users detecting serious faults on the CUDN or JANET (rather than on their institutional network) may leave Voice Mail messages on 0300 123 1164, giving as full details as possible and including a telephone number for any necessary follow-up. Voice Mail messages are usually acknowledged promptly. If an urgent problem goes unacknowledged, a further call to 0300 123 1164 should be made.

In any case, the fault should also be reported at the earliest convenient opportunity to the institution's computer officer who can, if necessary, contact the Computing Service as above.

Process for handling fault reports

1. During normal working hours

Calls on the Network Fault Reporting number, 0300 123 1164, will be answered by the Operations Team or by Computing Service Reception. In either case, the person taking the call will request the information below to complete an online report form.

Reporter's name, userid, contact telephone number and e-mail address
Department or college (and room number) affected by the problem
Host/service being accessed
Any other relevant details

The report is logged and a copy is e-mailed to the fault dispatcher who may, depending on the fault report:

• request more details from the reporter
• perform network tests
• fix the fault
• if unable to fix the fault, the fault dispatcher will forward the e-mailed fault report, together with any other relevant information, to a suitable member of the Network Division and/or other Computing Service staff for attention.

In cases where the fault is causing a severe disruption of Computing Service services, the fault dispatcher or any other member of the Computing Service may invoke the Computing Service's /Major Disruption procedure/ thereby bringing the fault to the immediate attention of senior management in the Computing Service.

The fault dispatcher will monitor the progress of the fault investigation and repair and will take action to escalate the fault if it is not repaired within a reasonable time, depending on the severity of the fault.

2. Outside normal working hours

The person dealing with the Voice Mail will judge whether the fault reported is sufficiently severe as to warrant urgent action, in which case appropriate staff will be called to fix the problem* <#Note>. Otherwise, a message will be left for the appropriate staff to deal with the problem during the next staffed period. In any case, attempts will be made to contact the caller to acknowledge that the report has been received.

It is the responsibility of the person dealing with the Voice Mail and for anyone called to fix a problem to leave appropriate messages, usually by e-mail, for the fault dispatcher who will be present on the next working day.

Feedback to and escalation by the user

If the person reporting the fault subsequently requires feedback on the progress of the repair, they should telephone the Network Fault Reporting number, 0300 123 1164. In the case of a fault affecting a substantial part of the CUDN, CUDN status and traffic http://ucsnews.csx.cam.ac.uk/articles/category/service-interruptions will be updated during normal working hours to give information on progress.

If the person is dissatisfied with the progress of the fault repair they may escalate the problem in turn to Network Support ((3)34691), the head of the Network Division on (7)48476, and the Director of the Computing Service on (3)34702.

* Note, however, that Computing Service staff work outside normal hours on a voluntary basis - they are not required to attend to problems that are detected e.g. in the middle of the night or on public holidays. However, staff wish to provide a good service to the University community and it is normally the case that serious problems occurring outside normal hours will be attended to promptly.