Introduction

This document serves as a Root Cause Analysis for the Ulrichsweb service interruption experienced by Ex Libris customers on January 22, 2020

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

Intermediate service interruptions were experienced by Ex Libris customers served by the Ulrichsweb service during the following time period:

January 22^nd, 2020 from 11:00 PST until 12:52 PST.

During the event 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:

A manual update of Ulrichsweb caused a file lock and an application error. Once the locked file was removed, the system needed to be restarted to restore service.

Technical Action Items and Preventive Measures

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

• Ex Libris will require all manual and automated updates to take place off business hours or during maintenance windows to ensure service availability during core business hours

• Change requests will be required for all manual and automated updates

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  Ulrichsweb will be added to the Ex Libris System Status page to ensure that we can notify customers when an event occurs

   

   

   

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