Power Outage Impact on IT Services

Below is a list of IT services which may be affected during a power outage. Click each section for a detailed look at the resulting impacts on each service. Last updated Nov 2022.

 

Applications and services hosted in TU Dublin data centres or in the cloud will remain up and running and available. This includes email, calendar, MS Teams OneDrive and ServiceDesk.

On-Premises Applications

Applications and services which are run from an on-premises TU Dublin data centres have protection from Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) and generators which enable them to remain up and running during short term or longer-term power outages. Commonly used applications and services in this category include Banner, Printing and others

For computing equipment NOT housed in TU Dublin data centres, please check with the building manager for information on emergency power capabilities.

Cloud Applications

Applications and services which are run from the cloud have similar protection, but at a larger scale. Most of the cloud service providers operate multiple geographically dispersed data canters which are configured to run applications and services from multiple sites.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is one cloud delivery model in which the provider supports the entire stack of the application. Applications Deliverd using this model include Microsoft Office 365, One Drive, MS Teams, ERP, Core and the TU Dublin website 

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is another cloud delivery model in which the provider provides compute and storage services and the customer provides the application. Examples of providers with this model include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. TU Dublin applications running with this model include Remote Apps and our Timetable System

TU Dublin maintains multiple connections to multiple Internet Service Providers with diverse fiber routes, so chances are good that we will still have Internet connectivity. The nature of the Internet, which is a collection of networks that are highly meshed together with self-healing capabilities, give it a chance of still being fully operational, although possibly at a degraded level of performance.

Wi-Fi Networks

  • Will continue to run in buildings where the IT infrastructure is on a generator. The generator will provide power as long as it is refuelled. 
  • Will run on UPS for up to 20 minutes in buildings where the IT infrastructure is NOT on a generator.​

Wired Networks

  • Will continue to run in buildings where the IT infrastructure is on a generator. The generator will provide power as long as it is refuelled. 
  • Will run on UPS for up to 20 minutes in buildings where the IT infrastructure is NOT on a generator.

Teams phones 
Will run on an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for up to 20 minutes. If a building has a generator, it will provide power as long as it is refuelled.

Analog phones 
Landlines may be congested. 

Mobile Phone Calling
Will work, but networks may be congested.

Mobile Phone Texting
Texts may be delayed, but networks may be congested

With Generators
Will operate normally as long as power and network connectivity are maintained. If generator power is exhausted, backup power is available for up to four hours at most locations.
Without Generators
When UPS power is exhausted, most wired readers will fail secure (locked). Wireless readers will grant access. Buildings without power cannot receive reader mode changes.

 

In buildings where IT infrastructure is on a generator

All hardware will continue to operate normally as long as power and network connectivity is maintained. 

In buildings where IT infrastructure is NOT on a generator

 

 

If a building with a video server loses power, video loss will occur. If network switch loses power, cameras will also lose power.

With Generators
Recording will resume when backup power kicks in. Cameras with UPS will have additional recording time.
Without Generators
Video loss will occur.

The video recording service depends both on power to the video recording servers, and power to the network switches which in turn power the video cameras (via PoE).

  • If the video gateway is in a data center or building experiencing power loss, then there will be Video Loss.
  • If the power to the network switches that the cameras are on is down, because the cameras are PoE (power over ethernet), then the cameras will also not be powered, and the Camio software will report Video Loss.

In buildings where IT infrastructure is on a generator

For video recording servers housed in the Datacenter where there is backup power available the video recording will resume as soon as the backup power kicks in (with minimal video recording interruption).

For the cameras, if the camera switches are on UPS, that also buys additional time for recording to continue during an outage.

In buildings where IT infrastructure is NOT on a generator

For video recording servers racked locally and without backup generators, when those sites experience power loss, they will experience video loss. Once the building's power is restored, video recording should resume normal operations, as long as network switches have power to provide the cameras power.