It has been a busy month at ITS with Network Operations teams working through a number of device failures. Network devices that connect two ITS data centers together began failing, and manufacturer support was unable to pinpoint an exact cause. This prompted temporary hardware replacements with devices being loaned to ITS until permanent replacement hardware can be obtained.
Simultaneously, a pair of network devices that operate on the primary core network became unstable, and once again, manufacturer support was unable to pinpoint an exact cause. ITS was able to source temporary replacement hardware from a local vendor, but these devices operate at significantly reduced network speeds.
Because nearly all agency network traffic, both within the state network and out to the internet, depends on this, agencies are impacted with much slower network performance.
ITS is using FY 2025 funds already approved for network upgrades and replacements to address this and obtain permanent hardware with significant performance improvements.
Separately, some agencies have also experienced issues with wireless services. While this is still be worked on by both ITS engineers and with vendor support, ITS is working to determine the issue, and ultimately to learn and improve network reliability going forward.
In addition to the network hardware failures, and as the result of ongoing upgrades that are required in order to meet security and support requirements, several services were impacted as the result of server upgrades that uncovered system dependencies that were then impacted by those upgrades.
As ITS always strives to do, these unplanned disruptions were reviewed in great detail, which resulted in improved configurations that provide much higher levels of system redundancy to prevent future issues.
This has been an extremely busy time for ITS with many hours behind the scenes, with a primary goal to reduce customer impact, keep systems up and running and ensure services to Idaho citizens meets expectations.
