Managing a CI blackout schedule with time segments

Blackout schedule

During times when the current CI is unavailable, a CI must not be brought down. The server used by payroll might have a blackout schedule to indicate that the CI is not available for other tasks (for example, upgrades or routine maintenance) when paychecks are processed. There are times when the current CI will be unavailable or available. This time period is known as a blackout schedule. During times when the current CI is available, you can schedule the CI for upgrade, maintenance, change requests, or release requests. This is a scheduled outage. Other users can share this time segment and conduct multiple requests.

When creating a blackout schedule, you can also specify the levels of availability. For example, you decide that a specific application service CI must be unavailable to Calbro Services IT during the core hours Monday through Friday 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST. You can then schedule routine change requests during the specified Saturday 8:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. maintenance window. More urgent change requests can be scheduled outside the core hours.

As a result, you can set up the following blackout schedule for the application service CI:

• During the core hours Monday to Friday 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST, the CI is listed as unavailable at Level 15.
• Everything except Saturday 8 P.M. to 10 P.M. is listed as available at Level 20.
• Everything except the core hours is listed as available at Level 25.

To define time segments for CIs

1. Open the change request.
2. On the Change Management console, select Functions > Time Segments > Configuration Item (CI).
3. In the CI Advanced Search form, enter the information necessary to search for a CI and then click Search. 
   The available CIs based on your search criteria are displayed in the results table.
4. Select a CI from the search results.
5. (Optional) Click Explore CI to view a CI and its relationship in a tree structure. 
   For information, see Relating-and-managing-configuration-items-and-impacted-services-for-a-change-request.
6. Click Select.
7. On the Registration for Shared Time Segment window, click Add.
8. In the Description field on the Business Time Segment dialog box, enter a useful description for the time segment.
   For example, your naming convention for change request time segments can include the CRQ ID and a brief description of what the intended change, or the name of the affected business service.
9. In the Availability field, block out periods of time as follows:
   • Select Available to define a time segment that is open for normal use (for example, routine scheduled maintenance).
   • Select Unavailable to define a time segment that is not available for any other use (for example, a CI outage when you shut down a server to add more memory).
10. In the Level field, select a level of 10 or higher.
    Change Management activities start with a default level of 10, but you can change this level to a number from 1 through 1000. Level 1 is Workday activities and Level 2 is Holiday activities.
    If the schedules for two activities conflict, the event with the highest number takes priority. For more information, see Scheduling a time segment in the Action Request System documentation.
11. In the Duration Type field, select One time (which generates a single occurrence of the time segment) or Recurring (which cannot span multiple days, but must be scheduled within a 24-hour period). If you select Recurring, you must specify the recurrence.

12. Enter the starting and ending dates and times for the duration of the time segment.

    Tip

    To define an all-day event, select 12:00:00 A.M. of the first day for the start time, and select 12:00:00 A.M. of the following day for the end time.

13. (Optional) For a one-day event, use the same start day and end day and then select End of Day. 
    This action sets the End Time to 11:59:59 P.M. When the calculation is performed, the end of the day is considered the whole day, including the final second.
14. Click Save to associate the time segment to the CI, and then click Finish. 
    After you build the blackout schedule for one CI, you can reuse it for other CIs if they have the same schedule.
15. Create a schedule for your change request. 
    For more information, see Managing-time-segment-availability-based-on-business-event-or-operational-category.

To view CI time segments

1. On the Change form, select Functions > Time Segments > Configuration Item (CI).
2. Search for a CI, and then select it.
3. On the Registration for Shared Time Segment form, select a time segment.
4. Click View.
5. Modify the time segment.
6. Close the form.
7. Click Finish.

To relate CI time segments

1. On the Change form, select Functions > Time Segments > Configuration Item (CI).
2. Search for a CI, and then select it.
3. On the Registration for Shared Time Segment form, select a time segment.
4. Click Search.
5. In the Search Time Segment dialog box, select as many time segments as required.
6. Click Relate.
7. Close the Search Time Segment dialog box.
8. Click Finish.

To remove a CI time segment

Removing time segments does not physically delete them or the CI because there is a many-to-many relationship between entities and time segments (that is, one time segment can be related to many entities). Instead, it removes the link between the CI and the time segment.

1. On the Change form, select Functions > Time Segments > Configuration Item (CI).
2. Search for a CI, and then select it.
3. On the Registration for Shared Time Segment form, select a time segment.
4. Click Remove.
5. Click Finish.