Blackboard downtime due to move of hosting locations: 25th - 26th October

Blackboard, the service provider for our virtual learning environment, have confirmed that that the scheduled migration of our services from the Amsterdam data centre to the new hosting location in Frankfurt has failed to complete successfully. A number of problems were encountered and despite best efforts of Blackboard these could not be resolved.

The decision has been taken to allow no further time to resolve the data centre move issues and the original service has been restored in Amsterdam. Blackboard (mymodule.tcd.ie) is now fully available.

We apologise for the disruption and the unplanned additional downtime caused to all users.

Blackboard are continuing to work to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Updates will be posted here.

We are aware of issues around logging into Blackboard following the datacentre move.

After logging in, you may see the following message.

Blackboard have identified the problem and are working on a fix.

Updates will be posted here.

Blackboard, the service provider for our virtual learning environment, is closing its Amsterdam data centre and moving hosting to Frankfurt. This move is essential for continued service.

What does this mean?

To facilitate this critical work while also attempting to minimise impact on the Trinity community, we have scheduled this work with Blackboard on the following dates:

• Start of move: Monday 25th October 2021 at 8pm (Irish Bank holiday)
• Completion of move: Tuesday 26th October 2021 at 8am

How will this impact me?

Between 8pm on Bank Holiday Monday 25th October and 8am on Tuesday 26th October, Blackboard (mymodule.tcd.ie) will be unavailable. During the transfer period, the following major integrated systems will also be unavailable:

• Collaborate Ultra
• Panopto
• Turnitin
• Turning Point

Some other minor systems that you may use will also be unavailable during the downtime period, including Matlab Grader, HEAnet Media, and Talis MyReadingList.

What do I need to do?

We understand this is an inconvenience and we hope that this timing will minimise the impact for you. We recommend that you have the following alternative workarounds or backup options in place until services are resumed:

• The assessment date should be changed for assignments that are due for submission in Blackboard between 8pm on Monday 25th October and Tuesday 8am on 26th October.
• Any course material that you may need to reference during the 12-hour downtime period should be downloaded and available locally on your devices.

If you have any queries regarding this scheduled Blackboard downtime, please contact our IT Service Desk at itservicedesk@tcd.ie.