Note: This downtime was previously scheduled for January 30, 2016 and is now scheduled for February 13, 2016. We're delaying our release plans at the request of customers who would like additional time to test their systems' integration with new Globus functionality.
On Saturday, January 30, 2016, starting at 10:00am CST, the Globus service will undergo a significant upgrade. We will be releasing new services for authorization and identity management that, among other things, will remove the requirement for users to create separate Globus accounts and greatly simplify the user experience for both researchers and systems administrators. The Globus service will not be available while this release is being deployed into our production environment. We expect that the upgrade will be completed within five hours, and full operations will be restored by approximately 3pm CST.
During the upgrade window, all active file transfers will be suspended, and they will resume when the Globus service is restored. The result will be slightly delayed completion of these transfers, but there should be no impact to user data as a result of this upgrade. Users attempting to access the service at www.globus.org (or via an institution's branded Globus web site) will see a maintenance page. Among other things, user sign-in will not be available; applications that use Globus services for identity management will not be able to provision new user accounts during this period; and applications that use Globus for authentication will not be able to obtain authentication tokens.
We will use the Globus status Twitter feed (@GlobusStatus) to provide regular progress updates and information on any schedule changes or issues we encounter. We encourage all Globus endpoint administrators to follow the Twitter feed both for notifications during this upgrade as well as for future service status updates. We will also post a notification on our blog when the upgrade has completed successfully.
We apologize for any inconvenience the interruption may cause. Please contact us at support@globus.org if you have any concerns about the potential impact of this upgrade.