Below are some of the technical strategies under development to ensure a smooth transition and optimal performance.
Fresh Install:
A fresh installation involves setting up the new system on different hardware, making sure it is functioning optimally, and then switching people to this system as the new courses begin to go online.
This is in contrast to an “in-place” upgrade, which requires changing the application software on the very same system hardware on which the older version is operating, which can increase the likelihood of service disruptions.
The decision to go with a "fresh install" as opposed to an "in-place" install is designed to minimize system-wide downtime and overall service disruption.
Testing:
Pre-deployment testing will be a significant part of the technical upgrade plans. This testing will come in three types, load testing, functional testing, and specific exceptions.
Load testing is designed to ensure optimal performance of the whole system for a large number of people under a variety of conditions. It allows administrators of the system to fine-tune various system parameters that will help deliver robust performance under the use scenarios most likely to be encountered at NYU.
Functional testing is designed to ensure optimal performance for an individual using the system from a variety of potential configurations. This allows support staff to confirm that all features are functioning properly under various operating system, browser, and connection conditions and to anticipate potential issues before they occur.
Exception testing seeks to identify course sites or programs with unusual or atypical use of the system to ensure that those exceptions can also continue to function properly. Some sites use Blackboard with an unusually large amount of course material, have large or complex testing scenarios, or have an unusually large number of students. Since these types of uses may fall outside the overall system norms, other tests that are designed to predict more general use case scenarios may not adequately ensure optimized system performance for these exceptional cases. Since ITS is interested in supporting exceptional uses of the system, it is important to identify these types of cases and make sure the system is adequately prepared for these exceptional scenarios.