Introduction

This document serves as a Root Cause Analysis for the Alma service interruption experienced by Ex Libris customers.

The goal of this document is to share our findings regarding the event, specify the root cause analysis, outline actions to be taken to solve the downtime event, as well as preventive measures Ex Libris is taking to avoid similar cases in future.

Event Timeline

Service interruption was experienced by Ex Libris customers served by the Alma NA01 instance at the North America Data Center during the following hours: 

January 3^rd, 2019 from 06:05 PM until 08:07 PM CST time

 During the events, the service was unavailable for the environment.

Root Cause Analysis

Ex Libris Engineers investigated this event to determine the root cause analysis with the following results:

An issue was found in in the storage system management software, which was triggered by an invalid character in the mount parameters sent by a client.
The invalid character was generated as a result of a newer version of automation software parsing existing automation code differently..

Technical Action Items and Preventive Measures

Ex Libris has taken the following action and preventive measures to avoid such an occurrence in future:

• Work with the storage vendor on implementing a patch to the storage system bug
• Place on hold any activity that requires this new configuration until the patch is implemented
• Refresh the change management procedure to assure all automation development work is done on development environment
• Conduct an analysis of internal storage standards

Customer Communication

Ex Libris is committed to providing customers with prompt and ongoing updates during Cloud events. Ongoing and prompt updates on service interruptions appear in the system status portal at this address: http://status.exlibrisgroup.com/

These updates are automatically sent as emails to registered customers.

Publication History