I'm pretty much "always on". In fact, in this job I have to be. So you'll find me accessible most of the time regardless of the time or day of the week - simply email Andy Thomas or call Mobex extension 59687. I do have an office in Huxley 6m46 but I'm not always in it - I might be in the Maths server room or over in the ICT data centre. I don't have an 'office hour' but you can try visiting 6m46 to find out if I'm there and if you enjoy really strong freshly-ground espresso, you'll be welcome.
Also, for obvious reasons, problems that require me to come into college to sort them out may not always be be dealt with immediately if they occur out of hours; fortunately nearly all tasks can now be done remotely and the need to make an out-of-hours site visit is rare. Occasionally where hardware failure is involved, things won't be fixed immediately if spare parts have to be ordered.
Outside of college hours, email will be read at least every 2-3 hours but the phone is likely to be switched off at night between about 11pm and 6am so please leave a message if you call at that time. If something really urgent crops up that you'd like me to deal with quickly, you can email me at sysadmin@orange.net which is a high-priority email address linked to a pager that will reach me at all times (including at night), or call me on 07866 556626.
Remote monitoring is used extensively in Maths to check all is well with servers, compute platforms & infrastructure and to alert me via SMS text of developing problems before they become a major issue.
In the event of a major incident, every effort will be made to restore services as quickly as possible - this includes visiting college to sort out any problems that cannot be resolved remotely. The current status of research IT services in Maths is updated regularly and during an incident, much more frequently every few hours at least.
Please note: all research IT services will be shut down completely in the event of an extended power cut, server room flooding or a cooling system failure.
Research Computing Officer, Department of Mathematics
last updated: 22.02.14